The Gambler [with Biographical Introduction]

The single most common mark of a Fyodor Dostoyevsky novel is psychology—both man's psychology in and of itself and the shaping force of psychology in man's life. This emerges from Dostoyevsky's own psychological suffering throughout his life.

Camus was concerned with the overwhelming vein of absurdity running through human life in the absence of a God. His principal exploration of the absurd was in terms of suicide—whether or not there is any point or value in killing oneself in an absurd universe.

Dostoyevsky doesn't intend to suggest the narrator is justified and correct in his cynicism and misery; he merely seems to point out that at least considering despair as a sane option to a harsh world is as healthy as any other option.

Existentialism is not easy to define, but its most prominent characteristic is questioning the purpose of life. This question is posed in different ways by different authors.