Dostoevsky

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About this book

"Dostoevsky" by André Gide is a work of literary criticism and biographical essays written in the early 20th century. It probes the life, thought, and artistry of Fyodor Dostoevsky, arguing for his primacy as a psychologist and moral visionary whose fiction wrestles with inner, spiritual conflicts rather than merely social ones. The focus is on how Dostoevsky’s characters embody living problems—religious, ethical, and existential—rendered with vivid humanity rather than abstract doctrine. The opening of this study presents Arnold Bennett’s introduction praising Gide’s insight and situating the book as a landmark in understanding Russian psychology, followed by a translator’s note explaining its origins as 1922 lectures and the sources quoted. Gide’s preface defends Dostoevsky against Western charges of irrationality, stressing his concern with the individual’s relation to self and God, the lifelike fluidity of his characters, and the uncompromising labor behind his art.