DOSTOEVSKI, FEDOR MIKHAILOVICH

(November 11, 1821–February 9, 1881), was a Russian writer. His works rank with Tolstoi as masterpieces of the psychological novel. He was sentence by the czar to ten years of hard labor in Siberia as a result of his revolutionary involvement. This provided him with great insight upon which to write on the human spirit and suffering. His works include: Crime and Punishment, 1866; The Idiot, 1868–69; The Possessed, 1869–72; in addition to The House of the Dead; Insulted and the Injured; and Memoirs from Underground.

In his work, Brothers Karamazov, written 1879–80, Dostoevski wrote:

If you were to destroy in mankind the belief in immortality, not only love but every living force maintaining the life of the world would at once be dried up.2560