Argues that twentieth-century adaptations of four of Dostoevsky's works - Sergei Prokofiev's opera The Gambler, Leos Janacek's opera From the Dead House, Akira Kurosawa's film The Idiot, and Adrzej Wajda's drama The Devils - bring to light under developed or unappreciated aspects of Dostoevsky's texts rather than by slavishly attempting to recreate their sources.