Given his passionate attachment to religion and his political conservatism, it is no surprise that Russian literary criticism of Fyodor Dostoevsky during the Soviet years was characterized by a
narrow theoretical range and limited set of safe topics, but with the collapse of the Soviet Union there has been a renaissance in Russian critical engagement with Dostoevsky and his works.
Apollonio (Russian, Duke U.) presents some of the results of this new ferment, selecting the 15 articles on the basis of their representative nature, scholarly originality, and broad appeal and
usefulness. The first section of the volume, which includes the translation of a previously unknown letter by Dostoevsky, deals with general issues, such as philological analysis, Dostoevsky's
approach to reason, and the influence of the New Testament on Dostoevsky's writings, while the remaining sections include articles specifically examining Dostoevsky's canonical novels Crime and
Punishment, The Idiot, Demons, and The Brothers Karamazov. Annotation 穢2010 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
