The author delivers a series of critical essays and addresses that examine a major Russian novelist’s imagination, method, and moral concerns, combining close readings of novels and letters with reflections on psychology, religious feeling, and narrative technique. He defends the novelist against charges of morbidity by analyzing the interplay of dreamlike excess and rigorous logic in character construction, explores recurring themes such as conscience, redemption, and prophetic social insight, and situates the work within European as well as Russian traditions. The volume includes introductory and translator notes, selections from correspondence, and an appendix that supports the interpretive essays.