World Literatures 264 - Dostoevsky

Offered as RES 264 and WLT 264. Focuses on close reading of the major novels, short fiction, and journalism of Dostoevsky, one of the greatest writers in modern literature. Combining penetrating psychological insight with the excitement of crime fiction, Dostoevsky’s works explore profound political, philosophical, and religious issues, in a Russia populated by students and civil servants, saints and revolutionaries, writers and madmen. In our close reading of his fiction and nonfiction, we’ll trace the development of Dostoevsky’s style and ideas, considering how these texts engage with issues specific to nineteenth-century Russia, as well as the broader traditions of European literature and intellectual history. In translation.