Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky was born on November 11, 1821 in Moscow. His father Mikhail Andreevich came from the family of nobles Dostoevsky of the Radvan coat of arms. He received a medical education and worked in the Borodino Infantry Regiment, the Moscow Military Hospital, and also in the Mariinsky Hospital for the poor. The mother of the future famous writer, Nechaeva Maria Fedorovna, was the daughter of a capital merchant.
Fedor's parents were not rich people, but they worked tirelessly to provide for their family and give their children a good education. Subsequently, Dostoevsky admitted more than once that he was immensely grateful to his father and mother for their excellent upbringing and education, which cost them hard work.
The boy was taught to read by his mother; she used the book “104 Sacred Stories of the Old and New Testaments” for this purpose. This is partly why famous book Dostoevsky's "The Brothers Karamazov" the character Zosima in one of the dialogues says that in childhood he learned to read from this book.
Young Fyodor mastered his reading skills from the biblical Book of Job, which was also reflected in his subsequent works: the writer used his thoughts about this book when creating the famous novel “The Teenager.” The father also contributed to his son's education, teaching him Latin.
A total of seven children were born into the Dostoevsky family. So, Fyodor had an older brother, Mikhail, with whom he was especially close, and an older sister. In addition, he had younger brothers Andrei and Nikolai, as well as younger sisters Vera and Alexandra.
In their youth, Mikhail and Fedor were taught at home by N.I. Drashusov, teacher at the Alexander and Catherine schools. With his help, the eldest sons of the Dostoevskys studied French, and the sons of the teacher, A.N. Drashusov and V.N. Drashusov, taught the boys mathematics and literature, respectively. In the period from 1834 to 1837, Fedor and Mikhail continued their studies at the capital's boarding school L.I. Chermak, which was then a very prestigious educational institution.
In 1837, a terrible thing happened: Maria Feodorovna Dostoevskaya died of consumption. Fedor was only 16 years old at the time of his mother’s death. Left without a wife, Dostoevsky Sr. decided to send Fyodor and Mikhail to St. Petersburg, to the boarding house of K.F. Kostomarova. The father wanted the boys to subsequently enter the Main Engineering School. It is interesting that both of Dostoevsky’s eldest sons at that time were fond of literature and wanted to devote their lives to it, but their father did not take their hobby seriously.
The boys did not dare to contradict their father’s will. Fyodor Mikhailovich successfully completed his studies at the boarding school, entered the school and graduated from it, but all free time he devoted himself to reading. , Hoffmann, Byron, Goethe, Schiller, Racine - he devoured the works of all these famous authors, instead of enthusiastically comprehending the basics of engineering science.
In 1838, Dostoevsky and his friends even organized their own literary circle, which, in addition to Fyodor Mikhailovich, included Grigorovich, Beketov, Vitkovsky, Berezhetsky. Even then, the writer began to create his first works, but still did not dare to finally take the path of a writer. Having completed his studies in 1843, he even received the position of engineer-second lieutenant in the St. Petersburg engineering team, but did not last long in the service. In 1844, he decided to focus exclusively on literature and resigned.
The beginning of a creative journey
Although the family did not approve of young Fedor’s decisions, he diligently began to pore over the works he had begun earlier and develop ideas for new ones. The year 1944 was marked for the aspiring writer with the release of his first book, “Poor People.” The success of the work exceeded all the author's expectations. Critics and writers highly appreciated Dostoevsky's novel; the themes raised in the book found a response in the hearts of many readers. Fyodor Mikhailovich was accepted into the so-called “Belinsky circle”, they began to call him “the new Gogol”.
The book “Double”: first and modern edition The success did not last long. About a year later, Dostoevsky presented the book “The Double” to the public, but it turned out to be incomprehensible to most admirers of the talent of the young genius. The writer's delight and praise gave way to criticism, dissatisfaction, disappointment and sarcasm. Subsequently, writers appreciated the innovation of this work, its difference from the novels of those years, but at the time of the book’s publication almost no one felt this.
Soon Dostoevsky quarreled with and was expelled from the “Belinsky circle”, and also quarreled with N.A. Nekrasov, editor of Sovremennik. However, the publication Otechestvennye Zapiski, edited by Andrei Kraevsky, immediately agreed to publish his works.
