ABSTRACT
DOSTOEVSKY'S work is often considered as being purely negative and destructive, as an embodiment of chaos. Yet its real importance lies, on the contrary, not in the destructive power which he applies to the existing world, but in his constructive search for a positive ideal. Even the chaos which he represents in his works has a positive meaning. It is not an artificial creation, but the clear recognition of where man has been brought by his loss of faith and by his failure to direct his attention towards human values and human needs; as such, it is the inevitable consequence of the beliefs and ideals of the 19th century. By representing all these trends of thought in his works, and following them to their logical conclusions, he shows the futility and emptiness to which they must finally lead. He is the only man to understand the true character of this century. Such a clear recognition of things as they are, however, is by no means negative; it is the most important prerequisite for a new start, and it is this penetrating knowledge which enables Dostoevsky to show that it is possible to create a new world.
