Biography of the writer. Dmitry Dostoevsky: “I was healed and baptized in Staraya Russa Writer Fyodor Dostoevsky biography

(October 30 (November 11), 1821, Moscow, Russian Empire - January 28 (February 9), 1881, St. Petersburg, Russian Empire)

en.wikipedia.org

Biography

Life and art

The writer's youth

Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky was born on October 30 (November 11), 1821 in Moscow. Father, Mikhail Andreevich, from the clergy, received the title of nobility in 1828, worked as a doctor in the Moscow Mariinsky Hospital for the poor on Novaya Bozhedomka (now Dostoevsky Street). Having acquired a small estate in the Tula province in 1831-1832, he treated the peasants cruelly. Mother, Maria Fedorovna (nee Nechaeva), came from a merchant family. Fedor was the second of 7 children. According to one of the assumptions, Dostoevsky descends on his father’s side from the Pinsk gentry, whose family estate Dostoevo in the 16th-17th centuries was located in Belarusian Polesie (now Ivanovo district of the Brest region, Belarus). On October 6, 1506, Danila Ivanovich Rtishchev received this estate into possession from Prince Fyodor Ivanovich Yaroslavich for his services. From that time on, Rtishchev and his heirs began to be called Dostoevsky.

When Dostoevsky was 15 years old, his mother died of consumption, and his father sent his eldest sons, Fyodor and Mikhail (who later also became a writer), to K. F. Kostomarov's boarding school in St. Petersburg.

The year 1837 became an important date for Dostoevsky. This is the year of his mother’s death, the year of the death of Pushkin, whose work he (like his brother) has been reading since childhood, the year of moving to St. Petersburg and entering the military engineering school, now the Military Engineering and Technical University. In 1839, he receives news of the murder of his father by serfs. Dostoevsky participates in the work of Belinsky's circle A year before his dismissal from military service, Dostoevsky first translated and published Balzac's Eugene Grande (1843). A year later, his first work, “Poor People,” was published, and he immediately became famous: V. G. Belinsky highly appreciated this work. But the next book, “The Double,” faces misunderstandings.

Shortly after the publication of White Nights, the writer was arrested (1849) in connection with the “Petrashevsky case.” Although Dostoevsky denied the charges against him, the court recognized him as “one of the most important criminals.”
The military court finds the defendant Dostoevsky guilty of the fact that, having received in March of this year from Moscow from the nobleman Pleshcheev ... a copy of the criminal letter of the writer Belinsky, he read this letter in meetings: first with the defendant Durov, then with the defendant Petrashevsky. Therefore, the military court sentenced him for failure to report the dissemination of a criminal letter about religion and government from the writer Belinsky... to deprive him, on the basis of the Code of Military Decrees... of his ranks and all the rights of his fortune, and to subject him to the death penalty by shooting..

The trial and harsh sentence to death (December 22, 1849) on the Semenovsky parade ground was framed as a mock execution. At the last moment, the convicts were given a pardon and sentenced to hard labor. One of those sentenced to execution, Grigoriev, went crazy. Dostoevsky conveyed the feelings that he might experience before his execution in the words of Prince Myshkin in one of the monologues in the novel “The Idiot.”

During a short stay in Tobolsk on the way to the place of hard labor (January 11-20, 1850), the writer met the wives of the exiled Decembrists: Zh. A. Muravyova, P. E. Annenkova and N. D. Fonvizina. The women gave him the Gospel, which the writer kept all his life.

Dostoevsky spent the next four years in hard labor in Omsk. In 1854, when the four years to which Dostoevsky was sentenced had expired, he was released from hard labor and sent as a private to the seventh linear Siberian battalion. While serving in Semipalatinsk, he became friends with Chokan Valikhanov, a future famous Kazakh traveler and ethnographer. There, a common monument was erected to the young writer and the young scientist. Here he began an affair with Maria Dmitrievna Isaeva, who was married to a gymnasium teacher, Alexander Isaev, a bitter drunkard. After some time, Isaev was transferred to the place of the assessor in Kuznetsk. On August 14, 1855, Fyodor Mikhailovich receives a letter from Kuznetsk: M.D. Isaeva’s husband died after a long illness.

On February 18, 1855, Emperor Nicholas I dies. Dostoevsky writes a loyal poem dedicated to his widow, Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, and as a result becomes a non-commissioned officer: on October 20, 1856, Fyodor Mikhailovich was promoted to ensign. On February 6, 1857, Dostoevsky married Maria Dmitrievna Isaeva in the Russian Orthodox Church in Kuznetsk.

Immediately after the wedding, they go to Semipalatinsk, but on the way Dostoevsky has an epileptic seizure, and they stop for four days in Barnaul.

On February 20, 1857, Dostoevsky and his wife returned to Semipalatinsk. The period of imprisonment and military service was a turning point in Dostoevsky’s life: from a still undecided “seeker of truth in man” in life, he turned into a deeply religious person, whose only ideal for the rest of his life was Christ.

In 1859, in “Notes of the Fatherland,” Dostoevsky published his stories “The Village of Stepanchikovo and Its Inhabitants” and “ Uncle's dream».

On June 30, 1859, Dostoevsky was given temporary ticket No. 2030, allowing him to travel to Tver, and on July 2, the writer left Semipalatinsk. In 1860, Dostoevsky returned to St. Petersburg with his wife and adopted son Pavel, but secret surveillance of him did not stop until the mid-1870s. From the beginning of 1861, Fyodor Mikhailovich helped his brother Mikhail publish his own magazine “Time”, after the closure of which in 1863 the brothers began publishing the magazine “Epoch”. On the pages of these magazines such works of Dostoevsky appear as “The Humiliated and Insulted,” “Notes from the House of the Dead,” “Winter Notes on Summer Impressions,” and “Notes from the Underground.”

Dostoevsky takes a trip abroad with the young emancipated person Apollinaria Suslova, in Baden-Baden he becomes addicted to the ruinous game of roulette, experiences a constant need for money, and at the same time (1864) loses his wife and brother. The unusual way of European life completes the destruction of the socialist illusions of youth, forms a critical perception of bourgeois values ​​and rejection of the West.

Six months after the death of his brother, the publication of “Epoch” ceased (February 1865). In a hopeless financial situation, Dostoevsky writes chapters of “Crime and Punishment,” sending them to M. N. Katkov directly to the magazine set of the conservative “Russian Messenger,” where they are printed from issue to issue. At the same time, under the threat of losing the rights to his publications for 9 years in favor of the publisher F. T. Stellovsky, he undertook to write him a novel, for which he did not have enough physical strength. On the advice of friends, Dostoevsky hires a young stenographer, Anna Snitkina, who helps him cope with this task.

The novel “Crime and Punishment” was completed and paid for very well, but so that this money would not be taken away from him by creditors, the writer goes abroad with his new wife, Anna Grigorievna Snitkina. The trip is reflected in the diary, which A.G. Snitkina-Dostoevskaya began to keep in 1867. On the way to Germany, the couple stopped for several days in Vilna.

Creativity flourishes

Snitkina arranged the writer’s life, took upon herself all the economic issues of his activities, and in 1871 Dostoevsky gave up roulette forever.

In October 1866, in twenty-one days, he wrote and completed the novel “The Player” for F. T. Stellovsky on the 25th.

For the last 8 years the writer lived in the city of Staraya Russa, Novgorod province. These years of life were very fruitful: 1872 - “Demons”, 1873 - the beginning of the “Diary of a Writer” (a series of feuilletons, essays, polemical notes and passionate journalistic notes on the topic of the day), 1875 - “Teenager”, 1876 - “Meek”, 1879 -1880 - “The Brothers Karamazov”. At the same time, two events became significant for Dostoevsky. In 1878, Emperor Alexander II invited the writer to introduce him to his family, and in 1880, just a year before his death, Dostoevsky gave a famous speech at the unveiling of a monument to Pushkin in Moscow. During these years, the writer became close to conservative journalists, publicists and thinkers, corresponded with the prominent statesman K. P. Pobedonostsev.

Despite the fame that Dostoevsky gained at the end of his life, truly enduring, worldwide fame came to him after his death. In particular, Friedrich Nietzsche recognized that Dostoevsky was the only psychologist from whom he could learn something (Twilight of the Idols).

On January 26 (February 9), 1881, Dostoevsky’s sister Vera Mikhailovna came to the Dostoevskys’ house to ask her brother to give up his share of the Ryazan estate, which he inherited from his aunt A.F. Kumanina, in favor of the sisters. According to the story of Lyubov Fedorovna Dostoevskaya, there was a stormy scene with explanations and tears, after which Dostoevsky’s throat began to bleed. Perhaps this unpleasant conversation was the first impetus for the exacerbation of his illness (emphysema) - two days later the great writer died.

He was buried in the Alexander Nevsky Lavra in St. Petersburg.

Family and environment

The writer's grandfather Andrei Grigorievich Dostoevsky (1756 - around 1819) served as a Uniate, later - Orthodox priest in the village of Voytovtsy near Nemirov (now Vinnitsa region of Ukraine).

Father, Mikhail Andreevich (1787-1839), studied at the Moscow branch of the Imperial Medical-Surgical Academy, served as a doctor in the Borodino Infantry Regiment, as a resident in the Moscow Military Hospital, as a doctor in the Mariinsky Hospital of the Moscow Orphanage (that is, in a hospital for the poor, also known called Bozhedomki). In 1831 he acquired the small village of Darovoye in the Kashira district of the Tula province, and in 1833 he acquired the neighboring village of Cheremoshnya (Chermashnya), where in 1839 he was killed by his own serfs:
His addiction to alcohol apparently increased, and he was almost constantly in a state of disrepair. Spring came, promising little good... At that time, in the village of Chermashnya, in the fields under the edge of the forest, an artel of men, a dozen or a dozen people, was working; it means it was far from housing. Infuriated by some unsuccessful action of the peasants, or perhaps what only seemed so to him, the father flared up and began to shout at the peasants. One of them, more daring, responded to this cry with strong rudeness and after that, fearing this rudeness, shouted: “Guys, karachun him!..”. And with this exclamation, all the peasants, up to 15 people, rushed at their father and in an instant, of course, finished off him... - From the memoirs of A. M. Dostoevsky

Dostoevsky's mother, Maria Fedorovna (1800-1837), came from a wealthy Moscow merchant family, the Nechaevs, which after the Patriotic War of 1812 lost most of their fortune. At the age of 19 she married Mikhail Dostoevsky. She was, according to the recollections of her children, a kind mother and gave birth to four sons and four daughters in her marriage (son Fyodor was the second child). M. F. Dostoevskaya died of consumption. According to researchers of the great writer’s work, certain features of Maria Feodorovna were reflected in the images of Sofia Andreevna Dolgorukaya (“Teenager”) and Sofia Ivanovna Karamazova (“The Brothers Karamazov”) [source not specified 604 days].

Dostoevsky's elder brother Mikhail also became a writer, his work was marked by his brother's influence, and the work on the Vremya magazine was carried out largely jointly by the brothers. The younger brother Andrei became an architect; Dostoevsky saw in his family a worthy example of family life. A. M. Dostoevsky left valuable memories of his brother. Of Dostoevsky’s sisters, the writer developed the closest relationship with Varvara Mikhailovna (1822-1893), about whom he wrote to his brother Andrei: “I love her; she is a nice sister and a wonderful person...” (November 28, 1880). Of his many nephews and nieces, Dostoevsky loved and singled out Maria Mikhailovna (1844-1888), whom, according to the memoirs of L. F. Dostoevskaya, “he loved like his own daughter, caressed her and entertained her when she was still little, later he was proud of her musical talent and her success among young people,” however, after the death of Mikhail Dostoevsky, this closeness came to naught.

The descendants of Fyodor Mikhailovich continue to live in St. Petersburg.

Philosophy

As O. M. Nogovitsyn showed in his work, Dostoevsky is the most prominent representative of “ontological,” “reflective” poetics, which, unlike traditional, descriptive poetics, leaves the character in a sense free in his relationship with the text that describes him ( that is, for him the world), which is manifested in the fact that he is aware of his relationship with him and acts based on it. Hence all the paradoxicality, inconsistency and inconsistency of Dostoevsky’s characters. If in traditional poetics the character always remains in the power of the author, always captured by the events happening to him (captured by the text), that is, remains entirely descriptive, fully included in the text, fully understandable, subordinate to causes and consequences, the movement of the narrative, then in ontological poetics we are for the first time We are faced with a character who is trying to resist the textual elements, his subordination to the text, trying to “rewrite” it. With this approach, writing is not a description of a character in diverse situations and his positions in the world, but empathy for his tragedy - his willful reluctance to accept the text (the world), in its inescapable redundancy in relation to it, potential infinity. For the first time, M. M. Bakhtin drew attention to such a special attitude of Dostoevsky towards his characters.

Political Views

During Dostoevsky’s life, at least two political movements were in conflict in the cultural strata of society - Slavophilism and Westernism, the essence of which is approximately as follows: adherents of the first argued that the future of Russia lies in nationality, Orthodoxy and autocracy, adherents of the second believed that Russians should follow the example of Europeans. Both of them reflected on the historical fate of Russia. Dostoevsky had his own idea - “soilism”. He was and remained a Russian man, inextricably linked with the people, but at the same time he did not deny the achievements of Western culture and civilization. Over time, Dostoevsky's views developed, and during his third stay abroad, he finally became a convinced monarchist.

Dostoevsky and the “Jewish question”

Dostoevsky's views on the role of Jews in Russian life were reflected in the writer's journalism. For example, discussing the further fate of peasants freed from serfdom, he writes in the “Diary of a Writer” for 1873:
“So it will be if things continue, if the people themselves do not come to their senses; and the intelligentsia will not help him. If he doesn’t come to his senses, then the whole, entirely, in a very short time will find himself in the hands of all kinds of Jews, and no community will save him... The Jews will drink the people’s blood and feed on the depravity and humiliation of the people, but since they will pay the budget, then , therefore, they will need to be supported.”

The Electronic Jewish Encyclopedia claims that anti-Semitism was an integral part of Dostoevsky’s worldview and was expressed both in novels and stories, as well as in the writer’s journalism. A clear confirmation of this, according to the compilers of the encyclopedia, is Dostoevsky’s work “The Jewish Question”. However, Dostoevsky himself in “The Jewish Question” stated: “... this hatred never existed in my heart...”.

Writer Andrei Dikiy attributes the following quote to Dostoevsky:
“The Jews will destroy Russia and become the leaders of anarchy. Jew and his kahal are a conspiracy against the Russians.”

Dostoevsky’s attitude to the “Jewish question” is analyzed by literary critic Leonid Grossman in the article “Dostoevsky and Judaism” and the book “Confession of a Jew,” dedicated to the correspondence between the writer and Jewish journalist Arkady Kovner. The message to the great writer sent by Kovner from Butyrka prison made an impression on Dostoevsky. He ends his response letter with the words “Believe the complete sincerity with which I shake the hand you extended to me,” and in the chapter on the Jewish question in “The Diary of a Writer” he extensively quotes Kovner.

According to critic Maya Turovskaya, the mutual interest of Dostoevsky and Jews is caused by the embodiment in Jews (and in Kovner, in particular) of the quest of Dostoevsky’s characters.

According to Nikolai Nasedkin, a contradictory attitude towards Jews is generally characteristic of Dostoevsky: he very clearly distinguished between the concepts of Jew and Jew. In addition, Nasedkin also notes that the word “Jew” and its derivatives were for Dostoevsky and his contemporaries a common tool word among others, was used widely and everywhere, and was natural for all Russian literature of the 19th century century, unlike modern times..

It should be noted that not subject to the so-called “ public opinion» Dostoevsky's attitude towards the “Jewish question” may have been related to his religious beliefs (see Christianity and anti-Semitism) [source?].

According to Sokolov B.V., Dostoevsky’s quotes were used by the Nazis during the Great Patriotic War for propaganda in the occupied territories of the USSR, for example this one from the article “The Jewish Question”:
What if there were not three million Jews in Russia, but Russians and Jews there would be 160 million (in Dostoevsky’s original - 80 million, but the country’s population was doubled - to make the quote more relevant. - B.S.) - well , what would the Russians be like and how would they treat them? Would they give them equal rights? Would they be allowed to pray among them freely? Wouldn't they be turned straight into slaves? Worse than that: wouldn’t they have completely torn off the skin, wouldn’t they have beaten them to the point of final extermination, as they did with foreign peoples in the old days?”

Bibliography

Novels

* 1845 - Poor people
* 1861 - Humiliated and insulted
* 1866 - Crime and Punishment
* 1866 - Player
* 1868 - Idiot
* 1871-1872 - Demons
* 1875 - Teenager
* 1879-1880 - The Karamazov Brothers

Novels and stories

* 1846 - Double
* 1846 - How dangerous it is to indulge in ambitious dreams
* 1846 - Mr. Prokharchin
* 1847 - A Novel in Nine Letters
* 1847 - Mistress
* 1848 - Sliders
* 1848 - Weak heart
* 1848 - Netochka Nezvanova
* 1848 - White Nights
* 1849 - Little hero
* 1859 - Uncle's dream
* 1859 - The village of Stepanchikovo and its inhabitants
* 1860 - Someone else's wife and husband under the bed
* 1860 - Notes from the House of the Dead
* 1862 - Winter notes about summer impressions
* 1864 - Notes from the Underground
* 1864 - Bad joke
* 1865 - Crocodile
* 1869 - Eternal Husband
* 1876 - Meek
* 1877 - Dream funny man
* 1848 - Honest thief
* 1848 - Christmas tree and wedding
* 1876 - Boy at Christ's Christmas tree

Journalism and criticism, essays

* 1847 - St. Petersburg Chronicle
* 1861 - Stories by N.V. Uspensky
* 1880 - Verdict
* 1880 - Pushkin

Writer's Diary

* 1873 - Diary of a writer. 1873
* 1876 - Diary of a writer. 1876
* 1877 - Diary of a writer. January-August 1877.
* 1877 - Diary of a writer. September-December 1877.
* 1880 - Diary of a writer. 1880
* 1881 - Diary of a writer. 1881

Poems

* 1854 - On European events in 1854
* 1855 - On the first of July 1855
* 1856 - For the coronation and conclusion of peace
* 1864 - Epigram on a Bavarian colonel
* 1864-1873 - The struggle of nihilism with honesty (officer and nihilist)
* 1873-1874 - Describe all the priests alone
* 1876-1877 - Collapse of Baimakov’s office
* 1876 - Children are expensive
* 1879 - Don’t be a robber, Fedul

Standing apart is the collection of folklore material “My Convict Notebook,” also known as the “Siberian Notebook,” written by Dostoevsky during his penal servitude.

