FEDOR MIKHAILOVICH DOSTOEVSKY
Born in Moscow. Father, Mikhail Andreevich (1789-1839), was a doctor (head doctor) at the Moscow Mariinsky Hospital for the Poor, and in 1828 received the title of hereditary nobleman. In 1831 he acquired the village of Darovoye, Kashira district, Tula province, and in 1833 the neighboring village of Chermoshnya. In raising his children, the father was an independent, educated, caring family man, but had a quick-tempered and suspicious character. After the death of his wife in 1837, he retired and settled in Darovo. According to documents, he died of apoplexy; according to the recollections of relatives and oral traditions, he was killed by his peasants. Mother, Maria Fedorovna (née Nechaeva; 1800-1837). There were six more children in the Dostoevsky family: Mikhail, Varvara (1822-1893), Andrei, Vera (1829-1896), Nikolai (1831-1883), Alexandra (1835-1889).
In 1833, Dostoevsky was sent to half board by N.I. Drashusov; he and his brother Mikhail went there “daily in the morning and returned by lunchtime.” From the autumn of 1834 to the spring of 1837, Dostoevsky attended the private boarding school of L. I. Chermak, where astronomer D. M. Perevoshchikov and paleologist A. M. Kubarev taught. Russian language teacher N.I. Bilevich played a certain role in Dostoevsky’s spiritual development. Memories of the boarding school served as material for many of the writer’s works.
Having had a hard time surviving the death of her mother, which coincided with the news of the death of A.S. Pushkin (which he perceived as a personal loss), Dostoevsky in May 1837 traveled with his brother Mikhail to St. Petersburg and entered the preparatory boarding school K.F. Kostomarova. At the same time, he met I. N. Shidlovsky, whose religious and romantic mood captivated Dostoevsky. From January 1838, Dostoevsky studied at the Main Engineering School, where he described a typical day as follows: “... from early morning until evening, we in the classrooms barely have time to follow the lectures. ... We are sent to training, we are given fencing and dancing lessons , singing...they are put on guard, and all the time passes in this way...". The difficult impression of the “hard labor years” of the training was partially brightened by friendly relations with V. Grigorovich, doctor A.E. Riesenkampf, duty officer A.I. Savelyev, artist K.A. Trutovsky.
Even on the way to St. Petersburg, Dostoevsky mentally “composed a novel from Venetian life,” and in 1838 Riesenkampf spoke “about his own literary experiences.” A literary circle is formed around Dostoevsky at the school. On February 16, 1841, at an evening given by his brother Mikhail on the occasion of his departure to Revel, Dostoevsky read excerpts from two of his dramatic works- “Mary Stuart” and “Boris Godunov”.
Dostoevsky informed his brother about his work on the drama “The Jew Yankel” in January 1844. The manuscripts of the dramas have not survived, but the literary hobbies of the aspiring writer emerge from their titles: Schiller, Pushkin, Gogol. After the death of his father, the relatives of the writer's mother took care of Dostoevsky's younger brothers and sisters, and Fyodor and Mikhail received a small inheritance. After graduating from college (end of 1843), he was enlisted as a field engineer-second lieutenant in the St. Petersburg engineering team, but already in the early summer of 1844, having decided to devote himself entirely to literature, he resigned and was discharged with the rank of lieutenant.
In January 1844, Dostoevsky completed the translation of Balzac's story "Eugene Grande", which he was especially keen on at that time. The translation became Dostoevsky's first published literary work. In 1844 he began and in May 1845, after numerous alterations, he completed the novel “Poor People.”
The novel "Poor People", whose connection with " Stationmaster" Pushkin and Gogol's "Overcoat" were emphasized by Dostoevsky himself, which was an exceptional success. Based on the traditions of the physiological essay, Dostoevsky creates a realistic picture of the life of the "downtrodden" inhabitants of the "St. Petersburg corners", a gallery of social types from the street beggar to "his excellency."
Dostoevsky spent the summer of 1845 (as well as the next) in Reval with his brother Mikhail. In the fall of 1845, upon returning to St. Petersburg, he often met with Belinsky. In October, the writer, together with Nekrasov and Grigorovich, compiled an anonymous program announcement for the almanac “Zuboskal” (03, 1845, No. 11), and in early December, at an evening with Belinsky, he read the chapters of “The Double” (03, 1846, No. 2), in which for the first time gives a psychological analysis of split consciousness, “dualism”.
The story "Mr. Prokharchin" (1846) and the story "The Mistress" (1847), in which many of the motives, ideas and characters of Dostoevsky's works of the 1860-1870s were outlined, were not understood by modern criticism. Belinsky also radically changed his attitude towards Dostoevsky, condemning the “fantastic” element, “pretentiousness”, “manneredness” of these works. In other works young Dostoevsky- in the stories “Weak Heart”, “White Nights”, the cycle of acute socio-psychological feuilletons “The Petersburg Chronicle” and the unfinished novel “Netochka Nezvanova” - the problems of the writer’s work expand, psychologism intensifies with a characteristic emphasis on the analysis of the most complex, elusive internal phenomena.
