‘Dostoevsky was a literary prophet’

Fyodor Dostoevsky, who wrote some of the finest novels, was the prophet of the literary world, writer and Kerala Sahitya Academy chairman Perumbadavom Sreedharan said on Wednesday.

He was speaking after inaugurating the ‘My favourite writer’  lecture series organised by the Russian Cultural Centre as part of the ongoing Russian Literature Festival in the city.

Dostoevsky’s character reflected the workings of the human mind. He was able to make each person think that he, like all other men, was responsible for the deterioration of this world, and that his responsibility in this matter was above everyone else’s, Perumbadavom said.

That Leo Tolstoy, as he lay on his death bed, wanted ‘Crime and Punishment’  to be read to him is proof of the greatness of Dostoevsky as a novelist, Perumbadavom said.

He attributed  the success of  ‘Oru Sankeerthanam Pole’, his own novel on Dostoevsky, to the ‘blessings’ of the great Russian writer. Prof Thumpamon Thomas, T Damu, Dr K Govindan Nair and Russia’s Honorary Consul Ratheesh C Nair also spoke.