Fyodor Dostoyevsky's last novel appeared in instalments in the journal The Russian Messenger and was completed only a few months before the author's death. It centres on the murder of the dissolute landowner Fyodor Pavlovich Karamazov and the lives of his sons, the passionate Dmitri, the intellectual Ivan, the devout Alyosha, and the illegitimate Smerdyakov. Through a family drama and a criminal trial it explores faith, doubt, free will and moral responsibility, most famously in Ivan's tale of the Grand Inquisitor. The novel has been admired by thinkers and writers from Freud to Camus and is often counted among the greatest works of world literature.
Before and after
- 26 October 1879Birth of Leon Trotsky
- 5 November 1879Death of James Clerk Maxwell
- from 17 November 1879 to 29 May 1885International Association of the Congo
- 1880Discovery of Oxus Treasure
- 1880Publication of The Brothers Karamazov
- 1880Discovery of gadolinium
- 1880Construction of St James’ Park
- 1880Publication of Heidi
- from c. 1880s to 1920sNew Imperialism
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The era
This moment belongs to the Industrial era (1760 CE to 1914 CE), steam, factories and revolutions. You can also browse everything in the 19th century.