Dostoevsky and The Idea of Russianness

This book examines Dostoevsky's interest in and engagement with Slavophilism - a Russian mid-nineteenth century movement of conservative nationalist thought. It explores Dostoevsky's views as expressed in both his non-fiction and fiction on the religious spiritual and moral ideas which he considered to be innately Russian. It concludes that Dostoevsky is an important successor to the Slavophiles in that he developed their ideas in a more coherent fashion broadening their moral and spiritual concerns into a more universal message about the true worth of Russia and her people.