The essays in this book, done at various times in recent history, appear herein unchanged. The introduction serves as provenance, apologia, register of afterthoughts-updatings and criticisms. Readers will surely admire given essays more than others, but any reader will have to acknowledge that in toto these essays are the end product of extensive scholarly spadework and, in the main, critical exactitude. Besides the Dostoevsky duo, there are dual comparative essays, the first an influence study and the second an affinity study. The Dickens and Kafka essays are samples from extensive work on Our Mutual Friend and Kafka's oeuvre.