Lindsay M. Ceballos

This project examines the initial reception of Fyodor Dostoevsky’s religious ideas in elite and popular spheres in late-imperial Russian society. During this period, key approaches to reading Dostoevsky were first formulated, including the idea that his work amounted to a central contribution to religious thought rather than being a purely literary endeavor. Once considered too mystical or conservative, his novels and very image came to reflect a radically inclusive Christian ethics. Likewise, widespread acceptance of him as a religious thinker has always been contingent upon a revisionist reception of his nationalist politics. By revisiting this early history of reading Dostoevsky, this project shows its continued relevance to more recent critical trends in Russia and the west.