Fyodor Dostoevsky

Fyodor Dostoevsky (1821–1881) is regarded as one of the greatest novelists in world literature. Born in Moscow, he trained as an engineer but turned to writing after the success of his first novel, Poor Folk. His life was marked by political arrest, a mock execution, and exile in Siberia, experiences that deeply influenced his later works. Dostoevsky’s major novels—Notes from Underground, Crime and Punishment, and The Brothers Karamazov—probe existential questions, moral dilemmas, and the struggle between faith and doubt. He pioneered psychological realism, delving into the inner lives of characters tormented by guilt, pride, and redemption. His literary legacy endures through his profound insights into human nature and his influence on existentialist and modernist thought.