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Interesting pages from the life of Dostoevsky. Biography of Dostoevsky. Interesting facts from the biography

17.04.2019

Fedor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky is a writer known throughout the world. His works are still read, studied, debated, and filmed.
Is there any interesting facts from the life of Dostoevsky himself, what kind of person was he, what were his inclinations?

Interestingly, Dostoevsky actually obsessively considered himself ugly, like a terrible Quasimodo. He was quick-tempered, irritable, touchy, jealous, all this prevented him from establishing relationships with women. Although, according to contemporaries, Fyodor Mikhailovich had increased sexuality. This trait was very developed in him, he tried to hide it, but to no avail - his interesting inclination was visible in his words, actions, and views.

Those around him ridiculed him, and Turgenev compared him to “the Marquis de Sade.” Dostoevsky often had to satisfy his unbridled desire with the help of prostitutes. An interesting fact is that later those of them who provided services to the writer then refused to deal with him, since his love games were too unusual, and often painful. He needed someone who would not contradict him in anything, and idolized him, despite his oddities.

Fyodor Mikhailovich was born in 1821, and for the first time he married only at the age of 36 to Maria Dmitrievna Isaeva, the widow of an official from Semipalatinsk. Maria received a good education, this cheerful, intelligent, kind and pretty woman, could not bear his betrayal and constant jealousy. Although Maria quite possibly ran “to the left” :) Dostoevsky wrote about his marriage with her: “We live somehow.” Isaeva fell ill with consumption and died in 1864.

In 1845, Dostoevsky hired 19-year-old Anna Grigorievna Snitkina to work as a stenographer. For him, she became a real gift. Unlike the unbalanced, hot-tempered writer, Anna was calm, sweet, beautiful, and kind. It is interesting that Dostoevsky quickly proposes to this young girl, and she agrees. Dostoevsky actually feels happy and calm for the first time.

However, Anna had to go through frantic, insane and frequent attacks of jealousy, the birth and death of her children, terrible attacks of epilepsy, and an uncontrollable passion for roulette. She managed to help him. Dostoevsky loved her like a father, young and innocent. The mixture of these factors gave their relationship a touch of sinfulness. This is probably why Fyodor Mikhailovich never looked at any other woman again and, apparently, never cheated on Anna even in his thoughts.

At the time of the wedding, he was 45 years old, and she was 20. Anna Grigorievna wrote: “I am ready to spend the rest of my life kneeling before him.”

Anna remained faithful to her husband until the end of her life. In the year of the writer’s death, she was only 35 years old, however, she considered her life as a woman over and devoted herself to serving his name: she published full meeting works of Dostoevsky, collected all his letters and notes, actually forced friends to write his biography, founded his school in Staraya Russa, and wrote memoirs about Dostoevsky herself. She devoted all her free time to organizing his literary legacy.

Here are some interesting facts from the work of Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky:

1. Fans of Dostoevsky’s work know that the sin of parricide in the novel “The Brothers Karamazov” lies with Ivan, although the reason for the crime is not clear. In the original handwritten copy of The Brothers Karamazov, the author is listed as the real reason crimes. As it turned out, son Ivan killed F.P. Karamazov (father) because the father raped young Ivan with the sin of sodomy, in fact, for pedophilia. IN printed publications, of course, this fact was not included.

2. The author made good use of the real topography of St. Petersburg when describing the places of his novel “Crime and Punishment.” Dostoevsky admitted that the description yard, in which Raskolnikov hid the things stolen from the pawnbroker, he made up from his personal experience- one day, while walking around the city, he turned into a deserted courtyard wanting to relieve himself.

3. Anna Snitkina, while still young, led the life of a capitalist homeowner and after her wedding to Dostoevsky, she immediately took over his financial affairs. She negotiated with his creditors, published and sold his books and books by other authors. Fought against monopolistic publishers. In fact, Fyodor Mikhailovich got the best manager in his time; it’s interesting that Anna loved him more life, and saved him, since Dostoevsky was absolutely incompetent in terms of financial planning, and also pacified his perverted sexual ego.

In fact interesting facts about Dostoevsky not so much, there are many other famous Russian writers. authors of great works: , and , about which you can also read on our website “Know the World”

Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky is a famous Russian writer, philosopher and thinker. He was born in Moscow in October 1821. The family in which he was born and grew up was wealthy.

Biography

Childhood photo of Fyodor Dostoevsky.

The writer's father, Mikhail Andreevich Dostoevsky, was a wealthy nobleman and landowner, he was a doctor who at one time graduated from the Moscow Medical-Surgical Academy. For a long time his father worked at the Mariinsky Hospital. His medical practice brought him a good income, so over time he bought the village of Darovoye in the Tula province. However, he had bad habit- addiction to alcohol. While drinking, the writer's father mistreated his serfs, punished and offended them. This was precisely the reason for his death - in 1839 he was killed by his own serfs.

The writer’s mother, Maria Feodorovna Dostoevskaya (maiden name Nechaeva), came from a wealthy merchant family. However, after the war, her family became impoverished and practically lost their fortune. A 19-year-old girl was married to Mikhail Dostoevsky, the writer’s father. The writer remembers his mother with warmth; she was always a good housewife and loving mother. She had 8 children - 4 boys and 4 girls. Fyodor Mikhailovich was the second child in the family. Fyodor Dostoevsky's older brother, Mikhail, also became a writer. Dostoevsky developed warm family relationships with his sisters and brothers. The writer's mother died early, when the boy was only 16 years old. Her death occurred from a disease common in those days - consumption (tuberculosis).

After the death of their mother, the father sent his two eldest sons (Mikhail and Fedor) to one of the boarding houses in St. Petersburg. In St. Petersburg, Fyodor Dostoevsky studied at the Main Engineering School, which he entered at the age of 17.

