16 min • 3 lectures
This three-lecture course traces Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s development from political prisoner to the creator of the psychological novel. Lecture 1 examines the December 22, 1849 mock execution in Semyonovsky Square and the four years of forced labor in Omsk that replaced his utopian socialism with a direct knowledge of evil and grace. Lecture 2 analyzes the critique of rational egoism in Notes from Underground and Crime and Punishment, showing how Raskolnikov’s “extraordinary man” theory collapses under psychological and spiritual pressure rather than logical error. Lecture 3 turns to The Brothers Karamazov, contrasting Ivan’s rejection of a world that permits children’s suffering with Alyosha’s practice of active love and the principle of sobornost, where each person accepts responsibility for all. Across the lectures, the course shows how Dostoyevsky replaced political programs with the demand that individuals confront suffering through confession and unconditional forgiveness.
