What do we do when we have lost our way? The devil pulls us here and there and directs us everywhere. With these verses from Pushkin, and a passage from the Gospel of Luke about demons entering pigs, Dostoevsky opens his novel titled "Demons." The demons are those who struggle over Russia, not for it. In 1871, Dostoevsky published the first part of this novel, during a period of division and conflicting ideas. Socialist and anti-church ideas emerged as state power seemed weak, and Russia saw itself as lesser than Germany and the rest of Europe.

Through carefully chosen models from Russian society, many of which are based on real characters, Dostoevsky gives us a look at the Russian society of those days, the widespread debates about new ideas, the desire to see Russia among the most civilized nations, and the life of the Russian people. Discussions about literary issues, religion and faith, good and evil, aristocracy, democracy, freedom of thought, and the conflict between science and religion form the backdrop for Dostoevsky's character models.