Presents a collection of short stories by the Russian author, including "White Nights, " "The Peasant Marey, " and "A Gentle Creature."

One of Time’s 100 Best Mystery and Thriller Books of All Time • Nominated as one of America’s best-loved novels by PBS’s The Great American Read
A desperate young man plans the perfect crime—the murder of a despicable pawnbroker, an old women no one loves and no one will mourn. Is it not just, he reasons, for a man of genius to commit such a crime, to transgress moral law—if...

The violent lives of three sons are exposed when their father is murdered and each one attempts to come to terms with his guilt. "The Brothers Karamasov is a murder mystery, a courtroom drama, and an exploration of erotic rivalry in a series of triangular love affairs involving the "wicked and sentimental" Fyodor Pavlovich Karamazov and his three sons--the impulsive and sensual Dmitri; the coldly rational Ivan; and the healthy, red-cheeked young...

Twenty-six-year-old Prince Lev Nikolayevich Myshkin returns to Russia after spending several years at a Swiss sanatorium. Scorned by the society of St. Petersburgh for his idiocy, generosity and innocence, he finds himself at the centre of a struggle between a beautiful kept woman and a gorgeous, virtuous girl, both of whom win his affection. Unfortunately, Myshkin's very goodness seems to precipitate disaster, leaving the impression that, in a world...

"An intimate new portrait of the bold and determined woman who saved Dostoyevsky's life--and became a pioneer in Russian literary history. In the fall of 1866--against the backdrop of Russia's first feminist movement--an independent-minded young stenographer named Anna Snitkina went to work for a writer she idolized: Fyodor Dostoyevsky. The volatile and visionary novelist was already a celebrated literary provocateur, yet Anna found him 'terribly...

The passionate confessions of a suffering soul; the brutal self-loathing of a tormented man; the scathing scorn of an alienated antihero who has become one of the greatest figures in all literature. Notes from Underground, published in 1864, introduces the moral, political, and social ideas Dostoevsky later explores in such masterpieces as Crime and Punishment, The Idiot, and The Brothers Karamazov

Master translation of a neglected Russian classic into English. Long before Solzhenitsyn's Gulag Archipelago came Dostoevsky's Notes from the House of the Dead, a compelling account of the horrific conditions in Siberian labor camps. The characters and situations that Dostoevsky encountered in prison were so violent and extraordinary that they changed his psyche profoundly. Through that experience, he later said, he was resurrected into a new spiritual...

Provides critical overviews of novels from various cultures and time periods. Includes discussions of plot, characters, themes and structure as well as the work's cultural and historical significance.

Each volume provides discussions of the literary and historical background of novels from various cultures and time periods. Includes concise synopses of plot, characters and themes, a brief author biography, discussion of the story's cultural and historical significance, and excerpted criticism.