At the end of 1846, there was a cooling in the relations between Dostoevsky and Belinsky. Later, he had a conflict with the editors of Sovremennik: Dostoevsky’s suspicious, proud character played a big role here. The ridicule of the writer by recent friends (especially Turgenev, Nekrasov), the harsh tone of Belinsky’s critical reviews of his works were acutely felt by the writer. Around this time, according to the testimony of Dr. S.D. Yanovsky, Dostoevsky showed the first symptoms of epilepsy. The writer is burdened by exhausting work for "Notes of the Fatherland". Poverty forced him to take on any job literary work(in particular, he edited articles for the “Reference Encyclopedic Dictionary” by A.V. Starchevsky).
In 1846, Dostoevsky became close to the Maykov family, regularly visited the literary and philosophical circle of the Beketov brothers, in which V. Maykov was the leader, and A.N. was the regular participants. Maikov and A.N. Pleshcheev are friends of Dostoevsky. From March-April 1847 Dostoevsky became a visitor to the “Fridays” of M.V. Butashevich-Petrashevsky. He also participates in the organization of a secret printing house for printing appeals to peasants and soldiers. Dostoevsky's arrest occurred on April 23, 1849; his archive was taken away during his arrest and probably destroyed in the III department. Dostoevsky spent 8 months in the Alekseevsky ravelin of the Peter and Paul Fortress under investigation, during which he showed courage, hiding many facts and trying, if possible, to mitigate the guilt of his comrades. He was recognized by the investigation as “one of the most important” among the Petrashevites, guilty of “intent to overthrow existing domestic laws and public order.” The initial verdict of the military judicial commission read: "... retired engineer-lieutenant Dostoevsky, for failure to report the distribution of a criminal letter about religion and government by the writer Belinsky and the malicious writing of lieutenant Grigoriev, to be deprived of his ranks, all rights of state and subjected to the death penalty by shooting." On December 22, 1849, Dostoevsky, along with others, awaited the execution of the death sentence on the Semyonovsky parade ground. According to the resolution of Nicholas I, his execution was replaced by 4 years of hard labor with the deprivation of “all rights of state” and subsequent surrender as a soldier.
On the night of December 24, Dostoevsky was sent from St. Petersburg in chains. On January 10, 1850 he arrived in Tobolsk, where in the caretaker’s apartment the writer met with the wives of the Decembrists - P.E. Annenkova, A.G. Muravyova and N.D. Fonvizina; they gave him the Gospel, which he kept all his life. From January 1850 to 1854, Dostoevsky, together with Durov, served hard labor as a “laborer” in the Omsk fortress. In January 1854, he was enlisted as a private in the 7th Line Battalion (Semipalatinsk) and was able to resume correspondence with his brother Mikhail and A. Maikov. In November 1855, Dostoevsky was promoted to non-commissioned officer, and after much trouble from prosecutor Wrangel and other Siberian and St. Petersburg acquaintances (including E.I. Totleben) to warrant officer; in the spring of 1857, the writer was returned to hereditary nobility and the right to publish, but police surveillance over him remained until 1875.
In 1857 Dostoevsky married the widowed M.D. Isaeva, who, in his words, was “a woman of the most sublime and enthusiastic soul... An idealist in the full sense of the word... she was both pure and naive, and she was just like a child.” The marriage was not happy: Isaeva agreed after much hesitation that tormented Dostoevsky. In Siberia, the writer began work on his memoirs about hard labor (the “Siberian” notebook, containing folklore, ethnographic and diary entries, served as a source for “Notes from House of the Dead"and many other books by Dostoevsky). In 1857, his brother published the story "The Little Hero", written by Dostoevsky in the Peter and Paul Fortress. Having created two "provincial" comic stories - "Uncle's Dream" and "The Village of Stepanchikovo and Its Inhabitants", Dostoevsky entered through brother Mikhail in negotiations with M.N. Katkov, Nekrasov, A.A. Kraevsky. However, modern criticism did not appreciate these first works of the “new” Dostoevsky and passed them over almost completely.
On March 18, 1859, Dostoevsky, at the request, was dismissed “due to illness” with the rank of second lieutenant and received permission to live in Tver (with a ban on entry into the St. Petersburg and Moscow provinces). On July 2, 1859, he left Semipalatinsk with his wife and stepson. From 1859 - in Tver, where he renewed his previous literary acquaintances and made new ones. Later, the chief of gendarmes notified the Tver governor about permission for Dostoevsky to live in St. Petersburg, where he arrived in December 1859.
Dostoevsky’s intensive activity combined editorial work on “other people’s” manuscripts with the publication of his own articles, polemical notes, notes, and most importantly works of art. The novel “The Humiliated and Insulted” is a transitional work, a kind of return at a new stage of development to the motives of creativity of the 1840s, enriched by the experience of what was experienced and felt in the 1850s; it has very strong autobiographical motives. At the same time, the novel contained the features of the plots, style and characters of the works of the late Dostoevsky. "Notes from the House of the Dead" was a huge success.
The owner of the Russian Land is only Russian.
So it was, is and will be.
Fyodor Dostoevsky is a great Russian writer who has received great worldwide recognition. Abroad, people even specifically study Russian in order to read its books in the original.
The writer's childhood and youth
He was the second son in the family, born in 1821, 10/30 (11/11), in Moscow, at the Mariinsky Hospital for the Poor. His father worked at this hospital as a staff physician. In 1828, the father received hereditary nobility. Mother was of merchant origin.
Fedor began studying at an early age. The future writer was taught the alphabet by his mother, and Drashusova taught him French at half board. Loved reading Pushkin and Scott. In 1834, together with his brother Mikhail, he entered the Chermak boarding school, where he became very interested in literature.
