In 1834 Fedora with her brother Mikhail, after preparatory classes outside the home, they are sent to the Chermak boarding house, which at one time was famous in Moscow. The brothers entered there as full boarders and only came home on holidays. Not long before, Fyodor Mikhailovich’s father acquired a small estate in the Tula province, where the family spent the summer and where the boys’ first acquaintance with the peasant people began. These holidays in the village always made the most gratifying impression on Dostoevsky, but did not distract him from reading, which, when he entered the Chermak boarding school, under the influence of literature lessons, took on a more systematic character. Pushkin is in the foreground, then Walter Scott, Zagoskin, Lazhechnikov, Narezhny, Karamzin, Zhukovsky - they were read and re-read constantly.

Fedor Dostoevsky. Portrait by V. Perov, 1872

Early creative attempts date back to the same time. “Poor People” was written by Dostoevsky at night at school. The attraction to literature grew by leaps and bounds, his head was full of a wide variety of plans and literary enterprises, which, in the opinion of Dostoevsky, who was impractical in organizing his financial affairs, were supposed to bring him fame, a secure position, a guarantee from creditors and annoying little things in life . The service, as he writes, “bored him like potatoes,” and in the fall of 1844 he retired, expecting to “work like hell,” but not yet having a penny for a civilian dress. Continuing to work on “Poor People” and translate George Sand, he wrote to his brother: “I am extremely pleased with my novel. I couldn't be happier. I’ll probably get money from him, but then”...

In the spring of 1845, the novel, at the direction of D. V. Grigorovich, was given to Nekrasov. The poet was delighted with the work of the “new Gogol” and gave the manuscript to Belinsky. She made a very strong impression on the critic. “The truth was revealed and proclaimed to you, as an artist, it was given to you as a gift,” he told Fyodor Mikhailovich. “Appreciate your gift, and remain faithful to it, and you will be a great artist.” This was the most memorable moment of Dostoevsky’s entire youth, which he recalled with emotion even in hard labor. “I left him in rapture,” the writer later said. “I remembered with all my being that a solemn moment had occurred in my life, a turning point forever.”

Fyodor Dostoevsky as a mirror of the Russian soul

In 1849 literary activity was unexpectedly interrupted. On April 22, 1849, Dostoevsky was arrested in the Petrashevsky case, this “conspiracy of ideas,” which, according to Baron Korff, the commission itself found it difficult to judge: “for if facts can be discovered, then how can one convict one of thoughts when they have not yet been realized by any means?” manifestation, no transition into action? However, Dostoevsky was charged with participating in meetings at Petrashevsky's, where on one Friday he read Belinsky's letter to Gogol. Fyodor Mikhailovich was imprisoned Peter and Paul Fortress, and after 8 months, after hearing the death sentence and pardon, he was exiled to hard labor, from where, after 4 years, he was sent as a private to one of the Siberian battalions.

Be that as it may, Dostoevsky returned to literature 5 years after his arrest and remained faithful to it until his death. But circumstances were difficult in the second era of his life. In 1857 he married a widow and took upon himself the upbringing of her son. Funds were needed, but there were none; Dostoevsky was supported by the hope of literary talent, but for some time he languished in uncertainty as to whether he should be allowed to publish. “If they don’t allow me to print for another year, I’m lost,” he writes about this. “Then it’s better not to live!” Permission to print was given around 1858, and new torments began for Dostoevsky: he had to write too much, constantly rush, and before he had time to finish one work, he started on the second. (See Dostoevsky in Semipalatinsk.)

Prophecies of Dostoevsky. Read by Lyudmila Saraskina

Around mid-1859, Dostoevsky was allowed to leave Siberia, and then, after several months in Tver, settle in St. Petersburg. Here he found a circle of close people, began to work a lot and soon became the de facto editor of the magazine “Time,” founded in 1861 by his brother Mikhail. The magazine business was in full swing in his hands, and in the third year of its existence, Vremya had four thousand subscribers - a fairly large figure for that time. Dostoevsky perked up, but not for long. In April 1863, an article was published in the magazine Strakhova The "fatal question" caused by the Polish uprising. Due to some strange misunderstanding, this article, which promoted the idea that “the Poles should be fought not only with material, but also with spiritual weapons,” seemed ill-intentioned, and “Time” was banned.

