Demons (Dostoevsky novel) Demons (Dostoevsky novel) Demons (pre-reform Russian: ; post-reform ; sometimes also called The Possessed or The Devils) is a novel by Fyodor Dostoevsky, first published in the journal "The Russian Messenger" in 1871–2. It is considered one of the four masterworks written by Dostoevsky after his return from Siberian exile, along with "Crime and Punishment" (1866), "The Idiot" (1869) and "The Brothers Karamazov" (1880). "Demons" is a social and political satire, a psychological drama, and large scale tragedy. Joyce Carol Oates has described it as "Dostoevsky's most confused and violent novel, and his most satisfactorily 'tragic' work." According to Ronald
Fyodor Dostoevsky Dostoevsky incorporated religious themes, especially those of Russian Orthodoxy, into his writing. Elements of gothic fiction, romanticism, and satire are observable in some of his books. He frequently used autobiographical or semi-autobiographical details. Dostoevsky's works were often called "philosophical", although he described himself as "weak in philosophy". "Fyodor Mikhailovich loved these questions about the essence of things and the limits of knowledge", wrote Strakhov. Although theologian George Florovsky described Dostoevsky as a "philosophical problem", because it is unknown whether Dostoevsky believed in what he wrote, many philosophical ideas are found in books such as "A Writer's Diary" and "The Brothers