Marking the bicentenary of Dostoevsky’s birth, Dostoevsky at 200: The Novel in Modernity takes the writer’s art – specifically the tension between experience and formal representation – as its central theme. While many critical approaches to Dostoevsky’s works are concerned with spiritual and philosophical dilemmas, this volume focuses instead on questions of design and narrative to explore Dostoevsky and the novel from a multitude of perspectives.

Contributors situate Dostoevsky’s formal choices of narrative, plot, genre, characterization, and the novel itself within modernity and consider how the experience of modernity led to Dostoevsky’s particular engagement with form. Conceived as a forum for younger scholars working in new directions in Dostoevsky scholarship, this volume asks how narrative and genre shape Dostoevsky’s works, as well as how they influence the way modernity is represented. Of interest not only to readers and scholars of Russian literature but also to those curious about the genre of the novel more broadly, Dostoevsky at 200 is pathbreaking in its approach to the question of Dostoevsky’s contribution to the novel as a form.

Katherine Bowers is an associate professor in the Department of Central, Eastern, and Northern European Studies at the University of British Columbia.

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Kate Holland is an associate professor in the Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures at the University of Toronto.

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"This is an academic book, after all, aimed at Dostoevsky specialists who already know what Dostoevsky has to say and want to analyze his texts rather than expound his message — as an academic book should."

<em>The Ormsby Review</em>

“An invaluable read for every student and teacher of Dostoevsky’s works as well as anyone interested in the poetics of the realist novel.”

<em>Canadian Slavonic Papers</em>

"The ten chapters of this exceptionally well curated volume converge at the intersection of genre and historical contingency to consider how Dostoevsky’s formal innovations emerged in response to the challenges of his time … The aim is not comprehensive coverage, but rather depth and originality of the readings, which come together into a thought-provoking conversation."

<em>The Russian Review</em>