Christian Fiction and Religious Realism in the Novels of Dostoevsky

Introduction; Religious Interpretations of Dostoevsky; The Realism of Dostoevsky’s Fictional Christianity; Christian Themes in ‘Crime and Punishment’; Religious Discussions in ‘The Idiot’ and ‘The Adolescent’; Christian Voices in ‘The Devils’; The Spirituality of the Monk Zosima in ‘The Brothers Karamazov’; The Legend of the Grand Inquisitor: Literary Irony and Theological Seriousness; Dostoevsky’s ‘Grand Inquisitor’ and Vladimir Solovyov’s ‘Antichrist’; Physical and Divine Beauty: The Aesthetical-Ethical Dilemma in Dostoevsky’s Novels; Conclusion; Notes; References; Index of Names

Wil van den Bercken has produced a focused and sober re-consideration of the vexed question of the religious identity of Dostoevsky’s fiction… In a series of patient and perceptive analyses of Dostoevsky’s major novels, van den Bercken extracts their religious content and assesses it without preconceptions. ‘Christian Fiction and Religious Realism in the Novels of Dostoevsky’ should appeal not only to specialists in Dostoevsky and modern fiction, but also to students and general readers.' —Robert Bird, University of Chicago