Foolishness for Christ appears several times in the novels of Dostoevsky. "The Idiot" explores the ramifications of placing a holy fool (the compassionate and insightful epileptic Prince Myshkin) in a secular world dominated by vanity and desire. According to Joseph Frank "though the gentlemanly and well-educated prince bears no external resemblance to these eccentric figures, he does possess their traditional gift of spiritual insight, which operates instinctively, below any level of conscious awareness or doctrinal commitment." In "Demons", the madwoman Marya Lebyadkina displays many of the attributes of the holy fool, as do the characters of Sofya Marmeladova and Lizaveta in "Crime and
Myshkin (surname) Myshkin (surname) Myshkin (Мы́шкин) is a Russian name, also transliterated Mishkin and commonly Miskin, although the latter two words have other meanings, both in Russian and in other languages. The ancient Jewish temple in Jerusalem in Hebrew is believed to be the root of the name with the Hebrew word pronounced "mishkan". There are people with the surname Miskin around the world who have formed a large user group on Facebook. There are Miskins in Australia, England, India, Indonesia, Canada and the United States including Mormons in Utah. "Myshkin" is the possessive case of the diminutive of the word 'mouse'.