Remembering the End

The Dostoevsky scholar Robert Louis Jackson said Dostoevsky's becoming is of course our own becoming: to know Dostoevsky has been to know our own century and ourselves. Remembering the End pursues this notion while elucidating the spiritual realism of Dostoevsky's biblically charged literature. The nineteenth century writer came to be regarded by many readers in the twentieth century as a prophet. But how does Dostoevsky remain prophetic for us now, in the twenty-first century? This book explores and assesses Dostoevsky's critique of modernity, with particular focus on the Grand Inquisitor in The Brothers Karamazov where his prophetic vision finds its most intense expression. Kroeker and Ward show how Dostoevsky's work can help us to remember who we are in this moment in which - as individuals and members of communities - we are required to make critical choices about the meaning of justice, history, truth and happiness. Their book will be of interest to readers in comparative literature, ethics, political theory, philosophy, religious studies and theology.