was first published serially in the journal The Russian Messenger in 1868–9. The title is a reference to the central character, Prince Lyov Nikolaevich Myshkin, a young man whose open-hearted simplicity lead many of the novel's characters to look down on him. In the character of Prince Myshkin, Dostoyevsky set himself the task of depicting "the positively good and beautiful man". The novel examines the consequences of placing such a unique individual at the centre of the conflicts, desires, passions and egoism of worldly society.

Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoyevsky (11 November 1821 – 9 February 1881), was a Russian novelist. Dostoyevsky's literary works explore human psychology in the troubled political, social, and spiritual atmosphere of 19th-century Russia.