Nevertheless, the phenomenal popularity that his first publication brought to Fyodor Mikhailovich allowed him to make a number of interesting and useful acquaintances in the literary circles of St. Petersburg. Many of his new acquaintances partly became prototypes for various characters in the author’s subsequent works.
Arrest and hard labor
Fateful for the writer was his acquaintance with M.V. Petrashevsky in 1846. Petrashevsky organized so-called “Fridays,” during which the abolition of serfdom, freedom of printing, progressive changes in the judicial system and other similar issues were discussed.
During meetings, one way or another connected with the Petrashevites, Dostoevsky also met the communist Speshnev. In 1848, he organized a secret society of 8 people (including himself and Fyodor Mikhailovich), which advocated a coup in the country and the creation of an illegal printing house. At meetings of the society, Dostoevsky repeatedly read “Belinsky’s Letter to Gogol,” which was then prohibited.
In the same year, 1848, Fyodor Mikhailovich’s novel “White Nights” was published, but, alas, he did not manage to enjoy the well-deserved fame. Those same connections with radical youth played against the writer, and on April 23, 1849, he was arrested, like many other Petrashevites. Dostoevsky denied his guilt, but Belinsky’s “criminal” letter was also remembered, and on November 13, 1849, the writer was sentenced to death. Before that, he languished in prison for eight months in the Peter and Paul Fortress.
Fortunately for Russian literature, the cruel sentence for Fyodor Mikhailovich was not carried out. On November 19, the Auditor General considered him not to correspond to Dostoevsky’s guilt, and therefore death penalty replaced by eight years' hard labor. And at the end of the same month, the emperor softened the punishment even more: the writer was sent to hard labor in Siberia for four years instead of eight. At the same time, he was deprived of his noble rank and fortune, and after completing hard labor he was promoted to ordinary soldier.
Despite all the hardships and deprivations that such a sentence implied, joining the soldier meant the complete return of Dostoevsky’s civil rights. This was the first similar case in Russia, since usually those people who were sentenced to hard labor lost their civil rights, even if they survived after many years of imprisonment and returned to a free life. Emperor Nicholas I regretted young writer and did not want to ruin his talent.
The years that Fyodor Mikhailovich spent in hard labor made an indelible impression on him. The writer had a hard time experiencing endless suffering and loneliness. In addition, it took him a lot of time to establish normal communication with other prisoners: they did not accept him for a long time because of his noble title.
In 1856, the new emperor granted forgiveness to all the Petrashevites, and in 1857 Dostoevsky was pardoned, that is, he received a full amnesty and was restored to the rights to publish his works. And if in his youth Fyodor Mikhailovich was a person undecided in his destiny, trying to find the truth and build a system of life principles, then already at the end of the 1850s he became a mature, formed personality. Hard years hard labor made him into a deeply religious person, which he remained until his death.
Creativity flourishes
In 1860, the writer published a two-volume collection of his works, which included the stories “The Village of Stepanchikovo and Its Inhabitants” and “Uncle’s Dream.” About the same story happened to them as with “The Double” - although the works were subsequently given a very high rating, contemporaries did not like them. However, the publication of “Notes from the House of the Dead,” dedicated to the life of convicts and written mostly during imprisonment, helped return readers’ attention to the matured Dostoevsky.
Novel "Notes from a Dead House" For many residents of the country who have not encountered this horror on their own, the work came almost as a shock. Many people were stunned by what the author was talking about, especially since the topic of hard labor used to be something of a taboo for Russian writers. After this, Herzen began to call Dostoevsky “the Russian Dante.”
The year 1861 was also noteworthy for the writer. This year, in collaboration with his older brother Mikhail, he began publishing his own literary and political magazine called “Time”. In 1863, the publication was closed, and instead the Dostoevsky brothers began publishing another magazine called “Epoch”.
These magazines, firstly, strengthened the brothers’ position in the literary community. And secondly, it was on their pages that “The Humiliated and Insulted,” “Notes from the Underground,” “Notes from the House of the Dead,” “A Bad Anecdote” and many other works of Fyodor Mikhailovich were published. Mikhail Dostoevsky died soon after: he passed away in 1864.
In the 1860s, the writer began to travel abroad, finding inspiration for his new novels in new places and familiar ones. Including, it was during that period that Dostoevsky conceived and began to realize the idea of the work “The Gambler.”
