Ironically, I drew comfort in the solidarity that I- and many students of Russian literature- perceive with this troubled writer. This is surely no mistake. Dostoevsky- although often challenging to read- engages the reader as an actor in his phiosophical tale and stirs up feelings that are at once highly disturbing and liberating.

Both stories in classic Dostoevsky style, draw heavily upon the tensions in the individual and the world around him and are highly autobiographical.

It is well-known that Dostoevsky himself had a gambling problem and both tales document his attraction to the Western materialism which at the same time, he evidently finds unrooted, unspiritual and repugnant.

Both our gambler and underground protagonist display addictions to a world view in which the notions of 'freedom' and 'choice' become meaningless and the parameters of their own thinking nullify belief in the spiritual and godly. They crave some deeper meaning to anchor their existence.

This is a predictably excellent edition from Oxford Worlds Classics. Anyone with even the slightest parchant for armchair philosophy should give this book a go. A life-changing read.