The ban on the magazine had a hard impact on the Dostoevsky brothers. For Fyodor Mikhailovich, the old ordeals began - worries about loans, selling work that had not yet begun. His wife was slowly dying, he himself was ill, but he had to write, write to the deadline, exhausting every page. “My situation,” he wrote on April 5, 1864, “is so difficult that I have never been in such a situation.” The wife died soon after. Eight months after the cessation of Vremya, Mikhail Mikhailovich Dostoevsky was allowed to publish a new magazine called Epoch (the previously proposed titles Pravda and Delo were considered inconvenient). But subscriptions were sluggish, and the magazine barely reached February 1865, introducing Fyodor Mikhailovich, following the death of his brother, into significant troubles and debts.

In the same year, Dostoevsky created one of his most important works. - “Crime and Punishment”, which immediately occupied one of the most prominent places in Russian literature. After 2 years, he entered into a second marriage, which brought him family happiness, but after that, pressed by creditors who threatened to put him in debtor’s prison, Dostoevsky went abroad, where he spent four years of painful wanderings, ending only at the end of 1871 with his return to St. Petersburg . “Crime and Punishment” appeared in 1868 in the “Russian Bulletin”; “Idiot” and “Demons” were also published there. How he lived abroad during these years can be seen from his letters. “Couldn’t he (the publisher of Zarya) realize after my two letters that I don’t have a penny of money, literally not a penny! If only he knew how I got two thalers to telegraph to him. Can I write at this moment?”... “I am again in such need that I could at least hang myself,” he writes in another letter. Irritability and suspiciousness alternate in his letters; he is tormented by the disrespect for his letters from editors and publishers, it seems to him that the police are opening his letters, that they are ordered to wait for him at the border in order to search him most strictly.

With his return to Russia, the calmest period of his life begins for Dostoevsky; material affairs are significantly improving, since both the publication of works and the sale of individual works are increasingly successful: the last sale was made in 1878 in the editorial office of the Russian Messenger, and since then it has become possible not only to live without debt, but also to think about providing for children. Since 1873, the journalistic streak began to speak again in Dostoevsky: this year, at the suggestion of Prince. V.P. Meshchersky edited the magazine “Citizen” with extreme care, but then, for unknown reasons, he refused. From 1876, his “Diary of a Writer” began to be published, under preliminary censorship (due to the lack of a deposit for uncensored publications), which began three years ago in “Citizen”. It consisted of a series of articles where the author touched upon a variety of social and literary issues. During the two years of publication, “The Diary” was a great success with the public, touching on the most important aspects of Russian life in a lively, passionate tone. He discovered a significant turn in Dostoevsky's worldview. In the early 1860s, the writer still expressed respect for Belinsky, who once took part in the young author. Now, in the person of Belinsky, before Dostoevsky “there was the most stinking, stupid and shameful phenomenon of Russian life,” a weak and powerless “talent,” a man constantly hovering in dreams divorced from life. Dostoevsky now called the future reference book for all Russians “ Russia and Europe» N. Danilevsky- and prophesied about the impending capture of Constantinople by the Russians.

Two major events in Dostoevsky's life date back to 1880: his passionate speech at the Pushkin festival in Moscow, which delighted the public and sold thousands of copies - and the appearance of The Brothers Karamazov. Dostoevsky's literary fame reached its apogee. The Pushkin holiday, which put him in first place among the writers of that time, brightened up the decline of his life, but Fyodor Mikhailovich’s days were already numbered. At the end of January next year he passed away. Dostoevsky's grave is located in the Alexander Nevsky Lavra.

Dostoevsky Fyodor Mikhailovich
Birth name:	Fedor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky
Nicknames:	D.; Friend of Kuzma Prutkov; Scoffer; -ii, M.; Chronicler; M-th; N. N.; Pruzhinin, Zuboskalov, Belopyatkin and Co. [collective]; Ed.; F.D.; N.N.
Date of Birth:
Place of Birth:	Moscow, Russian Empire
Date of death:
A place of death:	St. Petersburg, Russian Empire
	Russian empire
Occupation:	Grozaist, translator, philosopher
Years of creativity:
Direction:
Language of works:

Biography

Origin

Creativity flourishes

Family and environment

Poetics of Dostoevsky

Political Views

Bibliography

Works

Novels and stories

Writer's Diary

Poems

Domestic research

Foreign studies

English language

German

Monuments

Memorial plaques

In philately

Dostoevsky in culture

Films about Dostoevsky

Current events

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

Biography

Origin

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

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

The writer's youth

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

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

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

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

Hard labor and exile

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

After the link

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

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

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

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

Creativity flourishes

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Family and environment

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

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

His addiction to alcohol apparently increased, and he was almost constantly in a state of disrepair. Spring came, promising little good... At that time, in the village of Chermashnya, in the fields under the edge of the forest, an artel of men, a dozen or a dozen people, was working; it means it was far from housing. Infuriated by some unsuccessful action of the peasants, or perhaps what only seemed so to him, the father flared up and began to shout at the peasants. One of them, more daring, responded to this cry with strong rudeness and after that, being afraid of this rudeness, shouted: “Guys, karachun to him!..”. And with this exclamation, all the peasants, up to 15 people in number, rushed at their father and, of course, finished off him in an instant... - From memoriesA. M. Dostoevsky

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

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

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

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

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

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

Poetics of Dostoevsky

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

Political Views

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

Dostoevsky and the “Jewish Question”

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

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

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

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

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

Assessments of Dostoevsky's creativity and personality

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

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

And he loved, first of all, the living human soul in everything and everywhere, and he believed that we are all the race of God, he believed in infinite power human soul triumphing over all external violence and over all internal failure. Having accepted into his soul all the malice of life, all the hardship and darkness of life and overcoming all this with the infinite power of love, Dostoevsky proclaimed this victory in all his creations. Having experienced the divine power in the soul, breaking through all human weakness, Dostoevsky came to the knowledge of God and the God-man. The reality of God and Christ was revealed to him in inner strength love and forgiveness, and he preached this same all-forgiving power of grace as the basis for the external implementation on earth of that kingdom of truth, which he longed for and to which he strove all his life. V. S. Solovyov. Three speeches in memory of Dostoevsky. 1881-1883

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

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

Bibliography

Works

Novels

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

Novels and stories

Journalism and criticism, essays

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

Writer's Diary

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

Poems

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

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

Basic literature about Dostoevsky

Domestic research

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

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

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

Foreign studies

English language

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

German

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

Memory

Monuments

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

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

In philately

Dostoevsky in culture

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

Films about Dostoevsky

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

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

Other

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

Current events

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

A very short biography (in a nutshell)

Born on November 11, 1821 in Moscow. Father - Mikhail Andreevich Dostoevsky, doctor. Mother - Maria Feodorovna. In 1898 he graduated from the Vvedensky gymnasium. In 1837 he moved to St. Petersburg. In 1843 he graduated from the Main Engineering School. In 1849, he was sentenced to death in the case of the Petrashevites, but later it was replaced by four years of hard labor. In 1857 he married Maria Isaeva. In 1867 he married Anna Snitkina, with whom he had 4 children. Died February 9, 1881, aged 59. He was buried at the Tikhvin Cemetery in St. Petersburg. Main works: “Crime and Punishment”, “Demons”, “Idiot”, “The Brothers Karamazov”, “The Gambler” and others.

Brief biography (details)

Fedor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky - greatest writer, one of the most significant and influential writers and thinkers in the world of Russian literature. He was born on November 11, 1821 in Moscow, in the family of a hereditary nobleman and staff doctor, Mikhail Andreevich Dostoevsky. In addition to Fedor, the family had six more children. The writer's mother, Maria Feodorovna, died when he was 16 years old. Immediately after this event, Fedor, together with his older brother Mikhail, left for St. Petersburg to enter the Main Engineering School. Two years later, news came of the murder of their father by serfs. At that time, Dostoevsky worked in Belinsky’s circle.

In 1843, the writer first translated and published Honore de Balzac’s novel “Eugenie Grande”. A year later, his first work, “Poor People,” was published, after which he immediately became famous. The great Russian gave high praise to this work literary critic Belinsky. The following works did not have such success and even ran into misunderstandings. Soon the writer begins to take part in a secret printing house, for which he was arrested in April 1849. He spends the next eight months in the Peter and Paul Fortress while the investigation is underway. In December of the same year, Fedor and his associates faced the death penalty on Semenovskaya Square. However, Nicholas I replaced this punishment with 4 years of hard labor. After this period, the writer is released, receives back the confiscated property and accepts the rank of non-commissioned officer.

