'I could see that she was still terribly afraid; but I didn't soften anything; instead; seeing that she was afraid I deliberately intensified it.' In this short story; Dostoyevsky masterfully depicts desperation; greed; manipulation and suicide. Introducing Little Black Classics: 80 books for Penguin's 80th birthday. Little Black Classics celebrate the huge range and diversity of Penguin Classics; with books from around the world and across many centuries. They take us from a balloon ride over Victorian London to a garden of blossom in Japan; from Tierra del Fuego to 16th-century California and the Russian steppe. Here are stories lyrical and savage; poems epic and intimate; essays satirical and inspirational; and ideas that have shaped the lives of millions. Fyodor Dostoyevsky (1821-1881). Dostoyevsky's works available in Penguin Classics are Crime and Punishment; The Idiot; The Double; The Gambler and Other Stories; The Grand Inquisitor; Notes From The Underground; Netochka Nezvanova; The House of The Dead; The Brothers Karamazov and The Village of Stepanchikovo.