When the writer was 16, his mother died, which undoubtedly affected his morale. At the same time, Fedor entered the St. Petersburg Engineering School. In St. Petersburg, among his classmates, he acquired a reputation as an “unsociable person.”
In 1841 Dostoevsky became an officer. In 1843 he graduated from college and joined the St. Petersburg engineering team, where he worked in the drawing department. A year later he resigns and decides to make a living exclusively through creativity.
Biography
At the beginning of his creative path, ends up in Belinsky’s circle, where he was well received in the new team. However, Dostoevsky’s relationship with the circle soon deteriorated. It is worth noting that it was not without reason that he was a member of Belinsky’s circle. In my youth I was an opponent royal power, he was attracted by the ideas of socialism. Due to Fyodor Mikhailovich's involvement in the Petrashevsky case, he was arrested.
The future classic of Russian literature spent eight months in the Peter and Paul Fortress. He was supposed to be executed, but at the last moment the sentence was commuted, and he went to hard labor. Fyodor Mikhailovich spent four years in Omsk, in " Dead House" It is worth saying that, despite the fact that he was in hard labor, his attitude towards the tsarist power changed greatly, and for the better. Dostoevsky entered our history as an ideological monarchist and a Slavophile who sang the virtues of the Russian people.
In 1854, after completing his term of hard labor, he was enlisted as a private in the Siberian linear regiment. A few years later he was restored to his rights, which he had been deprived of during the investigation, and received the rank of warrant officer. A little later he retired. He lives abroad for some time, where he continues to engage in creativity and improve his personal life.
Fyodor Mikhailovich died in 1881, on February 28 (02/09) as a result of a rupture of the pulmonary artery. His death excited the whole of St. Petersburg. The city mourned the death of the writer. Even deputies took part in the funeral procession. Buried in the Necropolis of Masters of Arts of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra. The monument to Dostoevsky was erected in 1883.
Family
Fyodor Mikhailovich was married twice. The first wife, Maria Dmitrievna Isaeva, died in 1864), they got married in 1857. We lived together for 7 years, there were no children. Anna Grigorievna Snitkina - the writer’s second wife, got married in 1867. Children were born: Sofia, Lyubov, Fedor, Alexey.
Creativity of Dostoevsky
The author of many novels that are read all over the world, Dostoevsky is a recognized classic. Great master psychological novel. He had a hard time life path, thanks to which he was able to write such wonderful works.
In Petrashevsky's circle, Fyodor Mikhailovich went through the temptation of violent change in society, and in hard labor he knew all the hardships prison life, was one step away from death... Having experienced all this, the writer was able to acutely feel the danger of the power of an idea over a person.
At the center of his novels, as a rule, is a mysterious person obsessed with a certain idea. Often these theorists themselves become victims of their ideas. So it was with our hero himself, who was in hard labor...
Fyodor Mikhailovich is the author of such works as “Poor People”, “Idiot”, “Crime and Punishment”, “Demons”, “The Brothers Karamazov”, “The Humiliated and Insulted”, “The Gambler”
- Dostoevsky was fond of gambling- cards, casino;
- He visited the Optina Hermitage and saw Elder Ambrose.
- In Tobolsk, during hard labor, the wives of the Decembrists gave Fyodor Mikhailovich the “Gospel”. Until his death, the writer did not leave this shrine.
He was born into a noble family. His father wanted his son to become a military man. But he longed for the fame of a writer. When he was already an accomplished prose writer, he ended up in Siberia, in hard labor. After that I started from scratch new life. He was considered a preacher, and his works still seem topical. You will learn briefly about the life and work of Dostoevsky from our story. This is a truly brilliant writer and thinker... Dostoevsky’s work (we will briefly describe it in the article) gained its greatest fame after his death. But first things first.
First shock
Fyodor Dostoevsky, whose biography and work became the subject of our review, was born in the capital into a larger family. The year was 1821. His father was a doctor, and seven years after the writer's birth he was given the title of hereditary nobleman. As for the mother of the future prose writer, she grew up among the Moscow merchants.
Dostoevsky received excellent education. At first, his mother taught him to read. In fact, in the parents' house they often quoted aloud the works of famous authors, among whom were N. Karamzin, G. Derzhavin, V. Zhukovsky and, of course, A. Pushkin.
Since the mother of the future writer was a very religious woman, every year she tried to take her children to the Trinity-Sergius Lavra. According to Dostoevsky's memoirs, he was shocked by the reading of Scripture. But most of all he liked the Old Testament “Book of Job.”
At the boarding house
In 1831, the writer’s father acquired a small village near Tula, and the whole family spent every summer there.
Dostoevsky believed that his childhood was the most the best times in life. He constantly met and talked with peasants. And these conversations later became the creative basis for future novels.
Meanwhile, his father taught Latin to his eldest sons Feodor and Mikhail. This home education was then continued. For the writer’s father hired professional teachers who taught Dostoevsky French, literature and mathematics.
Over the next four years, brothers Mikhail and Fedor studied at a prestigious Moscow boarding school. However, the atmosphere of these institutions, as well as the isolation from the family, caused a painful reaction in the future writer.
In 1837, Dostoevsky's mother died of consumption. And after that the father sent the older brothers to northern capital so that they continue their education. They studied at the boarding school of K. Kostomarov. Teachers prepared them for admission to one of the engineering schools. The brothers never met their father again. He died in 1839.
