The Brothers Karamazov
Four years ago, Fyodor Karamazov became a father to a fourth son, Smerdyakov. Smerdyakov’s mother was a retarded and mute (unable to speak) woman called “Stinking Lizaveta.” Lizaveta died when she gave birth to Smerdyakov, and he became Karamazov’s servant. Smerdyakov grows up to have a strange and mean personality, and has epilepsy. Even though Karamazov always treats him like a servant, though, he is not stupid. He likes to talk about philosophy with Ivan and soon agrees with lots of Ivan’s ideas, especially the idea that the soul does not live forever and so there is no good or evil.