MAGOOSH Official Explanation:
“Populace” is a singular collective noun and should therefore take the pronoun “it” not them. Also, the two actions “to edify” and “to lead” are closely related, one following from the other. The “and” makes them seem too distinct and thus slightly changes the original. Be wary of mechanically choosing parallelism.
Finally the correct idiom is “sought to” not “sought in”.
(A)correctly uses the pronoun “it” and draws attention to the interconnectedness of the two actions by repeating the “to”. Such structure is rare in GMAT and will likely be found only at the higher levels of SC.
(B) “them” incorrectly refers to “populace”. Also, “leading them” should modify Dostoevsky, but since it is not separated from “populace” by a comma, it implies that “populace” is doing the leading.
(C)“them” incorrectly refers in number to “populace”. “In the edification of” is not concise. “Sought in” is also wrong.
(D)“Sought in” is incorrect. Also, “sought in edifying” does not create a proper verb phrase to modify the subject Dostoevsky, resulting in the lack of an actual sentence.
(E) “them” is incorrect. “In the leading of them” is not concise.