In 1857, Dostoevsky married Maria Isaeva. However, this marriage does not bring him happiness. At the same time he is working on two comic stories: “Village Stepanchikovo” and “Uncle’s Dream”. In 1859, he moved to live in St. Petersburg, working intensively both on his own articles and on other people's manuscripts. The novel “Humiliated and Insulted” is published. In 1862, the writer went abroad, visiting France, Germany, England and other European countries. He leaves for the second time in 1863 and there he meets Apollinaria Suslova, with whom they develop a dramatic relationship. These relationships were reflected in the novels “The Player”, “The Idiot” and some other works.

The return to Russia was marked by several sad events. Firstly, his wife dies of consumption. Secondly, in 1866 the contract with the publishing house expired, which forced Dostoevsky to work on two novels at once: “The Gambler” and “Crime and Punishment.” In October of the same year, stenographer Anna Snitkina appeared in the writer’s life, who later became his wife. This marriage is more successful than the previous one; from 1868 to 1875 they have 4 children. The writer's popularity especially increases in last years his life. He becomes a corresponding member of the Academy of Sciences. In 1878, after the loss of his beloved son Alexei, he began working on his final work, The Brothers Karamazov. Fyodor Dostoevsky died on February 9, 1881, at the age of 59, and was buried at the Tikhvin cemetery in St. Petersburg.

In this article we will describe the life and work of Dostoevsky: we will briefly tell you about major events. Fyodor Mikhailovich was born on October 30 (old style - 11) 1821. An essay on Dostoevsky's work will introduce you to the main works and achievements of this man in the literary field. But we will start from the very beginning - with the origin of the future writer, with his biography.

The problems of Dostoevsky's creativity can be deeply understood only by becoming acquainted with the life of this man. After all, fiction always in one way or another reflects the characteristics of the biography of the creator of the works. In the case of Dostoevsky this is especially noticeable.

Origin of Dostoevsky

Fyodor Mikhailovich's father was from the Rtishchev branch, descendants of Daniil Ivanovich Rtishchev, defender of the Orthodox faith in Southwestern Rus'. For his special successes, he was given the village of Dostoevo, located in the Podolsk province. The Dostoevsky surname originates from there.

However, by the beginning of the 19th century, the Dostoevsky family became impoverished. Andrei Mikhailovich, the writer’s grandfather, served in the Podolsk province, in the town of Bratslav, as an archpriest. Mikhail Andreevich, the father of the author we are interested in, at one time graduated from the Medical-Surgical Academy. During Patriotic War, in 1812, he fought with others against the French, after which, in 1819, he married Maria Fedorovna Nechaeva, the daughter of a merchant from Moscow. Mikhail Andreevich, having retired, received a position as a doctor in a hospital open to poor people, which was popularly nicknamed Bozhedomka.

Where was Fedor Mikhailovich born?

The apartment of the future writer's family was located in the right wing of this hospital. In it, set aside as a government apartment for a doctor, Fyodor Mikhailovich was born in 1821. His mother, as we have already mentioned, came from a family of merchants. Pictures of premature deaths, poverty, illness, disorder - the boy’s first impressions, under the influence of which the future writer’s very unusual view of the world took shape. Dostoevsky's work reflects this.

The situation in the family of the future writer

The family, which grew over time to 9 people, was forced to huddle in only two rooms. Mikhail Andreevich was a suspicious and hot-tempered person.

Maria Fedorovna was of a completely different type: economical, cheerful, kind. The relationship between the boy's parents was based on submission to the whims and will of the father. The nanny and mother of the future writer honored the sacred religious traditions of the country, raising the future generation to respect the faith of their fathers. Maria Fedorovna died early - at the age of 36. She was buried at the Lazarevskoye cemetery.

First acquaintance with literature

The Dostoevsky family devoted a lot of time to education and science. At an early age, Fyodor Mikhailovich discovered the joy of communicating with a book. The very first works with which he became acquainted were folk tales Arina Arkhipovna, nannies. After that there were Pushkin and Zhukovsky - Maria Feodorovna’s favorite writers.

Fyodor Mikhailovich became acquainted with the main classics at an early age foreign literature: Hugo, Cervantes and Homer. In the evenings, his father arranged for the family to read N. M. Karamzin’s work “History of the Russian State.” All this instilled in the future writer an early interest in literature. The life and work of F. Dostoevsky were largely influenced by the environment from which this writer came.