Studying at an engineering school
While still at the Kostomarov boarding school, the brothers expressed a desire to study literature. But the father believed that writing could not ensure their future. That is why he insisted that his sons enter engineering school.
As a result, the brothers began studying at this institution. The service weighed heavily on them. According to the writer’s recollections, he hated drill and disciplines that were alien to him. He tried to remain reserved, but at the same time he impressed his colleagues with his erudition. In his free time, he continued to read and knew almost all of Pushkin’s works by heart.
In addition, young Dostoevsky himself began to write at night. And after some time, he and his friends organized their own literary circle.
When the future writer graduated from college, he literally immediately decided to resign. Thus, being a lieutenant, in 1844 he completely devoted himself to creativity. You will read briefly about Dostoevsky's work below.
First success
The writer entered the literary field with a translation of Balzac’s “Eugene Grande.” At the same time, he translated books by J. Sand and Eugene Sue. True, these novels were not published.
At the same time, Dostoevsky began working on his first book, Poor People. Subsequently, Nekrasov admired her. He claimed that the young author was the new Gogol. The poet also gave the manuscript to the famous critic V. Belinsky, who also really liked the novel.
As a result, the book was published in 1846 and caused lively discussions. Reviewers noted the young author's mistakes, but at the same time recognized his enormous talent. And Belinsky even predicted a great future for the writer.
By the way, critics correctly noticed a certain connection between “Poor People” and Gogol’s “The Overcoat”. The theme of the young Fyodor Dostoevsky is “ little man” found completely new twists.
First defeat
Dostoevsky's early work did not find great recognition. Having entered Belinsky's circle, the writer met prominent authors of that era, among whom were I. Turgenev, V. Odoevsky, I. Panaev.
At the end of 1845, Dostoevsky presented a new story called “The Double.” At first Belinsky was more than interested in this work, but was subsequently greatly disappointed by it. There was a cooling in the relationship between them.
In addition, Turgenev and Nekrasov openly ridiculed the morbid suspiciousness of the aspiring writer.
As a result, Dostoevsky was forced to agree to almost any literary work, which he experienced greatly. He also showed the very first symptoms of epilepsy, which subsequently tormented him all his life.
In the Petrashevtsev circle
In 1847, the writer became close to M. Petrashevsky and his entourage. He regularly visited the so-called. “Friday” of the leader of this movement. The meetings were clearly political in nature. “Petrashevtsy” touched upon issues related to the liberation of peasants, judicial reform and censorship. In addition, members of the society distributed the works of French socialists and a number of articles by the disgraced A. Herzen.
The next year, F. M. Dostoevsky, whose work was still not recognized, became a member of a special secret society. It was organized by one of the most radical Petrashevists, N. Speshnev. In addition, the ideologist of this organization had enormous influence on the writer. The main goal of society was a coup d'état.
In 1849, the conspiracy was discovered, and all the Petrashevites, including Dostoevsky, were arrested and imprisoned in the Peter and Paul Fortress.
Let us note right away: the overwhelming majority of researchers believe that one of the main characters of the novel “Demons” Verkhovensky is endowed with obvious features of M. Petrashevsky...
Siberian Golgotha
Dostoevsky spent eight months in the fortress. During this time, he was even able to write a story called “Little Hero.”
When it ended trial, the writer was found guilty and sentenced to death. But already on the scaffold the execution was replaced by four years of hard labor. At the same time, Dostoevsky was deprived of all rights and subsequently he had to be handed over as a soldier.
The writer served his term in Omsk. His emotional turmoil and reflections in prison became the basis for a new biographical work. It's about about the novel “Notes from the House of the Dead.” This tragic book amazed all readers with the fortitude and courage of the prose writer.
Return
In 1854, Dostoevsky began serving as an ordinary soldier, but a year later he was promoted to non-commissioned officer, and then to ensign. After some time, he was returned to the title of nobleman and given the opportunity to publish officially. During this period, he wrote two books, including “The Village of Stepanchikovo and its Inhabitants.” In fact, in this work the main features of future famous novels were already outlined, where there was a tragic course of events, a complex psychological picture and theatricalization of the action itself.
Unfortunately, readers were not imbued with Dostoevsky’s idea in “The Village of Stepanchikovo.” Interest in this work arose much later.
In 1859, the writer was allowed to live in Tver, and he resigned from service. Soon he returned to the northern capital. With his brother Mikhail, he began to engage in publishing activities. They created the magazine "Time", and then - "Epoch". Dostoevsky both edited and wrote. Polemical notes, journalistic articles and, of course, works of art appeared from his pen.
Also on the pages of the publication the writer began to print his new novel entitled "Humiliated and Offended". Alas, due to the abundance of mystery and chaotic composition, critics rated this work low. But when he wrote the story “Notes from Underground,” readers put him on a pedestal.
Under the yoke of debt
In the mid-60s, Mikhail Dostoevsky died suddenly. The writer decided to assume all obligations and debts associated with the work of his magazine. After some time, subscriptions to the publication also decreased. Then Fyodor Dostoevsky entered into an unfavorable agreement for him to publish his collected works. In addition, he promised to write a completely new work by a certain date. This means “Crime and Punishment”.
Modern readers associate Dostoevsky’s work with this novel. He had been nurturing the main ideas of this book for a long time. The work, in fact, summed up the creativity of those years. The author decided to make a murderer and a sinful woman the main characters of his creation. As a result, the book was a huge success.
