Ray, you're on ground here not often trod these days. I have asked many of the questions you pose. The Brothers Karamazov is as psychologically authentic and relentless as any work I've ever encountered. Dostoevsky never lets up; he refuses to give his characters a moment of respite as he tunnels into their souls. And to think we get all this in translation - I can only imagine what it would be like if I could read Russian. The literary style with the commercial plot is one of my favorite hybrid genres, and when done at the top of the form can be sublime. Norman Mailer tried it with Tough Guys Don't Dance and failed on both accounts - underlining the difficulty of pulling off that tricky marriage. Anyway, excellent discussion and dissection of literary features and what they mean for us as we attempt to create.