From School Library Journal
Gr 9 Up-This collection of essays, edited or abridged for young adults, gives a good overview of approaches to the writer's work. It also has a complete list of Dostoyevsky's books. The essays offer an introduction to important critical concepts and give librarians another single-volume assortment of critical opinion to pull out at report time. One must wonder, however, about what was omitted. For instance, it gets harder and harder to find Tolstoy or Dostoyevsky by George Steiner, yet his criticism of both authors is one of the most intelligent readings available, and the fact that there is nothing by Steiner included here is a definite loss. Also, Vladimir Nabokov's caustic remarks in Russian Writers, in which he describes Dostoyevsky as little more than a literary hack set on sinning his way to heaven, would have provided some colorful contrast. If you need criticism on Dostoyevsky, this is a good introductory volume, but readers who are ready for The Idiot or The Brothers Karamazov should be ready to approach the essays of Philip Rahv, Oscar Wilde, or Andr Gide unafraid and unabridged.-Herman Sutter, Saint Pius X High School, Houston, TX
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