If it is true that great art comes from great suffering, then the art of Fyodor Dostoevsky (1821-81) must be truly great indeed. The second of seven children, he developed epilepsy at a young age and was ruled over by a drunken, violent father. From this harsh childhood, to his brief forays in the army, through the years of exile and imprisonment in Siberia, Dostoevsky’s troubled life shaped his character and art in profound ways. Robert Bird traces Dostoevsky’s path from a political revolutionary to one who fought his battles through the printed word.