In 1865, the publication of the Epoch magazine, the number of subscribers of which was steadily declining, had to be closed. Moreover: even after the closure of the publication, the writer had an impressive amount of debt. In order to somehow get out of a difficult financial situation, he entered into an extremely unfavorable agreement for himself to publish a collection of his works with the publisher Stelovsky, and soon after that he began writing his most famous novel, Crime and Punishment. Philosophical approach to social motives received wide recognition among readers, and the novel glorified Dostoevsky during his lifetime.
Prince Myshkin performed Fyodor Mikhailovich’s next great book was “The Idiot,” published in 1868. The idea to depict wonderful person, which tries to make other characters happy, but cannot overcome hostile forces and, in the end, suffers itself, turned out to be easy to embody only in words. In fact, Dostoevsky called The Idiot one of the most difficult books to write, although Prince Myshkin became his most favorite character.
After finishing work on this novel, the author decided to write an epic called “Atheism” or “The Life of a Great Sinner.” He failed to realize his idea, but some of the ideas collected for the epic formed the basis for Dostoevsky’s next three great books: the novel “Demons,” written in 1871-1872, the work “Teenager,” completed in 1875, and the novel “Brothers.” The Karamazovs", work on which Dostoevsky completed in 1879-1880.
It is interesting that “Demons,” in which the writer initially intended to express his disapproval of representatives of revolutionary movements in Russia, gradually changed during the course of writing. Initially, the author did not intend to make Stavrogin, who later became one of his most famous characters, the key character of the novel. But his image turned out to be so powerful that Fyodor Mikhailovich decided to change the plan and add real drama and tragedy to the political work.
If in “The Possessed,” among other things, the theme of fathers and sons was discussed quite widely, then in the next novel, “The Teenager,” the writer brought to the fore the issue of raising a mature child.
A peculiar result creative path Fyodor Mikhailovich, the literary analogue of summing up, was “The Karmazov Brothers”. Many episodes storylines, the characters in this work were loosely based on the writer's previously written novels, starting with his first published novel, Poor People.
Death
Dostoevsky died on January 28, 1881, the cause of death being chronic bronchitis, pulmonary tuberculosis and emphysema. Death overtook the writer at the age of sixty.
Tomb of Fyodor Dostoevsky Crowds of admirers of his talent came to say goodbye to the writer, but Fyodor Mikhailovich, his timeless novels and wise quotes received after the death of the author.
Personal life
Dostoevsky's first wife was Maria Isaeva, whom he met shortly after returning from hard labor. In total, the marriage of Fyodor and Maria lasted about seven years, until the sudden death of the writer’s wife in 1864.
During one of his first trips abroad in the early 1860s, Dostoevsky was captivated by the emancipated Apollinaria Suslova. It was from her that Polina in “The Player”, Nastastya Filippovna in “The Idiot” and a number of other female characters were written.
Although on the eve of his fortieth anniversary the writer had at least a long-term relationship with Isaeva and Suslova, at that time his women had not yet given him such happiness as children. This deficiency was made up for by the writer’s second wife, Anna Snitkina. She became not only a faithful wife, but also an excellent assistant to the writer: she took upon herself the troubles of publishing Dostoevsky’s novels, and decided everything rationally financial questions, was preparing for publication her memoirs about her brilliant husband. Fyodor Mikhailovich dedicated the novel “The Brothers Karamazov” to her.
Anna Grigorievna gave birth to her wife four children: daughters Sophia and Lyubov, sons Fyodor and Alexei. Alas, Sophia, who was supposed to be the first child of the couple, died a few months after giving birth. Of all the children of Fyodor Mikhailovich, only his son Fyodor became the successor of his literary family.
Dostoevsky Quotes
- No one will make the first move, because everyone thinks that it is not mutual.
- It takes very little to destroy a person: you just need to convince him that the business he is doing is of no use to anyone.
- Freedom is not about not restraining yourself, but about being in control of yourself.
- A writer whose works have not been successful easily becomes a bitter critic: just like a weak and tasteless wine can become excellent vinegar.
- It's amazing what one ray of sunshine can do to a person's soul!
- Beauty will save the world.
- A person who knows how to hug is a good person.