After graduating from college, in 1842 the writer received the rank of engineer-second lieutenant, after which he was sent to serve. From his youth, Fedor was interested in literature, history and philosophy. He, like his older brother, respected the work of the great Russian writer, the young man regularly visited literary circle, where he communicated with writers and poets of his time.

In 1844, Dostoevsky retired and wrote his first meaningful story entitled “ Poor people". This work received the highest praise in domestic and world literature. Even critics of Russian society reacted favorably to this story.

The year 1849 became a turning point for the writer. He was arrested along with his accomplices for participating in a socialist conspiracy against the government (“Petrashevsky case”), long time(8 months) he was under investigation, after which he was convicted by a military court and sentenced to death. However, this sentence was not implemented and the writer remained alive. As punishment for what he had done, he was deprived of his nobility, all existing ranks and fortune, after which the writer was exiled to Siberia for hard labor for 4 years. It was hard times, at the end of which Dostoevsky was supposed to be enlisted as an ordinary soldier. Preservation civil rights for Dostoevsky after the punishment was not accidental, Emperor Nicholas I appreciated the talented young writer, in the past, political conspirators were most often executed.

Dostoevsky served his sentence in Siberia (Omsk), then in 1854 he was sent as an ordinary soldier to serve in Semipalatinsk. Just a year later he was promoted to non-commissioned officer, and in 1856 he again became an officer, this was the reign of Emperor Alexander II.

Dostoevsky was not a completely healthy person; all his life he suffered from epilepsy, which in the old days was called epilepsy. The disease first appeared in the writer when he was working in hard labor. For this reason, he was dismissed and returned to St. Petersburg. Now he had enough time to seriously study literature.

His older brother, Mikhail, began publishing his own literary magazine called “Time” in 1861. In this magazine the writer publishes his novel for the first time " Humiliated and Offended“, which society accepted with understanding and sympathy. Somewhat later, another work by the author came out - “ Notes from the House of the Dead“, in it, the writer, under a fictitious name, told readers about his life and the lives of other people serving time at hard labor. This work All of Russia read it and appreciated what was hidden between the lines. The Vremya magazine was closed three years later, but the brothers released a new one, Epoch. On the pages of these magazines, the world first saw such wonderful works of the author as: “ Notes from the Underground«, « Winter notes about summer impressions" and many others.

In 1866, his brother Mikhail died. This was a real blow for Fedor, who had a very close family relationship with him. During this period, Dostoevsky wrote his most famous novel, which today is the main calling card of the writer, “Crime and Punishment.” Somewhat later, in 1868, another of his works “ Idiot", and in 1870 his novel " Demons". Despite the fact that the writer treated Russian society cruelly in these works, it recognized all three of his works.

Later, in 1876, Dostoevsky had his own publication - “ Writer's Diary“, which literally gained great popularity within a year (the publication was represented by multiple essays, feuilletons and notes and was produced in a small circulation - only 8 thousand copies).

Dostoevsky did not immediately find his happiness in his personal life. He was first married to Maria Isaeva, whom he married in 1957. Maria used to be the wife of an acquaintance of Dostoevsky. When her husband died, in August 1855, she married a second time. The couple was married in a church, since Dostoevsky was a deeply religious person. The woman had a son from her first marriage, Pavel, who later became the writer’s adopted son. It is unlikely that this woman loved her new young husband; she often provoked quarrels, during which she reproached him and regretted marrying him.

Appolinaria Suslova became the writer’s second beloved woman. However, she was a feminist who had different views on life, which most likely was the reason for the separation.

Anna Grigorievna Snitkina – second and last wife writer, he married her in 1986. With this woman, he finally found happiness and peace. Dostoevsky was a gambling person, there was even a period in his life when, during one of his trips abroad, he became interested in playing roulette and regularly lost money. Anna Snitkina was initially Dostoevsky's partner and stenographer. It was this woman who helped the writer compose and dictate the novel in just 26 days. Player“, thanks to which it was delivered on time. It was this woman who seriously took charge of the writer’s well-being and took upon herself all the concerns about his economic condition. Anna helped Dostoevsky quit gambling.

Starting in 1971, the author began his most fruitful period. Over the last 10 years of his life, Dostoevsky wrote many works: “ Teenager«, « Brothers Karamazov«, « Meek" and many others. It gained the greatest popularity during these years.

In the photo: Fyodor Dostoevsky. Late period.

Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky died in 1881 at the end of January and was buried in St. Petersburg in the Alexander Nevsky Lavra.

Dostoevsky's main achievements

The creativity of this greatest writer left a significant imprint on world culture and Russian literature. Everyone perceives his works in their own way, but they are all highly valued both in our country and abroad. Being a deeply religious person, Dostoevsky tries to convey to the reader the deep meaning of human morality and ethics, calling people to honesty, justice and goodness. His way of “reaching out” the best strings human soul not always standard, but almost always effective and leads to a positive result.

Important dates in Dostoevsky's biography

October 30, 1821 - birth of Fyodor Dostoevsky.
1834 – studying at the private boarding school of L.I. Chermak.
1838 - beginning of studies at the Engineering School.
1843 – graduation, receiving the rank of officer, enlistment.
1844 - dismissal from military service.
1846 - the novel " Poor people«.
1849 – arrest of the writer (Petrashevsky case).
1850 – exile to hard labor in the Omsk prison.
1854 - end of hard labor.
1854 - the writer enlisted as an ordinary soldier in the Siberian Line Battalion (Semipalatinsk).
1855 - promotion to non-commissioned officer.
1857 - wedding with Maria Isaeva.
1859 – resignation due to health reasons.
1859 - move to Tver, followed by a move to St. Petersburg.
1860 - the beginning of publication of the magazine "Time".
1860 - 1863 - publication " Notes from the House of the Dead" And " Winter notes about summer impressions«.
1863 - publication of the magazine "Time" was prohibited.
1864 - the beginning of the publishing of the magazine "Epoch".
1864 - death of Dostoevsky's wife.
1866 - Dostoevsky’s meeting with his future second wife, A.G. Snitkina.
1866 - completion of Crime and Punishment.
1867 - wedding of Dostoevsky and A.G. Snitkina.
1868 - 1973 - the end of the novels " Idiot" And " Demons«.
1875 - the novel “The Teenager” was written.
1880 – completion of the novel “ Brothers Karamazov«.
January 28, 1881 - death of Dostoevsky.

