Devils: The Possessed - Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Perhaps the darkest and bleakest novel from a writer famour for his grim situations. Also known as The Possessed, the title reflects his view that Russia was in the grim of malicious forces - atheism and nihilism - carrying it towards the abyss. And, though he wrote in the 1870s, he was eventually proved to be correct. The characters are all drawn into this destructive force, or powerless against it. The 'hero' Stavrogin is the best example of this: part of the young nihilist society, he at first seems to have more hope than his companions. But as Dostoyevsky draws us in we learn of crimes to make Rashkolnikov's insignificant. Only one character ...