In addition, at the same time, Dostoevsky worked on another work - “The Gambler”. The fact is that, while living in Europe at that time, he accumulated a huge amount of debt while playing roulette. And to pay off his creditors, he must write a novel in record time. The most amazing thing: he completed the book in 21 days!
The era of brilliant novels
In the late 70s of the 19th century, Dostoevsky wrote another novel, “The Idiot.” According to him, the main task of the work is to depict an exclusively ideal person, to reveal his image as deeply as possible. Dostoevsky's work, in particular this novel, interested readers. In the work main character Prince Myshkin personified mercy and forgiveness, but at the same time he himself could not withstand the clash with the anger and hatred of society. In fact, this work is one of the writer’s most complex novels.
After this, Dostoevsky published another book - “Demons”. According to the author’s recollections, he was impressed by the terrorist activities of S. Nechaev and his “People’s Retribution” society. Critics believed that the novel was an ordinary anti-nihilistic work. At the same time, they did not notice its tragic meaning and prophetic depth.
“The Teenager” was also released in 1875. Creation was written in the form of a confession young man. Well, the writer’s lifetime fame reached its apogee after the release of The Brothers Karamazov...
Last work
Since 1873, the writer headed the publication “Citizen”. In addition to his immediate responsibilities as an editor, he began to publish his own essays and feuilletons. This is how the so-called "A Writer's Diary". On its pages he talked about his impressions of the most important events in the country. This work was a great success. A number of readers began to correspond with the author.
Perhaps the apogee of his fame was his performance at the opening of the monument to A.S. Pushkin in 1880. This speech caused a tremendous resonance. In fact, it was the testament of the great writer.
The death of a genius
At the beginning of January 1881, Dostoevsky shared with a friend the premonition that he would not be able to survive the current winter. Three weeks later, his emphysema worsened, and two days later the brilliant writer died.
According to eyewitnesses, the funeral procession to the cemetery stretched for a mile. And the coffin with the writer’s body was carried in their arms.
He was buried in the graveyard of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra in the northern capital.
And although Dostoevsky gained fame during his lifetime, real fame came to him only after his death. But we'll talk about this a little later.
In the bosom of the family
The writer was married twice. The first marriage lasted seven years. They had no children. After some time, Dostoevsky married again. He had just completed his novel The Gambler. His chosen one was twenty-year-old stenographer Anna. Dostoevsky at this time was experiencing serious financial difficulties. He paid off debts, supported his stepson and helped the family of his brother Mikhail. But at the same time, he did not know how to handle money at all. And Anna began to manage financial affairs.
When Dostoevsky died, she began collecting all the documents related to her husband’s activities and began publishing his works.
The successor of the Dostoevsky family was the writer's namesake - son Fyodor.
Posthumous fame
As mentioned above, Dostoevsky was recognized during his lifetime, but his greatest success came several decades after his death. He became a classic of Russian literature. The stages of Dostoevsky’s work are studied by modern schoolchildren, and literary critics are interested in them. His legacy has always been assessed differently. Thus, Nietzsche believed that the writer was the only psychological author. Freud put him on the same level as Shakespeare. Einstein admitted that the creativity of a writer gives him more than any scientist.
On the other hand, the leader of the October Revolution, Vladimir Lenin, called Dostoevsky “arch-nasty,” and Nobel laureate Ivan Bunin also echoed these words. Maxim Gorky believed that the writer was a real “evil genius.” And N. Mikhailovsky completely argued that the characters of the prose writer are mentally ill people, and all his works have absolutely no artistic value.
Such assessments of the writer’s work continue to exist today.
At the same time, the analysis of Dostoevsky’s novels was carried out by many famous critics and researchers. Such first works were done in the 20s of the last century. In 1929, the brilliant culturologist and philosopher M. Bakhtin published a book entitled “Problems of Dostoevsky’s Creativity.” He believed that the writer had created a completely new artistic model of the world. In a word, the number of admirers of the prose writer grew every year. And in the 70s, the International Dostoevsky Society began to function. By the way, it still exists...
We can talk about the life and work of Dostoevsky for a long time. In order to understand and comprehend his brilliant ideas, it is worth getting acquainted with his works. Happy reading!
Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky was born on November 11, 1821 in Moscow. His father Mikhail Andreevich came from the family of nobles Dostoevsky of the Radvan coat of arms. He received medical education and worked in the Borodino Infantry Regiment, the Moscow Military Hospital, and also in the Mariinsky Hospital for the poor. The mother of the future famous writer, Nechaeva Maria Fedorovna, was the daughter of a capital merchant.
Fedor's parents were not rich people, but they worked tirelessly to provide for their family and give their children a good education. Subsequently, Dostoevsky admitted more than once that he was immensely grateful to his father and mother for their excellent upbringing and education, which cost them hard work.
The boy was taught to read by his mother; she used the book “104 Sacred Stories of the Old and New Testaments” for this purpose. This is partly why in Dostoevsky’s famous book “The Brothers Karamazov” the character Zosima says in one of the dialogues that in childhood he learned to read from this book.
Young Fyodor mastered his reading skills from the biblical Book of Job, which was also reflected in his subsequent works: the writer used his thoughts about this book when creating the famous novel “The Teenager.” The father also contributed to his son's education, teaching him Latin.