- Don’t clog your memory with grievances, otherwise there may simply be no room left for beautiful moments.
- If you set off towards your goal and start stopping along the way to throw stones at every dog barking at you, you will never reach your goal.
- He is a smart man, but to act smartly, intelligence alone is not enough.
- He who wants to be useful can do a lot of good even with his hands tied.
- Life goes breathless without an aim.
- We must love life more than the meaning of life.
- The Russian people seem to enjoy their suffering.
- Happiness is not in happiness, but only in its achievement.
Einstein was engrossed in Dostoevsky, Freud argued with him, and Nabokov hated him. Director Akira Kurosawa made Prince Myshkin Japanese - and the Japanese fell in love with the books of the great writer. It was rumored that a portrait of Dostoevsky hung in Hitler’s office, and the “chief propagandist” of the Reich, Joseph Goebbels
I read the novels of this Russian writer, just like in his homeland. Today Dostoevsky is one of the most quoted and one of the most translated Russian writers in the world.
Albert Einstein about Dostoevsky
The great scientist spoke of Dostoevsky almost more enthusiastically than many writers. It would seem that the famous physicist should have first of all named the scientists who preceded him among his idols. But Einstein said: “Dostoevsky gave me a lot, an extraordinary amount, more than Gauss.” Gauss's work helped Einstein develop the mathematical basis of the theory of relativity. Perhaps Dostoevsky's philosophy gave the physicist ideas that he used in his works.
Einstein said that works of art gave him the feeling of supreme happiness. In order to grasp this feeling, to understand the greatness of the work, he does not need to be an art critic or literary critic. He admitted: “After all, all such research will never penetrate the core of such a creation as The Brothers Karamazov.” In correspondence with physicist Paul Ehrenfest, Einstein called The Brothers Karamazov “the most piercing book” that fell into his hands.
Friedrich Nietzsche: philosopher who studied with Dostoevsky
The famous philosopher said that acquaintance with Dostoevsky’s work “belongs to the happiest discoveries” in his life. He considered Dostoevsky a genius in tune with his worldview, “the only psychologist” from whom he had something to learn.Nietzsche especially admired Notes from Underground. He wrote that when reading this book, “the instinct of kinship immediately began to speak in him.”
However, admiring Nietzsche, he testified that Dostoevsky’s “Russian pessimism” was not close to him and even called the writer a champion of “slave morality,” and many of the writer’s conclusions contradicted his “hidden instincts.”
Franz Kafka – “blood relative” of Dostoevsky
Another gloomy author who felt a “kinship” with Dostoevsky. Kafka wrote to his beloved Felicia Bauer that the Russian writer was one of four authors in the world with whom he felt a “blood relationship.” True, in the letter he tried to convince Felicia that he was not created for family life. After all, of the four writers he mentioned (Dostoevsky, Kleist, Flaubert, Grillparzer), only Dostoevsky married.
Kafka read excerpts from the novel “The Adolescent” to his friend Max Brod with delight. He noted in his memoirs that it was the fifth chapter of the novel that largely predetermined Kafka’s unique style.
The “Father of Psychoanalysis” did not limit himself to mentioning Dostoevsky. He wrote a whole work about him - “Dostoevsky and parricide.” Freud was interested not so much in the artistic merits of the Russian classic's novels as in his ideas. As a writer, Freud put Dostoevsky on a par with Shakespeare, calling The Brothers Karamazov the greatest novel written in the world. And a masterpiece within a masterpiece is “The Legend of the Grand Inquisitor” from the same novel, “one of the highest achievements of world literature.”
But as a moralist, Dostoevsky the thinker, according to Freud, is much inferior to Dostoevsky the writer. Freud emphasized that Dostoevsky could have become the “Teacher and Liberator” of people, but chose to join “their jailers.”
The outstanding Japanese director made Dostoevsky a cult favorite among the Japanese. His film “The Idiot” transfers the action of the novel to Japan - and demonstrates that the problems raised by Dostoevsky are relevant for all peoples and cultures.
Kurosawa admitted that he loved Dostoevsky since childhood because he honestly wrote about life. The writer attracted the director with his special compassion for people, participation, and kindness. Kurosawa even stated that Dostoevsky surpassed the “boundaries of the human” and that there was a “divine trait” in him. The director himself shared the writer’s views and, of all his heroes, especially singled out Myshkin. Therefore, he called the film “The Idiot” one of his most favorite creations. As Kurosawa said, making this film was not easy - Dostoevsky seemed to be standing behind him.
