A new translation of a lesser-known work catches the verve and tumult of the original, which, in concept and execution, affords a refreshingly unfamiliar glimpse of the author Oscar Wilde claimed that Humiliated and Insultedis "not at all inferior to the other great masterpieces," and Friedrich Nietzsche is said to have wept over it. Its construction is that of an intricate detective novel, and the reader is plunged into a world of moral degradation, childhood trauma, and, above all, unrequited love and irreconcilable relationships. Found at the center of the story are a young struggling author, an orphaned teenager, and a depraved aristocrat who not only foreshadows the great figures of evil in Dostoevsky's later fiction, but is a powerful and original presence in his own right. Includes photographs, a critical apparatus on Dostoevsky's life and works, an appendix on Humiliated and Insulted, anecdotes, critical perspectives, adaptations, and spin-offs.

Fyodor Dostoevsky's (1821–1881) other noted works include The Brothers Karamazov and Notes from the Underground. Ignat Avsey is an independent scholar, and a freelance translator and lecturer. His other Dostoevsky translations include The Karamazov Brothers and The Village of Stepanchikovo.