Authors similar to Dostoyevsky?

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I've never been much of a reader, to be honest, at least not since I was in elementary school (where I read everything I could get my hands on). Recently however, incidentally beginning with my reading of Pride and Prejudice, I've been reading at every chance I get. At the moment, I'm in the process of reading Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment, and I absolutely LOVE it. I can't get enough of this book, or stop reading it.

Is this his best work? Are the others worth reading? Also, what are some other authors I should check out (they don't have to be Russian, of course - American or British would be just fine).

Thanks.

― Lee is Free (Lee is Free), Saturday, 31 December 2005 21:04 (twenty years ago)

It may be his best work, but The Idiot is very close, and The Brothers Karamazov isn't far behind. I think almost all his stuff is terrific. It's hard to recommend similar authors - it partly depends what it is in C&P that you are liking so much. Weirdly, I sometimes think that the most similar author to Dostoyevsky is American pulp crime writer Jim Thompson. Certainly a book like The Getaway achieves the extremely rare feat of making Dostoyevsky's view of the human soul seem light and cheery and optimistic.

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Saturday, 31 December 2005 21:30 (twenty years ago)

I'll have to look into that. I really like the mix of philosophy and storytelling in C&P, so I guess that's what I was referring to. Also, how the storytelling is not quite as linear as most American works, although not quite as abstract as someone like Joyce - although I do enjoy Joyce as well.

― Lee is Free (Lee is Free), Saturday, 31 December 2005 21:32 (twenty years ago)

the mix of philosophy and storytelling

Melville?

― ryan (ryan), Saturday, 31 December 2005 22:07 (twenty years ago)

One thing I never understood is how come the Idiot is so hugely underrated? It's never taught in classes or mentioned much anywhere, despite it being a phenomenal book, surely on par with his other great works.

― Jena (JenaP), Saturday, 31 December 2005 22:24 (twenty years ago)

Be sure to watch Woody Allen's "Love & Death", too.

― kingfish holiday travesty (kingfish 2.0), Saturday, 31 December 2005 23:10 (twenty years ago)

I don't know, maybe aversion to.. the notion that the Idiot is about a Christ figure who is perfectly good and so isn't that boring and makes teaching it uncomfortable. (I don't agree with this reading, it's my favorite of his novels.. very underrated..)

How about reading Gogol, Dead Souls or Bulgakov, Master and Margarita?

― dar1a g (daria g), Sunday, 1 January 2006 06:21 (twenty years ago)

fifteen years pass...

Dusty Dusty, him 200

― koogs, Thursday, 11 November 2021 18:26 (four years ago)

Wait is that Old Style or New Style? Wikipedia doesn’t specify.

― A Pile of Ants (Boring, Maryland), Thursday, 11 November 2021 18:59 (four years ago)

Fyodor Dostoevsky, born on 11 November [O.S. 30 October]

― namaste darkness my old friend (ledge), Friday, 12 November 2021 09:23 (four years ago)

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