IN " Crime and Punishment“Dostoevsky very accurately describes the topography of St. Petersburg, especially the description of the courtyard where Raskolnikov hid the things stolen from the old woman.
The writer was extremely jealous, constantly suspecting his beloved women of treason.
The latter, the writer’s wife, Anna Grigorievna Snitkina, loved her husband so much that even after his death she remained faithful to her beloved until the end of her life. She served the name of Dostoevsky and never married again.
Many films (documentary and feature) have been made about Dostoevsky, which tell about important events that happened in the writer’s life: “ The Life and Death of Dostoevsky«, « Dostoevsky«, « Three women of Dostoevsky«, « 26 days in the life of Dostoevsky" and many others.

Documentary films about Dostoevsky

The life of Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky was full of events. A special trait of his character was dedication. This was reflected in all areas of his life. Pronounced Political Views(changed several times), love stories, gambling, and most importantly - literature - this is a list of the main passions of the great writer. His high popularity during his lifetime and conditions of severe poverty, fame as a preacher of the brightest human principles and awareness of his own imperfection, unique writing talent and the need to conclude inhumane contracts with publishers - all this arouses readers’ interest in the fate of Dostoevsky.

On January 14, 1820, Mikhail Andreevich Dostoevsky and Maria Fedorovna Nechaeva got married. He was the son of a priest, she was the daughter of a merchant of the III guild. Both received a good education in their youth.

Mikhail Andreevich, Dostoevsky’s father, graduated from the Moscow department of the Medical-Surgical Academy and became a doctor, despite the fact that several previous generations chose the path of clergy. Still, the young man paid tribute family tradition, having previously studied at a theological seminary, and although he chose a different professional path, Mikhail Andreevich remained a deeply church-going person throughout his life. It was he who instilled high religiosity in his children. He started out as a military medic, but in January 1821 he left the service and opened a practice at the Mariinsky Hospital for the low-income population. A young family settled here, in an outbuilding on the territory of the hospital. And on October 30 (November 11), 1821, the second child of this couple, Fedor, was born here. Dostoevsky's birth took place in a very symbolic place, where he spotted many interesting types for his works.

Childhood

Little Dostoevsky loved most of all the company of his brother Mikhail. Andrei Mikhailovich (younger brother) wrote in his memoirs about how from the very early years The older brothers were friendly. They carried this relationship through all the trials and tribulations of adult life. The boys grew up and were raised side by side with each other. Their first mentor was their father. Keeping them in the necessary severity, Mikhail Andreevich never applied them to children corporal punishment and did not hide his strong fatherly love. It was he who taught the older children the basics of Latin and medicine. Later, their education was headed by Nikolai Ivanovich Drashusov, who worked at the Catherine and Alexander schools. They studied French, mathematics and literature. In 1834, the eldest sons left home to study at the Moscow boarding school. Chermak.

In 1837, the mother of the family, Maria Feodorovna, became seriously ill and died of consumption. The death of this wonderful woman, whose love and tenderness was enough for all her offspring, was very difficult for her relatives. Just before her death, having come to her senses, she wished to bless her children and husband. This sad but deeply touching scene was remembered by everyone who came to say goodbye to Maria Fedorovna.

Almost immediately after this, the father equipped his eldest sons for the journey. Dostoevsky's education was technical and required absence from home. They went to the St. Petersburg boarding house of Koronat Filippovich Kostomarov, where they were supposed to prepare for entrance tests at the Main Engineering School. By this time, both Mikhail and Fedor had already decided that their calling was to work in the literary field, so this prospect upset them a lot, but Mikhail Andreevich considered it the most reasonable. The young people submitted to the will of their parents.

Youth

Having entered engineering school, Dostoevsky did not give up his dreams of writing. Free time he devoted himself entirely to getting to know the Russian and foreign literature, and also made his first attempts at writing. In 1838, thanks to the interest in this field of art kindled among his comrades, a literary circle was created.

The year 1839 brought a new shock to the young man’s life: his father died. According to the official version, he was struck down by apoplexy, but the news reached his sons that he had fallen victim to the massacre of peasants who were taking revenge for “cruel treatment.” This deeply affected Fedor; he will never forget this grief mixed with shame.

Dostoevsky completed his studies in 1843 and immediately received the position of field engineer-second lieutenant. Nevertheless, the dream of devoting myself to art did not leave young man, so he did not serve more than a year. After his resignation, Fyodor Mikhailovich decided to try to arrange his debut works in print.

Dostoevsky tried to dilute student everyday life with work on plays and stories own composition, as well as translations of foreign authors. The first experiments were lost, the second were often unfinished. So his debut was “Poor People” (1845). The work was so significant in his life that we recommend that you read it. The manuscript was highly appreciated even by seasoned writers Nekrasov and Belinsky. The famous and venerable critic saw in the author a “new Gogol.” The novel was published in Nekrasov’s “Petersburg Collection” of 1846.

Further creative path The author was not understood by his contemporaries at one time. The next novel, “The Double” (1845-1846), was considered by many to be a very weak work. The type discovered by Dostoevsky underground man“It was not immediately recognized. Belinsky was disappointed in the talent of the young writer. The newfound fame temporarily faded, and was even secretly ridiculed by some.

