The Brothers Karamazov

The Brothers Karamazov (1880) is Russian author Fyodor Dostoyevsky's final, and perhaps most masterful novel. It is a deeply passionate and philosophical novel that delves into the difficult terrain of free will, morality, faith, doubt, and reason, with an ever-modernizing Russia as its setting. The Brothers Karamazov has influenced a wide range of figures, including Freud, Kafka, Einstein, and Pope Benedict XVI, and is regarded by many as the Best Book Ever Written. It took him two years to write, and Dostoyevsky had intended it to be an epic trilogy, but he died less than four months after it was published.

The narrative itself contains different perspectives which are embodied in its main characters: the four brothers Karamazov who are the spoiled materialist Dimitri, the tortured intellectual Ivan, the (illegitimate), cruel and meddling Smerdyakov, and the kindly, spiritual Alyosha, who is the Dostoevsky's hero. Each brother represents a different dimension of the Russian spirit, and in some ways a microcosm of the whole of mankind. Some consider this as much a work of philosophy as a novel, but it is also a murder mystery, a courtroom thriller, an examination of corruption, religious institutions, and a satire of human corruption.