Basic literature about Dostoevsky

Domestic research

* Belinsky V. G. [Introductory article] // St. Petersburg collection, published by N. Nekrasov. St. Petersburg, 1846.
* Dobrolyubov N.A. Downtrodden people // Contemporary. 1861. No. 9. dep. II.
* Pisarev D.I. The struggle for existence // Business. 1868. No. 8.
* Leontyev K. N. About universal love: Regarding the speech of F. M. Dostoevsky at the Pushkin holiday // Warsaw Diary. 1880. July 29 (No. 162). pp. 3-4; August 7 (No. 169). pp. 3-4; August 12 (No. 173). pp. 3-4.
* Mikhailovsky N.K. Cruel talent // Domestic notes. 1882. No. 9, 10.
* Solovyov V.S. Three speeches in memory of Dostoevsky: (1881-1883). M., 1884. 55 p.
* Rozanov V.V. The Legend of the Grand Inquisitor F.M. Dostoevsky: Experience of critical commentary // Russian Bulletin. 1891. T. 212, January. pp. 233-274; February. pp. 226-274; T. 213, March. pp. 215-253; April. pp. 251-274. Publishing department: St. Petersburg: Nikolaev, 1894. 244 p.
* Merezhkovsky D. S. L. Tolstoy and Dostoevsky: Christ and Antichrist in Russian literature. T. 1. Life and creativity. St. Petersburg: World of Art, 1901. 366 p. T. 2. Religion of L. Tolstoy and Dostoevsky. St. Petersburg: World of Art, 1902. LV, 530 p.
* Shestov L. Dostoevsky and Nietzsche. St. Petersburg, 1906.
* Ivanov Vyach. I. Dostoevsky and the tragedy novel // Russian Thought. 1911. Book. 5. P. 46-61; Book 6. P. 1-17.
* Pereverzev V.F. Dostoevsky’s works. M., 1912. (republished in the book: Gogol, Dostoevsky. Research. M., 1982)
* Tynyanov Yu. N. Dostoevsky and Gogol: (Towards the theory of parody). Pg.: OPOYAZ, 1921.
* Berdyaev N. A. Worldview of Dostoevsky. Prague, 1923. 238 p.
* Volotskaya M.V. Chronicle of the Dostoevsky family 1506-1933. M., 1933.
* Engelhardt B. M. Dostoevsky’s ideological novel // F. M. Dostoevsky: Articles and materials / Ed. A. S. Dolinina. L.; M.: Mysl, 1924. Sat. 2. pp. 71-109.
* Dostoevskaya A.G. Memoirs. M.: Fiction, 1981.
* Freud Z. Dostoevsky and parricide // Classical psychoanalysis and fiction/ Comp. and general editor V. M. Leibina. St. Petersburg: Peter, 2002. pp. 70-88.
* Mochulsky K.V. Dostoevsky: Life and Creativity. Paris: YMCA-Press, 1947. 564 pp.
* Lossky N. O. Dostoevsky and his Christian worldview. New York: Chekhov Publishing House, 1953. 406 pp.
* Dostoevsky in Russian criticism. A collection of articles. M., 1956. (introductory article and note by A. A. Belkin)
* Leskov N.S. About the muzhik, etc. - Collection. soch., t. 11, M., 1958. P. 146-156;
* Grossman L. P. Dostoevsky. M.: Young Guard, 1962. 543 p. (Life wonderful people. Biography Series; Vol. 24 (357)).
* Bakhtin M. M. Problems of Dostoevsky’s creativity. L.: Priboy, 1929. 244 p. 2nd ed., revised. and additional: Problems of Dostoevsky’s poetics. M.: Soviet writer, 1963. 363 p.
* Dostoevsky in the memoirs of his contemporaries: In 2 vols. M., 1964. T. 1. T. 2.
* Friedlander G. M. Realism of Dostoevsky. M.; L.: Nauka, 1964. 404 p.
* Meyer G. A. Light in the night: (About “Crime and Punishment”): The experience of slow reading. Frankfurt/Main: Posev, 1967. 515 p.
* F. M. Dostoevsky: Bibliography of the works of F. M. Dostoevsky and literature about him: 1917-1965. M.: Book, 1968. 407 p.
* Kirpotin V. Ya. Disappointment and downfall of Rodion Raskolnikov: (Book about Dostoevsky’s novel “Crime and Punishment”). M.: Soviet writer, 1970. 448 p.
* Zakharov V.N. Problems of studying Dostoevsky: Tutorial. - Petrozavodsk. 1978.
* Zakharov V.N. Dostoevsky’s system of genres: Typology and poetics. - L., 1985.
* Toporov V. N. On the structure of Dostoevsky’s novel in connection with archaic schemes of mythological thinking (“Crime and Punishment”) // Toporov V. N. Myth. Ritual. Symbol. Image: Studies in the field of mythopoetic. M., 1995. S. 193-258.
* Dostoevsky: Materials and research / USSR Academy of Sciences. IRLI. L.: Science, 1974-2007. Vol. 1-18 (ongoing edition).
* Odinokov V. G. Typology of images in the artistic system of F. M. Dostoevsky. Novosibirsk: Nauka, 1981. 144 p.
* Seleznev Yu. I. Dostoevsky. M.: Young Guard, 1981. 543 p., ill. (Life of remarkable people. Series of biographies; Issue 16 (621)).
* Volgin I. L. The Last Year of Dostoevsky: Historical Notes. M.: Soviet writer, 1986.
* Saraskina L.I. “Demons”: a novel-warning. M.: Soviet writer, 1990. 488 p.
* Allen L. Dostoevsky and God / Trans. from fr. E. Vorobyova. St. Petersburg: Branch of the magazine “Youth”; Dusseldorf: Blue Rider, 1993. 160 p.
* Guardini R. Man and faith / Trans. with him. Brussels: Life with God, 1994. 332 pp.
* Kasatkina T. A. Dostoevsky’s characterology: Typology of emotional and value orientations. M.: Heritage, 1996. 335 p.
* Lauth R. Dostoevsky’s philosophy in a systematic presentation / Transl. with him. I. S. Andreeva; Ed. A. V. Gulygi. M.: Republic, 1996. 448 p.
* Belnep R.L. The structure of “The Brothers Karamazov” / Trans. from English St. Petersburg: Academic project, 1997.
* Dunaev M. M. Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky (1821-1881) // Dunaev M. M. Orthodoxy and Russian literature: [At 6 hours]. M.: Christian literature, 1997. pp. 284-560.
* Nakamura K. Dostoevsky’s sense of life and death / Authorized. lane from Japanese St. Petersburg: Dmitry Bulanin, 1997. 332 p.
* Meletinsky E.M. Notes on the work of Dostoevsky. M.: RSUH, 2001. 190 p.
* F. M. Dostoevsky’s novel “The Idiot”: Current state of study. M.: Heritage, 2001. 560 p.
* Kasatkina T. A. On the creative nature of the word: The ontology of the word in the works of F. M. Dostoevsky as the basis of “realism in the highest sense.” M.: IMLI RAS, 2004. 480 p.
* Tikhomirov B.N. “Lazarus! Get Out": F. M. Dostoevsky's novel "Crime and Punishment" in modern reading: Book-commentary. St. Petersburg: silver Age, 2005. 472 p.
* Yakovlev L. Dostoevsky: ghosts, phobias, chimeras (reader's notes). - Kharkov: Karavella, 2006. - 244 p. ISBN 966-586-142-5
* Vetlovskaya V. E. Novel by F. M. Dostoevsky “The Brothers Karamazov”. St. Petersburg: Pushkin House Publishing House, 2007. 640 p.
* F. M. Dostoevsky’s novel “The Brothers Karamazov”: current state of study. M.: Nauka, 2007. 835 p.
* Bogdanov N., Rogovoy A. Genealogy of the Dostoevskys. In search of lost links., M., 2008.
* John Maxwell Coetzee. “Autumn in St. Petersburg” (this is the name of this work in the Russian translation; in the original the novel was entitled “The Master from St. Petersburg”). M.: Eksmo, 2010.
* Openness to the abyss. Meetings with Dostoevsky Literary, philosophical and historiographical work by culturologist Grigory Pomerants.

Foreign studies:

English language:

* Jones M.V. Dostoevsky. The novel of discord. L., 1976.
* Holquist M. Dostoievsky and the novel. Princeton (N. Jersey), 1977.
* Hingley R. Dostoyevsky. His life and work. L., 1978.
* Kabat G.C. Ideology and imagination. The image of society in Dostoevsky. N.Y., 1978.
* Jackson R.L. The art of Dostoevsky. Princeton (N. Jersey), 1981.
* Dostoevsky Studies. Journal of the International Dostoievsky Society. v. 1 -, Klagenfurt-kuoxville, 1980-.

German:

* Zweig S. Drei Meister: Balzac, Dickens, Dostojewskij. Lpz., 1921.
* Natorp P.G: F. Dosktojewskis Bedeutung fur die gegenwartige Kulurkrisis. Jena, 1923.
* Kaus O. Dostojewski und sein Schicksal. B., 1923.
* Notzel K. Das Leben Dostojewskis, Lpz., 1925
* Meier-Crafe J. Dostojewski als Dichter. B., 1926.
* Schultze B. Der Dialog in F.M. Dostoevskijs "Idiot". Munchen, 1974.

Film adaptations

* Fyodor Dostoevsky (English) on the Internet Movie Database
* St. Petersburg Night - a film by Grigory Roshal and Vera Stroeva based on Dostoevsky’s stories “Netochka Nezvanova” and “White Nights” (USSR, 1934)
* White Nights - film by Luchino Visconti (Italy, 1957)
* White Nights - film by Ivan Pyryev (USSR, 1959)
* White Nights - film by Leonid Kvinikhidze (Russia, 1992)
* Beloved - a film by Sanjay Leela Bhansalia based on Dostoevsky’s story “White Nights” (India, 2007)
* Nikolai Stavrogin - film by Yakov Protazanov based on Dostoevsky’s novel “Demons” (Russia, 1915)
* Demons - film by Andrzej Wajda (France, 1988)
* Demons - film by Igor and Dmitry Talankin (Russia, 1992)
* Demons - film by Felix Schulthess (Russia, 2007)
* The Brothers Karamazov - film by Victor Turyansky (Russia, 1915)
* The Brothers Karamazov - film by Dmitry Bukhovetsky (Germany, 1920)
* The Killer Dmitry Karamazov - film by Fyodor Otsep (Germany, 1931)
* The Brothers Karamazov - film by Richard Brooks (USA, 1958)
* The Brothers Karamazov - film by Ivan Pyryev (USSR, 1969)
* Boys - a free fantasy film based on the novel by Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky “The Brothers Karamazov” by Renita Grigorieva (USSR, 1990)
* The Brothers Karamazov - film by Yuri Moroz (Russia, 2008)
* The Karamazovs - film by Petr Zelenka (Czech Republic - Poland, 2008)
* Eternal Husband - film by Evgeny Markovsky (Russia, 1990)
* The Eternal Husband - film by Denis Granier-Defer (France, 1991)
* Uncle's Dream - film by Konstantin Voinov (USSR, 1966)
* 1938, France: “The Gambler” (French Le Joueur) - director: Louis Daquin (French)
* 1938, Germany: “The Players” (German: Roman eines Spielers, Der Spieler) - director: Gerhard Lampert (German)
* 1947, Argentina: “The Gambler” (Spanish: El Jugador) - directed by Leon Klimowski (Spanish)
* 1948, USA: “The Great Sinner” - director: Robert Siodmak
* 1958, France: “The Gambler” (French Le Joueur) - director: Claude Otan-Lara (French)
* 1966, - USSR: “The Player” - director Yuri Bogatyrenko
* 1972: “The Gambler” - director: Michail Olschewski
* 1972, - USSR: “The Player” - director Alexey Batalov
* 1974, USA: “The Gambler” (English: The Gambler) - directed by Karel Rice (English)
* 1997, Hungary: The Gambler (English: The Gambler) - directed by Mac Carola (Hungarian)
* 2007, Germany: “The Gamblers” (German: Die Spieler, English: The Gamblers) - director: Sebastian Biniek (German)
* “The Idiot” - film by Pyotr Chardynin (Russia, 1910)
* “The Idiot” - film by Georges Lampin (France, 1946)
* “The Idiot” - film by Akira Kurosawa (Japan, 1951)
* “The Idiot” - film by Ivan Pyryev (USSR, 1958)
* “The Idiot” - television series by Alan Bridges (UK, 1966)
* “Crazy Love” - film by Andrzej Zulawski (France, 1985)
* “The Idiot” - television series by Mani Kaul (India, 1991)
* “Down House” - film interpretation by Roman Kachanov (Russia, 2001)
* “Idiot” - television series by Vladimir Bortko (Russia, 2003)
* Meek - film by Alexander Borisov (USSR, 1960)
* The Meek - film interpretation of Robert Bresson (France, 1969)
* Meek - hand-drawn animated film by Piotr Dumal (Poland, 1985)
* Meek - film by Avtandil Varsimashvili (Russia, 1992)
* Meek - film by Evgeny Rostovsky (Russia, 2000)
* House of the Dead (prison of nations) - film by Vasily Fedorov (USSR, 1931)
* Partner - film by Bernardo Bertolucci (Italy, 1968)
* Teenager - film by Evgeny Tashkov (USSR, 1983)
* Raskolnikov - film by Robert Wiene (Germany, 1923)
* Crime and Punishment - film by Pierre Chenal (France, 1935)
* Crime and Punishment - film by Georges Lampin (France, 1956)
* Crime and Punishment - film by Lev Kulidzhanov (USSR, 1969)
* Crime and Punishment - film by Aki Kaurismaki (Finland, 1983)
* Crime and Punishment - hand-drawn animated film by Piotr Dumal (Poland, 2002)
* Crime and Punishment - film by Julian Jarrold (UK, 2003)
* Crime and Punishment - television series by Dmitry Svetozarov (Russia, 2007)
* The Dream of a Funny Man - cartoon by Alexander Petrov (Russia, 1992)
* The village of Stepanchikovo and its inhabitants - television film by Lev Tsutsulkovsky (USSR, 1989)
* Bad joke - comedy film by Alexander Alov and Vladimir Naumov (USSR, 1966)
* Humiliated and Insulted - TV film by Vittorio Cottafavi (Italy, 1958)
* Humiliated and Insulted - television series by Raul Araiza (Mexico, 1977)
* Humiliated and Insulted - film by Andrei Eshpai (USSR - Switzerland, 1990)
* Someone else's wife and husband under the bed - film by Vitaly Melnikov (USSR, 1984)

Films about Dostoevsky

* "Dostoevsky". Documentary. TsSDF (RTSSDF). 1956. 27 minutes. - documentary Bubrick by Samuil and Ilya Kopalin (Russia, 1956) about the life and work of Dostoevsky on the 75th anniversary of his death.
* The Writer and His City: Dostoevsky and St. Petersburg - film by Heinrich Böll (Germany, 1969)
* Twenty-six days in the life of Dostoevsky - Feature Film Alexandra Zarkhi (USSR, 1980; in leading role Anatoly Solonitsyn)
* Dostoevsky and Peter Ustinov - from the documentary “Russia” (Canada, 1986)
* Return of the Prophet - documentary film by V. E. Ryzhko (Russia, 1994)
* The Life and Death of Dostoevsky - documentary film (12 episodes) by Alexander Klyushkin (Russia, 2004)
* Demons of St. Petersburg - feature film by Giuliano Montaldo (Italy, 2008)
* Three Women of Dostoevsky - film by Evgeny Tashkov (Russia, 2010)
* Dostoevsky - series by Vladimir Khotinenko (Russia, 2011) (starring Evgeny Mironov).

The image of Dostoevsky was also used in the biographical films “Sofya Kovalevskaya” (Alexander Filippenko) and “Chokan Valikhanov” (1985).

Current events

* On October 10, 2006, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Federal Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany Angela Merkel unveiled a monument to Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky in Dresden by People's Artist of Russia Alexander Rukavishnikov.
* A crater on Mercury is named after Dostoevsky (Latitude: ?44.5, Longitude: 177, Diameter (km): 390).
* The writer Boris Akunin wrote the work “F. M.”, dedicated to Dostoevsky.
* In 2010, director Vladimir Khotinenko began filming a serial film about Dostoevsky, which will be released in 2011 on the 190th anniversary of Dostoevsky’s birth.
* On June 19, 2010, the 181st station of the Moscow metro “Dostoevskaya” opened. Access to the city is via Suvorovskaya Square, Seleznevskaya Street and Durova Street. Station decoration: on the walls of the station there are scenes illustrating four novels by F. M. Dostoevsky (“Crime and Punishment”, “The Idiot”, “Demons”, “The Brothers Karamazov”).

Notes

1 I. F. Masanov, “Dictionary of pseudonyms of Russian writers, scientists and public figures.” In 4 volumes. - M., All-Union Book Chamber, 1956-1960.
2 1 2 3 4 5 November 11 // RIA Novosti, November 11, 2008
3 Mirror of the week. - No. 3. - January 27 - February 2, 2007
4 Panaev I. I. Memories of Belinsky: (Excerpts) // I. I. Panaev. From “literary memories” / Executive editor N. K. Piksanov. - A series of literary memoirs. - L.: Fiction, Leningrad branch, 1969. - 282 p.
5 Igor Zolotussky. String in the fog
6 Semipalatinsk. Memorial House-Museum of F. M. Dostoevsky
7 [Henri Troyat. Fedor Dostoevsky. - M.: Eksmo Publishing House, 2005. - 480 p. (Series “Russian biographies”). ISBN 5-699-03260-6
8 1 2 3 4 [Henri Troyat. Fedor Dostoevsky. - M.: Eksmo Publishing House, 2005. - 480 p. (Series “Russian biographies”). ISBN 5-699-03260-6
9 On the building located in the place where the hotel where the Dostoevskys stayed was located, a memorial tablet was unveiled in December 2006 (author - sculptor Romualdas Quintas) A memorial plaque to Fyodor Dostoevsky was unveiled in the center of Vilnius
10 History of the Zaraisky district // Official website of the Zaraisky municipal district
11 Nogovitsyn O. M. “Poetics of Russian prose. Metaphysical research", All-Russian Academy of Physics, St. Petersburg, 1994
12 Ilya Brazhnikov. Dostoevsky Fyodor Mikhailovich (1821-1881).
13 F. M. Dostoevsky, “The Diary of a Writer.” 1873 Chapter XI. "Dreams and Dreams"
14 Dostoevsky Fyodor. Electronic Jewish Encyclopedia
15 F. M. Dostoevsky. "The Jewish Question" on Wikisource
16 Dikiy (Zankevich), Andrey Russian-Jewish dialogue, section “F.M. Dostoevsky about the Jews.” Retrieved June 6, 2008.
17 1 2 Nasedkin N., Minus Dostoevsky (F. M. Dostoevsky and the “Jewish Question”)
18 L. Grossman “Confession of a Jew” and “Dostoevsky and Judaism” in the Imwerden library
19 Maya Turovskaya. Jew and Dostoevsky, “Foreign Notes” 2006, No. 7
20 B. Sokolov. An occupation. Truth and myths
21 "Fools". Alexey Osipov - Doctor of Theology, Professor at the Moscow Theological Academy.
22 http://www.gumer.info/bogoslov_Buks/Philos/bened/intro.php (see block 17)

Fedor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky
11.11.1821 - 27.01.1881

Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky, Russian writer, was born in 1821 in Moscow. His father was a nobleman, landowner and doctor of medicine.

He was brought up until the age of 16 in Moscow. In his seventeenth year, he passed the exam at the Main Engineering School in St. Petersburg. In 1842 he graduated from a military engineering course and left the school as an engineer-second lieutenant. He was left in the service in St. Petersburg, but other goals and aspirations attracted him irresistibly. He became especially interested in literature, philosophy and history.

In 1844 he retired and at the same time wrote his first rather large story, “Poor People.” This story immediately created a position for him in literature, and was received extremely favorably by critics and the best Russian society. It was a rare success in the full sense of the word. But the constant ill health that followed harmed his literary pursuits for several years in a row.

In the spring of 1849, he was arrested along with many others for participating in a political conspiracy against the government, which had a socialist overtone. He was brought before the investigation and the highest appointed military court. After eight months of detention in the Peter and Paul Fortress, he was sentenced to death by firing squad. But the sentence was not carried out: a commutation of the sentence was read and Dostoevsky, having been deprived of the rights of his fortune, ranks and nobility, was exiled to Siberia to do hard labor for four years, with enlistment as an ordinary soldier at the end of the term of hard labor. This sentence against Dostoevsky was, in its form, the first case in Russia, for anyone sentenced to hard labor in Russia loses his civil rights forever, even if he has completed his term of hard labor. Dostoevsky was assigned, after serving his term of hard labor, to become a soldier - that is, the rights of a citizen were restored again. Subsequently, such pardons happened more than once, but then this was the first case and occurred at the behest of the late Emperor Nicholas I, who pitied Dostoevsky for his youth and talent.

In Siberia, Dostoevsky served his four-year sentence of hard labor, in the fortress of Omsk; and then in 1854 he was sent from hard labor as an ordinary soldier to the Siberian Line Battalion _ 7 in the city of Semipalatinsk, where a year later he was promoted to non-commissioned officer, and in 1856, with the accession to the throne of the now reigning Emperor Alexander II, to officer. In 1859, being in epilepsy, acquired while still in hard labor, he was dismissed and returned to Russia, first to Tver, and then to St. Petersburg. Here Dostoevsky began to study literature again.

In 1861, his elder brother, Mikhail Mikhailovich Dostoevsky, began publishing a large monthly literary magazine("Revue") - "Time". F. M. Dostoevsky also took part in the publication of the magazine, publishing his novel “Humiliated and Insulted” in it, which was sympathetically received by the public. But in the next two years he began and finished “Notes from the House of the Dead,” in which, under fictitious names, he told about his life in hard labor and described his former fellow convicts. This book was read throughout Russia and is still highly valued, although the orders and customs described in Notes from the House of the Dead have long since changed in Russia.

In 1866, after the death of his brother and after the cessation of the magazine "Epoch" he published, Dostoevsky wrote the novel "Crime and Punishment", then in 1868 - the novel "The Idiot" and in 1870 the novel "Demons". These three novels were highly appreciated by the public, although Dostoevsky, perhaps, treated modern Russian society too harshly in them.

In 1876, Dostoevsky began to publish a monthly magazine in the original form of his “Diary,” written by himself alone without collaborators. This publication was published in 1876 and 1877. in the amount of 8000 copies. It was a success. In general, Dostoevsky is loved by the Russian public. He deserved even from his literary opponents the review of a highly honest and sincere writer. By his convictions he is an open Slavophile; his former socialist convictions had changed quite a lot.

Brief biographical information dictated by the writer A. G. Dostoevskaya (Published in the January 1881 issue of “A Writer’s Diary”).

