Demons is one of Dostoevsky's four “great novels,” but is less well-known to the Western reader. In the Russian context, none of Dostoevsky's novels evoked such resonance – so many disputes, discussions, dissimilar (often mutually exclusive) judgments and assessments – and subsequently the novel was regarded as a “prophecy of Russian revolution.” The focus of our course will be the ideological content of the novel, its connection with the historical events of the era and with Dostoevsky's internal value system, the genesis of heroes and their ideas, and the system of artistic features of the novel built on an exciting, masterfully unfolded intrigue.