The director, who devoted a lot of effort to his idea, even fell ill shortly after finishing work. But he valued the film as an attempt to capture the "spirit" of Dostoevsky and bring it to Japanese audiences. Kurosawa succeeded - he had never received so many responses to any work.
Largely thanks to Kurosawa, the Japanese fell in love with the Russian classic. In 1975, the famous Japanese critic Kenichi Matsumoto wrote that the Japanese are obsessed with Dostoevsky. Now in Japan there is another “boom” of Dostoevsky: for example, in 2007 he published new translation"The Brothers Karamazov" and immediately became a bestseller.
Ernest Hemingway: how to respect Dostoevsky and not like his books
Perhaps the most controversial assessments of Dostoevsky belong to this writer. In the novel “A Feast That Is Always With You,” Hemingway devoted an entire episode to talking about Dostoevsky.
Hemingway, like most famous foreign figures, read novels in translation. Thus, the translator Constance Garnett instilled in America a “taste for Dostoevsky.” There was even a joke that Americans love not Russian classics, but Constance.
Hemingway’s hero, who has an autobiographical basis, admitted that even a “refined” translation does not save the style of the novels: “how can a person write so badly, so incredibly badly.” But at the same time, the idea, the spirit remain - the texts have an incredibly strong impact on the reader.
But rereading Dostoevsky, despite strong impact, Hemingway refused. He described a certain journey in which he had the book “Crime and Punishment” with him. But he chose to study German language, read newspapers, just not take on a great novel. However, The Brothers Karamazov still made it onto the list of the most important books for Hemingway.
In the life of the writer himself there was his painful love story -.
A sea of articles and books are devoted to Dostoevsky, his life and work. All 130 years since his death, this man, who tried to penetrate (and penetrated) into the most hidden depths of human relationships, to discern (and in his own way discerned) a certain highest goal social development, was in the crosshairs of the attention of not only literary scholars, philosophers, historians, but also readers, who were sharply divided into unquestioning admirers and no less categorical deniers. enviable writer's fate. But what a price was paid for it! Vladimir Ilyich mercilessly condemned the reactionary tendencies of Dostoevsky’s work. At the same time, Vladimir Ilyich said more than once that Dostoevsky really - brilliant writer, who examined the sick sides of his contemporary society, that it has many contradictions, kinks, but at the same time - living pictures of reality.
Through the pages of the newspaper "Pravda"
2011-02-08 11:31
V.D. BONCH-BRUEVICH.
A man had to appear who would embody in his soul the memory of all these human torments and reflect this terrible memory - this man Dostoevsky.
M. GORKY.
He pictured Russia as one irrepressible, immeasurable soul, as an ocean of immense contradictions. But it was precisely this barbaric, ignorant, trailing behind civilization, the country of Peter the Great and self-immolators that was depicted to him as most capable of giving the world something new, bright and great... It is precisely from their rejection, from their torment, from their chains that the Russian people, according to Dostoevsky, can endure, all those necessary highest spiritual qualities, which the bourgeois West will never acquire.
A.V. LUNACHARSKY.
Mr. Dostoevsky's talent belongs to the category of those that are not suddenly comprehended and recognized. During the course of his career, many talents will appear who will be opposed to him, but they will end up being forgotten precisely at the time when he reaches the apogee of his glory.
V.G. BELINSKY.
In the works of Dostoevsky we find one common feature, more or less noticeable in everything he wrote: this is pain about a person who recognizes himself as unable or, finally, not even entitled to be a real, complete person, an independent person, by themselves.
ON THE. DOBROLUBOV.
The other day I was feeling unwell and I was reading The House of the Dead. I forgot a lot, re-read and don’t know better than books with all my might new literature, including Pushkin... I enjoyed the whole day yesterday, as I have not enjoyed for a long time. If you see Dostoevsky, tell him that I love him.
L.N. TOLSTOY.
(From a letter to N.N. Strakhov).
Since literature became an important factor in the life of peoples, great writers have many times tried to reflect the suffering of living people in their works. In Russia, examples of this are Dostoevsky and Tolstoy.
