Dostoevsky quote

[Russell Valentino]

Dear Colleagues,

A student question brought to my attention a website,
http://www.tassos-oak.com/extras/soundbite.html, which is devoted to
showing the benefits of the internet in demonstrating how Dostoevsky never
actually wrote the phrase, "If God does not exist, everything is
permitted." Since most "great books" can now be found online, the argument
goes, "it is no longer necessary to propagate such errors, and writers of
honesty should no longer do so." There are many problems with this line of
argument, of course, but I'm more interested in the attribution of the
phrase itself.

As I understand it, the statement is not a quote but a paraphrase of Ivan's
claims (as relayed by Miusov) in Book II, Chapter 6 ("Zachem zhivet takoi
chelovek!") of the Brothers K: "... unichtozh'te v chelovechestve veru v
svoe bessmertie, v nem totchas zhe issiaknet ne tol'ko liubov', no i
vsiakaia zhivaia sila, chtoby prodolzhat' mirovuiu zhizn'. Malo togo: togda
nichego uzhe ne budet beznravstvennogo, vso budet pozvoleno, dazhe
antropofagiia" (pp. 64-5 of Vol. 14 of the 30 vol. Nauka ed.).

I am wondering, however, whether there is a more direct statement somewhere
else, not in the book as published perhaps, but in one of the notebooks or
drafts or in another source altogether.

Can anyone help with this?

Thanks in advance.

Russell Valentino

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