Arrest and hard labor

In the salon of Nikolai Apollonovich Maykov, where Dostoevsky was received very warmly, the writer met Alexei Nikolaevich Pleshcheev. It was he who brought the writer together with Mikhail Vasilyevich Petrashevsky. From January 1847, the young man began to attend meetings of the circle that had gathered around this thinker. The secret society was actively thinking about the future of Russia, about the possibility and necessity of carrying out a revolution. Various forbidden literature was in use here. At that time, the famous “Letter of Belinsky to Gogol” caused a special resonance in society. Reading it in this circle was partly the reason for further sad events. In 1849, the Petrashevites became victims of the government’s repressive struggle against dissent and were imprisoned in the Peter and Paul Fortress, and then, after considering their case, they were sentenced to civil (deprivation of the rank of nobility) and death (by shooting) punishment. It was subsequently decided to change the sentence due to mitigating circumstances. On December 22, 1849 (January 3, 1850), the convicts were taken to the Semenovsky parade ground and the verdict was read to them. Then they announced the replacement of drastic measures with compromise ones - exile and hard labor. Dostoevsky spoke about the horror and shock experienced during this procedure through the lips of his hero, Prince Myshkin, in the novel “The Idiot” (1867-1869).

On December 24, 1849, the convicts were sent from St. Petersburg. In mid-January they carried out the transfer in Tobolsk. Some Decembrists served their sentences there. Their noble and wealthy spouses were able to get a meeting with the new martyrs for freedom of belief and give them bibles with hidden money. Dostoevsky kept the book all his life in memory of his experiences.

Dostoevsky arrived in Omsk to serve hard labor on January 23, 1850. Aggressive and rough relationships between prisoners and inhumane conditions of detention were reflected in the young man’s worldview. “I count those 4 years as the time during which I was buried alive and buried in a coffin,” Fyodor frankly told his brother Andrei.

In 1854, the writer left the Omsk prison and headed to Semipalatinsk, where he settled in the military field. Here he met his future first wife, Maria Dmitrievna Isaeva. She saved Dostoevsky from unbearable loneliness. Fedor sought to return to his past life and writing. On August 26, 1856, on the day of his coronation, Alexander II announced a pardon for the Petrashevites. But, as usual, secret police surveillance was established over each person involved in the case in order to ensure their reliability (it was removed only in 1875). In 1857, Dostoevsky returned his title of nobility and received the right to publish. He was able to obtain these and other freedoms largely thanks to the help of friends.

Maturity

Dostoevsky began his “new” life in the summer of 1859 in Tver. This city is an intermediate point before returning to St. Petersburg, where the family was able to move in December. In 1860, Fyodor Mikhailovich published a collection of his works, consisting of 2 volumes, and the “re-debut” and return to the forefront of the literary capital was “Notes from the House of the Dead” (1861), published in 1861-1862 in the magazine “Time”, belonged to Dostoevsky's brother. The description of the life and soul of hard labor caused a wide resonance among readers.

In 1861, Fedor began helping Mikhail in the publishing craft. The literary and critical departments were under his leadership. The magazine adhered to Slavophile and pochvenniki (the term appeared later) views. They were promoted to the masses and developed by the most zealous employees Apollo Grigoriev and Nikolai Strakhov. The publication actively polemicized with Sovremennik. In 1863, Strakhov’s article “The Fatal Question” (regarding the Polish uprising) appeared on the pages of the media, causing loud criticism. The magazine was closed.

At the beginning of 1864, the Dostoevsky brothers managed to obtain permission to publish a new magazine. This is how “Epoch” appeared. The first chapters of Notes from Underground appeared on its pages. Contrary to expectations, the magazine was not as popular as Vremya, and the death of Mikhail, Apollo Grigoriev and financial difficulties served as reasons for closure.

In the summer of 1862, Dostoevsky went on a trip to Europe to improve his failing health. It was not possible to fully implement his plan; in Baden-Baden, he was overcome by a painful inclination - playing roulette, which clearly did not help improve his condition. The luck that smiled on him quickly gave way to a series of constant losses, which led to a serious need for money. Dostoevsky was tormented by a passion for cards for nine years. Last time he sat down to play in Wiesbaden in the spring of 1871, and after another defeat, he was finally able to overcome his passion for gambling.

Mikhail died in July 1864. This was the second blow for the writer this year, because he also buried his beloved wife. Fedor really wanted to support his brother’s family. He took upon himself the responsibility of sorting out his debts, and became even closer to the widow and orphans, comforting them in every possible way during this difficult period.

Soon Dostoevsky met and began a relationship with Anna Snitkina, which culminated in marriage. She was a stenographer and typed the novel “The Gambler” (1866): within just one month, he came up with the entire novel, and she typed the dictated text.

The last and most significant in the writer’s work, not just works, but practically projects, were “The Writer’s Diary” and the “Great Pentateuch.” “The Diary” was essentially a monthly magazine of philosophical and literary journalism. It was published in 1876-1877 and 1880-1881. It was distinguished by its versatility and multi-genre nature, as well as the wide variety of topics covered. “The Pentateuch” is 5 large-scale works of the author:

"Crime and Punishment" (1866),
"The Idiot" (1868),
"Demons" (1871-1872),
"Teenager" (1875),
"The Brothers Karamazov" (1879-1880).

They are characterized by ideological-thematic and poetic-structural unity, therefore these novels are combined into a kind of cycle. The choice of title echoes the “Pentateuch of Moses” (the first five books of the Bible for Jews and Christians: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy). It is known that the author was jealous of the success of Tolstoy’s epic, so he decided to write something that would surpass the count’s large-scale plan, but the strict framework of the contract and the need for money forced him to release the novels separately, and not as a single piece.