Dostoevsky Fyodor Mikhailovich

Dostoevsky, Fyodor Mikhailovich - famous writer. Born on October 30, 1821 in Moscow in the building of the Mariinsky Hospital, where his father served as a staff physician. He grew up in a rather harsh environment, over which hovered the gloomy spirit of his father - a “nervous, irritable and proud” man, always busy caring for the well-being of the family. The children (there were 7 of them; Fyodor was the second son) were brought up in fear and obedience, according to the traditions of antiquity, spending most of their time in front of their parents. Rarely leaving the walls of the hospital building, they communicated very little with the outside world, except through the sick, with whom Fyodor Mikhailovich, secretly from his father, sometimes spoke, and even through former nurses, who usually appeared in their house on Saturdays (from whom Dostoevsky became acquainted with fairy world). Dostoevsky’s brightest memories of late childhood are associated with the village - a small estate that his parents bought in the Kashira district of the Tula province in 1831. The family spent time there summer months, usually without a father, and the children enjoyed almost complete freedom. Dostoevsky had many indelible impressions from peasant life, from various meetings with peasants (Muzhik Marey, Alena Frolovna, etc.; see “A Writer’s Diary” for 1876, 2 and 4, and 1877, July - August). Liveliness of temperament, independence of character, extraordinary responsiveness - all these traits manifested themselves in him already in early childhood. Dostoevsky began to study quite early; His mother taught him the alphabet. Later, when he and his brother Mikhail began to be prepared in educational institution , he studied the Law of God from the deacon, who captivated not only children, but also parents, with his stories from Holy History, and the French language in half board N.I. Drashusova. In 1834, Dostoevsky entered Herman's boarding school, where he was especially interested in literature lessons. At this time he read Karamzin (especially his history), Zhukovsky, V. Scott, Zagoskin, Lazhechnikov, Narezhnago, Veltman and, of course, the “demigod” Pushkin, whose worship remained with him throughout his life. At the age of 16, Dostoevsky lost his mother and was soon assigned to an engineering school. He could not put up with the barracks spirit that reigned in the school, and had little interest in the subjects taught; He did not get along with his comrades, lived alone, and acquired a reputation as an “unsociable eccentric.” He immerses himself in literature, reads a lot, thinks even more (see his letters to his brother). Goethe, Schiller, Hoffmann, Balzac, Hugo, Corneille, Racine, Georges Sand - all this is included in his reading circle, not to mention everything original that appeared in Russian literature. Georges Sand captivated him as “one of the most clairvoyant premonitions of a happier future awaiting humanity” (“A Writer’s Diary”, 1876, June). Georges Sand motives interested him even in the last period of his life. His first attempt at independent creativity dates back to the early 40s - the dramas “Boris Godunov” and “Mary Stuart” that have not reached us. Apparently, “Poor People” was started at the school. In 1843, upon completion of the course, Dostoevsky enlisted in the service of the St. Petersburg engineering team and was sent to the drawing engineering department. He continued to lead a solitary life, full of passionate interest in literature alone. He translates Balzac's novel "Eugenie Grande", as well as Georges Sand and Sue. In the fall of 1844, Dostoevsky resigned, deciding to live only by literary work and “work like hell.” “Poor People” is already ready, and he dreams of major success: if they pay little in “Notes of the Fatherland,” then 100,000 readers will read it. At the direction of Grigorovich, he gives his first story to Nekrasov for his “Petersburg Collection”. The impression she made on Grigorovich, Nekrasov and Belinsky was amazing. Belinsky warmly welcomed Dostoevsky as one of the future great artists of the Gogol school. This was the happiest moment in Dostoevsky's youth. Subsequently, remembering him in hard labor, he strengthened his spirit. Dostoevsky was accepted into Belinsky’s circle as one of his equals, visited it often, and then the social and humane ideals that Belinsky so passionately preached must have been finally strengthened in him. Dostoevsky's good relationship with the circle very soon deteriorated. The members of the circle did not know how to spare his painful pride and often laughed at him. He still continued to meet with Belinsky, but he was very offended by the bad reviews of his subsequent works, which Belinsky called “nervous nonsense.” The success of "Poor People" had an extremely exciting effect on Dostoevsky. He works nervously and passionately, grasps at many topics, dreaming of “outsmarting” both himself and everyone else. Before his arrest in 1849, Dostoevsky wrote 10 stories, in addition to various sketches and unfinished things. All were published in "Notes of the Fatherland" (with the exception of "Novel in 9 letters" - "Contemporary" 1847): "Double" and "Prokharchin" - 1846; "Mistress" - 1847; "Weak Heart", "Someone else's Wife", " Jealous husband ", "Honest Thief", "Christmas Tree and Wedding", "White Nights" - 1848, "Netochka Nezvanova" - 1849. The last story remained unfinished: on the night of April 23, 1849, Dostoevsky was arrested and imprisoned in Petropavlovskaya fortress, where he stayed for 8 months ("The Little Hero" was written there; published in "Notes of the Fatherland" in 1857. The reason for his arrest was his involvement in the Petrashevsky case. Dostoevsky became close with the Fourierist circles, most closely with the Durov circle (where he was). and his brother Mikhail). He was accused of attending their meetings, taking part in the discussion of various socio-political issues, in particular the question of serfdom, rebelling with others against the severity of censorship, and listening to the reading of “A Soldier’s Conversation” , knew about the proposal to start a secret lithograph and read Belinsky’s famous letter to Gogol several times at meetings. He was sentenced to death, but the sovereign replaced it with hard labor for 4 years. On December 22, Dostoevsky, along with other convicts, was brought to the Semyonovsky parade ground. They held a ceremony announcing the death penalty by firing squad. The condemned survived all the horror of the “death row”, and only at the last moment they were told, as a special mercy, the real sentence (for Dostoevsky’s experiences at that moment, see “The Idiot”). On the night of December 24-25, Dostoevsky was shackled and sent to Siberia. In Tobolsk he was met by the wives of the Decembrists, and Dostoevsky received the Gospel from them as a blessing, which he then never parted with. Then he was sent to Omsk and served his sentence here in the “House of the Dead”. In “Notes from the House of the Dead,” and even more precisely in letters to his brother (February 22, 1854) and Fonvizina (early March of the same year), he conveys about his experiences in hard labor, about his state of mind immediately after leaving there and about those the consequences it had in his life. He had to experience “all the vengeance and persecution with which they (the convicts) live and breathe towards the noble class.” “But eternal concentration in myself,” he writes to his brother, “where I ran away from bitter reality, bore its fruits.” They consisted - as can be seen from the second letter - "in strengthening religious feeling", which had been extinguished "under the influence of the doubts and unbelief of the century." This is what he obviously means by the “rebirth of beliefs” that he talks about in “The Diary of a Writer.” One must think that hard labor further deepened the anguish of his soul, strengthened his ability to painfully analyze the final depths of the human spirit and its suffering. At the end of his term of hard labor (February 15, 1854), Dostoevsky was assigned as a private in the Siberian Line Battalion No. 7 in Semipalatinsk, where he remained until 1859. Baron A.E. Wrangel took him there under his protection, greatly easing his situation. ABOUT inner life We know very little of Dostoevsky during this period; Baron Wrangel in his “Memoirs” gives only its external appearance. Apparently, he reads a lot (requests for books in letters to his brother), and works on “Notes.” Here, it seems, the idea of ​​“Crime and Punishment” is emerging. Among the external facts of his life, it should be noted his marriage to Maria Dmitrievna Isaeva, the widow of a tavern supervisor (February 6, 1857, in Kuznetsk). Dostoevsky experienced a lot of painful and difficult things in connection with his love for her (he met her and fell in love with her during the life of her first husband). On April 18, 1857, Dostoevsky was restored to his former rights; On August 15 of the same year he received the rank of ensign, soon submitted his resignation and on March 18, 1859 he was dismissed, with permission to reside in Tver. In the same year he published two stories: "Uncle's Dream" (" Russian word ") and "The village of Stepanchikovo and its inhabitants" ("Notes of the Fatherland"). Longing for Tver, striving with all his might to the literary center, Dostoevsky is strenuously seeking permission to live in the capital, which he soon receives. In 1860 he was already founded in St. Petersburg. All this time, Dostoevsky suffered extreme financial need; Maria Dmitrievna was already sick with consumption, and Dostoevsky earned very little from literature. From 1861, he and his brother began publishing the magazine “Time,” which immediately became a great success and completely theirs. provides. In it Dostoevsky publishes his “The Humiliated and Insulted” (61, books 1 - 7), “Notes from the House of the Dead” (61 and 62) and the short story “A Bad Anecdote” (62, book 11) In the summer of 1862, Dostoevsky went abroad for treatment, stayed in Paris, London (a meeting with Herzen) and Geneva, he described his impressions in the magazine "Time" ("Winter Notes on Summer Impressions", 1863, books 2 - 3). Soon the magazine was closed for an innocent article by N. Strakhov on the Polish question (1863, May). The Dostoevskys tried to get permission to publish it under a different name, and at the beginning of 64 “Epoch” began to appear, but without the same success. Sick himself, spending all his time in Moscow at the bedside of his dying wife, Dostoevsky was almost unable to help his brother. The books were compiled haphazardly, hastily, were extremely late, and there were very few subscribers. Wife died April 16, 1864; On June 10, Mikhail Dostoevsky unexpectedly died, and on September 25, one of his closest collaborators, dearly beloved by Dostoevsky, Apollo Grigoriev, died. Blow after blow and a mass of debts finally upset the matter, and at the beginning of 1865, “Epoch” ceased to exist (Dostoevsky published “Notes from the Underground” in it, books 1 - 2 and 4, and “Crocodile”, in the last book). Dostoevsky was left with 15,000 rubles in debt and a moral obligation to support the family of his late brother and his wife’s son from her first husband. At the beginning of July 1865, having somehow settled his financial affairs for a while, Dostoevsky went abroad to Wiesbaden. Nervously upset, on the verge of despair, either in a thirst for oblivion or in the hope of winning, he tried to play roulette there and lost down to a penny (see the description of the sensations in the novel “The Gambler”). I had to resort to the help of my old friend Wrangel to somehow get out of a difficult situation. In November, Dostoevsky returned to St. Petersburg and sold his copyright to Stellovsky, with the obligation to add a new one to his previous works - the novel "The Gambler". At the same time he finished “Crime and Punishment”, which soon began to be published in “Russian Bulletin” (1866, 1 - 2, 4, 6, 8, 11 - 12 books). The impression from this novel was enormous. Once again the name of Dostoevsky was on everyone’s lips. This was facilitated, in addition to the great merits of the novel, by the distant coincidence of its plot with the actual fact: at the time when the novel was already being published, a murder was committed in Moscow for the purpose of robbery by student Danilov, who motivated his crime somewhat similar to Raskolnikov. Dostoevsky was very proud of this artistic insight. In the fall of 1866, in order to fulfill his obligation to Stellovsky on time, he invited stenographer Anna Grigorievna Snitkina to his place and dictated “The Player” to her. On February 15, 1867, she became his wife, and two months later they went abroad, where they stayed for more than 4 years (until July 1871). This overseas trip was an escape from creditors who had already filed for foreclosure. For the trip, he took 3,000 rubles from Katkov for the planned novel “The Idiot”; Of this money, he left most of it to his brother's family. In Baden-Baden, he was again captivated by the hope of winning and again lost everything: the money, his suit, and even his wife’s dresses. I had to take out new loans, work desperately, “at post office” (31/2 sheets per month) and need the bare necessities. These 4 years, in terms of money, are the most difficult in his life. His letters are filled with desperate requests for money, all kinds of calculations. His irritability reaches an extreme degree, which explains the tone and character of his works during this period ("Demons", partly "The Idiot"), as well as his clash with Turgenev. Driven by need, his creativity proceeded very intensively; "The Idiot" ("Russian Herald", 68 - 69), "Eternal Husband" ("Dawn", 1 - 2 books, 70) and most of "Demons" ("Russian Herald", 71) were written. , 1 - 2, 4, 7, 9 - 12 books and 72, 11 - 12 books). In 1867, The Diary of a Writer was conceived, and at the end of 68, the novel Atheism was conceived, which later formed the basis of The Brothers Karamazov. Upon returning to St. Petersburg, the brightest period in Dostoevsky’s life begins. Smart and energetic Anna Grigorievna took all financial matters into her own hands and quickly corrected them, freeing him from debt. From the beginning of 1873, Dostoevsky became the editor of "Citizen" with a salary of 250 rubles per month, in addition to the fee for articles. There he reviews foreign politics and publishes feuilletons: “The Diary of a Writer.” At the beginning of 1874, Dostoevsky already left "Citizen" to work on the novel "Teenager" ("Notes of the Fatherland" 75, books 1, 2, 4, 5, 9, 11 and 12). During this period, Dostoevsky spent the summer months in Staraya Russa, from where he often went to Ems for treatment in July and August; once they stayed there for the winter. From the beginning of 1876, Dostoevsky began publishing his “Diary of a Writer” - a monthly magazine without employees, without a program or departments. In material terms, the success was great: the number of copies sold ranged from 4 to 6 thousand. “The Diary of a Writer” found a warm response among both its adherents and its detractors, due to its sincerity and rare responsiveness to the exciting events of the day. In his political views, Dostoevsky is very close to the right-wing Slavophiles, sometimes even merging with them, and in this regard, “A Writer’s Diary” is not of particular interest; but it is valuable, firstly, for its recollections, and secondly, as a commentary on artistic creativity Dostoevsky: you often find here a hint of some fact that gave impetus to his imagination, or even a more detailed development of one or another idea touched upon in a work of art; There are also many excellent stories and essays in the Diary, sometimes only outlined, sometimes completely completed. Since 1878, Dostoevsky stopped “The Diary of a Writer”, as if passing away, in order to begin his last legend - “The Brothers Karamazov” (“Russian Messenger”, 79 - 80). “A lot of me lay in him,” he says himself in a letter to I. Aksakov. The novel was a huge success. During the printing of Part 2, Dostoevsky was destined to experience the moment of supreme triumph at the Pushkin holiday (June 8, 1880), at which he delivered his famous speech, which brought the large audience into indescribable delight. In it, Dostoevsky, with true pathos, expressed his idea of ​​​​a synthesis between the West and the East, by merging both principles: the general and the individual (the speech was published with explanations in the only issue of the “Diary of a Writer” for 1880). This was his swan song; on January 25, 1881, he submitted to the censor the first issue of “A Writer’s Diary,” which he wanted to resume, and on January 28, at 8:38 p.m., he was no longer alive. In recent years he suffered from emphysema. On the night of the 25th to the 26th, the pulmonary artery ruptured; This was followed by an attack of his usual illness - epilepsy. The love of reading Russia for him was evident on the day of the funeral. Huge crowds of people accompanied his coffin; 72 delegations took part in the procession. All over Russia they responded to his death as a huge public misfortune. Dostoevsky was buried in the Alexander Nevsky Lavra on January 31, 1881 - Characteristics of creativity. From the point of view of the fundamentals, the main guiding ideas, Dostoevsky’s work can be divided into 2 periods: from “Poor People” to “Notes from the Underground” and from “Notes” to the famous speech at the Pushkin festival. In the first period, he was an ardent admirer of Schiller, Georges Sand and Hugo, an ardent defender of the great ideals of humanism in their usual, generally accepted understanding, the most devoted student of Belinsky, a socialist, with his deep pathos, his intense emotion in defending natural rights." last person "not inferior to the teacher himself. In the second - if he does not completely renounce all his previous ideas, then he certainly overestimates some of them and, having overestimated them, discards them, and although he leaves some, he tries to bring completely different grounds for it. This is a division convenient in that it sharply emphasizes that deep crack in his metaphysics, that visible “degeneration of his convictions,” which in fact became apparent very soon after hard labor and - one must think - not without its impact on the acceleration, and perhaps even the direction of the inner soul works. He begins as a faithful student of Gogol, the author of “The Overcoat,” and understands the duties of the artist-writer, as Belinsky taught, “The most downtrodden man is also a man and is called your brother” (words spoken by him in “The Humiliated and Insulted”). - this is his main idea, the starting point of all his works for the first period. Even the world is the same Gogolian, bureaucratic, at least in most cases. And according to his idea, it is almost always divided into two parts: on one side are weak, pathetic, downtrodden “officials for writing” or honest, truthful, painfully sensitive dreamers who find solace and joy in the happiness of others, and on the other - “their excellencies”, puffed up to the point of losing their human appearance, essentially, perhaps, not at all evil, but by position, as if out of duty, they distort the lives of their subordinates, and next to them are middle-ranking officials who pretend to be bonton, imitating their bosses in everything. Dostoevsky's background is from the very beginning much broader, the plot is more intricate, and more people participate in it; the mental analysis is incomparably deeper, the events are depicted more vividly, more painfully, the suffering of these little people is expressed too hysterically, almost to the point of cruelty. But these are the inherent properties of his genius, and they not only did not interfere with the glorification of the ideals of humanism, but, on the contrary, they even strengthened and deepened their expression. Such are “Poor People”, “The Double”, “Prokharchin”, “Novel in 9 Letters” and all other stories published before hard labor. According to the guiding idea, Dostoevsky’s first works after hard labor also belong to this category: “The Humiliated and Insulted,” “The Village of Stepanchikovo,” and even “Notes from the House of the Dead.” Although in the “Notes” the pictures are entirely painted with the darkly harsh colors of Dante’s hell, although they are imbued with an unusually deep interest in the soul of the criminal, as such, and therefore could be attributed to the second period, nevertheless, here the goal seems to be the same: to awaken pity and compassion for the “fallen”, to show the moral superiority of the weak over the strong, to reveal the presence of the “spark of God” in the hearts of even the most notorious, notorious criminals, on whose foreheads are the mark of eternal damnation, contempt or hatred of all those living in the “normal”. Here and there, and here and there, Dostoevsky had come across some strange types before - people “with a convulsively tense will and inner impotence”; people to whom insult and humiliation give some kind of painful, almost voluptuous pleasure, who already know all the confusion, all the bottomless depth of human experiences, with all the transitional stages between the most opposite feelings, know to the point that they no longer “distinguish between love and hatred”, they cannot contain themselves (“The Mistress”, “White Nights”, “Netochka Nezvanova”). But still, these people only slightly violate the general appearance of Dostoevsky as a most talented representative of the Gogol school, created mainly thanks to the efforts of Belinsky. “Good” and “Evil” are still in their former places, Dostoevsky’s former idols are sometimes, as it were, forgotten, but they are never affected, they are not subject to any revaluation. Dostoevsky sharply highlights from the very beginning - and this, perhaps, is the root of his future convictions - an extremely unique understanding of the essence of humanism, or, rather, of that being that is taken under the protection of humanism. Gogol's attitude towards his hero, as is often the case with a humorist, is purely sentimental. A hint of condescension, a “top-down” look, clearly makes itself felt. Akaki Akakievich, with all our sympathy for him, always remains in the position of a “little brother.” We feel sorry for him, we sympathize with his grief, but not for a single moment do we merge with him entirely, consciously or unconsciously do we feel our superiority over him. This is him, this is his world, but we, our world, are completely different. The insignificance of his experiences does not at all lose its character, but is only skillfully covered up by the writer’s soft, sad laughter. At best, Gogol treats his situation like a loving father or an experienced older brother to the misfortunes of a small, unreasonable child. It’s not at all like that with Dostoevsky. Even in his very first works, he looks at this “last brother” quite seriously, approaches him closely, intimately, precisely as a completely equal. He knows - and not with his mind, but with his soul, he comprehends - the absolute value of each individual, whatever his social value. For him, the experiences of the most “useless” being are as sacred and inviolable as the experiences of the greatest figures, the greatest benefactors of this world. There are no “great” and “small”, and the point is not to make more people sympathize with the lesser. Dostoevsky immediately transfers the center of gravity to the region of the “heart,” the only sphere where equality reigns, and not an equation, where there are not and cannot be any quantitative relationships: every moment there is exclusively, individual. It is this peculiarity, which by no means follows from some abstract principle, inherent in Dostoevsky alone due to the individual qualities of his nature, and gives his artistic genius the enormous strength that is needed to rise in the depiction of the inner world of the “smallest of small” to world level, universal. For Gogol, for those who always evaluate, always compare, such tragic scenes as the funeral of a student or Devushkin’s state of mind when Varenka leaves him (“Poor People”) are simply unthinkable; What is needed here is not recognition in principle, but a feeling of the absoluteness of the human “I” and the resulting exceptional ability to stand entirely in the place of another, without bending down to him or lifting him towards himself. From here follows the first most characteristic feature in Dostoevsky’s work. At first he seems to have a completely objectified image; you feel that the author is somewhat aloof from his hero. But then his pathos begins to grow, the process of objectification breaks off, and then the subject - the creator and the object - the image are already fused together; The hero's experiences become the experiences of the author himself. This is why Dostoevsky’s readers are left with the impression that all his heroes speak the same language, that is, in the words of Dostoevsky himself. This same feature of Dostoevsky corresponds to other features of his genius, which also appeared very early, almost at the very beginning, in his work. His passion for depicting the most acute, most intense human torment is amazing, his irresistible desire to cross the line beyond which artistry loses its softening power, and unusually painful pictures begin, sometimes more terrible than the most terrible reality. For Dostoevsky, suffering is an element, the original essence of life, raising those in whom it is most fully embodied to the highest pedestal of fatal doom. All his people are too individual, exceptional in each of their experiences, absolutely autonomous in the only important and valuable area for him - in the area of ​​the “heart”; they obscure the general background surrounding their reality. Dostoevsky accurately breaks the closed chain of life into separate links, at each given moment so riveting our attention to a single link that we completely forget about its connection with others. The reader immediately enters the most hidden side of the human soul, enters through some roundabout paths that always lie away from the mind. And this is so unusual that almost all of his faces give the impression of fantastic creatures, with only one side of them, the most distant, phenomena in contact with our world, with the kingdom of reason. Hence, the very background against which they perform - everyday life, the environment - also seems fantastic. Meanwhile, the reader does not doubt for a minute that this is the real truth. It is in these features, or rather in one reason that gives rise to them, that the source of the bias towards the views of the second period lies. Everything in the world is relative, including our values, our ideals and aspirations. Humanism, the principle of universal happiness, love and brotherhood, a wonderful harmonious life, the resolution of all questions, the quenching of all pains - in a word, everything that we strive for, that we so painfully crave, all this is in the future, in the distant fog, for others, for subsequent ones, for those that do not yet exist. But what to do now with this particular person, who has come into the world for her appointed time, what to do with her life, with her torment, what consolation can I give her? Sooner or later, but the moment must inevitably come when a person will protest with all the strength of his soul against all these distant ideals, and will demand, and above all from himself, exclusive attention to his short-term