Abstract Why we still read Dostoevsky November 2021 marked the birth bicente- nary of one of the greatest writers of world literature, F. M. Dostoevsky. The author of this presentation poses the question of appeal of his oeuvre for contemporary readers. The emphasis is laid on the an- thropocentric nature of his works, on his struggle to get close to the nature of man and the meaning of his existence, which is the driving force of Dostoevsky’s poe- tics. That poetics treats on equal terms ex- pressive dialogs, nonverbal communica- tion, dreams, reminiscences, hallucinati- ons, and allusions to works of world litera- ture as well as visual arts. These in turn are used as a lens which allows to see the outer world with more clarity. As far as the Czech literature is concerned, the legacy of Do- stoevsky is refl ected in the works of J. S. Machar, E. Hostovský, and E. Bondy.