In total, seven children were born into the Dostoevsky family. So, Fyodor had an older brother, Mikhail, with whom he was especially close, and an older sister. Moreover, he had younger brothers Andrey and Nikolay, as well as younger sisters Vera and Alexandra.
In their youth, Mikhail and Fedor were taught at home by N.I. Drashusov, teacher at the Alexander and Catherine schools. With his help, the eldest sons of the Dostoevskys studied French, and the sons of the teacher, A.N. Drashusov and V.N. Drashusov, taught the boys mathematics and literature, respectively. In the period from 1834 to 1837, Fedor and Mikhail continued their studies at the capital's boarding school L.I. Chermak, which was then a very prestigious educational institution.
In 1837, a terrible thing happened: Maria Feodorovna Dostoevskaya died of consumption. Fedor was only 16 years old at the time of his mother’s death. Left without a wife, Dostoevsky Sr. decided to send Fyodor and Mikhail to St. Petersburg, to the boarding house of K.F. Kostomarova. The father wanted the boys to subsequently enter the Main Engineering School. It is interesting that both of Dostoevsky’s eldest sons at that time were fond of literature and wanted to devote their lives to it, but their father did not take their hobby seriously.
The boys did not dare to contradict their father’s will. Fyodor Mikhailovich successfully completed his studies at the boarding school, entered the school and graduated from it, but he devoted all his free time to reading. , Hoffmann, Byron, Goethe, Schiller, Racine - he devoured the works of all these famous authors, instead of enthusiastically comprehending the basics of engineering science.
In 1838, Dostoevsky and his friends even organized their own literary circle at the Main Engineering School, which, in addition to Fyodor Mikhailovich, included Grigorovich, Beketov, Vitkovsky, Berezhetsky. Even then, the writer began to create his first works, but still did not dare to finally take the path of a writer. Having completed his studies in 1843, he even received the position of engineer-second lieutenant in the St. Petersburg engineering team, but did not last long in the service. In 1844, he decided to focus exclusively on literature and resigned.
The beginning of a creative journey
Although the family did not approve of young Fedor’s decisions, he diligently began to pore over the works he had begun earlier and develop ideas for new ones. The year 1944 was marked for the aspiring writer with the release of his first book, “Poor People.” The success of the work exceeded all the author's expectations. Critics and writers highly appreciated Dostoevsky's novel; the themes raised in the book found a response in the hearts of many readers. Fyodor Mikhailovich was accepted into the so-called “Belinsky circle”, they began to call him “the new Gogol”.
The book “Double”: first and modern edition The success did not last long. About a year later, Dostoevsky presented the book “The Double” to the public, but it turned out to be incomprehensible to most admirers of the talent of the young genius. The writer's delight and praise gave way to criticism, dissatisfaction, disappointment and sarcasm. Subsequently, writers appreciated the innovation of this work, its difference from the novels of those years, but at the time of the book’s publication almost no one felt this.
Soon Dostoevsky quarreled with and was expelled from the “Belinsky circle”, and also quarreled with N.A. Nekrasov, editor of Sovremennik. However, the publication “Domestic Notes”, edited by Andrei Kraevsky, immediately agreed to publish his works.
Nevertheless, the phenomenal popularity that his first publication brought to Fyodor Mikhailovich allowed him to make a number of interesting and useful acquaintances in the literary circles of St. Petersburg. Many of his new acquaintances partly became prototypes for various characters in the author’s subsequent works.
Arrest and hard labor
Fateful for the writer was his acquaintance with M.V. Petrashevsky in 1846. Petrashevsky organized so-called “Fridays,” during which the abolition of serfdom, freedom of printing, progressive changes in the judicial system and other similar issues were discussed.
During meetings, one way or another connected with the Petrashevites, Dostoevsky also met the communist Speshnev. In 1848, he organized a secret society of 8 people (including himself and Fyodor Mikhailovich), which advocated a coup in the country and the creation of an illegal printing house. At meetings of the society, Dostoevsky repeatedly read “Belinsky’s Letter to Gogol,” which was then prohibited.
In the same year, 1848, Fyodor Mikhailovich’s novel “White Nights” was published, but, alas, he did not manage to enjoy the well-deserved fame. Those same connections with radical youth played against the writer, and on April 23, 1849, he was arrested, like many other Petrashevites. Dostoevsky denied his guilt, but Belinsky’s “criminal” letter was also remembered, and on November 13, 1849, the writer was sentenced to death. Before that, he languished in prison for eight months in the Peter and Paul Fortress.
Fortunately for Russian literature, the cruel sentence for Fyodor Mikhailovich was not carried out. On November 19, the Auditor General considered him not to be guilty of Dostoevsky, and therefore the death penalty was replaced by eight years of hard labor. And at the end of the same month, the emperor softened the punishment even more: the writer was sent to hard labor in Siberia for four years instead of eight. At the same time, he was deprived of his noble rank and fortune, and after completing hard labor he was promoted to ordinary soldier.
Despite all the hardships and deprivations that such a sentence implied, joining the soldier meant the complete return of Dostoevsky’s civil rights. This was the first such case in Russia, since usually those people who were sentenced to hard labor lost their civil rights for the rest of their lives, even if they survived many years of imprisonment and returned to a free life. Emperor Nicholas I took pity on the young writer and did not want to ruin his talent.
The years that Fyodor Mikhailovich spent in hard labor made an indelible impression on him. The writer had a hard time experiencing endless suffering and loneliness. In addition, it took him a lot of time to establish normal communication with other prisoners: they did not accept him for a long time because of his noble title.