Mikhail Andreevich seeks hereditary nobility

In 1827, Mikhail Andreevich was awarded the Order of the 3rd degree for his diligent and excellent service, and a year later he was also awarded the rank of collegiate assessor, which at that time gave a person the right to hereditary nobility. The father of the future writer understood well the value higher education and therefore sought to seriously prepare his children for entry into educational institutions.

Tragedy from Dostoevsky's childhood

Future writer in early years experienced a tragedy that left an indelible mark on his soul for the rest of his life. He fell in love with the cook's daughter, a nine-year-old girl, with a sincere childish feeling. One summer day a cry was heard in the garden. Fyodor ran out into the street and noticed her lying in a white tattered dress on the ground. The women bent over the girl. From their conversation, Fyodor realized that the culprit of the tragedy was a drunken tramp. After that, they went for their father, but his help was not needed, since the girl had already died.

Writer's education

Fyodor Mikhailovich received his initial education at a private boarding school in Moscow. In 1838 he entered the Main Engineering School located in St. Petersburg. He graduated in 1843, becoming a military engineer.

In those years, this school was considered one of the best educational institutions in the country. It is no coincidence that a lot of people came from there famous people. Among Dostoevsky's comrades at the school there were many talents who later turned into famous personalities. These are Dmitry Grigorovich (writer), Konstantin Trutovsky (artist), Ilya Sechenov (physiologist), Eduard Totleben (organizer of the defense of Sevastopol), Fyodor Radetsky (hero of Shipka). Both humanitarian and special disciplines were taught here. For example, world and domestic history, Russian literature, drawing and civil architecture.

The tragedy of the "little man"

Dostoevsky preferred solitude to the noisy society of students. Reading was his favorite pastime. The future writer’s erudition amazed his comrades. But the desire for loneliness and solitude in his character was not an innate trait. At the school, Fyodor Mikhailovich had to endure the tragedy of the soul of the so-called " little man". After all, in this educational institution The students were mainly children of the bureaucratic and military bureaucracy. Their parents gave gifts to their teachers, sparing no expense. In this environment, Dostoevsky looked like a stranger and was often subjected to insults and ridicule. During these years, a feeling of wounded pride flared up in his soul, which later reflected the work of Dostoevsky.

But, despite these difficulties, Fyodor Mikhailovich managed to achieve recognition from both his comrades and teachers. Over time, everyone became convinced that this was a man of extraordinary intelligence and outstanding abilities.

Father's death

In 1839, Fyodor Mikhailovich’s father suddenly died from an apoplexy. There were rumors that it was not a natural death - he was killed by men for his tough character. This news shocked Dostoevsky, and for the first time he had a seizure, a harbinger of future epilepsy, from which Fyodor Mikhailovich suffered all his life.

Service as an engineer, first works

Dostoevsky in 1843, having completed the course, was enrolled in the engineering corps to serve with the engineering team of St. Petersburg, but did not serve there for long. A year later he decided to take up literary creativity, a passion for which I have had for a long time. At first he began to translate classics, such as Balzac. After some time, the idea for a novel arose in letters entitled “Poor People.” This was the first independent work, from which Dostoevsky’s work begins. Then followed the stories and stories: “Mr. Prokharchin”, “The Double”, “Netochka Nezvanova”, “White Nights”.

Rapprochement with the Petrashevites circle, tragic consequences

The year 1847 was marked by a rapprochement with Butashevich-Petrashevsky, who held the famous “Fridays”. He was a propagandist and admirer of Fourier. At these evenings, the writer met the poets Alexei Pleshcheev, Alexander Palm, Sergei Durov, as well as the prose writer Saltykov and scientists Vladimir Milyutin and Nikolai Mordvinov. At meetings of Petrashevites, socialist teachings and plans for revolutionary coups were discussed. Dostoevsky was a supporter of the immediate abolition of serfdom in Russia.

However, the government learned about the circle, and in 1849, 37 participants, including Dostoevsky, were imprisoned in the Peter and Paul Fortress. They were sentenced to death, but the emperor commuted the sentence, and the writer was exiled to hard labor in Siberia.

In Tobolsk, at hard labor

He went to Tobolsk in the terrible frost on an open sleigh. Here Annenkova and Fonvizina visited the Petrashevites. The whole country admired the feat of these women. They gave each condemned person a Gospel in which money was invested. The fact is that the prisoners were not allowed to have their own savings, so this softened the harsh living conditions for some time.

