Dostoevsky’s failure to fuse all these disparate elements into one properly integrated whole till very late in life resulted in an ambivalence of attitude to the problems of his day which would have been fatal to a lesser man. That it did not prove fatal is due to a combination of qualities which include sincerity, psychological insight and immense literary gifts.

As Summer Impressions owes so much to Herzen, a comparison between the two writers immediately suggests itself. At first sight, it does not favour Dostoevsky. For Dostoevsky lacks Herzen’s wit and lightness of touch, he is apt to elaborate what Herzen merely hints at; he ploughs, in fact, where Herzen sows. But then he lacks, too, Herzen’s sense of disillusionment, his scepticism and his religious agnosticism. This may be one of the reasons why, despite all Herzen’s advantages of superior wit, culture and education, it is not his but Dostoevsky’s name and Dostoevsky’s philosophy of life that has made the greater impact on humanity.

Kyril FitzLyon