life. Of all the theories of happiness, the most painful for a given individual is the positively sociological one, which is most consistent with the prevailing spirit of science. It proclaims the principle of relativity both in quantity and in time: it has in mind only the majority, undertakes to strive for the relative happiness of this relative majority and sees the approach of this happiness only in a more or less distant future. Dostoevsky begins his second period with a merciless criticism of positive morality and positive happiness, with the debunking of our most precious ideals, since they are based on such a basis, cruel for a single individual. In “Notes from the Underground,” the first antithesis is very strongly put forward: “I and Society” or “I and Humanity,” and the second is already outlined: “I and the World.” A man lived “underground” for 40 years; delved into his soul, suffered, realizing his own and others’ insignificance; more morally and physically, he was striving somewhere, doing something and did not notice how life passed stupidly, disgustingly, tediously, without a single bright moment, without a single drop of joy. Life has been lived, and now the painful question haunts us: why? Who needed it? Who needed all his suffering, which distorted his entire being? But he, too, once believed in all these ideals, he also saved someone or was going to save someone, worshiped Schiller, cried over the fate of his “little brother,” as if there was someone else smaller than him. How to live through the pale years of the remainder? Where to look for consolation? It does not exist and cannot exist. Despair, boundless anger - this is what was left of his life as a result. And he brings this anger to light, throws his mockery in people’s faces. Everything is a lie, stupid self-deception, a stupid game of spillikins by stupid, insignificant people, in their blindness, fussing over something, worshiping something, some stupid fictitious fetishes that do not stand up to any criticism. At the cost of all his torment, at the cost of his entire ruined life, he bought his right to the merciless cynicism of the following words: so that I may have tea and let the world perish, I will say: “I may have tea, and let the world perish.” If the world does not care about him, if history in its forward movement mercilessly destroys everyone along the way, if the illusory improvement of life is achieved at the cost of so many sacrifices, so much suffering, then he does not accept such a life, such a world - he does not accept it in the name of his absolute rights, as once existing personality. And what can they object to him about this: positivistic social ideals, future harmony, the crystal kingdom? The happiness of future generations, even if it can console anyone, is a complete fiction: it is based on incorrect calculations or an outright lie. It assumes that as soon as a person finds out what his benefit is, he will immediately and certainly begin to strive for it, and the benefit consists of living in harmony, obeying generally established norms. But who decided that a person seeks only benefits? After all, this seems only from the point of view of the mind, but the mind plays the least role in life, and it is not for it to curb the passions, the eternal desires for chaos, for destruction. At the very last moment, when the crystal palace is about to be completed, there will certainly be some gentleman with a retrograde physiognomy who will put his hands on his hips and say to all the people: “Well, gentlemen, shouldn’t we push all this prudence at once , the sole purpose is for all these logarithms to go to hell and for us to live again, of our own stupid will,” even in misery. And he will certainly find followers, and not even a few, so this whole rigmarole called history will have to start all over again. For “one’s own, free and free will, one’s own, even the wildest whim, one’s own fantasy - this is all that missed, most profitable benefit, which does not fit into any classification and from which all systems , all theories are constantly going to hell." This is how a man from the “underground” becomes angry; Dostoevsky reaches such a frenzy when he stands up for the ruined life of an individual person. It was Belinsky’s ardent student who, together with his teacher, recognized the absoluteness of the beginning of personality that could have come to this conclusion. All future destructive work of Dostoevsky is outlined here. In the future, he will only deepen these thoughts, call forth from the underworld more and more new forces of chaos - all the passions, all the ancient instincts of man, in order to finally prove the inconsistency of the usual foundations of our morality, all its weakness in the fight against these forces and thereby clear the ground for a different justification - mystical-religious. The thoughts of a person “from underground” are completely absorbed by Raskolnikov, the hero of one of the most brilliant works in world literature: “Crimes and Punishments.” Raskolnikov is a most consistent nihilist, much more consistent than Bazarov. His basis is atheism, and his whole life, all his actions are only logical conclusions from it. If there is no God, if all our categorical imperatives are mere fiction, if ethics can thus be explained only as a product of certain social relations, then wouldn’t it be more correct, wouldn’t it be more scientific, to have the so-called double-entry bookkeeping of morality: one for the masters, the other for slaves? And he creates his own theory, his own ethics, according to which he allows himself to violate our basic norm, which prohibits the shedding of blood. People are divided into ordinary and extraordinary, into crowds and heroes. The first are the cowardly, submissive masses, according to whom the prophet has every right fire from cannons: “Obey, trembling creature, and do not reason.” The second are brave, proud, born rulers, Napoleons, Caesars, Alexander the Great. Everything is allowed with this. They themselves are the creators of laws, the establishers of all kinds of values. Their path is always strewn with corpses, but they calmly step over them, bringing with them new higher values. It’s up to everyone to decide for themselves and for themselves who they are. Raskolnikov made up his mind and sheds blood. This is his scheme. Dostoevsky puts into it a content of extraordinary genius, where the iron logic of thought merges with subtle knowledge human soul. Raskolnikov kills not the old woman, but the principle, and until last minute, being already in hard labor, does not recognize himself as guilty. His tragedy is not at all a consequence of remorse, revenge on the part of the “norm” he violated; she is in something completely different; she is completely conscious of her insignificance, in the deepest resentment, for which only fate is to blame: he turned out to be not a hero, he did not dare - he, too, is a trembling creature, and this is unbearable for him. He did not resign himself; Who or what should he humble himself to? There is nothing obligatory or categorical; and people are even smaller, stupider, nastier, more cowardly than him. Now in his soul there is a feeling of complete isolation from life, from the people dearest to him, from everyone living normally and with the norm. This is how the starting point of the “underground man” becomes complicated here. There are a number of other people featured in the novel. And as always, the only ones who are deeply tragic and interesting are the fallen, the martyrs of their passions or ideas, struggling in agony on the verge of the line, now transgressing it, now punishing themselves for having crossed it (Svidrigailov, Marmeladov). The author is already close to resolving the questions he posed: to the abolition of all antitheses in God and in the belief in immortality. Sonya Marmeladova also violates the norm, but God is with her, and this is her inner salvation, her special truth, the motive of which deeply penetrates the entire gloomy symphony of the novel. In The Idiot, Dostoevsky's next great novel, the critique of positive morality and with it the first antithesis are somewhat weakened. Rogozhin and Nastasya Filippovna are simply martyrs of their irresistible passions, victims of internal, soul-tearing contradictions. The motives of cruelty, unbridled voluptuousness, gravitation towards Sodom - in a word, Karamazovism - are already heard here with all their terrible catastrophic power. Of the secondary ones - after all, all the images, including Rogozhin and Nastasya Filippovna, were conceived only as a background for Prince Myshkin - these motives become the main ones, captivating the artist’s tense soul, and he reveals them in all their captivating breadth. All the more strongly is the second, even more painful for man, antithesis put forward: me and the world, or me and the cosmos, me and nature. Few pages are devoted to this antithesis, and puts it one of minor characters - Hippolyte, but her gloomy spirit hovers over the entire work. Under its aspect the whole meaning of the novel changes. Dostoevsky's thought seems to follow the following path. Can even those chosen Napoleons be happy? How can a person live without God in his soul, with only his mind, since there are inexorable laws of nature, since the all-consuming mouth of a “terrible, dumb, mercilessly cruel beast” is always open, ready to devour you every moment? Let a person come to terms with the fact that all life consists of constantly eating each other, let him, accordingly, only care about one thing, in order to somehow retain his place at the table, so that he himself can eat as many people as possible; but what kind of joy can there be in life at all, since it has a deadline, and with every moment the fatal, inexorable end is moving closer and closer? Already Dostoevsky’s “underground” man thinks that the rational ability is only one twentieth part of the entire ability to live; reason knows only what it has managed to recognize, and human nature acts as a whole, with everything that is in it, consciously and unconsciously. But in this very nature, in its unconscious, there are depths where, perhaps, the true answer to life is hidden. Among the raging passions, among the noisy and colorful bustle of the world, only Prince Myshkin is bright in spirit, although not joyful. He alone has access to the mystical realm. He knows all the powerlessness of reason in resolving eternal problems, but in his soul he senses other possibilities. Foolish, “blessed,” he is smart with a higher mind, comprehends everything with his heart, his gut. Through the “sacred” illness, in a few inexpressibly happy seconds before the attack, he learns the highest harmony, where everything is clear, meaningful and justified. Prince Myshkin is sick, abnormal, fantastic - and yet one feels that he is the healthiest, the strongest, the most normal of all. In depicting this image, Dostoevsky reached one of the highest peaks of his creativity. Here Dostoevsky embarked on a direct path to his sphere of the mystical, in the center of which Christ and faith in immortality are the only unshakable basis of morality. The next novel, “Demons,” is another bold ascent. It has two parts, uneven in both quantity and quality. In one there is an angry criticism, reaching the point of caricature, of the social movement of the 70s and of its old inspirers, the calmed, self-satisfied priests of humanism. The latter are ridiculed in the person of Karmazinov and the old man Verkhovensky, in whom they see mutilated images of Turgenev and Granovsky. This is one of the shadow sides, of which there are many in Dostoevsky’s journalistic activities. Another part of the novel is important and valuable, which depicts a group of people with “theoretically irritated hearts”, struggling to solve world issues, exhausted in the struggle of all kinds of desires, passions and ideas. The former problems, the former antitheses, pass here into their final stage, into the opposition: “The God-Man and the Man-God.” Stavrogin's intense will equally gravitates towards the upper and lower abyss, towards God and the devil, towards the pure Madonna and towards the sins of Sodom. Therefore, he is able to simultaneously preach the ideas of God-manhood and man-divinity. Shatov is the first to listen, Kirillov is the second; he himself is not captured by either one or the other. He is hampered by his “internal impotence,” weakness of desires, inability to be ignited by either thought or passion. There is something of Pechorin in him: nature gave him enormous strength, a great mind, but in his soul there is a deadly coldness, his heart is indifferent to everything. He is deprived of some mysterious, but most necessary sources of life, and his last destiny is suicide. Shatov also dies unfinished; Kirillov alone carries out the idea of ​​man-divinity he has internalized to the end. The pages dedicated to him are amazing in their depth of spiritual analysis. Kirillov - at some limit; one more movement, and he seems to comprehend the whole secret. And he, like Prince Myshkin, also has seizures of epilepsy, and in the last few moments he is given a feeling of supreme bliss, all-resolving harmony. Longer - he says himself - the human body is not able to withstand such happiness; It seems that one more moment - and life itself would cease. Perhaps these seconds of bliss give him the courage to oppose himself to God. There is some kind of unconscious religious feeling in him, but it is clogged with the tireless work of his mind, his scientific convictions, his confidence as a mechanical engineer that all cosmic life can and should be explained only mechanically. Ippolit's yearning (in "The Idiot"), his horror before the inexorable laws of nature - this is Kirillov's starting point. Yes, the most offensive, the most terrible thing for a person, what he absolutely cannot put up with, is death. In order to somehow get rid of it, from its fear, a person creates a fiction, invents a God, from whose bosom he seeks salvation. God is the fear of death. This fear must be destroyed, and God will die with it. To do this, it is necessary to show self-will, in its entirety. No one has yet dared to kill himself like that, without any extraneous reason. But he, Kirillov, will dare and thereby prove that he is not afraid of her. And then the greatest world revolution will take place: man will take the place of God, become a man-god, for, having ceased to be afraid of death, he will begin to be physically reborn, will finally overcome the mechanical nature of nature and will live forever. This is how a person measures his strength with God, dreaming in a half-delusional fantasy of overcoming Him. Kirillov’s God is not in three persons, there is no Christ here; this is the same cosmos, the deification of the same mechanicalness that frightens him so much. But it cannot be overcome without Christ, without faith in the Resurrection and in the resulting miracle of immortality. The suicide scene is stunning in terms of the terrible torment that Kirillov experiences in his inhuman horror before the approaching end. - In the next, less successful novel, “The Teenager,” the pathos of thought is somewhat weaker, and there is comparatively less emotional tension. There are variations on the same themes, but now complicated by slightly different motives. There seems to be a possibility of overcoming previous extreme denials by a person, and in our everyday sense, healthy. The main character of the novel, a teenager, knows distant echoes of Raskolnikov’s theory - the division of people into “daring” and “trembling creatures”. He, too, would like to rank himself among the first, but not in order to cross the “line”, to violate “norms”: in his soul there are other aspirations - a thirst for “appearance”, a premonition of synthesis. He is also attracted to Wille zur Macht, but not in the usual manifestations. He bases his activities original idea“the stingy knight” - the acquisition of power through money, assimilates it entirely, right down to: “I’ve had enough of this consciousness.” But, being by nature alive and mobile, he imagines such a consciousness not as tranquility in contemplation alone: ​​he wants to feel powerful for just a few minutes, and then he will give everything away and go into the desert to celebrate even greater freedom - freedom from worldly things. vanity, from myself. Thus, the highest recognition of one’s “I”, the highest affirmation of one’s personality, thanks to the organic presence of elements of Christianity in the soul, at the very last edge turns into its denial, into asceticism. Another hero of the novel, Versilov, also gravitates towards synthesis. He is one of the rare representatives of the world idea, “the highest cultural type of pain for everyone”; torn by contradictions, he languishes under the yoke of incredibly huge egoism. There are maybe a thousand people like him, no more; but for their sake, perhaps, Russia existed. The mission of the Russian people is to create, through these thousands, a general idea that would unite all the private ideas of European peoples, merging them into a single whole. This idea about the Russian mission, the most dear to Dostoevsky, is varied by him in different ways in a number of journalistic articles; it was already in the mouths of Myshkin and Shatov, it is repeated in The Brothers Karamazov, but its bearer, as a separate image, as if specially created for this, is only Versilov. - “The Brothers Karamazov” is the last, most powerful artistic word of Dostoevsky. Here is a synthesis of his entire life, all his intense quests in the field of thought and creativity. Everything that he wrote before was nothing more than ascending steps, partial attempts at implementation. According to the main idea, central figure it should have been Alyosha. In the history of mankind, ideas die out and along with them people, their bearers, but they are replaced by new ones. The situation in which humanity now finds itself cannot continue any longer. There is great confusion in the soul; on the ruins of old values, an exhausted person bends under the weight of eternal questions, having lost any justifying meaning of life. But this is not absolute death: here is the birth pangs of a new religion, a new morality, a new man who must unite - first in himself, and then in action - all the private ideas that until then guided life, illuminate everything with a new light, answer in everyone can answer all questions. Dostoevsky managed to complete only the first part of the plan. In those 14 books that have been written, the birth is only being prepared, a new being is only outlined, attention is paid mainly to the tragedy of the end of the old life. The last blasphemous cry of all its deniers, who have lost their last foundations, sounds powerfully over the entire work: “Everything is permitted!” Against the background of spider voluptuousness - Karamazovism - the naked human soul is ominously illuminated, disgusting in its passions (Fyodor Karamazov and his bastard son Smerdyakov), unrestrained in its falls and yet helplessly restless, deeply tragic (Dmitry and Ivan). Events rush by with extraordinary speed, and in their rapid pace a mass of sharply defined images arise - old, familiar from previous creations, but here in-depth and new, from different strata, classes and ages. And they were all entangled in one strong knot, doomed to physical or spiritual death. Here the acuteness of the analysis reaches extreme proportions, reaching the point of cruelty and torment. All this is, as it were, just the basis on which the most tragic figure rises - Ivan, this intercessor, plaintiff for all people, for all the suffering of humanity. In his rebellious cry, in his rebellion against Christ himself, all the groans and cries that came from human lips merged. What meaning can there still be in our life, what values ​​should we worship, since the whole world is in evil and even God cannot justify it, since the Chief Architect himself built it and continues to build it every day on the tears of, at least, innocent people beings - a child. And how can one accept such a world, so falsely, so cruelly built, even if there is God and immortality, there was and will be a Resurrection? The future harmony in the second coming - no longer positivistic, but the most real, genuine universal happiness and forgiveness - can it really pay off, justify even one tear of a child hunted down by dogs or shot by the Turks at the very second when he smiled at them with his innocent childish smile? No, Ivan would rather remain behind the threshold of the crystal palace, with his unavenged grudge, but will not allow the mother of a tortured child to embrace his tormentor: for herself, for her maternal torment, she can still forgive, but she should not, she does not dare forgive for the torment your child. So Dostoevsky, having once accepted the “last man” into his heart, recognizing the absolute intrinsic value of his experiences, took his side against everyone: against society, the world and God, carried his tragedy through all his works, raised it to the level of the world, brought it to struggle against oneself, against one’s own last refuge, against Christ. This is where “The Legend of the Grand Inquisitor” begins - the final idea of ​​​​this final creation. The entire thousand-year history of mankind focuses on this great duel, on this strange, fantastic meeting of a 90-year-old man with the second-coming Savior, who descended on the hundreds of weeping Castile. And when the elder, in the role of an accuser, tells Him that He did not foresee future history, was too proud in His demands, overestimated the Divine in man, did not save him, that the world had long ago turned away from Him, went along the path of the Intelligent Spirit and will come along it is clear to the end that he, the old inquisitor, is obliged to correct His feat, to become the head of the weak suffering people and at least by deception to give them the illusion of what was rejected by Him during the three great temptations - it is clear in these speeches imbued with deep sorrow One can hear self-mockery, Dostoevsky's rebellion against himself. After all, the discovery that Alyosha makes: “Your inquisitor doesn’t believe in God” still does little to save him from his murderous arguments. It is not for nothing that Dostoevsky came out with the following words just about The Grand Inquisitor: “Through a great crucible of doubts, my hosanna came.” In the written parts there is one crucible of doubt: his hosanna, Alyosha and Elder Zosima, are greatly diminished before the greatness of his denials. Thus ends the artistic path of the martyr Dostoevsky. In his last work, the same motives as in the first sounded again, with titanic power: pain for the “last man,” boundless love for him and his suffering, readiness to fight for him, for the absoluteness of his rights, with everyone, not excluding God. Belinsky would certainly recognize his former student in him. - Bibliography. 1. Publications: first posthumous collected works, 1883; publication by A. Marx (supplement to the magazine "Niva" 1894 - 1895); edition 7, A. Dostoevskaya, in 14 volumes, 1906; Edition 8, “Enlightenment,” is the most complete: here are options, excerpts and articles that were not included in previous editions (the appendix to “Demons” is valuable). - II. Biographical information: O. Miller “Materials for the biography of Dostoevsky”, and N. Strakhov “Memories of F.M. Dostoevsky” (both in the first volume of the 1883 edition); G. Vetrinsky "Dostoevsky in the memoirs of his contemporaries, letters and notes" ("Historical Literary Library", Moscow, 1912); Baron A. Wrangel “Memories of Dostoevsky in Siberia” (St. Petersburg, 1912); Collection "Petrashevtsy", edited by V.V. Kallasha; Vengerov "Petrashevtsy" ("Encyclopedic Dictionary" Brockhaus-Efron); Akhsharumov “Memoirs of Petrashevets”; A. Koni “Essays and Memoirs” (1906) and “On the Path of Life” (1912, vol. II). - III. Criticism and bibliography: a) About creativity in general: N. Mikhailovsky “Cruel Talent” (vol. V, pp. 1 - 78); G. Uspensky (vol. III, pp. 333 - 363); O. Miller "Russian writers after Gogol"; S. Vengerov, “Sources of the Dictionary of Russian Writers” (vol. II, pp. 297 - 307); Vladislavlev "Russian Writers" (Moscow, 1913); V. Solovyov, “Three speeches in memory of Dostoevsky” (works, vol. III, pp. 169 - 205); V. Chizh “Dostoevsky as a psychopathologist” (Moscow, 1885); N. Bazhenov “Psychiatric conversation” (Moscow, 1903); Kirpichnikov “Essays on the history of new literature” (vol. I, Moscow, 1903); V. Pereverzev "The Work of Dostoevsky" (Moscow, 1912). From the latest trends in the field of criticism about Dostoevsky: V. Rozanov “The Legend of the Grand Inquisitor” (edition 3, St. Petersburg, 1906); S. Andreevsky "Literary Essays" (3rd edition, St. Petersburg, 1902); D. Merezhkovsky "Tolstoy and Dostoevsky" (5th edition, 1911); L. Shestov “Dostoevsky and Nietzsche” (St. Petersburg, 1903); V. Veresaev "Living Life" (Moscow, 1911); Volzhsky "Two Sketches" (1902); his “The Religious and Moral Problem in Dostoevsky” (“The World of God”, 6 - 8 books, 1905); S. Bulgakov, collection “Literary Business” (St. Petersburg, 1902); Y. Aikhenvald "Silhouettes" (vol. II); A. Gornfeld “Books and People” (St. Petersburg, 1908); V. Ivanov "Dostoevsky and the Tragedy Novel" ("Russian Thought", 5 - 6, 1911); A. Bely "The Tragedy of Creativity" (Moscow, 1911); A. Volynsky “About Dostoevsky” (2nd edition, St. Petersburg, 1909); A. Zakrzhevsky "Underground" (Kyiv, 1911); his "Karamazovshchina" (Kyiv, 1912). - b) About individual works: V. Belinsky, vol. IV, edition of Pavlenkov (“Poor People”); his, vol. X (“Double”) and XI (“Mistress”); I. Annensky "Book of Reflections" ("Double" and "Prokharchin"); N. Dobrolyubov “Downtrodden People” (vol. III), about “Humiliated and Offended.” About "Notes from the House of the Dead" - D. Pisarev ("The Dead and the Perishing", vol. V). "About "Crime and Punishment": D. Pisarev ("Struggle for Life", vol. VI); N. Mikhailovsky (" Literary Memoirs and modern unrest", vol. II, pp. 366 - 367); I. Annensky ("Book of Reflections", vol. II). About "Demons": N. Mikhailovsky (op. vol. I, pp. 840 - 872 ); A. Volynsky (“The Book of Great Wrath”). About “The Brothers Karamazov”: S. Bulgakov (“From Marxism to Idealism”; 1904, pp. 83 - 112); . Rozanov ("The Legend of the Grand Inquisitor"). About the "Diary of a Writer": N. Mikhailovsky (in the collected works of M.A. Protopopov) "Preacher of the New Word" ("Russian Wealth", 8th book, 1880) Foreign criticism: Brandes "Deutsche literarische Volkshefte", No. 3 (B., 1889); K. Saitschik "Die Weltanschauung D. und Tolstojs" (1893); M. D." (B., 1899); E. Zabel "Russische Litteraturbilder" (B., 1899); D-r Poritsky "Heine D., Gorkij" (1902); Jos. Muller "D. - ein Litteraturbild" (Munich, 1903); Segaloff "Die Krankheit D." (Heidelberg, 1906); Hennequi "Etudes de crit. scientif." (P., 1889); Vogue "Nouvelle bibliotheque popoulaire. D." (P., 1891); Gide "D. d"apres sa correspondance" (1911); Turner "Modern Novelists of Russia" (1890); M. Baring "Landmarks in Russian Literature" (1910). See the free work of M. Zaidman: “F.M. Dostoevsky in Western Literature.” A more complete bibliography - A. Dostoevskaya “Bibliographic index of works and works of art related to the life and work of Dostoevsky”; V. Zelinsky "Critical commentary on the works of Dostoevsky" (bibliography until 1905); I.I. Zamotin "F.M. Dostoevsky in Russian criticism" (part I, 1846 - 1881, Warsaw, 1913). A. Dolinin.

