This volume combines essays by well-established scholars of Dostoevsky with those by newer voices; it brings together authors from several different countries (France, Germany, USA, Russia, England) representing varying traditions of approaching Dostoevsky¿s novels; most importantly, however, it is the first collection that crosses the often too rigid lines between philosophy and literature. While there have been a number of attempts to re-establish a significant dialogue between literature and philosophy in recent years, virtually no cross-disciplinary studies of Dostoevsky have been attempted. This absence of interdisciplinary literature is remarkable given that Dostoevsky is often acknowledged to be a leading a¿¿novelist of ideas.¿ There is no better place to begin such a collaborative effort than Dostoevsky¿s last novel, a¿¿The Brothers Karamazov¿, which Freud called ''the greatest novel ever written.a¿