Characteristic

Contemporaries noted the inconsistency of the writer’s character; he had an extraordinary psychotype. Gentleness and kindness were mixed with hot temper and self-criticism. It is noteworthy that the first impression of a meeting with Dostoevsky almost always became disappointing: his discreet appearance ensured that all the interesting qualities and personality traits of this creator began to appear later, with the appearance of a certain degree of trust in the interlocutor. On the inconsistency of the appearance and soul of the writer Vsevolod Sergeevich Solovyov:

In front of me was a man with ugly and at first glance simple face. But this was only the first and instant impression - this face was immediately and forever imprinted in memory, it bore the imprint of an exceptional, spiritual life.

Our hero gave himself a unique description, speaking of him as a person “with a tender heart, but unable to express his feelings.” All his life he judged himself harshly for his shortcomings and complained about his hot temper. He was best able to express his feelings on paper, namely in his works.

Dostoevsky’s friend Dr. Riesenkampf said this about the writer: “Fyodor Mikhailovich belonged to those individuals around whom everyone lives well, but who themselves are constantly in need.” Incredible kindness, as well as inability to handle money, constantly pushed the writer to unforeseen expenses as a result of the desire to help all the poor people he met, petitioners, provide best conditions servants.

Dostoevsky's gentleness and loving heart were most evident in his attitude towards children, whom he adored. Before the appearance of his own offspring in the family, all the writer’s attention was paid to his nephews. Anna Grigorievna talked about unique ability the husband can instantly calm the child down, the ability to communicate with them, gain trust, and share interests. The birth of Sophia (the first daughter from her second marriage) had a beneficial effect on the atmosphere in the Dostoevsky family. Fyodor Mikhailovich always arrived in the best mood when he was next to the girl, and was in highest degree ready to bestow care and affection on everyone around him, which is generally difficult to attribute to his permanent state. His relationships with women were not always smooth sailing. His passions noted periodic changes in mood and frequent criticism of them.

The writer’s friends also noted his quarrelsomeness and high demands on people from his social circle. This pushed him all his life to seek relationships close to ideal, in order to create a family with his chosen one, which would become the stronghold of their harmonious existence.

Relationship

As a rule, biographers claim that there are three women of Dostoevsky: Maria Isaeva, Apollinaria Suslova and Anna Snitkina.

In Omsk, yesterday's convict met the beautiful Maria Isaeva. A feeling flared up between them, but she was married to a drunkard and weak-willed man A.I. Isaev. Their couple served as the prototype for the Marmeladov spouses from Crime and Punishment. In May 1855, the official got a job in Kuznetsk, where he moved with his family. He died in August of the same year. Dostoevsky immediately proposed to his beloved, but she hesitated, the reason for this was the disastrous state of affairs of the groom and the lack of hope for their speedy recovery. Hastily trying to improve his situation, the man in love was able to convince the woman of his worth. On February 6, 1857, Fyodor and Maria got married in Kuznetsk.

This union did not bring happiness to either him or her. The spouses had almost no agreement on anything and lived separately almost all the time. Maria refused to accompany her husband on his first trip abroad. Upon returning home in September 1862, he found his wife in a very sick condition: the woman fell ill with consumption.

And in the same summer of 1863 (during his second trip to Europe) in Baden-Baden, Dostoevsky met Appolionaria Prokofievna Suslova and fell passionately in love with her. It is difficult to imagine people with less similar views than this couple: she is a feminist, a nihilist, he is a believing conservative who adheres to patriarchal views. However, they became attracted to each other. He published several of her works in Time and Epoch. They dreamed of a new trip to Europe, but some difficulties with the magazine, and most importantly - serious condition Maria Dmitrievna forced them to abandon their original plans. Polina went to Paris alone, Fyodor returned to St. Petersburg in need. They wrote letters to him and invited him to come over, but quite unexpectedly for the writer, news from Polina stopped coming. Excited, he hurried to Paris, where he learned that she had met a Spanish student, Salvador, and became a victim of unrequited love. This is how their romance ended, and the story of this complex relationship received a literary interpretation in “The Player.” At the same time, his wife’s consumption progressed. In the fall of 1863, the Dostoevskys moved to Moscow, where it was more convenient to create acceptable conditions for the patient and care for her. On April 14, 1864, Maria Dmitrievna had a seizure. She died on the 15th.

Although their seven-year union could not be called successful, the widower continued to love his wife and experienced her death very painfully. He remembered the deceased exclusively with kind and warm words, although some gossips They claimed that Maria had been mentally ill all her life, so she could not make her husbands happy. The only thing that Dostoevsky endlessly regretted was that his marriage with Isaeva turned out to be childless. The writer captured his love for this woman in his works; his wife served as a prototype for many of his heroines.

The death of his wife and the subsequent death of his brother fell heavily on Dostoevsky’s shoulders. He could only forget himself in his work, and besides, the writer was in dire need of money. At this time, the publisher Fyodor Timofeevich Stellovsky offered the writer a financially lucrative contract to publish the complete collection of his works at that time. Despite the oppressive conditions, namely: extremely strict time frames and requirements for short term The writer agreed to provide a new, previously unpublished novel. During the same period, work began on Crime and Punishment. Dostoevsky suggested publishing this novel to the editor of the Russian Messenger, Mikhail Nikiforovich Katkov. In connection with everything that was happening, by the beginning of October 1866, the material promised to Stellovsky was not ready, and only a month remained. The writer would not have been able to cope with the operational work if it were not for the stenographer Anna Grigorievna Snitkina. Working together brought Dostoevsky and this girl very close. In February 1867 they got married.

Fyodor Mikhailovich finally found the long-awaited happiness and serene existence in the bosom of the family. For Anna, this period of life did not begin so wonderfully; she experienced strong hostility from her husband’s stepson, Pyotr Isaev, who had long lived at the expense of his stepfather. To change the oppressive situation, Snitkina persuaded her husband to go abroad, where they subsequently spent four years. It was then that the second period of passion for roulette began (it ended with a refusal to gamble). The family was in need again. Things were improved by his arrival in St. Petersburg in 1897, because the writer again actively took up writing.

