Bulgakov: "The Master and Margarita" is his masterpiece.
Incidentally, the first literary allusion to Dostoevsky that I ever found was in "The Master and Margarita;" "Dostoevsky is dead!" "No, Dostoevsky is immortal!" Though I didn't begin reading his work until maybe a year or so later, that reference has always remained with me.
As for my own two cents on the question at hand, I would recommend David Foster Wallace's "Infinite Jest" if you're looking for a contemporary writer who really manages to capture a kind of abstract characterization which basically accomplishes through minimalism what Dostoevsky did with a rather different form. I think that Wallace is (was) probably one of the most tragically misunderstood writers of recent times. IJ is meant to be tragic and sad, though most people don't manage to see past the thin veneer of humour. I know that Wallace was likely influenced considerably by Dostoevsky; at the very least, he most certainly read the Joseph Frank biography and endorsed it.
Author
