“ ‘Had you accepted the world and Caesar’s purple, you would have founded a universal kingdom and granted universal peace. For who shall possess mankind if not those who possess their conscience and give them their bread? And so we took Caesar’s sword, and in taking it, of course, we rejected you and followed him.’ ”

—Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Brothers Karamazov, 1880, translated by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky, 1990. The Grand Inquisitor of the Spanish Inquisition is addressing a reincarnated Jesus. This dusty old classic gets out there! I think I can detect its influence on David Foster Wallace, who mentions “The Brothers K” in Infinite Jest.