In 1856, the new emperor granted forgiveness to all Petrashevites, and in 1857 Dostoevsky was pardoned, that is, he received a full amnesty and was restored to the rights to publish his works. And if in his youth Fyodor Mikhailovich was a person undecided in his destiny, trying to find the truth and build a system of life principles, then already at the end of the 1850s he became a mature, formed personality. The difficult years in hard labor made him a deeply religious person, which he remained until his death.
Creativity flourishes
In 1860, the writer published a two-volume collection of his works, which included the stories “The Village of Stepanchikovo and Its Inhabitants” and “Uncle’s Dream.” About the same story happened to them as with “The Double” - although the works were subsequently given a very high rating, contemporaries did not like them. However, the publication of “Notes from the House of the Dead,” dedicated to the life of convicts and written mostly during imprisonment, helped return readers’ attention to the matured Dostoevsky.
Novel "Notes from a Dead House" For many residents of the country who have not encountered this horror on their own, the work came almost as a shock. Many people were stunned by what the author was talking about, especially since the topic of hard labor used to be something of a taboo for Russian writers. After this, Herzen began to call Dostoevsky “the Russian Dante.”
The year 1861 was also noteworthy for the writer. This year, in collaboration with his older brother Mikhail, he began publishing his own literary and political magazine called “Time”. In 1863, the publication was closed, and instead the Dostoevsky brothers began publishing another magazine called “Epoch”.
These magazines, firstly, strengthened the brothers’ position in the literary community. And secondly, it was on their pages that “The Humiliated and Insulted,” “Notes from the Underground,” “Notes from the House of the Dead,” “A Bad Anecdote” and many other works of Fyodor Mikhailovich were published. Mikhail Dostoevsky died soon after: he passed away in 1864.
In the 1860s, the writer began to travel abroad, finding inspiration for his new novels in new places and familiar ones. Including, it was during that period that Dostoevsky conceived and began to realize the idea of the work “The Gambler.”
In 1865, the publication of the Epoch magazine, the number of subscribers of which was steadily declining, had to be closed. Moreover: even after the closure of the publication, the writer had an impressive amount of debt. In order to somehow get out of a difficult financial situation, he entered into an extremely unfavorable agreement for himself to publish a collection of his works with the publisher Stelovsky, and soon after that he began writing his most famous novel, Crime and Punishment. The philosophical approach to social motives received wide recognition among readers, and the novel glorified Dostoevsky during his lifetime.
Prince Myshkin performed Fyodor Mikhailovich’s next great book was “The Idiot,” published in 1868. The idea to depict wonderful person, which tries to make other characters happy, but cannot overcome hostile forces and, in the end, suffers itself, turned out to be easy to embody only in words. In fact, Dostoevsky called The Idiot one of the most difficult books to write, although Prince Myshkin became his most favorite character.
After finishing work on this novel, the author decided to write an epic called “Atheism” or “The Life of a Great Sinner.” He failed to realize his idea, but some of the ideas collected for the epic formed the basis for Dostoevsky’s next three great books: the novel “Demons,” written in 1871-1872, the work “Teenager,” completed in 1875, and the novel “Brothers.” The Karamazovs", work on which Dostoevsky completed in 1879-1880.
It is interesting that “Demons,” in which the writer initially intended to express his disapproval of representatives of revolutionary movements in Russia, gradually changed during the course of writing. Initially, the author did not intend to make Stavrogin, who later became one of his most famous characters, the key character of the novel. But his image turned out to be so powerful that Fyodor Mikhailovich decided to change the plan and add real drama and tragedy to the political work.
If in “The Possessed,” among other things, the theme of fathers and sons was discussed quite widely, then in the next novel, “The Teenager,” the writer brought to the fore the issue of raising a mature child.
A unique result of Fyodor Mikhailovich’s creative path, a literary analogue of summing up the results, was The Brothers Karmazov. Many episodes storylines, the characters in this work were loosely based on the writer's previously written novels, starting with his first published novel, Poor People.
Death
Dostoevsky died on January 28, 1881, the cause of death being chronic bronchitis, pulmonary tuberculosis and emphysema. Death overtook the writer at the age of sixty.
Tomb of Fyodor Dostoevsky Crowds of admirers of his talent came to say goodbye to the writer, but Fyodor Mikhailovich, his timeless novels and wise quotes received the greatest fame after the death of the author.
Personal life
Dostoevsky's first wife was Maria Isaeva, whom he met shortly after returning from hard labor. In total, the marriage of Fyodor and Maria lasted about seven years, until the sudden death of the writer’s wife in 1864.
During one of his first trips abroad in the early 1860s, Dostoevsky was captivated by the emancipated Apollinaria Suslova. It was from her that Polina in “The Player”, Nastastya Filippovna in “The Idiot” and a number of other female characters were written.
Although on the eve of his fortieth anniversary the writer had at least a long-term relationship with Isaeva and Suslova, at that time his women had not yet given him such happiness as children. This deficiency was made up for by the writer’s second wife, Anna Snitkina. She became not only a faithful wife, but also an excellent assistant to the writer: she took upon herself the troubles of publishing Dostoevsky’s novels, rationally resolved all financial issues, and prepared her memoirs about her brilliant husband for publication. Fyodor Mikhailovich dedicated the novel “The Brothers Karamazov” to her.
