Russian writer Fedor Dostoevsky represents many things to many people. There is Dostoevsky the existentialist, Dostoevsky the psychologist, Dostoevsky the arch conservative who foretold the repression and tyranny of the Soviet state, Dostoevsky the Orthodox Christian. His novels and short stories plumb the depths of human experience, exposing frailties, asking searching questions, and during his lifetime perplexing, with each succeeding book, those who thought they knew him. Novels such as Crime and Punishment, The Idiot, Notes from the Underground, The Possessed (also known as The Devils), and The Brothers Karamazov have all passed into the canon of world literature. However, as William J. Leatherbarrow noted in his critical study Fedor Dostoevsky, "Dostoevsky appears to be in no danger of becoming a 'classic,' a literary fossil respected for his historical achievement but of limited relevance to modern thought." Leatherbarrow further commented, "His works speak directly and with urgency...