The most important turning point in his life was his imprisonment at the age of 27 shortly before which his writing career began. During imprisonment, he used to read the Bible and other great French works. The inner enlightenment that dawned upon him during the period was to lead him to the pinnacle of literary creativity in his later life. His experience and impressions during imprisonment reflect into his characters both in terms of personality and ideology.

Most important and the greatest works of Dostoevsky were during the period 1866 to 1881 which included ‘Crime And Punishment’ (1866) ‘The Idiot’ (1868), ‘The Possessed (1872), The Brothers Karamazov (1880).

Crime And Punishment

Crime And Punishment is the story of a young student, Raskolnikov ,who commits a murder on principle. From the complex motives which he himself finds it difficult to analyze, he murders an old woman money lender together with her sister who unexpectedly appeared in the scene while the act was being committed.

The publication of Crime and Punishment made Dostoevsky one of the world’s greatest novelists. In this novel he has closely and completely reasoned out the problems of life and philosophy.

Dostoevsky’s one of the most important, meticulous fictional work was Crime and Punishment. It was published first in the Journal The Russian Messenger. His original plan was to name it ‘The Drunkards’ but the theme of drunkenness had a minor role to play in the final version. According to Dostoevsky it was a psychological account of a crime. A young man expelled from the university, convinced by his frail and unfinished ideas decides to kill an old woman. The old woman is portrayed in bad shade in order to convince himself and the readers alike, a façade for the killing of the old lady. "Why does she live?" "Is she useful to anyone at all?" he ponders. But in the end the criminal regrets the deed and accepts suffering. Dostoevsky’s position as a leading Russian writer was restored despite unfavorable reaction from the liberal press, which proves the novel’s popularity.

It was written 20 years after his arrest and imprisonment. This story of an execution told by the character Prince Myshkin resembles Dostoevsky’s own experiences. The thoughts before the last minute of death sentence are most terrible and nagging, "what if I didn’t have to die…I would turn every minute into an age, nothing would be wasted, every minute would be accounted for ….." With this came a new outlook towards life for Dostoevsky and better use of time became his motive in life. "When I look back on my past and think how much time I wasted on nothing, how many times I sinned against my heart and soul, then my heart bleeds. Life is a gift, Life is happiness, and every minute can be an eternity of happiness." The two moral values, which struck   to Dostoevsky, were unconditional love and forgiveness, which renewed his appreciation for life.