The Brothers Karamazov – Fyodor Dostoyevsky 1949 | Illus. Fritz Eichenberg

The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, illustrated by Fritz Eichenberg, is a monumental exploration of faith, morality, and human suffering, brought to life through Eichenberg’s haunting wood engravings. Published in 1880, Dostoyevsky’s final novel delves into the turbulent lives of the Karamazov brothers—the impulsive Dmitri, the intellectual Ivan, the spiritual Alyosha, and their enigmatic half-brother Smerdyakov—as they grapple with their father’s murder and their own existential crises.

Eichenberg’s stark, expressionistic illustrations, created for a 1946 edition, mirror the novel’s psychological depth and moral intensity, capturing pivotal moments like Ivan’s confrontation with the Devil and Alyosha’s epiphanies with visceral power. A fusion of literary and artistic genius, this edition amplifies the novel’s timeless questions about guilt, redemption, and the nature of evil, making it a collector’s treasure.