The Legend of the Grand Inquisitor

The book by philosopher and literary critic Vasily Rozanov "The Legend of the Grand Inquisitor by F. M. Dostoevsky" was published in 1894. It brought fame to Rozanov and became the first work in which Dostoevsky is presented as a religious thinker. It is Rozanov—a attentive and sensitive critic, a subtle connoisseur of art—who began the meaningful interpretation of Dostoevsky's work (to which he was devoted throughout his life) in the context of Christian doctrine. According to Rozanov, "The Legend of the Grand Inquisitor" is the quintessence of the novel "The Brothers Karamazov": "...it is precisely the ‘Legend’ that constitutes, so to speak, the soul of the whole work, which groups itself around it, like variations around its theme; in it is hidden the cherished thought of the writer, without which not only this novel would not have been written, but many other works of his: at least all the best and highest places in them would not have been there." The publication also includes chapters from the collection "Literary Essays" (1899).