Collected here are some of Dostoyevsky's finest letters to his family and friends, as-well as reminiscences from those close to him. This audiobook also includes thoughts on his life and work from his contemporaries (including Ivan Turgenev and Leo Tolstoy). These letters give an insight into the work, life, and psychology of one of the greatest writers of all time. Dostoyevsky, a Russian novelist and short-story writer whose psychological penetration into the darkest recesses of the human heart, together with his unsurpassed moments of illumination, had an immense influence on 20th-century fiction. He is commonly regarded as one of the finest novelists who ever lived, penning works including four long novels: Crime and Punishment, The Idiot, The Devils, and The Brothers Karamazov. Literary modernism, existentialism, and various schools of psychology, theology, and literary criticism have been profoundly shaped by his ideas. His works are often called prophetic because he so accurately predicted how Russia?s revolutionaries would behave if they came to power. In his time he was also renowned for his activity as a journalist.