T. DREISER.
I have always loved Dostoevsky with his broad, open-minded heart, I loved him more than other Europeans.
F.S. FITZGERALD.
His works not only made a strong impression on me - they captured and shocked me.
G. BELL.
The speaker spread his wings
He grew up on the stage, raised his head proudly, his eyes sparkled on his face, pale with excitement, his voice grew stronger and sounded with special force, and his gesture became energetic and commanding. From the very beginning of the speech, that internal spiritual connection was established between him and the entire mass of listeners, the consciousness and sensation of which always makes the speaker feel and spread his wings. A restrained excitement began in the hall, which kept growing, and when Fyodor Mikhailovich finished, there was a minute of silence, and then, as torrent, an unheard of delight that I had never seen in my life burst through. Applause, shouts, and the knocking of chairs merged together and, as they say, shook the walls of the hall. Many cried and turned to unfamiliar neighbors with exclamations and greetings; and a young man fainted from the excitement that gripped him. Almost everyone was in such a state that it seemed they would follow the speaker at his first call, anywhere! So, probably in distant time Savonarola knew how to influence the gathered crowd.
From memories of the historical speech of F.M. Dostoevsky - “Pushkin’s Speech” - the famous Russian lawyer A.F. Horses.
Biography of Dostoevsky F.M.: birth and family, Dostoevsky’s youth, first literary publications, arrest and exile, flowering of creativity, death and funeral of the writer.
Birth and family
1821, October 30 (November 11) Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky was born, in Moscow in the right wing of the Mariinsky Hospital for the Poor. There were six more children in the Dostoevsky family: Mikhail (1820-1864), Varvara (1822-1893), Andrei, Vera (1829-1896), Nikolai (1831-1883), Alexandra (1835-1889). Fyodor grew up in a rather harsh environment, over which the gloomy spirit of his father, a “nervous, irritable and proud” man, hovered. He was always busy caring for the well-being of his family.
Children 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 outside world very little was reported. Perhaps only through the sick, with whom Fyodor Mikhailovich, secretly from his father, sometimes spoke. There was also a nanny, hired from among Moscow bourgeois women, whose name was Alena Frolovna. Dostoevsky remembered her with the same tenderness as Pushkin remembered Arina Rodionovna. It was from her that he heard the first fairy tales: about the Firebird, Alyosha Popovich, the Blue Bird, etc.
Father, Mikhail Andreevich (1789-1839), is the son of a Uniate priest, a doctor (head doctor, surgeon) at the Moscow Mariinsky Hospital for the Poor, in 1828 he received the title of hereditary nobleman. In 1831 he acquired the village of Darovoye, Kashira district, Tula province, in 1833 neighboring village 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. However, according to the recollections of relatives and oral traditions, he was killed by his peasants.
Mother, Maria Fedorovna (née Nechaeva; 1800-1837) - from merchant family, a religious woman, annually took her children to the Trinity-Sergius Lavra. In addition, she taught them to read from the book “One Hundred and Four Sacred Stories of the Old and New Testaments” (in the novel “” memories of this book are included in the story of Elder Zosima about his childhood). In the parents’ house they read aloud “The History of the Russian State” by N. M. Karamzin, the works of G. R. Derzhavin, V. A. Zhukovsky, A. S. Pushkin.
Dostoevsky recalled with particular animation in mature years about getting to know Scripture. “In our family, we knew the Gospel almost from our first childhood.” The Old Testament “Book of Job” also became a vivid childhood impression of the writer. Fyodor’s younger brother Andrei wrote that “brother Fedya read more historical works, serious works, as well as novels that came across. Brother Mikhail loved poetry and wrote poems himself... But at Pushkin they made peace, and both, it seems, then knew almost everything by heart...”
The death of Alexander Sergeevich by young Fedya was perceived as a personal grief. Andrei Mikhailovich wrote: “brother Fedya, in conversations with his older brother, repeated several times that if we did not have family mourning (mother Maria Feodorovna died), then he would ask his father’s permission to mourn for Pushkin.”
Dostoevsky's youth
Since 1832, the family annually spent the summer in the village of Darovoye (Tula province), purchased by their father. Meetings and conversations with men were forever etched in Dostoevsky’s memory and later served as creative material. An example is the story “” from the “Diary of a Writer” for 1876.