This marriage produced four children. Two survived: Lyubov and Fedor. Eldest daughter Sophia died when she was only a few months old, younger son Alexey lived less than three years.

He dedicated his exceptional work “The Brothers Karamazov” to Anna, and she, already a widow, published her memoirs about Fyodor Mikhailovich. Dostoevsky's wives appear in all of his works, except perhaps his early ones. The fatal passion, fate and difficult character of Maria formed the basis for the image of Katerina Ivanovna, Grushenka, Nastasya Filippovna, and Anna Grigorievna is the spitting image of Sonechka Marmeladova, Evdokia Raskolnikova, Dashenka Shatova - the angel of salvation and martyrdom.

Philosophy

Dostoevsky's worldview underwent serious changes throughout the writer's life. For example, political orientation was subject to revision and was formed gradually. Only the religiosity cultivated in the writer in childhood grew stronger and developed; he never doubted his faith. We can say that Dostoevsky's philosophy is based on Orthodoxy.

Socialist illusions were debunked by Dostoevsky himself in the 60s; he developed a critical attitude towards them, perhaps because they were the reason for his arrest. Traveling around Europe inspired him to think about bourgeois revolution. He saw that it did not help the common people in any way, and as a result, he developed an irreconcilable hostility towards the possibility of its accomplishment in Russia. Soil ideas, which he picked up during his work with Apollo Grigoriev in magazines, partly served as the basis late worldview Dostoevsky. Awareness of the need to merge the elite with common people, attributing to the latter a mission to save the world from harmful ideas, returning to the bosom of nature and religion - all these ideas appealed to the writer. He felt his era as a turning point. The country was preparing for shocks and a reshaping of reality. The writer sincerely hoped that people would follow the path of self-improvement, and the new time would be marked by the degeneration of society.

There was a process to isolate the very essence, the quintessence of Russian national consciousness, the “Russian idea” - a name proposed by the author himself. For Dostoevsky, it is closely connected with religious philosophy. Arseny Vladimirovich Gulyga (Soviet philosopher, historian of philosophy and literary critic) explained Dostoevsky’s pochvenism this way: this is a call for a return to the national, this is patriotism based on moral values.

For Dostoevsky, this idea of free will, inseparably linked with an unshakable moral law, became fundamental in his work, especially in later works. The writer considered man a mystery; he tried to penetrate into his spiritual nature, throughout his life he strove to find the path of his moral development.

June 8, 1880 at a meeting of the Society of Amateurs Russian literature the author read “Pushkin’s Speech,” which reveals to the reader his true views and judgments, as well as the essence of life, according to Dostoevsky. It was this poet that the author considered true national character. In the poetry of Alexander Sergeevich, the writer saw the path of the fatherland and the Russian people prophetically outlined. Then he brought out his main idea: transformation should be accomplished not through changing external factors and conditions, but through internal self-improvement.

Of course, according to Dostoevsky, the main help on this path is religion. Mikhail Mikhailovich Bakhtin said that the “noise” created by the polyphony of characters in the writer’s novels is covered by one voice - that of God, whose word comes from the author’s soul. At the end of “Pushkin’s Speech” it is said that to be Russian means...

To strive to bring reconciliation to European contradictions completely, to indicate the outcome of European melancholy in our Russian soul, all-human and reuniting, to accommodate all our brothers with brotherly love, and in the end, perhaps, to utter the final word of great, common harmony, brotherly final agreement of all tribes according to Christ's gospel law!

Interesting facts from the life of the writer

In 1837, Pushkin, Dostoevsky’s favorite author, tragically passed away. Fyodor Mikhailovich perceived the death of the poet as a personal tragedy. He later recalled that if not for the death of his mother, he would have asked his family to mourn the writer.
It should be noted that the dreams of the eldest sons about a literary career were not at all perceived by their parents as a whim, but in the situation of need into which the family gradually descended, it forced Mikhail Andreevich to insist on the boys receiving an engineering education that could provide them with a financially reliable and sustainable future.
The writer's first completed work in the field of translation was Balzac's Eugenie Grande. He was inspired by the author of this work's visit to Russia. The work was published in the publication “Repertoire and Pantheon” in 1844, but the name of the translator was not indicated there.
In 1869 he became a father. Interesting things from the writer’s personal life are described by his wife in her memoirs: “Fyodor Mikhailovich was unusually gentle towards his daughter, fussed with her, bathed her, carried her in his arms, rocked her to sleep and felt so happy that he wrote criticism to Strakhov: “Oh, why are you not married, and why don’t you have a child, dear Nikolai Nikolaevich. I swear to you that this is 3/4 of life’s happiness, but the rest is only one quarter.”

Death

The author was first diagnosed with epilepsy while still in prison. The disease tormented the writer, but the irregularity and relatively low frequency of seizures had little effect on his mental capacity(only some memory deterioration was observed), allowing him to create until the end of his days.

Over time, Dostoevsky developed a lung disease - emphysema. There is an assumption that he owed its aggravation to an explanation with his sister V.M. Ivanova on January 26 (February 7), 1881. The woman persistently persuaded him to give up the share of the Ryazan estate inherited from his aunt Alexandra Fedorovna Kumanina to his sisters. The nervous situation, the conversation with his sister in a raised voice, the complexity of the situation - all this had a detrimental effect on the physical condition of the writer. He had a seizure: blood came down his throat.

Even on the morning of January 28 (February 9), the hemorrhages did not go away. Dostoevsky spent the entire day in bed. He said goodbye to his loved ones several times, feeling the approach of death. By evening the writer died. He was 59 years old.

