Anna Dostoevskaya: biography, interesting facts and personal achievements. Fyodor Dostoyevsky and Anna Snitkina

He is recognized as a classic of literature and one of the world's best novelists. 195 years have passed since the birth of Dostoevsky.

First love

Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky was born on November 11, 1821 in Moscow and was the second child in big family. Father, a doctor at the Moscow Mariinsky Hospital for the Poor, in 1828 received the title of hereditary nobleman. Mother - from a merchant family, a religious woman. From January 1838, Dostoevsky studied at the Main Engineering School. He suffered from military atmosphere and drill, from disciplines alien to his interests and from loneliness. As his colleague from the school, the artist Trutovsky, testified, Dostoevsky kept to himself, but he impressed his comrades with his erudition, and a literary circle formed around him. Having served less than a year in the Petersburg engineering team, in the summer of 1844, Dostoevsky retired with the rank of lieutenant, deciding to devote himself completely to creativity.

In 1846, a new talented star- Fedor Dostoevsky. The young author's novel "Poor People" makes a splash among the reading public. Nobody hitherto unknown Dostoevsky in an instant becomes a public person, it is an honor to see which in his literary salon famous people fight.

Most often Dostoevsky could be seen at the evenings at Ivan Panaev's, where the most famous writers and critics of that time: Turgenev, Nekrasov, Belinsky. However, it was by no means the opportunity to talk with their more venerable fellow writers that drew them there. young man. Sitting in the corner of the room, Dostoevsky, with bated breath, watched Panaev's wife, Avdotya. This was the woman of his dreams! Beautiful, smart, witty - everything about her excited his mind. In his dreams, confessing his ardent love, Dostoevsky, because of his timidity, was even afraid to speak to her once again.

Avdotya Panaeva, who later left her husband for Nekrasov, was completely indifferent to the new visitor to her salon. “At first glance at Dostoevsky,” she writes in her memoirs, “it was clear that he was a terribly nervous and impressionable young man. He was thin, small, blond, with a sickly complexion; his small gray eyes somehow moved anxiously from subject to subject, and his pale lips twitched nervously. How could she, the queen, among these writers and counts pay attention to such a “handsome man”!

Circle of Petrashevsky

Once out of boredom, at the invitation of a friend, Fyodor dropped in for an evening at Petrashevsky's circle. Young liberals gathered there, read French books banned by the censors, and talked about how good it would be to live under republican rule. Dostoevsky liked the cozy atmosphere, and although he was a staunch monarchist, he began to drop in on “Fridays”.

Only now these “tea parties” ended deplorably for Fyodor Mikhailovich. Emperor Nicholas I, having received information about the "Petrashevsky circle", gave a decree to arrest everyone. One night they came for Dostoevsky. First six months in solitary confinement Peter and Paul Fortress, then the verdict - the death penalty, replaced by four years of prison with further service as a private.

The following years were among the most difficult in Dostoevsky's life. A nobleman by birth, he found himself among murderers and thieves who immediately disliked the "political". “Each of the new arrivals in the prison, two hours after arrival, becomes the same as everyone else,” he recalled. - Not so with a noble, with a nobleman. No matter how fair, kind, intelligent, he will be hated and despised by the whole mass for whole years. But Dostoevsky did not break down. On the contrary, he came out as a completely different person. It was at hard labor that the knowledge of life, human characters, the understanding that good and evil, truth and lies can be combined in a person.

In 1854 Dostoevsky arrived in Semipalatinsk. Soon fell in love. The object of his desires was the wife of his friend Maria Isaeva. This woman, all her life, felt deprived of both love and success. Born into a rather wealthy family of a colonel, she unsuccessfully married an official who turned out to be an alcoholic. Dostoevsky, throughout for long years who did not know female affection, it seemed that he had met the love of his life. Evening after evening he spends with the Isaevs, listening to the drunken eloquence of Maria's husband just to be near his beloved.

In August 1855, Isaev dies. Finally, the obstacle was removed, and Dostoevsky proposed to the woman he loved. Maria, who had a growing son in her arms and debts for her husband's funeral, had no choice but to accept the offer of her admirer. On February 6, 1857, Dostoevsky and Isaeva got married. On the wedding night, an incident occurred that became an omen of the failure of this family union. Dostoevsky suffered an epileptic attack as a result of nervous tension. The body convulsing on the floor, the foam flowing from the corners of his mouth - the picture she saw forever instilled in Mary a shade of some kind of disgust for her husband, for whom she already did not have love.

conquered summit

In 1860, thanks to the help of friends, Dostoevsky received permission to return to St. Petersburg. There he met Apollinaria Suslova, whose features can be seen in many of the heroines of his works: in Katerina Ivanovna and Grushenka from The Brothers Karamazov, and in Polina from The Gambler, and in Nastasya Filippovna from The Idiot. Apollinaria made an indelible impression: a slender girl "with large gray-blue eyes, with regular features smart face, with a proudly thrown head, framed by magnificent braids. In her low, somewhat slow voice and in the whole habit of her strong, tightly built body, there was a strange combination of strength and femininity.

