Third of Dostoyevsky's five major novels. It is a powerful political tract and a profound study of a theism, depicting disarray which follows the appearence of a band of modish radicals in a small provincial town. The novel is full of buffoonery and grotesque comedy. Pyotr Verkhovensky and Nikolai Stavrogin are the leaders of a Russian revolutionary cell. Their aim is to overthrow the Tsar, destroy society and seize power for themselves. Together...

Inspired by an image of Christ's suffering, Fyodor Dostoyevsky set out to portray "a truly beautiful soul" colliding with the brutal reality of contemporary society. Returning to St. Petersburg from a Swiss sanatorium, the gentle and naive Prince Myshkin -- known as "the idiot" -- pays a visit to his distant relative General Yepanchin and proceeds to charm the general and his circle. But after becoming infatuated with the beautiful Nastasya Filippovna,...