Dostoevsky's quest for form

"The purpose of this book is to bring the reader, as vividly and succinctly as possible, the central body of Dostoevsky's aesthetic thought and to reveal its centrality to his world outlook ... --his pronouncements on beauty, the nature of artistic representation of reality, the function of literature, and similar matters--in order to determine and then demonstrate the coherence of this thought."--Preface.