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Christian Fiction and Religious Realism in the Novels of Dostoevsky

Wil van den Bercken author

Format:Hardback

Publisher:Anthem Press

Published:1st Jan '11

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Christian Fiction and Religious Realism in the Novels of Dostoevsky cover

Offers a literary analysis and theological evaluation of the Christian themes in the five great novels of Dostoevsky.

This study offers a literary analysis and theological evaluation of the Christian themes in the five great novels of Dostoevsky - 'Crime and Punishment', 'The Idiot', 'The Adolescent', 'The Devils' and 'The Brothers Karamazov'.

This study offers a literary analysis and theological evaluation of the Christian themes in the five great novels of Dostoevsky - 'Crime and Punishment', 'The Idiot', 'The Adolescent', 'The Devils' and 'The Brothers Karamazov'. Dostoevsky's ambiguous treatment of religious issues in his literary works strongly differs from the slavophile Orthodoxy of his journalistic writings. In the novels Dostoevsky deals with Christian basic values, which are presented via a unique tension between the fictionality of the Christian characters and the readers' experience of the existential reality of their religious problems.

‘[This] sparklingly written book […] is a refreshing exception […] by its departure from an original literary analysis and struggle against biased interpretations […Van den Bercken] has with verve succeeded in demonstrating the importance that theology – if practiced in a selfcritical way – can have for the science of literature.’ —Pieter Boulogne, ‘Tijdschrift voor Theologie’


‘A gift to Dostoevskii scholars [that enriches] our understanding of the essential religious dimension of Dostoevskii’s work.’ —Paul J. Contino, ‘Slavic Review’


‘Van den Bercken’s monograph impresses with the breadth of fictional and critical material analysed, and the huge amount of analytic work which such a mammoth task entails.’ —Slobodanka Vladiv-Glover, ‘The Dostoevsky Journal: An Independent Review’

ISBN: 9780857289766

Dimensions: 229mm x 153mm x 26mm

Weight: 590g

164 pages