Fyodor Dostoevsky - When Beauty Saves the World

This volume offers a philosophical and literary exploration of Dostoevsky's humanism, with a particular focus on his ethical and aesthetic reflections on human nature. Rather than approaching Dostoevsky through the lens of national character or the so-called "Russian spirit," this book engages in a sustained dialogue with his work to illuminate the moral and psychological complexities of the human soul. Emphasizing the intimate and often unsettling terrain of interior life, the author contends that Dostoevsky's literature invites readers to confront their own beliefs, values, and existential commitments.
Structured as a series of interlinked essays, the book reads selected Dostoevskian texts through a comparative framework, acknowledging both the richness of his literary output and the vast body of critical commentary surrounding it. The approach is intentionally conversational rather than conclusive, welcoming ambiguity, contradiction, and unresolved tensions. In this spirit, the volume traces Dostoevsky's pursuit of the sublime-where darkness and beauty coexist in the restless drama of human consciousness.

List of contents

Chapter 1. The Underground Man in El Amor Brujo
Chapter 2. Life on the Threshold of Modernism
Chapter 3. Prisoners of Life
Chapter 4. If God Does Not Exist
Chapter 5.
Chapter 6. Crime and Punishment: A Case for Agape
Chapter 7. A Love That Kills: The Idiot
Epilogue

About the author

Alberto Castelli is Professor of Humanities at Hainan University, China.

Product details

• Authors: Alberto Castelli
• Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd.
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Release: 30.12.2025
• EAN: 9781041141891
• ISBN: 978-1-0-4114189-1
• No. of pages: 192
• Series: Routledge Studies in Nineteenth Century Literature
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Linguistics and literary studies > General and comparative literary studies; Eastern Europe, LITERARY CRITICISM / Comparative Literature, LITERARY CRITICISM / Modern / 19th Century, Literary studies: c 1800 to c 1900, LITERARY CRITICISM / Russian & Soviet