Many wished to say goodbye to Dostoevsky. Relatives and friends arrived, but there was much more strangers- those who even then immensely revered Fyodor Mikhailovich’s amazing talent, who admired his gift. Among those who came was the artist V. G. Perov, he painted the famous posthumous portrait of the author.

Dostoevsky, and later his second wife, were buried at the Tikhvin cemetery of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra in St. Petersburg.

Dostoevsky places

The Dostoevsky estate was located in the Kashira district of the Tula province. The village of Darovoye and the village of Cheremoshna, which made up the estate, were bought by Fyodor’s father back in 1831. Here, as a rule, the family spent the summer. A year after the purchase, there was a fire that destroyed the house, after which a wooden outbuilding was rebuilt, where the family lived. The younger brother Andrey inherited the estate.

The house in Staraya Russa was Dostoevsky's only real estate. The writer and his family first came here in 1882. The most halcyon days of his life are associated with this place. The atmosphere of this corner was most favorable for the coexistence of the entire family in harmony and for the work of the writer. “The Brothers Karamazov”, “Demons” and many other works were written here.

Meaning

Dostoevsky did not study philosophy and did not consider his works to be vehicles of corresponding ideas. But decades after the end of his creative activity, researchers began to talk about the formulation of general questions and the complexity of the matters raised in the texts issued by the writer. The writer really gained the reputation of a preacher, an expert on the human soul. Therefore, his novels are still on the lists of the most popular and sought-after works around the world. For modern writer It is considered a great merit to earn comparison with this Russian genius. Reading similar literature is part of belonging to intellectual circles, because Dostoevsky has become to a certain extent a brand, signifying the exclusivity of the taste of those who give him preference. The Japanese especially like the work of Fyodor Mikhailovich: Kobo Abe, Yukio Mishima, and Haruki Murakami recognized him as their favorite writer.

The famous psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud noted the phenomenal depth of the works of the Russian author and their value for science. He also sought to look deeply into the consciousness of an individual, to study the patterns and features of his work. They both opened and dissected inner world a person as a whole: with all his noble thoughts and base desires.

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Dostoevsky’s life was not simple: he was poor all his life, suffered setbacks in his personal life for a long time, he was almost executed, but his death sentence was commuted to hard labor, depriving him of everything he had. Despite all the difficulties, the writer never abandoned literature, and difficulties only sharpened his understanding of human characters and the circumstances under the influence of which they were formed. moved onto the pages of his books, adding vitality, and helped the works become classics of world literature.

Dostoevsky was born into the family of a doctor and the daughter of a merchant; his grandfather was a priest in the Ukrainian village of Voitovtsy.. But such interesting facts from the life of Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky, such as his ancestry from Polish nobles and their move to Russian Empire after the division of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, became known after the death of the writer, when his wife began compiling family tree families.
Dostoevsky was an engineer by profession, but the years he spent at the school considered wasted time . All this time he dreamed of literature and after studying, after working for a year in the St. Petersburg engineering team, he resigned with the rank of lieutenant and began to write.
Dostoevsky’s first novel, “Poor People,” received the most praised reviews from readers and critics, but no one accepted the second. “The Double” became a disappointment for fans of the new literary genius; due to quarrels, Dostoevsky left V. Belinsky’s literary circle and stopped publishing in Sovremennik.
Acquaintances and employees described Fyodor Mikhailovich as an angry, depraved and envious person. He could treat servants with arrogance and contempt, but he considered himself the best of people. The second wife wrote about him as a generous, kind, selfless and compassionate person.
On November 13, 1849, Dostoevsky and other Petrashevsky members were sentenced to death as state criminals. death penalty through execution, but a week later the writer’s punishment was changed to 8 years of hard labor, and at the end of the month to 4 years of hard labor, followed by service as a common soldier. They also took away all rights, wealth, titles, and noble titles.
In 1856, convict Dostoevsky was transferred from Omsk to Semipalatinsk. From a private he was promoted to junior officer, and soon he received a title, but only thanks to the amnesty of the Decembrists and Petrashevites, which was announced by Alexander II.
During hard labor, convicts were forbidden to read any literature, but in Tobolsk, from the wives of the Decembrists, Dostoevsky and other Petrashevites secretly received a Gospel, in each of which 10 rubles were pasted. Fyodor Mikhailovich kept the book all his life and bequeathed it to his eldest son.
The writer’s personal life did not work out for a long time; he married Maria Isaeva for the first time at the age of 36, but the marriage was not happy due to betrayals and the complex characters of the spouses.
Hiding from creditors, Dostoevsky fled to Europe, where he lived for 4 years. There he became addicted to gambling, he spent every penny on roulette, which resulted in huge debts. The writer’s second wife helped him get rid of the game.
For the second time, Dostoevsky married 20-year-old Anna Snitkina. The writer was then 45 years old, but this did not stop the spouses from loving each other. Fyodor Mikhailovich received conditions in which he could work without being distracted by surrounding problems - Anna Grigorievna took over all the housework and financial matters. She began to publish and sell her husband’s novels, without using the services of intermediaries, earning thousands of rubles from this, but giving everything to creditors.
Dostoevsky wrote the novel “The Gambler” in 26 days, dictating it to his stenographer and future wife Anna Snitkina. The urgency was justified by a contract with the publisher Strelovsky, who acquired the right to print all the writer’s works without payment, and demanded that the new novel. Anna remained her husband's stenographer until his death.
When Dostoevsky worked, there was always a glass of strong tea next to him, and in the dining room they kept a samovar hot for him even at night. The author himself said that even if the light fails, he will still drink tea.
In the 20-60s of the 20th century, the Soviet government did not favor Dostoevsky - his works were not banned, but they were not studied in schools and universities, and were not published in full. The books were rehabilitated only when their success in the West outweighed the accusations of counter-revolutionary ideas and anti-Semitism. They justified the author with the words that he was confused, stumbled and therefore followed the path not bequeathed by Lenin.
Dostoevsky was very famous writer during his lifetime, but only after his death he gained world fame. His books have been translated and are still being translated into many languages of the world, the most translations being made into German.
In 2007, the eighth translation of The Brothers Karamazov was published in Japan and became a bestseller, which indicates the relevance of the issues of reason, justice, spirituality and others that Dostoevsky posed to himself and society more than 150 years ago.