Their romance that began turned out to be passionate, stormy and uneven. Dostoevsky either prayed to his "angel", wallowed at her feet, or behaved like a rude and rapist. He was now enthusiastic, sweet, then capricious, suspicious, hysterical, shouting at her in some kind of nasty, thin woman's voice. In addition, Dostoevsky's wife became seriously ill, and he could not leave her, as Polina demanded. Gradually, the relationship of lovers came to a standstill.

They decided to leave for Paris, but when Dostoevsky appeared there, Apollinaria told him: "You are a little late." She passionately fell in love with a certain Spaniard, who, by the time Dostoevsky arrived, had abandoned the Russian beauty that had bothered him. She sobbed into Dostoevsky's vest, threatened to commit suicide, and he, stunned unexpected meeting, reassured her, offered her brotherly friendship. Here Dostoevsky urgently needs to go to Russia - his wife Maria is dying. He visits the patient, but not for long - it’s very hard to look at it: “Her nerves are irritated in the highest degree. The chest is bad, withered like a match. Horror! It's painful and hard to watch."

In his letters - a combination of sincere pain, compassion and petty cynicism. “The wife is dying, literally. Her suffering is terrible and resonates with me. The story is expanding. Here's another thing: I'm afraid that the death of my wife will be soon, and here a break in work will be necessary. If there hadn't been this break, then, it seems, I would have finished the story.

In the spring of 1864, there was a "break in work" - Masha died. Looking at her withered corpse, Dostoevsky writes in a notebook: "Masha is lying on the table ... It is impossible to love a person as oneself according to the commandment of Christ." Almost immediately after the funeral, he offers Apollinaria his hand and heart, but is refused - for her, Dostoevsky was a conquered peak.

“For me you are a charm, and there is no one like you”

Soon Anna Snitkina appeared in the life of the writer, she was recommended as an assistant to Dostoevsky. Anna took it as a miracle - after all, Fyodor Mikhailovich had long been her favorite writer. She came to him every day, and transcribed shorthand records sometimes at night. “Talking to me in a friendly manner, Fyodor Mikhailovich every day revealed to me some sad picture of his life,” Anna Grigoryevna later wrote in her memoirs. “Deep pity involuntarily crept into my heart with his stories about difficult circumstances, from which, apparently, he never got out, and could not get out.”

The Gambler novel was completed on October 29th. The next day Fedor Mikhailovich celebrated his birthday. Anna was invited to the celebration. Saying goodbye, he asked permission to meet her mother to thank her for her magnificent daughter. By that time, he had already realized that Anna had fallen in love with him, although she expressed her feeling only silently. She also liked the writer more and more.

Several months - from the engagement to the wedding - were serene happiness. “It was not physical love, not passion. It was rather adoration, admiration for a man so talented and possessing such high spiritual qualities. The dream of becoming a companion of his life, sharing his labors, making his life easier, giving him happiness - captured my imagination, ”she would write later.

Anna Grigoryevna and Fyodor Mikhailovich got married on February 15, 1867. Happiness remains, but serenity is completely gone. Anna had to use all her patience, stamina and courage. There were problems with money, huge debts. Her husband suffered from depression and epilepsy. Convulsions, seizures, irritability - all this fell upon her in full. And that was only half the trouble.

Dostoevsky's pathological passion for gambling, it's a terrible roulette craze. Everything was at stake: family savings, Anna's dowry, and even Dostoyevsky's gifts to her. Losses ended in periods of self-flagellation and hot remorse. The writer begged his wife for forgiveness, and then everything started all over again.

The writer's stepson Pavel, the son of Maria Isaeva, who actually ran the house, did not have a meek disposition, and was dissatisfied with new marriage father. Pavel constantly sought to prick the new mistress. He sat firmly on the neck of his stepfather, like other relatives. Anna realized that the only way out was to go abroad. Dresden, Baden, Geneva, Florence. Against the background of these divine landscapes, their real rapprochement took place, and affection turned serious feeling. They often quarreled and reconciled. Dostoevsky began to show unreasonable jealousy. “For me, you are a charm, and there is no one like you. Yes, and every person with a heart and taste should say this if he looks at you - that's why I sometimes get jealous of you, ”he said.