While in hard labor, the writer realized how far the rationalistic, speculative ideas of the “new Christianity” were from the feeling of Christ, whose bearer is the people. Fyodor Mikhailovich brought out a new one from here. Its basis is the folk type of Christianity. Subsequently, this reflected the further work of Dostoevsky, which we will tell you about a little later.

Military service in Omsk

For the writer, four years of hard labor was replaced after some time by military service. He was escorted from Omsk under escort to the city of Semipalatinsk. Here Dostoevsky's life and work continued. The writer served as a private, later receiving the rank of officer. He returned to St. Petersburg only at the end of 1859.

Magazine publishing

At this time, Fyodor Mikhailovich’s spiritual search began, which in the 60s ended with the formation of the writer’s pochvennik beliefs. The biography and work of Dostoevsky at this time were marked by the following events. Since 1861, the writer, together with Mikhail, his brother, began publishing a magazine called "Time", and after it was banned - "Epoch". Working on new books and magazines, Fyodor Mikhailovich developed his own view of the tasks of a public figure and writer in our country - Russian, a unique version of Christian socialism.

The writer's first works after hard labor

Dostoevsky's life and work changed greatly after Tobolsk. In 1861, the first novel of this writer appeared, which he created after hard labor. This work (“Humiliated and Insulted”) reflects Fyodor Mikhailovich’s sympathy for the “little people” who are subjected to incessant humiliation by the powers that be. “Notes from the House of the Dead” (years of creation: 1861-1863), which the writer began while still in hard labor, also acquired great social significance. In the magazine "Time" in 1863, "Winter Notes on Summer Impressions" appeared. In them, Fyodor Mikhailovich criticized the systems of Western European political beliefs. In 1864, Notes from Underground was published. This is a kind of confession of Fyodor Mikhailovich. In the work he renounced his previous ideals.

Further work of Dostoevsky

Let us briefly describe other works of this writer. In 1866, a novel appeared called “Crime and Punishment,” which is considered one of the most significant in his work. In 1868, The Idiot was published, a novel in which an attempt was made to create positive hero, which confronts a predatory, cruel world. In the 70s, the work of F.M. Dostoevsky continues. Novels such as “Demons” (published in 1871) and “The Teenager,” which appeared in 1879, became widely known. "The Brothers Karamazov" is a novel that became the last work. He summed up Dostoevsky's work. The years of publication of the novel are 1879-1880. In this work main character, Alyosha Karamazov, helping others in trouble and alleviating suffering, is convinced that the most important thing in our life is a feeling of forgiveness and love. In 1881, on February 9, Dostoevsky Fyodor Mikhailovich died in St. Petersburg.

The life and work of Dostoevsky were briefly described in our article. It cannot be said that the writer was always interested in the problem of man above all others. Let's write about this important feature, which Dostoevsky’s work had, briefly.

Man in creative writing

Fyodor Mikhailovich throughout his entire creative path reflected on the main problem of humanity - how to overcome pride, which is the main source of separation between people. Of course, there are other themes in Dostoevsky’s work, but it is largely based on this one. The writer believed that any of us has the ability to create. And he must do this while he lives; it is necessary to express himself. The writer devoted his entire life to the topic of Man. The biography and work of Dostoevsky confirm this.

Brief biography of Fyodor Dostoevsky, famous classic Russian literature and one of the best novelists of world significance, is presented in this article.

Fyodor Dostoevsky short biography

Fedor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky(1821-1881) was born in Moscow, in the family of a doctor.

1838-1843 - Studied at the St. Petersburg Military Engineering School, after graduating from which he entered the drafting department of the engineering department.
1844 - retired and took up literary activity.

For the first time in 1846 published the novel “Poor People”, then the story “The Double”. From 1847 he became a member of the revolutionary circle of M. V. Petrashevsky and became interested in the ideas of utopian socialism. In 1849 he was arrested and sentenced to death, commuted to 4 years of hard labor.

Subsequently, he wrote several works about hard labor, the largest of which was “Notes from the House of the Dead” (1861-62).

In the second half of the 50s, together with his brother M.M. Dostoevsky published the magazines “Time” and “Epoch”.

IN 1855 year, he wrote a poem dedicated to the widow of Nicholas I, in the hope of an amnesty and promotion to the next rank, which he received.

IN 60-70- e years the most outstanding books of Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky were created: “Crime and Punishment” (1866), “The Idiot” (1868), “Demons” (1871-72), “Teenager” (1875) and “The Brothers Karamazov” (1879-80).