13.01.2023
In Dostoevsky’s most famous novels, an average of 10-20 main and secondary characters participate. This applies to the novels “Crime and Punishment”, “Idiot”, “The Brothers Karamazov”.
1. Deep psychological analysis
Perhaps the main feature of Dostoevsky’s novels is a deep psychological analysis of characters and situations. This feature was noted by the writer’s contemporaries. Indeed, Dostoevsky, like an X-ray, penetrates into the souls of his heroes and traces their experiences with amazing subtlety. Nothing escapes his keen eye: he notices and informs the reader of all the subtleties and nuances of the inner life of his characters. Because of this, many readers consider Dostoevsky’s novels too “heavy” to be perceived precisely because of such a deep psychological analysis.
2. Rich plot
One of the features of Dostoevsky’s works are entertaining and fascinating plots, unexpected turns of events and often unpredictable, exciting denouement. Dostoevsky took great care that his works were entertaining and fascinating, and the endings were spectacular. Without false modesty, Dostoevsky himself believed that he was good at writing fascinating texts.
3. Detective stories
Another feature of Dostoevsky’s work is detective, criminal plots. Not all, but many of his works, especially novels, somehow tell about some crimes. All of Dostoevsky’s most famous novels are “Crime and Punishment”, “The Idiot”. “The Brothers Karamazov” – in fact belong to the genre of a detective novel or a thriller novel. The writer often drew plots for his books from the criminal chronicles in local newspapers.
4. “Crowded”, polyphonic novels
Another feature of Dostoevsky’s works, in particular novels, is their “polyphony”, their “populousness”. Dostoevsky’s novels are called polyphonic because of the large number of characters whose lives and destinies intersect in various circumstances. In Dostoevsky’s most famous novels, an average of 10-20 main and secondary characters participate. This applies to the novels “Crime and Punishment”, “Idiot”, “The Brothers Karamazov”. At the same time, Dostoevsky managed to endow each of the heroes with his own special fate, history and character. Curiously, the writer’s friends warned him that the abundance of characters allegedly interferes with his works. However, the writer remained true to his style and did not reduce the number of characters to please critics. As a result, “polyphony” and “crowded” became his calling card. Millions of readers love Dostoevsky’s works, including for this.