Dostoevsky Fyodor Mikhailovich

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 memories of relatives and oral traditions, 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 of K. F. Kostomarov. 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 military 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, and 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 enrolled 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 retired 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 Pushkin's "The Station Agent" and Gogol's "The Overcoat" was emphasized by Dostoevsky himself, 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 social types from 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 of the young Dostoevsky - in the stories “Weak Heart”, “White Nights”, the cycle of sharp socio-psychological feuilletons “The Petersburg Chronicle” and the unfinished novel “Netochka Nezvanova” - the problems of the writer’s creativity are expanded, psychologism is intensified 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 the exhausting work for Otechestvennye Zapiski. Poverty forced him to take on any job literary work(in particular, he edited articles for the "Reference encyclopedic dictionary"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 dissemination of a criminal letter about religion and government by the writer Belinsky and a malicious essay by 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 (a “Siberian” notebook containing folklore, ethnographic and diary entries, served as the source for Notes from the 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 into negotiations with M.N. through his brother Mikhail. Katkov, Nekrasov, A.A. Kraevsky. However modern criticism did not appreciate and passed by almost completely in silence these first works of the “new” Dostoevsky.

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 that Dostoevsky was allowed 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.

In Siberia, according to Dostoevsky, his “convictions” changed “gradually and after a very, very long time.” The essence of these changes, Dostoevsky in the very general form formulated as "a return to folk root, to the recognition of the Russian soul, to the recognition of the spirit of the people." In the magazines "Time" and "Epoch" the Dostoevsky brothers acted as ideologists of "pochvennichestvo" - a specific modification of the ideas of Slavophilism. "Pochvennichestvo" was rather an attempt to outline the contours of the "general idea", to find a platform , which would reconcile Westerners and Slavophiles, “civilization” and the people’s beginnings. Skeptical about the revolutionary ways of transforming Russia and Europe, Dostoevsky expressed these doubts in works of art, articles and announcements of Vremya, in sharp polemics with the publications of Sovremennik. Dostoevsky's objections - the possibility, after the reform, of a rapprochement between the government and the intelligentsia and the people, their peaceful cooperation. Dostoevsky continues this polemic in the story “Notes from the Underground” (“Epoch”, 1864) - a philosophical and artistic prelude to the “ideological” novels of the writer.

Dostoevsky wrote: “I am proud that for the first time I brought out the real man of the Russian majority and for the first time exposed his ugly and tragic side. Tragedy consists in the consciousness of ugliness. Only I brought out the tragedy of the underground, which consists in suffering, in self-punishment, in the consciousness of the best and in the inability to achieve him and, most importantly, in the vivid conviction of these unfortunates that everyone is like that, and therefore, there is no need to improve!”

In June 1862, Dostoevsky traveled abroad for the first time; visited Germany, France, Switzerland, Italy, England. In August 1863 the writer went abroad for the second time. In Paris he met with A.P. Suslova, whose dramatic relationship (1861-1866) was reflected in the novel “The Player”, “The Idiot” and other works. In Baden-Baden, carried away by the gambling nature of his nature, playing roulette, he loses “all, completely to the ground”; This long-term hobby of Dostoevsky is one of the qualities of his passionate nature. In October 1863 he returned to Russia. Until mid-November he lived with his sick wife in Vladimir, and at the end of 1863-April 1864 in Moscow, traveling to St. Petersburg on business.

1864 brought heavy losses to Dostoevsky. On April 15, his wife died of consumption. The personality of Maria Dmitrievna, as well as the circumstances of their “unhappy” love, were reflected in many of Dostoevsky’s works (in particular, in the images of Katerina Ivanovna - “Crime and Punishment” and Nastasya Filippovna - “The Idiot”). On June 10, M.M. died. Dostoevsky. On September 26, Dostoevsky attends Grigoriev’s funeral. After the death of his brother, Dostoevsky took over the publication of the magazine “Epoch”, which was burdened with a large debt and lagged behind by 3 months; The magazine began to appear more regularly, but a sharp drop in subscriptions in 1865 forced the writer to stop publishing. He owed creditors about 15 thousand rubles, which he was able to pay only towards the end of his life. In an effort to provide working conditions, Dostoevsky entered into a contract with F.T. Stellovsky for the publication of collected works and undertook to write for him new novel by November 1, 1866.

In the spring of 1865, Dostoevsky was a frequent guest of the family of General V.V. Korvin-Krukovsky, whose eldest daughter, A.V. Korvin-Krukovskaya, he was very infatuated with. In July he went to Wiesbaden, from where in the fall of 1865 he offered Katkov a story for the Russian Messenger, which later developed into a novel. In the summer of 1866, Dostoevsky was in Moscow and at a dacha in the village of Lyublino, near the family of his sister Vera Mikhailovna, where he spent his nights writing the novel Crime and Punishment.

"Psychological Report of a Crime" became plot outline novel, the main idea of ​​which Dostoevsky outlined as follows: “Unsolvable questions arise before the murderer, unsuspected and unexpected feelings torment his heart. God’s truth, earthly law takes its toll, and he ends up being forced to denounce himself. He is forced to, although to die in hard labor, but to join the people again..." The novel accurately and multifacetedly depicts Petersburg and “current reality,” a wealth of social characters, “a whole world of class and professional types,” but this is reality transformed and revealed by the artist, whose gaze penetrates to the very essence of things. Intense philosophical debates, prophetic dreams, confessions and nightmares, grotesque caricature scenes that naturally turn into tragic, symbolic meetings of heroes, an apocalyptic image of a ghostly city are organically linked in Dostoevsky’s novel. The novel, according to the author himself, was “extremely successful” and raised his “reputation as a writer.”

In 1866, an expiring contract with a publisher forced Dostoevsky to simultaneously work on two novels - Crime and Punishment and The Gambler. Dostoevsky resorts to in an unusual way works: October 4, 1866 stenographer A.G. comes to him. Snitkina; he began to dictate to her the novel “The Gambler,” which reflected the writer’s impressions of his acquaintance with Western Europe. At the center of the novel is the clash of a “multi-developed, but unfinished in everything, distrustful and not daring not to believe, rebelling against authority and fearing them” “foreign Russian” with “complete” European types. The main character is “a poet in his own way, but the fact is that he himself is ashamed of this poetry, for he deeply feels its baseness, although the need for risk ennobles him in his own eyes.”

In the winter of 1867, Snitkina became Dostoevsky's wife. The new marriage was more successful. From April 1867 to July 1871, Dostoevsky and his wife lived abroad (Berlin, Dresden, Baden-Baden, Geneva, Milan, Florence). There, on February 22, 1868, daughter Sophia was born, sudden death which (May of the same year) Dostoevsky was very worried about. On September 14, 1869, daughter Lyubov was born; later in Russia July 16, 1871 - son Fedor; Aug 12 1875 - son Alexey, who died at the age of three from an epileptic fit.

In 1867-1868 Dostoevsky worked on the novel "The Idiot". “The idea of ​​the novel,” the author pointed out, “is my old and favorite one, but it’s so difficult that I didn’t dare take on it for a long time. The main idea of ​​the novel is to portray a positively beautiful person. There’s nothing more difficult than this in the world, and especially now... "

Dostoevsky began the novel "Demons" by interrupting work on the widely conceived epics "Atheism" and "The Life of a Great Sinner" and hastily composing the "story" "The Eternal Husband." The immediate impetus for the creation of the novel was the “Nechaev case.” The activities of the secret society "People's Retribution", the murder by five members of the organization of a student of the Petrovsky Agricultural Academy I.I. Ivanov - these are the events that formed the basis of “Demons” and received a philosophical and psychological interpretation in the novel. The writer's attention was drawn to the circumstances of the murder, the ideological and organizational principles of the terrorists ("Catechism of a Revolutionary"), the figures of the accomplices in the crime, the personality of the head of the society S.G. Nechaeva. In the process of working on the novel, the concept was modified many times. Initially, it is a direct response to events. The scope of the pamphlet subsequently expanded significantly, not only Nechaevites, but also figures of the 1860s, liberals of the 1840s, T.N. Granovsky, Petrashevites, Belinsky, V.S. Pecherin, A.I. Herzen, even the Decembrists and P.Ya. The Chaadaevs find themselves in the grotesque-tragic space of the novel.

Gradually, the novel develops into a critical depiction of the common “disease” experienced by Russia and Europe, a clear symptom of which is the “demonism” of Nechaev and the Nechaevites. At the center of the novel, its philosophical and ideological focus is not the sinister “swindler” Pyotr Verkhovensky (Nechaev), but the mysterious and demonic figure of Nikolai Stavrogin, who “allowed everything” to himself.

In July 1871, Dostoevsky with his wife and daughter returned to St. Petersburg. The writer and his family spent the summer of 1872 in Staraya Russa; this city became the family's permanent summer residence. In 1876 Dostoevsky purchased a house here.

In 1872, the writer visited the “Wednesdays” of Prince V.P. Meshchersky, a supporter of counter-reforms and publisher of the newspaper-magazine “Citizen”. At the request of the publisher, supported by A. Maikov and Tyutchev, Dostoevsky in December 1872 agreed to take over the editorship of "Citizen", stipulating in advance that he would assume these responsibilities temporarily. In “The Citizen” (1873), Dostoevsky carried out the long-conceived idea of ​​“A Writer’s Diary” (a series of essays of a political, literary and memoir nature, united by the idea of ​​direct, personal communication with the reader), published a number of articles and notes (including political reviews “Foreign Events” "). Soon Dostoevsky began to feel burdened by the editor. work, the clashes with Meshchersky also became increasingly harsh, and the impossibility of turning the weekly into “an organ of people with independent convictions” became more obvious. In the spring of 1874, the writer refused to be an editor, although he occasionally collaborated with The Citizen and later. Due to deteriorating health (increased emphysema), in June 1847 he left for treatment in Ems and repeated trips there in 1875, 1876 and 1879.

In the mid-1870s. Dostoevsky's relationship with Saltykov-Shchedrin, interrupted at the height of the controversy between "Epoch" and "Sovremennik", and with Nekrasov, was renewed, at whose suggestion (1874) the writer published his new novel "Teenager" - "a novel of education" in "Otechestvennye zapiski" a kind of "Fathers and Sons" by Dostoevsky.

The hero’s personality and worldview are formed in an environment of “general decay” and the collapse of the foundations of society, in the fight against the temptations of the age. The confession of a teenager analyzes the complex, contradictory, chaotic process of personality formation in an “ugly” world that has lost its “moral center,” the slow maturation of a new “idea” under the powerful influence of the “great thought” of the wanderer Versilov and the philosophy of life of the “good-looking” wanderer Makar Dolgoruky.

At the end of 1875, Dostoevsky again returned to journalistic work - the “mono-journal” “A Writer’s Diary” (1876 and 1877), which had great success and allowed the writer to enter into direct dialogue with corresponding readers. The author defined the nature of the publication in this way: “A Writer’s Diary will be similar to a feuilleton, but with the difference that a month’s feuilleton naturally cannot be similar to a week’s feuilleton. I am not a chronicler: this, on the contrary, is a perfect diary in the full sense of the word, that is, a report on what interested me most personally." "Diary" 1876-1877 - a fusion of journalistic articles, essays, feuilletons, "anti-criticism", memoirs and fiction works. The “Diary” reflected Dostoevsky’s immediate impressions and opinions about the most important phenomena of European and Russian socio-political and cultural life, which worried Dostoevsky about legal, social, ethical, pedagogical, aesthetic and political problems. “The writer’s attempts to see in the modern chaos the contours of a “new creation”, the foundations of an “emerging” life, and to predict the appearance of “the coming future Russia of honest people who need only one truth” are occupied.

Criticism of bourgeois Europe and a deep analysis of the state of post-reform Russia are paradoxically combined in the Diary with polemics against various currents of social thought of the 1870s, from conservative utopias to populist and socialist ideas.

In the last years of his life, Dostoevsky's popularity increased. In 1877 he was elected a corresponding member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences. In May 1879, the writer was invited to the International Literary Congress in London, at the session of which he was elected a member of the honorary committee of the international literary association. Dostoevsky actively participates in the activities of the St. Petersburg Frebel Society. He often performs at literary and musical evenings and matinees, reading excerpts from his works and poems by Pushkin. In January 1877, Dostoevsky, impressed by Nekrasov’s “Last Songs,” visits the dying poet, often seeing him in November; On December 30, he makes a speech at Nekrasov’s funeral.

Dostoevsky's activities required direct acquaintance with "living life." He visits (with the assistance of A.F. Koni) colonies for juvenile delinquents (1875) and the Orphanage (1876). In 1878, after the death of his beloved son Alyosha, he made a trip to Optina Pustyn, where he talked with Elder Ambrose. The writer is especially concerned about events in Russia. In March 1878, Dostoevsky was at the trial of Vera Zasulich in the St. Petersburg District Court, and in April he responded to a letter from students asking to speak out about the beating of student demonstration participants by shopkeepers; In February 1880, he was present at the execution of I. O. Mlodetsky, who shot M. T. Loris-Melikov. Intensive, diverse contacts with the surrounding reality, active journalistic and social activities served as multifaceted preparation for a new stage in the writer’s work. In "A Writer's Diary" the ideas and plot of his latest novel matured and were tested. At the end of 1877, Dostoevsky announced the termination of the Diary in connection with his intention to engage in “one artistic work that took shape... during these two years of publication of the Diary, inconspicuously and involuntarily.”

"The Brothers Karamazov" is the final work of the writer, in which many of the ideas of his work received artistic embodiment. The history of the Karamazovs, as the author wrote, is not just a family chronicle, but a typified and generalized “image of our modern reality, our modern intelligentsia Russia.” The philosophy and psychology of “crime and punishment”, the dilemma of “socialism and Christianity”, the eternal struggle between “God” and “the devil” in the souls of people, the traditional theme of “fathers and sons” in classical Russian literature - these are the problems of the novel.

In "The Brothers Karamazov" the criminal offense is connected with the great world "questions" and eternal artistic and philosophical themes. In January 1881, Dostoevsky speaks at a meeting of the council of the Slavic Charitable Society, works on the first issue of the renewed “Diary of a Writer,” learns the role of a schema-monk in “The Death of Ivan the Terrible” by A. K. Tolstoy for a home performance in S. A. Tolstoy’s salon, and makes a decision “ definitely take part in the Pushkin evening" on January 29. He was going to “publish “A Writer’s Diary” ... for two years, and then dreamed of writing the second part of “The Brothers Karamazov”, in which almost all the previous heroes would appear...” On the night of January 25-26, Dostoevsky’s throat began to bleed. On the afternoon of January 28, Dostoevsky said goodbye to the children at 8:38 a.m. evening he died.

On January 31, 1881, the writer’s funeral took place in front of a huge crowd of people. He is buried in the Alexander Nevsky Lavra in St. Petersburg.

Some call him a prophet, a gloomy philosopher, others - an evil genius. He himself called himself “a child of the century, a child of unbelief, doubt.” Much has been said about Dostoevsky as a writer, but his personality is surrounded by an aura of mystery. The multifaceted nature of the classic allowed him to leave his mark on the pages of history and inspire millions of people around the world. His ability to expose vices without turning away from them made the heroes so alive, and his works so full of mental suffering. Immersion in the world of Dostoevsky can be painful and difficult, but it gives birth to something new in people; this is precisely the kind of literature that educates. Dostoevsky is a phenomenon that needs to be studied long and thoughtfully. A short biography of Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky, some interesting facts from his life, and creativity will be presented to your attention in the article.

Brief biography in dates

The main task of life, as Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky wrote, is “not to become discouraged, not to fall,” despite all the trials sent from above. And he had a lot of them.

November 11, 1821 - birth. Where was Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky born? He was born in our glorious capital - Moscow. Father - staff doctor Mikhail Andreevich, the family is a believer, pious. They named it after their grandfather.

The boy began studying at a young age under the guidance of his parents; by the age of 10 he knew the history of Russia quite well; his mother taught him to read. Attention was also paid to religious education: daily prayer before bed was a family tradition.

In 1837, Fyodor Mikhailovich’s mother Maria died, and in 1839, father Mikhail.

1838 - Dostoevsky enters the Main Engineering School of St. Petersburg.

1841 - becomes an officer.

1843 - enrolled in the engineering corps. Studying was not fun, there was a strong craving for literature, the writer made his first creative experiments even then.

1847 - visit to Petrashevsky Fridays.

April 23, 1849 - Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky was arrested and imprisoned in the Peter and Paul Fortress.

From January 1850 to February 1854 - Omsk fortress, hard labor. This period had a strong influence on the writer’s creativity and worldview.

1854-1859 - period of military service, city of Semipalatinsk.

1857 - wedding with Maria Dmitrievna Isaeva.

June 7, 1862 - the first trip abroad, where Dostoevsky stayed until October. I became interested in gambling for a long time.

1863 - love, relationship with A. Suslova.

1864 - the writer’s wife Maria and older brother Mikhail die.

1867 - marries stenographer A. Snitkina.

Until 1871 they traveled a lot outside of Russia.

1877 - spends a lot of time with Nekrasov, then makes a speech at his funeral.

1881 - Dostoevsky Fyodor Mikhailovich dies, he was 59 years old.

Biography in detail

The childhood of the writer Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky can be called prosperous: born into a noble family in 1821, he received an excellent home education and upbringing. My parents managed to instill a love of languages ​​(Latin, French, German) and history. After reaching the age of 16, Fedor was sent to a private boarding school. Then training continued at the St. Petersburg Military Engineering School. Dostoevsky showed interest in literature even then, visited literary salons with his brother, and tried to write himself.

As the biography of Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky testifies, 1839 claims the life of his father. Internal protest is looking for a way out, Dostoevsky begins to get acquainted with the socialists, and visits Petrashevsky’s circle. The novel "Poor People" was written under the influence of the ideas of that period. This work allowed the writer to finally finish his hated engineering service and engage in literature. From an unknown student, Dostoevsky became a successful writer until censorship intervened.

In 1849, the ideas of the Petrashevites were recognized as harmful, members of the circle were arrested and sent to hard labor. It is noteworthy that the sentence was originally death, but the last 10 minutes changed it. The Petrashevites who were already on the scaffold were pardoned, limiting their punishment to four years of hard labor. Mikhail Petrashevsky was sentenced to life hard labor. Dostoevsky was sent to Omsk.

The biography of Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky says that serving his sentence was difficult for the writer. He compares that time to being buried alive. Hard, monotonous work like firing bricks, disgusting conditions, and cold undermined Fyodor Mikhailovich’s health, but also gave him food for thought, new ideas, and themes for creativity.

After serving his sentence, Dostoevsky served in Semipalatinsk, where his only joy was his first love - Maria Dmitrievna Isaeva. This relationship was tender, somewhat reminiscent of the relationship between a mother and her son. The only thing that stopped the writer from proposing to a woman was the fact that she had a husband. A little later he died. In 1857, Dostoevsky finally wooed Maria Isaeva, and they got married. After marriage, the relationship changed somewhat; the writer himself speaks of them as “unhappy.”

1859 - return to St. Petersburg. Dostoevsky writes again, opens the magazine “Time” with his brother. Brother Mikhail runs his business ineptly, gets into debt, and dies. Fyodor Mikhailovich has to deal with debts. He has to write quickly to be able to pay off all the accumulated debts. But even in such a hurry they were created the most complex works Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky.

In 1860, Dostoevsky falls in love with the young Apollinaria Suslova, who is completely different from his wife Maria. The relationship was also different - passionate, vibrant, lasted three years. At the same time, Fyodor Mikhailovich became interested in playing roulette and lost a lot. This period of life is reflected in the novel “The Player”.

1864 claimed the lives of his brother and wife. It was as if something had broken in the writer Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky. Relations with Suslova are fading, the writer feels lost, alone in the world. He tries to escape from himself abroad, to distract himself, but the melancholy does not leave him. Epileptic seizures become more frequent. This is how Anna Snitkina, a young stenographer, recognized and fell in love with Dostoevsky. The man shared his life story with the girl; he needed to talk it out. Gradually they became close, although the age difference was 24 years. Anna accepted Dostoevsky’s offer to marry him sincerely, because Fyodor Mikhailovich aroused the brightest, most enthusiastic feelings in her. The marriage was perceived negatively by society, Dostoevsky's adopted son Pavel. The newlyweds are leaving for Germany.

The relationship with Snitkina had a beneficial effect on the writer: he got rid of his addiction to roulette and became calmer. In 1868, Sophia is born, but dies three months later. After a difficult period of common experiences, Anna and Fyodor Mikhailovich continue to try to conceive a child. They succeed: Lyubov (1869), Fedor (1871) and Alexey (1875) are born. Alexey inherited the disease from his father and died at the age of three. His wife became for Fyodor Mikhailovich support and support, a spiritual outlet. In addition, it helped improve my financial situation. The family moves to Staraya Russa to escape the nervous life in St. Petersburg. Thanks to Anna, a girl wise beyond her years, Fyodor Mikhailovich becomes happy, at least for a short time. Here they spend their time happily and serenely, until Dostoevsky’s health forces them to return to the capital.

In 1881 the writer dies.

Carrot or stick: how Fyodor Mikhailovich raised children

The indisputability of his father's authority was the basis of Dostoevsky's upbringing, which passed into his own family. Decency, responsibility - the writer managed to invest these qualities in his children. Even if they did not grow up to be the same geniuses as their father, some craving for literature existed in each of them.

The writer believed major mistakes education:

• ignoring the child’s inner world;
• intrusive attention;
• bias.