Anna Grigorievna gave birth to her wife four children: daughters Sophia and Lyubov, sons Fyodor and Alexei. Alas, Sophia, who was supposed to be the first child of the couple, died a few months after giving birth. Of all the children of Fyodor Mikhailovich, only his son Fyodor became the successor of his literary family.
Dostoevsky Quotes
- No one will make the first move, because everyone thinks that it is not mutual.
- It takes very little to destroy a person: you just need to convince him that the work he is doing is of no use to anyone.
- Freedom is not about not restraining yourself, but about being in control of yourself.
- A writer whose works have not been successful easily becomes a bitter critic: just like a weak and tasteless wine can become excellent vinegar.
- It's amazing what one ray of sunshine can do to a person's soul!
- Beauty will save the world.
- A person who knows how to hug is a good person.
- Don’t clog your memory with grievances, otherwise there may simply be no room left for beautiful moments.
- If you set off towards your goal and start stopping along the way to throw stones at every dog barking at you, you will never reach your goal.
- He is a smart man, but to act smartly, intelligence alone is not enough.
- He who wants to be useful can do a lot of good even with his hands tied.
- Life goes breathless without an aim.
- We must love life more than the meaning of life.
- The Russian people seem to enjoy their suffering.
- Happiness is not in happiness, but only in its achievement.
He left behind a huge literary legacy, which criticism has not yet understood, without even establishing the mutual relationship between various works, some of which had the significance of preparatory studies for later major works. But the characteristic features of his work are quite clear. Dostoevsky is essentially a writer-psychologist, an explorer of the depths of the human soul, an analyst of its subtlest moods. Life seems to him to be unusually complex and spontaneous, full of contradictions and unsolvable mysteries; the human soul, experiencing the complexity and spontaneity of the life process, is simultaneously affected by both the mind and the heart, insightful thought and blind faith. The mysterious mystical principle, hiding in the depths of the human personality, controls it no less than external circumstances.
The real and the mystical are constantly juxtaposed in Dostoevsky’s novels, sometimes to the point that the boundary between the author’s story and the hallucinations of the depicted hero disappears. With the duality of human personality, the uncertainty of feelings and aspirations, many of Dostoevsky’s heroes, especially Golyadkin in “The Double,” resemble the heroes of Hoffmann, who, like Dostoevsky, wrote at the time of a painful breakdown of his nerves at night. In the depths of Dostoevsky's life phenomena lies the tragic element of fate, which leads the most heterogeneous accidents to amazing coincidences, which create the decisive motive. A conversation between unknown persons in a tavern about an old pawnbroker prompts Raskolnikov to think about murder, almost provides a ready-made plan, outlines the framework of the psychological content within which the further action of the novel will develop. And this tragic fatal element manifests itself among the sharp contrasts of hatred and love, brutal cruelty, vices, all kinds of horrors and feats of self-denial, angelic clarity and purity.
Fedor Dostoevsky. Portrait by V. Perov, 1872
The action develops extremely quickly in Dostoevsky; events pile up in masses in the most insignificant periods of time, they rush forward uncontrollably, not allowing the reader to come to his senses, to dwell on the features that characterize the everyday moods of people of a certain circle in a certain era. It is therefore clear that, concentrating all the interest of the story on the conveyance of psychological moments, Dostoevsky gives relatively little everyday material. The desire for truth, for fidelity in the depiction of feelings significantly exceeds Dostoevsky’s concern for external techniques of artistry.
It follows from this public importance Dostoevsky's novels. Having made the starting point of his psychological excursions the suffering into which a person is drawn by the external and internal contradictions of life, Dostoevsky took the side of downtrodden and oppressed people, suffering as much from the fact that they were crushed by everyday circumstances as from the consciousness of their human dignity, which is constantly insulted and trampled upon, from the consciousness of his right to a meaningful and moral life. Dostoevsky is rooting for a person who comes to terms with the power of things and begins to consider himself incomplete, not a real person. This is the path to redemption.
Dostoevsky. Demons. Lecture by Lyudmila Saraskina
Forms of suffering in Dostoevsky's depictions highest degree varied; Their psychological motives are developed in the most bizarre combinations: suffering from love for a person in general, suffering from strong and base passions, from love combined with cruelty and malice, from painful pride and suspicion, from wolf instincts, on the one hand, and sheep obedience on the other hand. another. “Man is a despot by nature and loves to be a tormentor,” says Dostoevsky in “The Player.” His “underground man” goes so far as to assert that “man loves suffering to the point of passion” - the latter, thus, is elevated to the level of not being a requirement of human nature.
Suffering gives birth to love and faith, and in them our justification before the Supreme Being - such is Dostoevsky’s philosophy of suffering. There is a lot of cruelty in his novels, but there is also a lot of mercy in them. With the precision of a psychiatrist, the great Russian writer revealed the whole world of the “blessed”, drunkards, voluptuous people, holy fools, idiots, madmen, and each image not only shocks the reader, but also opens his heart to the influence of the rays of evangelical love. In Dostoevsky's books we see various types of limited happy people, heartless egoists, naive dreamers, people of pure, immaculate life, etc. The depiction of this is extremely complex world, which becomes close to the reader’s heart until he completely merges with him, puts Dostoevsky in the ranks of the foremost realists, and the comparison of him with L. Tolstoy, made by criticism, has deep foundations. For all their particular differences, both of them are passionate seekers of that truth and moral healing of humanity.
