Abstract

'Dostoevsky and the Dynamics of Religious Experience' deals with the religious dimension of the novelist’s life and fiction. The book is structured through six clearly defined and self-reliant essays that take into account past and current criticism and offers a close textual analysis on Dostoevsky's works, including 'The Double', 'Notes from Underground', 'Crime and Punishment', 'The Idiot', 'The Devils' and an in-depth study of 'The Brothers Karamazov'.

'Covering several major works, but focusing above all on 'The Brothers Karamazov', 'Dostoevsky and the Dynamics of Religious Experience' offers a highly distinctive holistic approach which reconciles disparate readings, and confirms Malcolm Jones's pre-eminent position within Dostoevsky studies today.' —Sarah Young, University of Toronto

This exciting addition to Dostoevsky studies deals with the religious dimension of the novelist's life and fiction. Malcolm Jones takes a fresh reading of Dostoevsky's representation of religion in his fictional world, that allows for both mystery and fear. The author argues that the spiritual map of human experience that Dostoevsky offers includes only the occasional small island of serenity in vast, turbulent oceans of doubt, rebellion, rejection, indifference and disbelief. Dostoevsky is also viewed as an artist, revealing glimpses of salvation through subversive narrative techniques and destabilized, vulnerable characters. Dostoevsky's fictional characters experience the dread of a meaningless void as well as a desperate longing for the restorative binding idea that religion offers. 'Dostoevsky and the Dynamics of Religious Experience' offers a balanced and authoritative argument. The book is structured through six clearly defined and self-reliant essays that take into account past and current criticism and offer a close textual analysis of Dostoevsky’s works, including  'The Double', 'Notes from Underground', 'Crime and Punishment', 'The Idiot', 'The Devils' and an in-depth study of 'The Brothers Karamazov'. This work is a major contribution to the study of Dostoevsky and Russian Literature in Europe, the USA, Russia and throughout the world.

'A book that should not be overlooked by any serious student of Dostoevsky.' —William J Leatherbarrow, University of Sheffield

Malcolm Jones is Emeritus Professor in Residence at the University of Nottingham. He is a former President of the International Dostoevsky Society, of which he was a founding member in 1971, and this brings him into regular and frequent contact with other Dostoevsky scholars in Russia. One of the foremost scholars on Dostoevsky, his publications include 'Dostoevsky after Bakhtin' (1990) and 'Dostoevsky: The Novel of Discord' (1976).

'This book moves the study of Dostoevsky's religious worldview into the twenty-first century, and will be of value to the scholar and the non-specialist alike.' —Sarah Hudspith, University of Leeds