He called the suppression of individuality, cruelty, and making life easier as a crime against a child. Dostoevsky considered the main tool of education not corporal punishment, but parental love. He himself incredibly loved his children and was very worried about their illnesses and losses.

An important place in a child’s life, as Fyodor Mikhailovich believed, should be given to spiritual light and religion. The writer rightly believed that a child always follows the example of the family where he was born. Dostoevsky's educational measures were based on intuition.

Literary evenings were a good tradition in the family of Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky. These evening readings of literary masterpieces were traditional in the author’s childhood. Often, Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky’s children fell asleep and did not understand anything they read, but he continued to cultivate literary taste. Often the writer read with such feeling that he began to cry in the process. I loved to hear what impression this or that novel made on children.

Another educational element is visiting the theater. Opera was preferred.

Lyubov Dostoevskaya

Lyubov Fedorovna's attempts to become a writer were unsuccessful. Maybe the reason was that her work was always inevitably compared with her father’s brilliant novels, maybe she was writing about the wrong things. Eventually main work her life was a description of her father's biography.

The girl who lost him at the age of 11 was very afraid that in the next world Fyodor Mikhailovich’s sins would not be forgiven. She believed that life continues after death, but here on earth one must seek happiness. For Dostoevsky’s daughter, it consisted primarily in a clear conscience.

Lyubov Fedorovna lived to be 56 years old and spent the last few years in sunny Italy. She was probably happier there than at home.

Fedor Dostoevsky

Fedor Fedorovich became a horse breeder. The boy began to show interest in horses as a child. I tried to create literary works, but it didn’t work out. He was vain and strived to achieve success in life, these qualities he inherited from his grandfather. If Fedor Fedorovich was not sure that he could be the first in something, he preferred not to do it, his pride was so pronounced. He was nervous and withdrawn, wasteful, prone to excitement, like his father.

Fedor lost his father at the age of 9, but he managed to invest the best qualities in him. His father's upbringing helped him greatly in life; he received a good education. He achieved great success in his business, perhaps because he loved what he did.

Creative path in dates

The beginning of Dostoevsky's creative career was bright; he wrote in many genres.

Genres of the early period of creativity of Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky:

• humorous story;
• physiological essay;
• tragicomic story;
• Christmas story;
• story;
• novel.

In 1840-1841 - the creation of historical dramas “Mary Stuart”, “Boris Godunov”.

1844 - translation of Balzac's "Eugenie Grande" is published.

1845 - the story “Poor People” was completed, met Belinsky and Nekrasov.

1846 - “The Petersburg Collection” was published, “Poor People” were published.

“The Double” was published in February, and “Mr. Prokharchin” was published in October.

In 1847, Dostoevsky wrote “The Mistress” and published it in the “St. Petersburg Gazette”.

“White Nights” was written in December 1848, and “Netochka Nezvanova” in 1849.

1854-1859 - service in Semipalatinsk, “Uncle’s Dream”, “The Village of Stepanchikovo and its Inhabitants”.

In 1860, a fragment of “Notes of the Dead House” was published in Russkiy Mir. The first collected works were published.

1861 - the beginning of the publication of the magazine “Time”, the printing of part of the novel “Humiliated and Insulted”, “Notes from the House of the Dead”.

In 1863, “Winter Notes on Summer Impressions” were created.

May of the same year - the magazine “Time” was closed.

1864 - the beginning of publication of the magazine "Epoch". "Notes from the Underground".

1865 - “An Extraordinary Event, or Passage in Passage” is published in Krokodil.

1866 - written by Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky “Crime and Punishment”, “The Gambler”. Traveling abroad with family. "Idiot".

In 1870, Dostoevsky wrote the story “The Eternal Husband.”

1871-1872 - “Demons.”

1875 - “Teenager” was published in “Notes of the Fatherland”.

1876 ​​- resumption of activity of the “Diary of a Writer”.

From 1879 to 1880, The Brothers Karamazov was written.

Places in St. Petersburg

The city preserves the spirit of the writer; many of Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky’s books were written here.

1. Dostoevsky studied at the Engineering Mikhailovsky Castle.
2. The Serapinskaya Hotel on Moskovsky Prospekt became the writer’s place of residence in 1837; he lived here, seeing St. Petersburg for the first time in his life.
3. “Poor People” was written in the house of the postal director Pryanichnikov.
4. “Mr. Prokharchin” was created in Kochenderfer’s house on Kazanskaya Street.
5. Fyodor Mikhailovich lived in Soloshich’s apartment building on Vasilyevsky Island in the 1840s.
6. The Kotomina apartment building introduced Dostoevsky to Petrashevsky.
7. The writer lived on Voznesensky Prospekt during his arrest and wrote “White Nights”, “Honest Thief” and other stories.
8. “Notes from the House of the Dead”, “Humiliated and Insulted” were written on 3rd Krasnoarmeyskaya Street.
9. The writer lived in the house of A. Astafieva in 1861-1863.
10. In the Strubinsky house on Grechesky Avenue - from 1875 to 1878.

Symbolism of Dostoevsky

You can analyze the books of Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky endlessly, finding new and new symbols. Dostoevsky mastered the art of penetrating into the essence of things, their soul. It is precisely the ability to unravel these symbols one by one that makes traveling through the pages of novels so exciting.

• Axe.

This symbol carries a deadly meaning, being a kind of emblem of Dostoevsky’s work. The ax symbolizes murder, crime, a decisive, desperate step, a turning point. If a person says the word “axe,” most likely the first thing that comes to mind is “Crime and Punishment” by Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky.

• Clean linen.

His appearance in novels occurs at certain similar moments, which allows us to talk about symbolism. For example, Raskolnikov was prevented from committing a murder by a maid hanging out clean laundry. Ivan Karamazov had a similar situation. It is not so much the linen itself that is symbolic, but its color - white, denoting purity, correctness, purity.

• Smells.

It is enough to glance over any of Dostoevsky’s novels to understand how important smells are to him. One of them, which occurs more often than others, is the smell of a corruptive spirit.

• Silver pledge.

One of the most important symbols. The silver cigarette case was not made of silver at all. A motive of falsity, counterfeitness, and suspicion appears. Raskolnikov, having made a cigarette case out of wood, similar to a silver one, as if he had already committed a deception, a crime.

• The sound of a brass bell.

The symbol plays a warning role. A small detail makes the reader feel the mood of the hero and imagine events more vividly. Small objects are endowed with strange, unusual features, emphasizing the exceptionality of the circumstances.

• Wood and iron.

There are many things from these materials in the novels, each of them carries a certain meaning. If wood symbolizes a person, a victim, bodily torment, then iron symbolizes crime, murder, evil.

Finally, I would like to note some interesting facts from the life of Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky.

1. Dostoevsky wrote most of all in the last 10 years of his life.
2. Dostoevsky loved sex, used the services of prostitutes, even while married.
3. Nietzsche called Dostoevsky the best psychologist.
4. I smoked a lot and loved strong tea.
5. He was jealous of his women at every post, and forbade them even to smile in public.
6. He worked more often at night.
7. The hero of the novel “The Idiot” is a self-portrait of the writer.
8. There are many film adaptations of Dostoevsky’s works, as well as those dedicated to him.
9. Fyodor Mikhailovich had his first child at the age of 46.
10. Leonardo DiCaprio also celebrates his birthday on November 11th.
11. More than 30,000 people came to the writer's funeral.
12. Sigmund Freud considered Dostoevsky's The Brothers Karamazov to be the greatest novel ever written.

We also present to your attention famous quotes Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky:

1. You must love life more than the meaning of life.
2. Freedom is not about not being restrained, but about being in control.
3. In everything there is a line beyond which it is dangerous to cross; for once you have stepped over, it is impossible to go back.
4. Happiness is not in happiness, but only in its achievement.
5. No one will make the first move, because everyone thinks that it is not mutual.
6. The Russian people seem to enjoy their suffering.
7. Life goes breathless without an aim.
8. To stop reading books means to stop thinking.
9. There is no happiness in comfort; happiness is bought through suffering.
10. In a truly loving heart, either jealousy kills love, or love kills jealousy.

Conclusion

The outcome of every person's life is his actions. Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky (lived 1821-1881) left behind brilliant novels, having lived a relatively short life. Who knows if these novels would have been born if the author’s life had been easy, without obstacles and hardships? Dostoevsky, whom they know and love, is impossible without suffering, mental tossing, and internal overcoming. They are what make the works so real.

Biography

Origin

Creativity flourishes

Family and environment

Poetics of Dostoevsky

Political Views

Bibliography

Works

Novels and stories

Writer's Diary

Poems

Domestic research

Foreign studies

English language

German

Monuments

Memorial plaques

In philately

Dostoevsky in culture

Films about Dostoevsky

Current events

Fedor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky(pre-ref. Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky; October 30, 1821, Moscow, Russian Empire - January 28, 1881, St. Petersburg, Russian Empire) - one of the most significant and famous Russian writers and thinkers in the world.

Biography

Origin

On their father's side, the Dostoevskys are one of the branches of the Rtishchev family, which originates from Aslan-Chelebi-Murza, baptized by the Moscow prince Dmitry Donskoy. The Rtishchevs were part of the inner circle of Prince Serpukhov and Borovsky Ivan Vasilyevich, who in 1456, having quarreled with Vasily the Dark, left for Pinsk, which at that time was part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. There Ivan Vasilyevich became Prince Pinsky. He granted Stepan Rtishchev the villages of Kalechino and Lepovitsa. In 1506, Ivan Vasilyevich’s son, Fyodor, granted Danila Rtishchev part of the village of Dostoev in Pinsk Povet. Hence the Dostoevskys. Since 1577, the writer's paternal ancestors received the right to use Radwan - the Polish noble coat of arms, the main element of which was the Golden Horde tamga (brand, seal). Dostoevsky's father drank a lot and was extremely cruel. “My grandfather Mikhail,” reports Lyubov Dostoevskaya, “always treated his serfs very strictly. The more he drank, the more violent he became, until they finally killed him."

Mother, Maria Fedorovna Nechaeva (1800-1837), daughter of the merchant of the III guild Fyodor Timofeevich Nechaev (1769-1832), who came from the old town of Borovsk, Kaluga province, was born into a Moscow mixed family, where there were merchants, shopkeepers, doctors, and university students , professors, artists, clergy. Her maternal grandfather, Mikhail Fedorovich Kotelnitsky (1721-1798), was born into the family of priest Fyodor Andreev, graduated from the Slavic-Greek-Latin Academy and took his place after the death of his father, becoming a priest of the Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker in Kotelniki.

The writer's youth

Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky was born on October 30 (November 11), 1821 in Moscow. He was the second of 7 children to survive.

When Dostoevsky was 16 years old, his mother died of consumption, and his father sent his eldest sons, Fyodor and Mikhail (who later also became a writer), to K. F. Kostomarov's boarding school in St. Petersburg.

The year 1837 became an important date for Dostoevsky. This is the year of his mother’s death, the year of the death of Pushkin, whose work he (like his brother) had been reading since childhood, the year of moving to St. Petersburg and entering the Main Engineering School. In 1839, his father was killed, perhaps by his serfs. Dostoevsky participated in the work of Belinsky's circle. A year before his dismissal from military service, Dostoevsky first translated and published Balzac’s Eugene Grande (1843). A year later, his first work, “Poor People,” was published, and he immediately became famous: V. G. Belinsky highly appreciated this work. But the next book, “The Double,” met with misunderstanding.

Shortly after the publication of White Nights, the writer was arrested (1849) in connection with the “Petrashevsky case.” Although Dostoevsky denied the charges against him, the court recognized him as “one of the most important criminals.”

Hard labor and exile

The trial and harsh sentence to death (December 22, 1849) on the Semenovsky parade ground was framed as a mock execution. At the last moment, the convicts were given a pardon and sentenced to hard labor. One of those sentenced to execution, Nikolai Grigoriev, went crazy. Dostoevsky conveyed the feelings that he might experience before his execution in the words of Prince Myshkin in one of the monologues in the novel “The Idiot.”

During a short stay in Tobolsk on the way to the place of hard labor (January 11-20, 1850), the writer met the wives of the exiled Decembrists: Zh. A. Muravyova, P. E. Annenkova and N. D. Fonvizina. The women gave him the Gospel, which the writer kept all his life.

Dostoevsky spent the next four years in hard labor in Omsk. The memoirs of one of the eyewitnesses of the writer’s hard labor life have been preserved. The impressions from his stay in prison were later reflected in the story “Notes from the House of the Dead.” In 1854, Dostoevsky was released and sent as a private to the seventh linear Siberian battalion. While serving in Semipalatinsk, he became friends with Chokan Valikhanov, a future famous Kazakh traveler and ethnographer. Here he began an affair with Maria Dmitrievna Isaeva, who was married to a gymnasium teacher, Alexander Isaev, a bitter drunkard. After some time, Isaev was transferred to the place of the assessor in Kuznetsk. On August 14, 1855, Fyodor Mikhailovich received a letter from Kuznetsk: the husband of M. D. Isaeva died after a long illness.

On February 18, 1855, Emperor Nicholas I died. Dostoevsky wrote a loyal poem dedicated to his widow, Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, and as a result became a non-commissioned officer. On October 20, 1856, Dostoevsky was promoted to ensign.

On February 6, 1857, Dostoevsky married Maria Isaeva in the Russian Orthodox Church in Kuznetsk. Immediately after the wedding, they went to Semipalatinsk, but on the way Dostoevsky had an epileptic seizure, and they stopped for four days in Barnaul. On February 20, 1857, Dostoevsky and his wife returned to Semipalatinsk.

The period of imprisonment and military service was a turning point in Dostoevsky’s life: from a “seeker of truth in man” who had not yet decided in life, he turned into a deeply religious person, whose only ideal for the rest of his life was Christ.

In 1859, Dostoevsky published his stories “The Village of Stepanchikovo and Its Inhabitants” and “Uncle’s Dream” in Otechestvennye Zapiski.

After the link

On June 30, 1859, Dostoevsky was given temporary ticket No. 2030, allowing him to travel to Tver, and on July 2, the writer left Semipalatinsk. In 1860, Dostoevsky returned to St. Petersburg with his wife and adopted son Pavel, but secret surveillance of him did not stop until the mid-1870s. From the beginning of 1861, Fyodor Mikhailovich helped his brother Mikhail publish his own magazine “Time”, after the closure of which in 1863 the brothers began publishing the magazine “Epoch”. On the pages of these magazines appeared such works by Dostoevsky as “The Humiliated and Insulted,” “Notes from the House of the Dead,” “Winter Notes on Summer Impressions,” and “Notes from the Underground.”

Dostoevsky took a trip abroad with the young emancipated person Apollinaria Suslova, in Baden-Baden he became interested in the ruinous game of roulette, felt a constant need for money, and at the same time (1864) lost his wife and brother. The unusual way of European life completed the destruction of the socialist illusions of youth, formed a critical perception of bourgeois values ​​and rejection of the West.

Six months after his brother’s death, publication of The Epoch ceased (February 1865). In a hopeless financial situation, Dostoevsky wrote the chapters of “Crime and Punishment,” sending them to M. N. Katkov directly to the magazine set of the conservative “Russian Messenger,” where they were published from issue to issue. At the same time, under the threat of losing the rights to his publications for 9 years in favor of the publisher F. T. Stellovsky, he undertook to write him a novel, for which he would not have had the physical strength. On the advice of friends, Dostoevsky hired a young stenographer, Anna Snitkina, who helped him cope with this task. In October 1866, the novel “The Gambler” was written in twenty-six days and completed on the 25th.

The novel “Crime and Punishment” was paid for very well by Katkov, but so that the creditors would not take this money, the writer went abroad with his new wife Anna Snitkina. The trip is reflected in the diary that Snitkina-Dostoevskaya began to keep in 1867. On the way to Germany, the couple stopped for several days in Vilna.

Creativity flourishes

Snitkina arranged the writer’s life, took upon herself all the economic issues of his activities, and in 1871 Dostoevsky gave up roulette forever.

From 1872 to 1878 the writer lived in the city of Staraya Russa, Novgorod province. These years of life were very fruitful: 1872 - “Demons”, 1873 - the beginning of the “Diary of a Writer” (a series of feuilletons, essays, polemical notes and passionate journalistic notes on the topic of the day), 1875 - “Teenager”, 1876 - “Meek”.

In October 1878, Dostoevsky returned to St. Petersburg, where he settled in an apartment in a house on Kuznechny Lane, 5/2, in which he lived until the day of his death on January 28 (February 9), 1881. Here in 1880 he finished writing his last novel, The Brothers Karamazov. Currently, the apartment houses the Literary and Memorial Museum of F. M. Dostoevsky.

In the last few years of his life, two events became especially significant for Dostoevsky. In 1878, Emperor Alexander II invited the writer to introduce him to his family, and in 1880, just a year before his death, Dostoevsky gave a famous speech at the unveiling of a monument to Pushkin in Moscow. During these same years, the writer became close to conservative journalists, publicists and thinkers, and corresponded with the prominent statesman K. P. Pobedonostsev.

Despite the fame that Dostoevsky gained at the end of his life, truly enduring, worldwide fame came to him after his death. In particular, Friedrich Nietzsche recognized that Dostoevsky was the only psychologist from whom he could learn something (Twilight of the Idols).

On January 26 (February 7), 1881, Dostoevsky’s sister Vera Mikhailovna came to the Dostoevskys’ house to ask her brother to give up his share of the Ryazan estate, which he inherited from his aunt A.F. Kumanina, in favor of the sisters. According to the story of Lyubov Fedorovna Dostoevskaya, there was a stormy scene with explanations and tears, after which Dostoevsky’s throat began to bleed. Perhaps this unpleasant conversation became the impetus for the exacerbation of his illness (emphysema) - the writer died two days later.

He was buried at the Tikhvin Cemetery of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra in St. Petersburg.

Family and environment

The writer's grandfather Andrei Grigoryevich Dostoevsky (1756 - around 1819) served as a Greek Catholic, later an Orthodox priest in the village of Voytovtsy near Nemirov (now Vinnitsa region of Ukraine) (by ancestry - archpriest of the city of Bratslav, Podolsk province).

Father, Mikhail Andreevich (1787-1839), from October 14, 1809 he studied at the Moscow branch of the Imperial Medical-Surgical Academy, on August 15, 1812 he was sent to the Moscow Golovinsky Hospital for the use of the sick and wounded, on August 5, 1813 he was transferred to the headquarters of the Borodino Infantry Regiment, On April 29, 1819, he was transferred as a resident to the Moscow Military Hospital, and on May 7, he was transferred to the salary of a senior physician. In 1828, he received the noble title of Nobleman of the Russian Empire and was included in the 3rd part of the Genealogical Book of the Moscow Nobility with the right to use the ancient Polish coat of arms “Radvan”, which belonged to the Dostoevskys since 1577. He was a doctor at the Mariinsky Hospital of the Moscow Orphanage (that is, in a hospital for the poor, also known as Bozhedomki). In 1831, he acquired the small village of Darovoe in the Kashira district of the Tula province, and in 1833 - the neighboring village of Cheremoshnya (Chermashnya), where in 1839 he was killed by his own serfs:

Dostoevsky's mother, Maria Feodorovna (1800-1837), was the daughter of a wealthy Moscow merchant of the 3rd guild, Fyodor Timofeevich Nechaev (b. 1769) and Varvara Mikhailovna Kotelnitskaya (c. 1779 - died between 1811 and 1815), 7 1st revision (1811) the Nechaev family lived in Moscow, on Syromyatnaya Sloboda, in the Basmannaya part, the parish of Peter and Paul, in their house; after the War of 1812 the family lost most of its fortune. At the age of 19 she married Mikhail Dostoevsky. She was, according to the recollections of her children, a kind mother and gave birth to four sons and four daughters in her marriage (son Fyodor was the second child). M. F. Dostoevskaya died of consumption. According to researchers of the great writer’s work, certain features of Maria Feodorovna are reflected in the images of Sofia Andreevna Dolgorukaya (“Teenager”) and Sofia Ivanovna Karamazova (“The Brothers Karamazov”)

Dostoevsky's elder brother Mikhail also became a writer, his work was marked by his brother's influence, and the work on the magazine "Time" was carried out largely jointly by the brothers. The younger brother Andrei became an architect; Dostoevsky saw in his family a worthy example of family life. A. M. Dostoevsky left valuable memories of his brother.

Of Dostoevsky's sisters, the writer had the closest relationship with Varvara Mikhailovna (1822-1893), about whom he wrote to his brother Andrei: "I love her; she is a nice sister and a wonderful person..."(November 28, 1880).

Of his many nephews and nieces, Dostoevsky loved and singled out Maria Mikhailovna (1844-1888), who, according to the memoirs of L. F. Dostoevskaya, “loved her like his own daughter, caressed her and entertained her when she was still little, later he was proud of her musical talent and her success with young people”, however, after the death of Mikhail Dostoevsky, this closeness came to naught.

The second wife, Anna Snitkina, from a wealthy family, became the writer’s wife at the age of 20. At this time (late 1866), Dostoevsky was experiencing serious financial difficulties and signed a contract with the publisher on enslaving terms. The novel “The Gambler” was written by Dostoevsky and dictated by Snitkina, who worked as a stenographer, in 26 days and delivered on time. Anna Dostoevskaya took all financial affairs of the family into her own hands.

The descendants of Fyodor Mikhailovich continue to live in St. Petersburg.

