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The Brothers Karamazov

Disciplines:
psychology
fiction
religion
russia

Summary

Dostoevsky's 1880 final novel — presenting four brothers (the sensualist, the intellectual, the saint, the illegitimate) and their father's murder — which contains the Grand Inquisitor parable, the most profound fictional treatment of the tension between freedom and security, and Christ's encounter with the church.

Core Contribution

Creates the Grand Inquisitor parable as the definitive fictional treatment of freedom vs. security — the chapter in which Ivan imagines Christ returning to Seville and being imprisoned by the Inquisitor (who argues that humans want bread, miracle, and authority more than freedom) is the most cited fictional passage in philosophy, theology, and political theory.

Historical Influences

Russian Orthodox Christianity Friedrich Schiller Nikolai Gogol

Intellectual Lineage

Fyodor Dostoevsky Serialized 1879–80Considered his masterpiece — he died 4 months after completion

Allied Works

Crime and Punishment Demons/The PossessedThe Idiot

Contemporaries & Peers

No recorded contemporaries.

Minds Influenced

Existentialism Jordan Peterson

Intellectual Posterity

The Brothers Karamazov The Grand Inquisitor Alyosha Karamazov Ivan's rebellion against God's world

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The Brothers Karamazov

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