His trip to London - the stage of the first Universal Exposition - was for Dostoyevsky the revelation, below the glittering brilliance of progress represented by the Crystal Palace, of the irremediable loneliness and the resigned despair of a subjugated humanity. This illumination by the darkness found fulfilled reflection in the chapter of his novel The Brothers Karamazov dedicated to the Grand Inquisitor. In these pages of rare mastery and penetration, the object of countless interpretations to date, Dostoevsky faces crucial issues of moral, political, historical and religious importance. In the words of Gustavo Zagrebelsky, «the accusation of the Grand Inquisitor against Christ is a text that does not stop questioning us and that we ourselves do not stop questioning according to our current concerns»; a text that acts as a mirror of contemporary man, "in the light of the words of t...read more