Dostoevsky left this world on January 28, 1881, shortly before the assassination of Tsar Alexander II, which was organized and executed by the Social Revolutionaries on March 1 in St. Petersburg.

It was the first thunderbolt of a storm that had been gathering during the last quarter of the century and was destined to break out at the beginning of the next. Dostoevsky carried within him the element of this storm, the element of this infinite unrest, even though he was, or tried to appear, like the stronghold of perfect calm.

It was the Revolution under the mask of reaction. He was the prophet of the Russian Revolution. But, as often happens with prophets, the true meaning of his prophecies remained hidden even from him.

[Excerpt from the text on the back cover of the edition]