In 1832, Dostoevsky and his older brother Mikhail began studying with teachers who came to the house. From 1833 they studied at the boarding house of N. I. Drashusov (Sushara), then at the boarding house 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 spiritual development Dostoevsky.
Museum "Estate of F.M. Dostoevsky in the village of Darovoye"
Memories of the boarding school served as material for many of the writer’s works. The atmosphere of educational institutions and isolation from family caused a painful reaction in Dostoevsky. For example, this was reflected in the autobiographical traits of the hero of the novel “,” who experiences deep moral upheavals in the “Tushara boarding house.” At the same time, the years of study were marked by an awakened passion for reading.
In 1837, the writer’s mother died, and soon his father took Dostoevsky and his brother Mikhail to St. Petersburg to continue their education. The writer never met again with his father, who died in 1839 (according to official information, he died of apoplexy, according to family legends, was killed by serfs). Dostoevsky's attitude towards his father, a suspicious and morbidly suspicious man, was ambivalent.
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.
Dostoevsky's first literary publications
The Main Engineering School, where F.M. Dostoevsky studied.
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.”
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 classes barely have time to follow the lectures. ...We are sent to military training, we are given lessons in fencing, dancing, singing...we are put on guard, and this is how the whole time passes...”
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. Subsequently, Dostoevsky always believed that choice educational institution was wrong. He suffered from the military atmosphere and drill, from disciplines alien to his interests and from loneliness.
As his schoolmate, the artist K. A. Trutovsky, testified, Dostoevsky kept himself aloof. However, he amazed his comrades with his erudition, and a literary circle formed around him. The first literary ideas took shape at the school.
Konstantin Aleksandrovich Trutovsky, Russian artist, genre painter, friend of Dostoevsky F.M.
In 1841, at an evening organized by his brother Mikhail, Dostoevsky read excerpts from his dramatic works, which are known only by their names - “Mary Stuart” and “Boris Godunov” - giving rise to associations with the names of F. Schiller and A. S. Pushkin, apparently the deepest literary hobbies of the young Dostoevsky; was also read by N.V. Gogol, E. Hoffmann, W. Scott, George Sand, V. Hugo.
After graduating from college, having served less than a year in the St. Petersburg engineering team, in the summer of 1844 Dostoevsky retired with the rank of lieutenant, deciding to devote himself entirely to literary creativity.
Among Dostoevsky’s literary passions at that time was O. de Balzac: with the translation of his story “Eugenia Grande” (1844, without indicating the name of the translator), the writer entered the literary field. At the same time, Dostoevsky worked on translating the novels of Eugene Sue and George Sand (they did not appear in print).
The choice of works testified to the literary tastes of the aspiring writer. In those years, he was not alien to romantic and sentimentalist styles; he liked dramatic collisions, large-scale characters, and action-packed storytelling. For example, in the works of George Sand, as he recalled at the end of his life, he was “struck ... by the chaste, highest purity of types and ideals and the modest charm of the strict, restrained tone of the story.”
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. Fedor 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. However, already in the early summer of 1844, having decided to devote himself entirely to literature, he resigned and was discharged with the rank of lieutenant.
Novel "Poor People"
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 finished the novel ““.
The novel “Poor People”, whose connection with “ Stationmaster Dostoevsky himself emphasized Pushkin and Gogol’s “The Overcoat” and was an exceptional success. Based on the traditions of the physiological essay, Dostoevsky creates a realistic picture of the life of the “downtrodden” inhabitants of the “St. Petersburg corners”, a gallery of social types from the street beggar to “His Excellency”.
Dostoevsky spent the summer of 1845 (as well as the next) in Reval with his brother Mikhail. In the fall of 1845, upon returning to St. Petersburg, he often met with Belinsky. In October, the writer, together with Nekrasov and Grigorovich, compiled an anonymous program announcement for the almanac “Zuboskal” (03, 1845, No. 11), and in early December, at an evening with Belinsky, he read the chapters “” (03, 1846, No. 2), in which for the first time gives psychological analysis split consciousness, “dualism”.