And during their stay in Baden-Baden, where they spent Honeymoon, the writer again lost in the casino. After that, he sent a note to his wife at the hotel: “Help me, come wedding ring". Anna meekly complied with this request.

They spent four years abroad. Joys were replaced by sorrows and even tragedies. In 1868, their first daughter, Sonechka, was born in Geneva. She left this world after three months. This was a big shock for Anna and her husband. A year later, in Dresden, their second daughter, Lyuba, was born.

Returning to St. Petersburg, they spent much of their time in the romantically secluded Staraya Russa. He dictated, she took shorthand. The children grew up. In 1871, the son of Fedor was born in St. Petersburg, and in 1875 in Staraya Russa, the son of Alyosha. Three years later, Anna and her husband again had to endure the tragedy - in the spring of 1878, three-year-old Alyosha died of an epileptic seizure.

Returning to St. Petersburg, they did not dare to stay in the apartment, where everything reminded of their dead son, and settled at the famous address - Kuznechny lane, house 5. Anna Grigoryevna's room turned into an office business woman. She managed everything: she was Dostoevsky's secretary and stenographer, she was engaged in the publication of his works and the book trade, she was in charge of all financial affairs in the house, she raised children.

The relative calm was short-lived. Epilepsy receded, but new diseases were added. And then there are family strife over inheritance. Fyodor Mikhailovich's aunt left him the Ryazan estate, setting the condition for the payment of sums of money to his sisters. But Vera Mikhailovna, one of the sisters, demanded that the writer give up his share in favor of the sisters.

After a stormy showdown, Dostoevsky's throat gushed blood. It was 1881, Anna Grigorievna was only 35 years old. She didn't believe until the very end. quick death husband. “Fyodor Mikhailovich began to console me, spoke sweet kind words to me, thanked me for the happy life that he lived with me. He entrusted children to me, said that he believed me and hoped that I would always love and protect them. Then he told me the words that a rare husband could say to his wife after fourteen years of marriage: “Remember, Anya, I always loved you dearly and never cheated on you, even mentally,” she will recall later. Two days later he was gone.

On October 16 (4), 1866, the young stenographer Anna Snitkina came to Fyodor Dostoevsky to help him work on his new novel The Gambler. This meeting changed their lives forever.

In 1866 Anna was 20 years old. After the death of her father, petty official Grigory Snitkin, the girl who graduated from the Mariinsky with a silver medal women's gymnasium and shorthand courses, I decided to put into practice the acquired knowledge. In October, she first met the 44-year-old writer Fyodor Dostoevsky, whose books she had been reading since childhood. She was supposed to help him work on a new novel, which was less than a month away from being due. In St. Petersburg, in a house on the corner of Malaya Meshchanskaya and Stolyarny Lane, the writer began to dictate a story to his assistant, which she diligently took shorthand.

In 26 days, they did the impossible together - they prepared the novel "The Gambler", which had previously existed only in drafts. If this had not happened, then the writer would have transferred copyrights and royalties to his publications for 9 years in favor of the enterprising publisher Fyodor Stellovsky, who, according to Dostoevsky, "had so much money that he could buy all Russian literature."

“Ready to kneel before him all my life”

Work in force majeure brought the writer and Anna closer. Soon there was a straight Talk, which Anna Grigorievna later cited in her memoirs. He invited her to imagine herself in the place of the heroine, to whom the artist confessed his love, and asked her what she would answer to this.

“Fyodor Mikhailovich’s face expressed such embarrassment, such heartfelt anguish, that I finally realized that this was not just a literary conversation, and that I would deal a terrible blow to his vanity and pride if I gave an evasive answer. I looked at the excited face of Fyodor Mikhailovich, so dear to me, and said: “I would answer you that I love you and will love you all my life!” she wrote.

According to her recollections, the feeling that gripped her was like boundless adoration, resigned admiration for the great talent of another person.

“The dream of becoming a companion of his life, sharing his labors, making his life easier, giving him happiness - took possession of my imagination, and Fyodor Mikhailovich became my god, my idol, and I, it seems, was ready to kneel before him all my life.”

And she made her dream come true, becoming a reliable support in the life of the writer.

On February 15, 1867, they got married in the Izmailovsky Trinity Cathedral in St. Petersburg. For Dostoevsky, this was the second marriage (his first wife, Maria, died of consumption), but only in it did he learn what family happiness is.

"I had to redeem my happiness of being close to him"

After the wedding, which took place just 5 months after they met, Anna began to understand what difficulties they now have to fight together. Terrible attacks of epilepsy, which happened to the writer, frightened her and at the same time filled her heart with pity.

