Primary sourceBook1879-1880
The Brothers Karamazov
Fyodor Dostoyevsky · 1879-1880
Dostoevsky's final novel, following three brothers and their father, exploring faith, doubt, freedom and patricide.
His final, most personal novel, completed shortly before his death and reflecting his deepest philosophical struggles.
About this source
What it is
The Brothers Karamazov is Fyodor Dostoevsky's sixteenth and final novel, serialised in The Russian Messenger from January 1879 to November 1880. Set in 19th-century Russia, it centres on Fyodor Pavlovich Karamazov and his sons Dmitri, Ivan and Alexei, and revolves around a patricide.
Why it matters
Dostoevsky died less than four months after it was finished, and it is seen as the summation of his lifelong concerns with God, free will and morality. The writer's grief over the death of his own young son Alyosha shaped the character of the same name, showing how personal loss entered his fiction.
Look closer
- Why might an author write about family conflict and faith at the end of his life?
- What might the choice to split a father's inheritance and affection among sons reveal about the society Dostoevsky was depicting?
- What does the title page's epigraph suggest about the novel's themes before you even start reading?
This book is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Fyodor Dostoevsky on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.
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