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 the folk root, to the recognition of the Russian soul, to the recognition of the folk spirit.” 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 a “general idea”, to find a platform that would reconcile Westerners and Slavophiles, “civilization” and the people’s principles. Skeptical about the revolutionary ways of transforming Russia and Europe, Dostoevsky expressed these doubts in works of art, articles and advertisements of Vremya, in sharp polemics with the publications of Sovremennik.
The essence of Dostoevsky's objections is 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 “” (“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 lies in the consciousness of ugliness. I alone brought out the tragedy of the underground, which consists in suffering, in self-punishment, in the consciousness of the best and in the impossibility of achieving it and, most importantly, in the vivid conviction of these unfortunates that everyone is like that, and therefore there is no need to improve!”
Novel "Idiot"
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 ““, “” 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 - “ ” and Nastasya Filippovna - “ “).
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 - frequent guest family of General V.V. Korvin-Krukovsky, eldest daughter whom A.V. Korvin-Krukovskaya he was very passionate about. 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 wrote the novel “ ". “A psychological report of a crime” became the plot outline of the 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. Forced to die in hard labor, but to join the people again...”
Novel "Crime and Punishment"
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 reality is transformed and discovered 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, the expiring contract with the publisher forced Dostoevsky to simultaneously work on two novels - "" and "". 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. Main character- “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, a daughter, Sophia, was born, whose sudden death (May of the same year) Dostoevsky took seriously. 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 idea of the novel,” the author pointed out, “is my old and favorite one, but it is so difficult that I did not dare take on it for a long time. the main idea novel - to portray a positively beautiful person. There is nothing more difficult in the world than this, and especially now...”
Dostoevsky began the novel "" by interrupting work on the widely conceived epics "Atheism" and "The Life of a Great Sinner" and hastily composing the "story" "". 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.”
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 destination. 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.
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. short biography 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 life, as Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky wrote, is to “not 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, I had a strong craving for literature, the first creative experiences the writer was already doing it 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 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, the most complex works of Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky were created.
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 considered the main mistakes of 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 instrument of education not Physical punishment, A 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 takes an example from 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. Tried to create literary works, but it didn’t work out. He was vain and strived to achieve success in life; he inherited these qualities 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 in him best qualities. 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 early period creativity of Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky:
- humorous story;
- physiological essay;
- tragicomic story;
- yuletide 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, the Russian World published a fragment “ Notes of the Dead Houses". 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 - " Extraordinary event, or Passage in Passage" is published in "Crocodile".
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.
- Dostoevsky studied at the Engineering Mikhailovsky Castle.
- 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.
- “Poor People” was written in the house of the postal director Pryanichnikov.
- “Mr. Prokharchin” was created in Kochenderfer’s house on Kazanskaya Street.
- In Soloshich's apartment building on Vasilyevsky Island Fyodor Mikhailovich lived in the 1840s.
- Apartment house Kotomina introduced Dostoevsky to Petrashevsky.
- The writer lived on Voznesensky Prospekt during his arrest and wrote “White Nights”, “Honest Thief” and other stories.
- “Notes from the House of the Dead”, “Humiliated and Insulted” were written on 3rd Krasnoarmeyskaya Street.
- The writer lived in the house of A. Astafieva in 1861-1863.
- 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, decisive desperate step, crucial moment. 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.
In novels there are many things from these materials, each of them carries 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.
- Dostoevsky wrote most of all in the last 10 years of his life.
- Dostoevsky loved sex, used the services of prostitutes, even while married.
- Nietzsche called Dostoevsky the best psychologist.
- He smoked a lot and loved strong tea.
- He was jealous of his women at every post, and forbade them even to smile in public.
- He worked more often at night.
- The hero of the novel “The Idiot” is a self-portrait of the writer.
- There are many film adaptations of Dostoevsky’s works, as well as those dedicated to him.
- Fyodor Mikhailovich had his first child at the age of 46.
- Leonardo DiCaprio also celebrates his birthday on November 11th.
- More than 30,000 people came to the writer's funeral.
- 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:
- We must love life more than the meaning of life.
- Freedom is not about not being restrained, but about being in control.
- 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.
- Happiness is not in happiness, but only in its achievement.
- No one will make the first move, because everyone thinks that it is not mutual.
- The Russian people seem to enjoy their suffering.
- Life goes breathless without an aim.
- To stop reading books means to stop thinking.
- There is no happiness in comfort; happiness is bought through suffering.
- B true 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.