Let’s return to Dostoevsky’s style. For many, prolix, defective—and so they conclude that his work lacks technique. Children… The inaccuracy of this verdict derives from its superficiality: it only considers external aspects. What can be perceived in Dostoevsky is that, structurally, his narratives contain dramatic arcs very well prepared—and for this reason, but quoting another, Nabokov said that Dostoevsky would have been a great playwright. Going deeper into his narratives, that is, analyzing his characters individually, we notice that they, too, have arcs and transform themselves throughout the story, following the chain of events that will lead to the ending and give meaning to the work. The violence with which feelings are experienced and the impression of continuous aggravation that we get when we go through Dostoevsky’s pages would never occur if Dostoevsky did not conduct the narrative intelligently, fulfilling a methodical structural planning conceived precisely to enhance and dramatize the elements of the story. To say that Dostoevsky lacks technique is to assert, not fearing ridicule, that several of the most moving works of universal literature have come out of luck.
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