Fyodor Dostoevsky was born on November 11, 1821. 150 years after his death, he is Russia's main literary brand in the world. On this occasion, MOIARUSSIA selected a number of interesting facts from the writer’s life and work.

Text: Igor Kuzmichev

I received three times less

Dostoevsky, although he was a superstar whose books sold like pies in huge editions, received three times less than his colleagues. He was paid 150 rubles per sheet, and Turgenev, for example, 500. And nothing could be done about it. Dostoevsky was constantly in need of money due to terrible debts and took on work without particularly bargaining. And the publishers, knowing his situation, lowered the fee - they say, he will sign anyway. At the same time, the writer himself assessed himself sensibly, as a bestselling author: “My name is worth a million,” he said. We know that Dostoevsky’s genius is worth more. Or rather, it simply has no price.

First wife and first betrayal

Dostoevsky's first wife was a certain Maria Isaeva. She suffered from tuberculosis and was the wife of a minor official who never parted with a bottle. At first, Dostoevsky and Isaeva were lovers, and when the official played the game, they got married. The happiness turned out to be short-lived: Maria, despite consumption, showed agility and started an affair with some loser named Vergunov. And she twisted it openly. That's how we lived. Then Isaeva died, and Fyodor Mikhailovich got involved with the girl Appolinaria Suslova. She was twenty, he was forty. He became her first man; Suslova quickly took the writer into her turn, pushed him around and again openly cheated on him with a certain Salvador.

Constantly fighting for existence

Being under a constant deadline, Dostoevsky, as they say, rushed the line, not having time to finalize the texts or polish them. Therefore, his novels are full of length, confusion and banal phrases. The writer’s widow later said that, unlike the “wealthy” Tolstoy, her husband was forced to think around the clock about how to get more money. “How many times did it happen over the last fourteen years of his life that two or three chapters were already published in the magazine, the fourth was typed in the printing house, the fifth was sent by mail to the Russian Messenger, and the rest were not yet written, but only conceived...” - recalled Anna Dostoevskaya.

Russian Marquis de Sade

Sex in Dostoevsky’s life, to put it mildly, was not last place. “I am a libertine,” he wrote, making full use of the services of prostitutes. Turgenev called his colleague “the Russian de Sade.” Professional women are one thing, they put up with the desires of a strange client, but among ordinary women it was difficult for Dostoevsky to find a young lady who would not be afraid of his habits. The problem was solved by chance: while facing another deadline, the writer found himself in a situation where he had to write and submit a novel in 26 days. Otherwise - according to the idiotic contract signed by Fyodor Mikhailovich in an eclipse of his mind - he had to write all subsequent books for nine years in a row for free.

Stenographer Anna Snitkina

In short, Fyodor Mikhailovich found himself on the edge of an abyss. Friends advised him to hire an assistant stenographer so as not to waste time scribbling paper, but simply dictate. This is how 20-year-old Anna Snitkina appeared in his life. At the first meeting, Dostoevsky frightened the modest girl. There was a reason - old, 45 years old, scary (he called himself Quasimodo), sickly and poor. But in a month collaboration Anna fell in love with this guy, and he, in turn, decided: why not get married. So we got married. Kind, quiet and submissive, the girl Snitkina turned out to be a godsend for Dostoevsky in every sense. She took her husband’s needs for granted and was, so to speak, responsive.

Having acquired a taste and not meeting resistance, Dostoevsky extended his inclinations not only to the intimate sphere, but also to ordinary life. He drew up strict rules that Anna had to strictly follow. A terrible jealous person, he demanded that his wife forget about figure-flattering dresses, not wear makeup, and not laugh at men’s jokes at all. The wife complied.

This sexism had one advantage: the writer never cheated on his wife.

Anna Dostoevskaya became a real fighting friend for her husband. After the death of the writer, despite her quite reasonable age - 35 years old - she decided that she would not marry again and would not look at men. And she will devote herself to her husband’s legacy.

For all her meekness, Anna was not a helpless mouse. Born into a wealthy family, who had skills in handling money, she quickly realized that her husband was being shamelessly robbed, and he, as they say, was just flapping his ears. Then the devoted wife took management into her own hands. She hit the publishers over the heads, extracted normal fees, established work with printing houses and began to conclude more or less decent deals.

Wife's business acumen

The money went, however, it ended up going to cover the same debts. But life has become easier. Surprisingly, her business acumen and toughness did not in any way affect her attitude towards her careless husband - Anna gave everything she earned to him and never once said that it would be nice to come to her senses and stop behaving irresponsibly. In short, the ideal, ideal wife - she will knock out money and obey in bed.

Death due to a fallen pen.

Suffering from lung disease, the writer, whom doctors categorically forbade any physical exercise While working, he dropped the pen, bent down to pick it up, and his throat immediately began to bleed. Two days later, Fyodor Mikhailovich passed away.

The writer suffered from addiction to card games. When he lost, he pawned everything that was in the house, from cups to his wife’s earrings. Hell ended overnight when Dostoevsky realized that just a little more, and his pregnant wife would die from the cold, since she had nothing to wear. Since then, Fyodor Mikhailovich has not touched roulette or cards.

Dostoevsky was weak not only in card games, but also to the attention of the public. Thank God, during his lifetime he managed to experience the taste of real glory. The readings that Fyodor Mikhailovich organized attracted crowds - he was a real pop star of his time.

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