Tolstoy or Dostoevsky  

"Dostoevsky knew the works of Sade and such classics of lechery as Therese Philosophe (Montigny's book is referred to several times in the notes for The Idiot and The Possessed). He dwelt on themes which are “decadent” in the historical and technical sense. His “proud women” are related to the femmes fatales and vampires cited in The Romantic Agony. And there are sadistic elements in Dostoevsky's treatment of sexual crime. But we must be careful to distinguish his very special handling of the Gothic conventions and to understand the part of Dostoevskyan metaphysics behind the techniques of melodrama. If we do so, it becomes difficult to accept Praz's assertion that “from Gilles de Rais to Dostoevsky the parabola of vice is always identical."" -- Tolstoy or Dostoevsky