Poetics of Dostoevsky

As O. M. Nogovitsyn showed in his work, Dostoevsky is the most prominent representative of “ontological,” “reflective” poetics, which, unlike traditional, descriptive poetics, leaves the character in a sense free in his relationship with the text that describes him ( that is, for him the world), which is manifested in the fact that he is aware of his relationship with him and acts based on it. Hence all the paradoxicality, inconsistency and inconsistency of Dostoevsky’s characters. If in traditional poetics the character always remains in the power of the author, always captured by the events happening to him (captured by the text), that is, remains entirely descriptive, fully included in the text, fully understandable, subordinate to causes and effects, the movement of the narrative, then in ontological poetics we are for the first time We are faced with a character who is trying to resist the textual elements, his subordination to the text, trying to “rewrite” it. With this approach, writing is not a description of a character in diverse situations and his positions in the world, but empathy for his tragedy - his willful reluctance to accept the text (the world), which is inescapably redundant in relation to him, potentially endless. For the first time, M. M. Bakhtin drew attention to such a special attitude of Dostoevsky towards his characters.

Political Views

During Dostoevsky’s life, at least two political movements were in conflict in the cultural strata of society - Slavophilism and Westernism, the essence of which is approximately as follows: adherents of the first argued that the future of Russia lies in nationality, Orthodoxy and autocracy, adherents of the second believed that Russians should follow the example of Europeans. Both of them reflected on the historical fate of Russia. Dostoevsky had his own idea - “soilism”. He was and remained a Russian man, inextricably linked with the people, but at the same time he did not deny the achievements of Western culture and civilization. Over time, Dostoevsky's views developed: a former member of the circle of Christian utopian socialists, he turned into a religious conservative, and during his third stay abroad he finally became a convinced monarchist.

Dostoevsky and the “Jewish question”

Dostoevsky's views on the role of Jews in Russian life were reflected in the writer's journalism. For example, discussing the further fate of peasants freed from serfdom, he writes in the “Diary of a Writer” for 1873:

The Electronic Jewish Encyclopedia claims that anti-Semitism was an integral part of Dostoevsky’s worldview and was expressed both in novels and stories, as well as in the writer’s journalism. A clear confirmation of this, according to the compilers of the encyclopedia, is Dostoevsky’s work “The Jewish Question”. However, Dostoevsky himself in “The Jewish Question” stated: “... this hatred never existed in my heart...”.

On February 26, 1878, in a letter to Nikolai Epifanovich Grishchenko, teacher of the Kozeletsky parish school in the Chernigov province, who complained to the writer “that Russian peasants are completely enslaved by the Jews, robbed by them, and the Russian press stands up for the Jews; Jews... for the Chernigov lips... more terrible than the Turks for the Bulgarians..." Dostoevsky answered:

Dostoevsky’s attitude to the “Jewish question” is analyzed by literary critic Leonid Grossman in the book “Confession of a Jew,” dedicated to the correspondence between the writer and Jewish journalist Arkady Kovner. The message sent by Kovner from Butyrka prison made an impression on Dostoevsky. He ends his response letter with the words: “Believe the complete sincerity with which I shake the hand you extended to me,” and in the chapter on the Jewish question in “The Diary of a Writer” he extensively quotes Kovner.

According to the critic Maya Turovskaya, the mutual interest of Dostoevsky and the Jews is caused by the embodiment in the Jews (and in Kovner, in particular) of the quest of Dostoevsky’s characters. According to Nikolai Nasedkin, a contradictory attitude towards Jews is generally characteristic of Dostoevsky: he very clearly distinguished between the concepts of “Jew” and “Jew”. In addition, Nasedkin notes that the word “Jew” and its derivatives were for Dostoevsky and his contemporaries a common tool word among others, was used widely and everywhere, and was natural for all Russian literature of the 19th century, unlike our time.

Assessments of Dostoevsky's creativity and personality

Dostoevsky's work had a great influence on Russian and world culture. The writer's literary heritage is assessed differently both at home and abroad.

In Russian criticism, the most positive assessment of Dostoevsky was given by religious philosophers.

Dostoevsky's personality is ambiguously assessed by some liberal and democratic figures, in particular the leader of the liberal populists N.K. Mikhailovsky and Maxim Gorky.

At the same time, in the West, where Dostoevsky's novels have been popular since the beginning of the twentieth century, his work had a significant influence on such generally liberal-minded movements as existentialism, expressionism and surrealism. Many literary critics see it as the forerunner of existentialism. However, abroad Dostoevsky is usually assessed primarily as an outstanding writer and psychologist, while his ideology is ignored or almost completely rejected.

Bibliography

Works

Novels

• 1846 - Poor people
• 1861 - Humiliated and Insulted
• 1866 - Crime and Punishment
• 1866 - Player
• 1868-1869 - Idiot
• 1871-1872 - Demons
• 1875 - Teenager
• 1879-1880 - Brothers Karamazov

Novels and stories

Journalism and criticism, essays

• 1847 - St. Petersburg Chronicle
• 1861 - Stories by N.V. Uspensky
• 1862 - Winter notes about summer impressions
• 1880 - Verdict
• 1880 - Pushkin

Writer's Diary

• 1873 - Diary of a writer. 1873
• 1876 ​​- Diary of a writer. 1876
• 1877 - Diary of a writer. January-August 1877.
• 1877 - Diary of a writer. September-December 1877.
• 1880 - Diary of a writer. 1880
• 1881 - Diary of a writer. 1881

Poems

• 1854 - On European events in 1854
• 1855 - On the first of July 1855
• 1856 - For the coronation and conclusion of peace
• 1864 - Epigram on a Bavarian colonel
• 1864-1873 - The struggle of nihilism with honesty (officer and nihilist)
• 1873-1874 - Describe all the priests alone
• 1876-1877 - Collapse of Baimakov’s office
• 1876 ​​- Children are expensive
• 1879 - Don’t be a robber, Fedul

Standing apart is the collection of folklore material “My Convict Notebook,” also known as the “Siberian Notebook,” written by Dostoevsky during his penal servitude.

Basic literature about Dostoevsky

Domestic research

• Barsht K.A. Drawings in the manuscripts of F.M. Dostoevsky. St. Petersburg, 1996. 319 p.
• Bogdanov N., Rogovoy A. Genealogy of the Dostoevskys: in search of lost links. M., 2010.
• Belinsky V. G.

Introductory article // St. Petersburg collection, published by N. Nekrasov. St. Petersburg, 1846.

• Dobrolyubov N. A. Downtrodden people // Contemporary. 1861. No. 9. dep. II.
• Pisarev D. I. The struggle for existence // Business. 1868. No. 8.
• Leontyev K. N. About universal love: Regarding the speech of F. M. Dostoevsky at the Pushkin holiday // Warsaw Diary. 1880. July 29 (No. 162). pp. 3-4; August 7 (No. 169). pp. 3-4; August 12 (No. 173). pp. 3-4.
• Mikhailovsky N.K. Cruel talent // Otechestvennye zapiski. 1882. No. 9, 10.
• Solovyov V. S. Three speeches in memory of Dostoevsky: (1881-1883). M., 1884. 55 p.
• Rozanov V.V. The Legend of the Grand Inquisitor F. M. Dostoevsky: Experience of critical commentary // Russian Bulletin. 1891. T. 212, January. pp. 233-274; February. pp. 226-274; T. 213, March. pp. 215-253; April. pp. 251-274. Publishing department: St. Petersburg: Nikolaev, 1894. 244 p.
• Merezhkovsky D. S. L. Tolstoy and Dostoevsky: Christ and Antichrist in Russian literature. T. 1. Life and creativity. St. Petersburg: World of Art, 1901. 366 p. T. 2. Religion of L. Tolstoy and Dostoevsky. St. Petersburg: World of Art, 1902. LV, 530 p.
• Shestov L. Dostoevsky and Nietzsche. St. Petersburg, 1906.
• Ivanov Vyach. AND. Dostoevsky and the tragedy novel // Russian Thought. 1911. Book. 5. P. 46-61; Book 6. P. 1-17.
• Pereverzev V. F. Dostoevsky's works. M., 1912. (republished in the book: Gogol, Dostoevsky. Research. M., 1982)
• Tynyanov Yu. N. Dostoevsky and Gogol: (Towards the theory of parody). Pg.: OPOYAZ, 1921.
• Berdyaev N. A. Dostoevsky's worldview. Prague, 1923. 238 p.
• Volotskaya M.V. Chronicle of the Dostoevsky family 1506-1933. M., 1933.
• Engelhardt B. M. Dostoevsky’s ideological novel // F. M. Dostoevsky: Articles and materials / Ed. A. S. Dolinina. L.; M.: Mysl, 1924. Sat. 2. pp. 71-109.
• Dostoevskaya A. G. Memories . M.: Fiction, 1981.
• Freud Z. Dostoevsky and parricide // Classical psychoanalysis and fiction / Comp. and general editor V. M. Leibina. St. Petersburg: Peter, 2002. pp. 70-88.
• Mochulsky K.V. Dostoevsky: Life and Work. Paris: YMCA-Press, 1947. 564 pp.
• Lossky N. O. Dostoevsky and his Christian worldview. New York: Chekhov Publishing House, 1953. 406 pp.
• Dostoevsky in Russian criticism. A collection of articles. M., 1956. (introductory article and note by A. A. Belkin)
• Leskov N.S. About the muzhik, etc. - Collection. soch., t. 11, M., 1958. P. 146-156;
• Grossman L.P. Dostoevsky. M.: Young Guard, 1962. 543 p. (Life of remarkable people. Series of biographies; Issue 24 (357)).
• Bakhtin M. M. Problems of Dostoevsky's creativity. L.: Priboy, 1929. 244 p. 2nd ed., revised. and additional: Problems of Dostoevsky’s poetics. M.: Soviet writer, 1963. 363 p.
• Dostoevsky in the memoirs of his contemporaries: In 2 vols. M., 1964. T. 1. T. 2.
• Friedlander G. M. Realism of Dostoevsky. M.; L.: Nauka, 1964. 404 p.
• Meyer G. A. Light in the Night: (About “Crime and Punishment”): The experience of slow reading. Frankfurt/Main: Posev, 1967. 515 p.
• F. M. Dostoevsky: Bibliography of the works of F. M. Dostoevsky and literature about him: 1917-1965. M.: Book, 1968. 407 p.
• Kirpotin V. Ya. Disappointment and downfall of Rodion Raskolnikov: (Book about Dostoevsky’s novel “Crime and Punishment”). M.: Soviet writer, 1970. 448 p.
• Zakharov V.N. Problems of studying Dostoevsky: Textbook. - Petrozavodsk. 1978.
• Zakharov V. N. Dostoevsky’s system of genres: Typology and poetics. - L., 1985.
• Toporov V. N. On the structure of Dostoevsky’s novel in connection with archaic schemes of mythological thinking (“Crime and Punishment”) // Toporov V. N. Myth. Ritual. Symbol. Image: Studies in the field of mythopoetic. M., 1995. S. 193-258.
• Dostoevsky: Materials and research / USSR Academy of Sciences. IRLI. L.: Science, 1974-2007. Vol. 1-18 (ongoing edition).
• Odinokov V. G. Typology of images in the artistic system of F. M. Dostoevsky. Novosibirsk: Nauka, 1981. 144 p.
• Seleznev Yu. I. Dostoevsky. M.: Young Guard, 1981. 543 p., ill. (Life of remarkable people. Series of biographies; Issue 16 (621)).
• Volgin I. L. The Last Year of Dostoevsky: Historical Notes. M.: Soviet writer, 1986.
• Saraskina L. I.“Demons”: a novel-warning. M.: Soviet writer, 1990. 488 p.
• Allen L. Dostoevsky and God / Trans. from fr. E. Vorobyova. St. Petersburg: Branch of the magazine “Youth”; Dusseldorf: Blue Rider, 1993. 160 p.
• Guardini R. Man and faith / Transl. with him. Brussels: Life with God, 1994. 332 pp.
• Kasatkina T. A. Characterology of Dostoevsky: Typology of emotional and value orientations. M.: Heritage, 1996. 335 p.
• Laut R. Philosophy of Dostoevsky in a systematic presentation / Transl. with him. I. S. Andreeva; Ed. A. V. Gulygi. M.: Republic, 1996. 448 p.
• Belknap R.L. The structure of The Brothers Karamazov / Trans. from English St. Petersburg: Academic project, 1997.
• Dunaev M. M. Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky (1821-1881) // Dunaev M. M. Orthodoxy and Russian literature: [At 6 hours]. M.: Christian literature, 1997. pp. 284-560.
• Nakamura K. Dostoevsky's sense of life and death / Author. lane from Japanese St. Petersburg: Dmitry Bulanin, 1997. 332 p.
• Meletinsky E. M. Notes on the work of Dostoevsky. M.: RSUH, 2001. 190 p.
• F. M. Dostoevsky’s novel “The Idiot”: Current state of study. M.: Heritage, 2001. 560 p.
• Kasatkina T. A. On the creative nature of the word: The ontology of the word in the works of F. M. Dostoevsky as the basis of “realism in the highest sense.” M.: IMLI RAS, 2004. 480 p.
• Tikhomirov B. N."Lazarus! Get Out": F. M. Dostoevsky's novel "Crime and Punishment" in modern reading: Book-commentary. St. Petersburg: Silver Age, 2005. 472 p.
• Yakovlev L. Dostoevsky: ghosts, phobias, chimeras (reader's notes). - Kharkov: Karavella, 2006. - 244 p. ISBN 966-586-142-5
• Vetlovskaya V. E. Novel by F. M. Dostoevsky “The Brothers Karamazov”. St. Petersburg: Pushkin House Publishing House, 2007. 640 p.
• F. M. Dostoevsky’s novel “The Brothers Karamazov”: current state of study. M.: Nauka, 2007. 835 p.
• Bogdanov N., Rogovoy A. Genealogy of the Dostoevskys. In search of lost links., M., 2008.
• John Maxwell Coetzee. “Autumn in St. Petersburg” (this is the name of this work in the Russian translation; in the original the novel was entitled “The Master from St. Petersburg”). M.: Eksmo, 2010.
• Openness to the abyss. Meetings with DostoevskyLiterary, philosophical and historiographical work by culturologist Grigory Pomerants.
• Shulyatikov V. M. F. M. Dostoevsky (On the occasion of the twentieth anniversary of his death) “Courier”, 1901, NoNo 22, 36.
• Shulyatikov V. M. Back to Dostoevsky "Courier", 1903, No. 287.

Foreign studies

English language

• Jones M.V. Dostoevsky. The novel of discord. L., 1976.
• Holquist M. Dostoievsky and the novel. Princeton (N. Jersey), 1977.
• Hingley R. Dostoyevsky. His life and work. L., 1978.
• Kabat G.C. Ideology and imagination. The image of society in Dostoevsky. N.Y., 1978.
• Jackson R.L. The art of Dostoevsky. Princeton (N. Jersey), 1981.
• Dostoevsky Studies. Journal of the International Dostoievsky Society. v. 1 -, Klagenfurt-kuoxville, 1980-.

German

• Zweig S. Drei Meister: Balzac, Dickens, Dostojewskij. Lpz., 1921.
• Natorp P.G: F. Dosktojewskis Bedeutung für die gegenwärtige Kulturkrisis. Jena, 1923.
• Kaus O. Dostojewski und sein Schicksal. B., 1923.
• Nötzel K. Das Leben Dostojewskis, Lpz., 1925
• Meier-Cräfe J. Dostojewski als Dichter. B., 1926.
• Schultze B. Der Dialog in F.M. Dostoevskijs "Idiot". Munich, 1974.

Memory

Monuments

There is a memorial plaque to the writer on the house and in Florence (Italy), where he completed the novel “The Idiot” in 1868.

“The Dostoevsky Zone” is the informal name for the area near Sennaya Square in St. Petersburg, which is closely connected with the work of F. M. Dostoevsky. He lived here: Kaznacheyskaya Street, houses No. 1 and No. 7 (a memorial plaque was installed), No. 9. Here, on the streets, alleys, avenues, on the square itself, on the Catherine Canal, the action of a number of the writer’s works takes place (“Idiot”, “Crime” and punishment" and others). In the houses of these streets, Dostoevsky settled his literary characters - Rodion Romanovich Raskolnikov, Sonya Marmeladova, Svidrigailov, General Epanchin, Rogozhin and others. On Grazhdanskaya Street (formerly Meshchanskaya) in house No. 19/5 (corner of Stolyarny Lane), according to the research of local historians, Rodion Raskolnikov “lived”. The building is listed in many guidebooks to St. Petersburg as the “Raskolnikov House” and is marked with a memorial sign to the literary hero. The “Dostoevsky Zone” was created in the 1980-1990s at the request of the public, which forced the city authorities to put in order the memorial places located here, which are associated with the name of the writer.

In philately

Dostoevsky in culture

• The name of F. M. Dostoevsky is associated with the concept that arose at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. dostoevshchina, which has two meanings: a) psychological analysis in the manner of Dostoevsky, b) “mental imbalance, acute and contradictory emotional experiences” inherent in the heroes of the writer’s works.
• One of the 16 personality types in socionics, an original psychological and social typology developing in the USSR and Russia since the 1980s, is named after Dostoevsky. The name of the classic of literature was given to the sociotype “ethical-intuitive introvert” (abbreviated as EII; another name is “Humanist”). Socionicist E. S. Filatova proposed a generalized graphic portrait of EII, in which, among others, the features of Fyodor Dostoevsky can be discerned.

Films about Dostoevsky

• House of the Dead (1932) As Dostoevsky Nikolai Khmelev
• "Dostoevsky". Documentary. TsSDF (RTSSDF). 27 minutes. - a documentary film by Samuil Bubrik and Ilya Kopalin (Russia, 1956) about the life and work of Dostoevsky on the 75th anniversary of his death.
• The Writer and His City: Dostoevsky and St. Petersburg - film by Heinrich Böll (Germany, 1969)
• Twenty-six days in the life of Dostoevsky - feature film by Alexander Zarkhi (USSR, 1980). Starring Anatoly Solonitsyn
• Dostoevsky and Peter Ustinov - from the documentary "Russia" (Canada, 1986)
• Return of the Prophet - documentary film by V. E. Ryzhko (Russia, 1994)
• The Life and Death of Dostoevsky - documentary film (12 episodes) by Alexander Klyushkin (Russia, 2004).
• Demons of St. Petersburg - feature film by Giuliano Montaldo (Italy, 2008). Played by Miki Manojlovic.
• Three Women of Dostoevsky - film by Evgeny Tashkov (Russia, 2010). As Andrey Tashkov
• Dostoevsky - series by Vladimir Khotinenko (Russia, 2011). Starring Evgeny Mironov.

The image of Dostoevsky was also used in the biographical films “Sofya Kovalevskaya” (Alexander Filippenko), “Chokan Valikhanov” (Yuri Orlov), 1985, and the TV series “Gentlemen of the Jury” (Oleg Vlasov), 2005.

Other

• In Omsk, a street, a library, the Omsk State Literary Museum, the Omsk State University were named in honor of Dostoevsky, 2 monuments were erected, etc.
• In Tomsk a street is named after Dostoevsky.
• Street and metro station in St. Petersburg.
• Street, alley and metro station in Moscow.
• In Staraya Russa, Novgorod region - Dostoevsky embankment on the Porusya river
• Novgorod Academic Drama Theater named after F. M. Dostoevsky (Veliky Novgorod).
• The Aeroflot Boeing 767 VP-BAX is named after Fyodor Dostoevsky.
• An impact crater on Mercury is named after Dostoevsky.
• In honor of F. M. Dostoevsky, an employee of the Crimean Astrophysical Observatory L. G. Karachkina named the minor planet 3453 Dostoevsky, discovered on September 27, 1981.

Current events

• On October 10, 2006, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Federal Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel unveiled a monument to Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky in Dresden by People's Artist of Russia Alexander Rukavishnikov.
• A crater on Mercury is named after Dostoevsky.
• On November 12, 2001, in Omsk, on the occasion of the 180th anniversary of the writer’s birth, a monument to F. M. Dostoevsky was unveiled.
• Since 1997, music critic and radio host Artemy Troitsky has been hosting his own radio program called “FM Dostoevsky.”
• The writer Boris Akunin wrote the work “F. M.”, dedicated to Dostoevsky.
• Nobel Prize winner in literature John Maxwell Coetzee wrote a novel about Dostoevsky, Autumn in St. Petersburg, in 1994. The Master of Petersburg; 1994, Russian translation 1999)
• In 2010, director Vladimir Khotinenko began filming a serial film about Dostoevsky, which was released in 2011 on the 190th anniversary of Dostoevsky’s birth.
• On June 19, 2010, the 181st station of the Moscow metro “Dostoevskaya” opened. Access to the city is via Suvorovskaya Square, Seleznyovskaya Street and Durova Street. Station decoration: on the walls of the station there are scenes illustrating four novels by F. M. Dostoevsky (“Crime and Punishment”, “The Idiot”, “Demons”, “The Brothers Karamazov”).
• On October 29, 2010, a monument to Dostoevsky was unveiled in Tobolsk.
• In October 2011, the University of Malaya (Kuala Lumpur) held days dedicated to the 190th anniversary of the birth of F. M. Dostoevsky.

In 1821, on November 11, Dostoevsky, one of the most famous Russian writers and philosophers, was born. In this article we will talk about his biography and literary work.

Dostoevsky family

Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky (1821-1881) was born in Moscow into the family of nobleman Mikhail Andreevich, a staff doctor serving at the Mariinsky Hospital, and Maria Fedorovna. In the family he was one of eight children and only the second son. His father came from whose estate was located in the Belarusian part of Polesie, and his mother came from an old Moscow merchant family, originating in the Kaluga province. It is worth saying that Fyodor Mikhailovich had little interest in the rich history of his family. He spoke of his parents as poor, but hard-working people who allowed him to receive an excellent upbringing and quality education, for which he was grateful to his family. Maria Fedorovna taught her son to read Christian literature, which left a strong impression on him and largely determined his future life.

In 1831, the father of the family acquired the small estate Darovoye in the Tula province. In that Vacation home The Dostoevsky family began to visit every summer. There the future writer had the opportunity to get acquainted with the real life of peasants. In general, according to him, childhood was the best time in his life.

