This book, first published in 1978, demonstrates how Dostoyevskys novels grew directly out of the pressures of their creators tormented experience and personality. Ronald Hingley draws upon important fresh source material, which includes the definitive Soviet edition of Dostoyevskys works with drafts and variants, Soviet research on the circumstances of his fathers death, and a newly deciphered section of the diary of his second wife, Anna. Hingley considers with his analysis all Dostoyevskys works, the ideas they contain, their varying artistic success, and their contemporary critical reception. He convincingly presents Dostoyevskys genius at its most powerful when most on the attack.