Brothers Karamazov: Worlds of the Novel Paperback - 2008

From the rear cover

When The Brothers Karamazov first appeared, it stirred the intellectual community of Russia like no other work before or since. Readers of all backgrounds rushed to hail Dostoevsky's genius and his compelling novel of good and evil, and the book later hurtled to international renown as translations appeared in language after language. Devotees from Freud to Sartre have been caught up by its engrossing plot of parricide, which intertwines with numerous skillfully woven subplots. These mirror each other in theme and structure while intricately stitching together a diverse set of characters, who reflect the rich variety of Russian society. The famous chapter "The Grand Inquisitor" still draws praise as a timeless exploration of the problem of evil. In The Brothers Karamazov: Worlds of the Novel Robin Feuer Miller alerts the reader to the internal rhymes and resonances of Dostoevsky's complex masterpiece and illuminates the philosophical and narrative riddles the novelist continually presents. Her detailed textual and stylistic analysis lays bare Dostoevsky's artistic and narrative strategies; among the many issues studied are guilt, parent-child relationships, and narrative techniques such as parody and comic foreshadowing of serious themes. An original approach to this masterwork, Miller's reading unifies seemingly disparate strands of the novel and clearly demonstrates its brilliance.