Writer's education

Initially, their father was in charge of the education of Fyodor and his older brother Mikhail, teaching them Latin. Then their home education was continued by teacher Drashusov and his sons, who taught the boys French, mathematics and literature. This continued until 1834, when the brothers were sent to the elite Chermak boarding school in Moscow, where they studied until 1837.

When Fedor was 16 years old, his mother died of tuberculosis. Subsequent years F.M. Dostoevsky spent time with his brother preparing to enter engineering school. They spent some time at Kostomarov's boarding house, where they continued to study literature. Despite the fact that both brothers wanted to write, their father considered this activity completely unprofitable.

Beginning of literary activity

Fyodor did not feel any desire to be at the school and was burdened by being there; in his free hours he studied world and domestic literature. Under inspiration from her, at night he worked on his literary experiments, read passages to his brother. Over time, a literary circle was formed at the Main Engineering School under the influence of Dostoevsky. In 1843, he completed his studies and was appointed to the position of engineer in St. Petersburg, which he soon abandoned, deciding to devote himself entirely to literary creativity. His father died of apoplexy (although, according to the recollections of relatives, he was killed by his own peasants, which is questioned by researchers of Dostoevsky’s biography) in 1839 and was no longer able to oppose his son’s decision.

The very first works of Dostoevsky, whose birthday is celebrated on November 11, have not reached us - they were dramas on historical themes. Since 1844, he has been translating, while simultaneously working on his work “Poor People.” In 1845, he was greeted with pleasure in Belinsky’s circle, and soon he became a widely known writer, the “new Gogol,” but his next novel, “The Double,” was not appreciated, and soon Dostoevsky’s relationship (birthday according to the new style is November 11) with all around deteriorated. He also quarreled with the editors of the Sovremennik magazine and began publishing mainly in Otechestvennye zapiski. However, his acquired fame allowed him to meet a much wider range of people, and he soon became a member of the philosophical and literary circle of the Beketov brothers, with one of whom he studied at an engineering school. Through one of the members of this society, he came to the Petrashevites and began regularly attending their meetings in the winter of 1847.

Circle of Petrashevites

The main topics that members of the Petrashevsky Society discussed at their meetings were the liberation of peasants, book printing and changes in legal proceedings. Soon Dostoevsky was one of several who organized a separate radical community among the Petrashevites. In 1849, many of them, including the writer, were arrested and imprisoned in the Peter and Paul Fortress.

Mock execution

The court recognized Dostoevsky as one of the main criminals, despite the fact that he strongly rejected the charges, and sentenced him to death by shooting, having first deprived him of his entire fortune. However, a few days later, the order to execute was replaced by an eight-year hard labor, which in turn was replaced by a four-year sentence followed by long service in the army, according to a special decree of Nicholas 1. In December 1849, the execution of the Petrashevites was staged, and only at the last moment was it announced pardon and sent to hard labor. One of those almost executed went crazy after such an ordeal. There is no doubt that this event had a strong influence on the writer’s views.

Years of hard labor

During the transfer to Tobolsk, a meeting took place with the wives of the Decembrists, who secretly handed over the Gospels to the future convicts (Dostoevsky kept his for the rest of his life). He spent the following years in Omsk at hard labor, trying to change the attitude towards himself among the prisoners; he was perceived negatively due to the fact that he was a nobleman. Dostoevsky could write books only in secret in the infirmary, since the prisoners were deprived of the right of correspondence.

Soon after the end of hard labor, Dostoevsky was assigned to serve in the Semipalatinsk regiment, where he met his future wife Maria Isaeva, whose marriage was unhappy and ended unsuccessfully. The writer rose to the rank of ensign in 1857, when both the Petrashevites and the Decembrists were pardoned.

Pardon and return to the capital

Upon returning to Russia, he had to make his literary debut again - it was “Notes from the House of the Dead”, which received universal recognition, since the genre in which the writer talked about the life of convicts was completely new. The writer published several works in the magazine “Time,” which he published together with his brother Mikhail. After some time, the magazine was closed, and the brothers began to publish another publication - “Epoch”, which also closed a few years later. At this time, he took an active part in the public life of the country, having suffered the destruction of socialist ideals, recognized himself as an open Slavophile, and asserted the social significance of art. Dostoevsky's books reflect his views on reality, which his contemporaries did not always understand; sometimes they seemed too harsh and innovative, and sometimes too conservative.

Traveling around Europe

In 1862, Dostoevsky, whose birthday is celebrated on November 11, traveled abroad for the first time to receive treatment at resorts, but he ended up traveling throughout most of Europe, becoming addicted to playing roulette in Baden-Baden and squandering almost all his money. Basically, Dostoevsky had problems with money and creditors throughout almost his entire life. He spent part of the trip in the company of A. Suslova, a young, relaxed lady. He described many of his adventures in Europe in his novel The Gambler. In addition, the writer was shocked by the negative consequences of the Great french revolution, and he became convinced that the only possible path of development for Russia is unique and original, not repeating the European one.

Second wife

In 1867, the writer married his stenographer Anna Snitkina. They had four children, of whom only two survived, and in the end only the only surviving son, Fyodor, became the successor of the family. They lived together for the next few years abroad, where Dostoevsky, whose birthday is November 11, began work on some of the last novels included in the famous "Great Pentateuch" - Crime and Punishment, the most famous philosophical novel, “The Idiot”, where the author explores the theme of a person trying to make others happy but ultimately suffering, “Demons”, which talks about revolutionary movements, and “Teenager”.

“The Brothers Karamazov,” Dostoevsky’s last novel, also related to the Pentateuch, was in a sense a summing up of his entire creative career, since it contained features and images of all the writer’s previous works.

The writer spent the last 8 years of his life in the Novgorod province, in the town of Staraya Russa, where he lived with his wife and children and continued to engage in writing, completing the novels he had begun.

In June 1880, Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky, whose work significantly influenced literature in general, came to the opening of the monument to Pushkin in Moscow, where many famous writers were present. In the evening, he delivered a famous speech about Pushkin at a meeting of the Society of Lovers of Russian Literature.

Death of Dostoevsky

Years of life of F. M. Dostoevsky - 1821-1881. Fyodor Mikhailovich died on January 28, 1881 from tuberculosis, chronic bronchitis, aggravated by emphysema, shortly after a scandal with his sister Vera, who asked him to give up the inherited estate in favor of his sisters. The writer was buried in one of the cemeteries of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra, and a huge number of people gathered to say goodbye to him.

Although Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky, whose biography and interesting facts about his life we ​​analyzed in this article, gained fame during his lifetime, real, grandiose fame came to him only after his death.

“When the children reached a more or less conscious age, Fyodor Mikhailovich charged them with the responsibility of mixing two types of tobacco”

The fact that Dmitry Andreevich Dostoevsky is a descendant of the great writer is clear at first glance. They are very similar - Fyodor Mikhailovich and his great-grandson. He lives in St. Petersburg. We met in Gatchina at the Literature and Cinema festival. Dostoevsky's great-grandson turned out to be a temperamental person and never let anyone get bored.

Dmitry Andreevich Dostoevsky

“I have mastered 21 professions, starting with a tram driver”

The grandson of Mikhail Sholokhov, Alexander Sholokhov, told how he once met Radishchev’s descendants. They struck him with their resemblance to the famous ancestor. You are also very similar to your great-grandfather. Have you ever dealt with representatives of other famous families?

At one time I was the leader of the Assembly of the Nobility, which, unlike the main one, united serving nobles. There were many representatives of famous families there, including the Karamzins. They are also very similar to their famous relative.

Meeting a descendant famous person, first of all, you pay attention to his appearance, and when you get to know him better, you study his character. Many personal traits are passed on from generation to generation. If we talk about Fyodor Mikhailovich, then it is impossible not to mention that he had a sweet tooth. This inclination manifested itself to a lesser extent in me, but my son and granddaughter are fine with it. I have seen references to the love of sweets in the letters of my father and grandfather.

Fyodor Mikhailovich smoked heavily. I conducted a study of my closest ancestors and found out that they also had this tendency. Dostoevsky's wife Anna Grigorievna mentions that her husband took cigarette after cigarette. Moreover, it was a whole action. When the children reached a more or less conscious age, Fyodor Mikhailovich charged them with the responsibility of mixing two types of tobacco in certain proportions. The children apparently loved to twirl this mixture. They were busy stuffing cigarettes. According to modern concepts, they prepared poison for their father, especially since he suffered from a lung disease. Antibiotics did not yet exist, so he was destroying himself, and the children helped him with this.

Fedor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky

- Did noble kinship predetermine your life?

Definitely. When they ask me if I am related to a famous writer, I look the person in the eyes and decide whether it is worth communicating with him. But you can always say: “No. Namesake." People, having learned that you are a descendant of a famous person, try to understand: what are you like? And this can become a tragedy of life.

Fyodor Mikhailovich’s daughter, Lyuba, could say: why is everyone talking about my father, why don’t they talk about me, I will write too. And she wrote. But I wouldn't say she had talent. With great difficulty I forced myself to read what she wrote.

Anna Grigorievna has a confessional where she says that nature rests on the descendants of geniuses. Lyuba lived hard all her life, never got married, did not give birth to children. Her family line was broken. She considered herself a special woman and was afraid to sell herself short with her chosen one, which has two written confirmations.

She wanted to marry the governor of Staraya Russa, but he did not pay attention to her. Her communication with Lev Lvovich Tolstoy also did not develop into a romance.

When her mother was told, why don’t you, a young widow, get married, she replied that after Dostoevsky, you could only marry Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy himself, but he was already taken. And something similar happened to Lyuba. Together with Lev Lvovich she wrote some plays, but in the end they broke up.

Dostoevsky has a prophecy regarding his own family. Already on his deathbed, he called the children to him and read them the parable of the prodigal son. Both of his children were away from home. He understood that he would not be able to influence them. Lyuba leaves Russia when not a single Russian person has even thought about leaving: In 1912, she tells her mother that she is going to Europe for treatment, and then will return, and she herself lived abroad until her death and died there. And she lived on the money received from the publication of her father’s books, which her mother carefully sent her.

There is a tragic letter where Anna Grigorievna asks Lyuba not to play in the casino, reminds her of her father’s sad example (I have never seen any other mention of this). Maybe Lyuba pulled herself together and didn’t play anymore.

Abroad, she wrote memoirs for the anniversary of her father’s death. French. We published them in 1928. Lyuba was born in Dresden, so she was drawn to Europe. And her brother Fedya was born in St. Petersburg, and when his mother wrote to him: “Go to Europe, unwind, relax,” she answered: “What didn’t I see there?”

All his life he worked with racehorses, kept a stable, and when it burned down, he barely managed to save the best horses. It is interesting that Fyodor Mikhailovich’s sisters remained in Moscow, and his brothers went to St. Petersburg. Dostoevsky in his last days, but he had no intention of dying, wrote in notebook and in a letter to Anna Grigorievna about preparations for moving to Moscow.

- How old were you when you found out who you were?

About 15 years old. As soon as my mother felt that she could tell me about it, she added: “Just talk less about it.” It was such a time.

And I was in no hurry to tell my eldest granddaughter Anya about her famous ancestor. On New Year's days we went to the Dostoevsky Museum. Nearby is a monument to him. We've arrived. Anya already knew how to read, she traced the letters with her finger: “Oh, and I’m Dostoevskaya.” Then I explained to her that this uncle was a relative and promised to show her how many books he had written. Two days later we found a small book she had sewn herself, filled with sine waves. Anya wrote a book.

- And your son...

He is gradually replacing me. I immediately decided that I would not put pressure on him with my attitude towards Fyodor Mikhailovich, let him form on his own. He didn’t push books with the words: “Read your great-great-grandfather.” It formed itself.

- Who he is by profession?

He studied at the pedagogical school, but majored in “teacher” in English" did not work. And this is also in our genes.

Fedor Mikhailovich received higher education, was a topographical engineer, but six months later he resigned, became a free man, began to write and live on it. Then it was difficult to subsist on literary works. Turgenev and Tolstoy had villages and peasants who worked for them. Dostoevsky did not have such help. Son Fedor never spent a single day in public service. Grandson Andrei, my father, spent most of his life in Soviet times.

He graduated from the Industrial Institute, and now the Polytechnic Institute in Leningrad, and studied forest management. Then the war began, he actually went to the front in the first days, was wounded, and in 1946, due to medical reasons, received an early pension. I refused on principle to receive higher education.

- What is the principle?

I thought that it was not interesting to be an engineer for 80 rubles a month. I wanted to learn a lot. I have 21 professions. In Soviet times, I was generally considered a flyer. In the HR department, looking at my work book, they were wary of me. They looked carefully into the eyes, and in the end they accepted. It is obvious that he is not a drunkard.

- I know that you drove a tram, but what else did you do?

The range of professions ranges from technical to artistic.

- And which is the most artistic?

Applying diamond edges to crystal vases. This is one of my first professions. Compulsory vocational education was introduced in high school. I went to school on Fontanka, where half of my classmates studied at an art glass factory, and the other engraved rollers with which designs were applied to fabric. From early childhood he was interested in radio engineering and assembled receivers.

In the 90s, difficulties came and I found myself without a job. I was invited to Germany to open the Dostoevsky Society, and I stayed to work there, repairing the first VCRs and televisions. He received money and sent parcels to his family in order to somehow feed them.

- So you lived there alone?

First one. I brought my whole family to Germany when I realized that I could easily get a job, and if necessary, I would go and drive a Munich tram.

The quality knitting of my wife Lyuda came in handy. I took her to the park, she sat on a bench and knitted. There was an opportunity to make money, and we didn’t refuse anything. We returned home in a foreign car.

They left Germany in a surprising way. The Emergency Committee happened. They announce on TV that they are ready to provide political asylum in a simplified form, automatically extending the visa for Russians staying in Germany. We gathered in a family council and thought that suddenly the border would be closed, that’s all, and we’d be stuck here. We packed up and went home. Although we had a rented apartment in Germany, a permanent job, albeit unofficial. Live and be happy. But nostalgia set in for me in the third month.

- You could live happily by creating the Dostoevsky Foundation.

Even in my youth I thought: I am the great-grandson of a great man, but will I live off this or will I become independent? My life was divided into two parts: one belonged to Fyodor Mikhailovich, and the second was my own. But the idea of ​​creating something special didn’t occur to me. The only thing I did was protect the surname itself as a trademark so that it would not appear everywhere, so that Dostoevsky casinos would not appear.

- But there is a hotel.

I received the corresponding paper later than the name of the hotel. We do not have the opportunity to change anything in hindsight.

I was informed from Staraya Russa that Muscovites purchased four plots of land, built a hotel, and named it “Dostoevsky”. They asked how I felt about this. I replied: “So be it.” Even Anna Grigorievna was not against the steamship of the same name on the Volga. While traveling along the river, she wrote: “The Dostoevsky steamship passed me.” And she lived on Dostoevsky Street in Yalta. When the metro station in St. Petersburg was named “Dostoevskaya,” I thought: so be it. In honor of Anna Grigorievna.

Anna Grigorievna Dostoevskaya

“Fyodor Mikhailovich loved beer”

- When you are invited to different cities and countries to events dedicated to Dostoevsky, what do they want from you?

Basically, representing oneself as a direct descendant. Roughly speaking, they call you as a wedding general. This does not suit me, and I make reports: for example, about the lives of children, based on a thousand letters from Anna Grigorievna to children and their letters to her. They are kept in the Pushkin House, but no one except me has attacked them so far.

From them I learned that Fyodor Mikhailovich was very fond of beer. Anna Grigorievna wrote that in every city where they stopped there was some nice place. There they sat, admired the scenery and drank beer, he mentions light beer. This drink was an important product in my family. I myself moved away from him, but my son loves him.

- So, it’s still possible to extract new facts and make discoveries?

It happens. We have a chance to find the draft manuscript of The Brothers Karamazov. Some traces remained, as well as the assumption that it was stolen and moved through the rebellious Russia in 1918 towards Georgia. Ultimately, I think she went abroad and is hiding somewhere, if we assume that the manuscripts do not burn. It contains the writer's edits, which are invaluable for textual work.

A lot of things are missing, for example, the manuscript of “Demons”, and the letters have disappeared. I found references to the fact that Dostoevsky’s children Fedya and Lyuba studied poorly. Fedya honestly writes to his mother that he is skipping classes and somehow, while walking in the garden, he ended up on a bench next to a gray-haired general. We got to talking, and it turned out that during his service in Siberia he had letters from Fyodor Mikhailovich, about twenty of them. But they all burned down. And when the Dostoevskys bought a house in Staraya Russa, it turned out that the owner hid that from time to time the plot was flooded with water. Somehow Lyuba was left there alone, but things from the first floor were not moved upstairs, and the suitcases with Dostoevsky’s letters got wet. She threw them away.

“Dostoevsky’s nephew was sent to build the White Sea-Baltic Canal”

- Let's reproduce the family tree.

Fyodor Mikhailovich had four children. The first and last died in infancy. Lyuba, as we have already said, had no offspring. There remained Fedor, whose pedigree stretches to this day. After him, Fyodor and Andrey were next again. Fedor III died at the age of 16. Mom saved his poems. They were published in the Chronicle of the Dostoevsky Family. When I showed them to the poets and told them that a 16-year-old boy wrote them, everyone was shocked. How mature it is.

- It’s interesting that three Fedors in a row.

It is an old Russian tradition to name the eldest son after his father. Andrei also had two children - my pre-war sister and me, post-war. The fact that I am Dmitry - my mother most likely insisted on this in memory of her early deceased brother. My sister Tatyana and I are almost ten years apart. We are from different generations. Her life in many ways repeated the fate of Lyuba. I don’t know whose life I’m living.

- What was your grandson’s name?

Fedya. Fedor is the fourth. I insisted on Ivan. I liked that Alexey was there, Dmitry was there, and let there be Ivan. I believe that for Fyodor Mikhailovich, three brothers are hypostases of one person: a rebel, a believer and a doubter. My son Alexey became captain of the monastery fleet on Valaam. He served in the army there and stayed. Everyone was worried then that their children might be sent to Chechnya. He didn’t have a family yet, but he had to continue the family line. And then Fyodor Mikhailovich, together with the Lord, helped.

It turned out that my son was late for the autumn draft; there was already a kit there. And he stayed at the monastery for the winter and came to court. The abbot gave him an eternal blessing - a rare occurrence. My son has been living there for almost twenty years.

During one of his trips, Alexey met with Vladyka Tomsk, and it turned out that he dreamed of turning the ship into a church so that it would ply the rivers of Siberia. He invited his son to become his captain. There are only one or two churches in the villages, but there is no money to build new ones. And on the ship you can have a wedding and a funeral service.

They called me from the archbishop's office and asked me, as a father, if I would bless my son for further action. I got excited and said I didn’t mind. But the son decided differently: “I have not yet been filled with the Valaam spirit.”

- If you honor your ancestors, then they support you?

I have my own ideas on this matter. I got cancer when I was young. I want to live, but I need to have surgery. There was no guarantee that I would survive. But he's alive.

Although my mother was transformed into a Soviet person, she remembered that she came from the nobility. Her grandfather Shestakov was the chief of artillery of the Peter and Paul Fortress, governor-general of Vilna (present-day Vilnius). In Soviet times, my mother was forced to hide this; in the “social origin” column she indicated that she was from the middle class.

Then she joined the extremely nasty surname of Dostoevsky - as defined by Ulyanov-Lenin. She herself escaped arrest, but my father spent a month in prison on Shpalernaya. The file says that he was arrested three days after Kirov’s murder.

The fact that he was imprisoned became known abroad. They started writing there: the grandson of a great writer in prison. And the father was released. Fyodor Mikhailovich saved. Or they could have sewn on anything, as they did in relation to Andrei Andreevich, the nephew of Fyodor Mikhailovich, the son of his brother: he was taken away in 1931.

There are documents regarding these arrests that no one except me has seen. The hair stood on end, everything was so far-fetched. Andrei Andreevich was sent to build the White Sea-Baltic Canal, and he was 64 years old. Spas Lunacharsky, although he was no longer a minister. Andrei Andreevich died two years later. I first read his first explanation after his arrest in the Geneva archive, having permission to read it from the FSB. This is where the sheer devilry lies.

- Your surname probably attracted a variety of people to you?

Constantly. But I am also a relative of Pushkin through Pavlishchev, on the female side. And perhaps closer to him than some of his current descendants.

- What kind of history is connected in your family with Hollywood?

I am passionate about this topic; I want the script about Anna Grigorievna to be staged. My grandmother Ekaterina Petrovna wrote it and defined it as an artistic documentary. According to my research, it is based on her conversations with Anna Grigorievna about Fyodor Mikhailovich.

Grandmother, of course, did not see him: Dostoevsky died when she met his son. She sent the script to Hollywood in 1956, and died in 1957.

Ekaterina Petrovna talked with Nina Berberova. So she claimed that the script was accepted. It was necessary to conclude an agreement, but Ekaterina Petrovna was no longer in the world. The script went into the archives. I wish I could find him - I think he’s not lost in the Hollywood archives.

My grandmother gave private lessons and taught Bolshevik youth, since she knew four languages. This is what I lived on. And then she received a false message that her son Andrei had died. In general, she decided to leave the USSR. I ended up in Regensburg, Paris, then Menton. There she lived out the rest of her days and was buried in an Orthodox cemetery. I was there. An interesting thought came to me that I would like to lie there too. Such beauty! A view of the Mediterranean Sea, which looks like an emerald, and tangerines and lemons grow nearby.

- I'm glad I met you. You are such a temperamental person, living what you should live.

There really is a temperament. Fyodor Mikhailovich was just as lively. And Fyodor Fedorovich also had a temperament. I won't say that about my father. And in our genes there is a complete absence of rancor. Also from Fyodor Mikhailovich. Anna Grigorievna writes about this. Although he called some people his literary enemies, he dreamed of making peace with them.