“To see a beloved face, turning blue, distorted, with full veins, to realize that he is tormented, and you can’t help him in any way - this was such suffering, which, obviously, I had to atone for my happiness of being close to him ...” she recalled.

But not only the fight against the disease was ahead of them. The budget of the young family was fragile. Financial debts have accumulated with Dostoevsky since the time of the unsuccessful publication of magazines. According to one version, in order to hide from multiple creditors, Anna and Fedor Mikhailovich decided to leave for Germany. According to another version, the conflicting relationship between the young wife and her husband's relatives played a role in this.

Dostoevsky himself imagined that the trip would not be like a romantic journey of two lovers. According to him, he left "with death in his soul."

“I did not believe in foreign countries, that is, I believed that the moral influence of foreign countries would be very bad. Alone ... with a young creature who, with naive joy, sought to share with me a wandering life; but I saw that in this naive joy there is a lot of inexperienced and first fever, and this embarrassed and tormented me very much ... My character is sick, and I foresaw that she would be exhausted with me, ”he told the poet Apollon Maikov.

Traveling in Europe married couple I went to Baden in Switzerland. The idea of ​​quick wealth, a crazy win that would save him from many problems, took possession of Dostoevsky after he won 4,000 francs at roulette. After that, painful excitement did not let him go. In the end, he lost everything he could, even Jewelry young wife.

Anna tried to help her husband fight this destructive passion, and in 1871 he quit gambling forever.

“A great thing has happened to me. Gone was the vile fantasy that had tormented me for almost ten years. I kept dreaming of winning: I dreamed seriously, passionately ... Now it's all over! All my life I will remember this and every time I will bless you, my angel, ”dostoevsky wrote.

According to the memoirs of historians, a bright period in their lives came upon their return to St. Petersburg. Dostoevsky was absorbed in work, Anna Grigorievna took over all the cares for the house and children (and by that time there were already three of them - approx.). Thanks to her skillful conduct of affairs, financial difficulties gradually disappeared. She represented her husband's affairs, communicating with publishers, and published his works herself.


Anna Grigorievna with children.

Dostoevsky died in 1881. Anna was 35 at the time. After his death, she did not remarry. All the years she continued to deal with the affairs of her husband, collect manuscripts, documents, letters.

Anna Grigorievna died in 1918 at the age of 71. Currently, her ashes are buried next to her husband's grave in the Alexander Nevsky Lavra.

It's hard to be a good wife. Can't imagine what it's like to be a wife brilliant man, and also good. Give the genius happiness and peace. Give all of yourself for peace, love and harmony in the family, while remaining a person. Anna Grigoryevna Dostoevskaya managed to do the impossible.

Stenographer

Netochka Snitkina had to enroll in a stenographer's course in order to later help the family financially. And so, as the best student, she was offered to work with Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky, whose works she read.

Dostoevsky had only 26 days to write new novel and not get into bondage to the publisher. A twenty year old girl famous writer caused a double impression. On the one hand - a genius, and on the other - unhappy, abandoned, lonely, from whom everyone needs only one thing - money. From pity one step to love, at least for a Russian woman. And Dostoevsky, feeling warmth, opened up to the girl in all his sorrows. But they managed to work on the novel and successfully completed it on time. However, the publisher went into hiding so as not to accept the manuscript. Anna Grigorievna showed remarkable self-control and handed over the manuscript to the police department. The duel with the publisher was won.

The end of their work upset both of them, and Fyodor Mikhailovich offered to cooperate on next thing. Moreover, he shyly made a proposal to the girl to become his wife. And so, in 1867, Netochka Snitkina became the true and necessary friend of a genius.

Complex ambiguous feelings

Anna Dostoevskaya first of all felt sorry for her husband, adored his talent and wanted to make his life easier, in which his relatives angrily interfered. Fyodor Mikhailovich offered to leave Petersburg, but there was no money. Anna Dostoevskaya almost without hesitation pawned her dowry - and here they are, first in Moscow, and then in Geneva. There they stayed for four years. In Baden, Fedor Mikhailovich lost absolutely everything they had, right down to his wife's dresses. But, realizing that this was a disease, Anna Dostoevskaya did not even reproach her husband. The Lord appreciated her humility and cured the player forever from his all-consuming passion. They had a daughter, but she died three months later. Both suffered endlessly. But the Lord sent them a second daughter. Together with her, they returned to their homeland. And in the first week in Russia they had a son.

character changes

Everyone noted that Anna Dostoevskaya became resolute and strong-willed. The writer has accumulated huge debts. The young wife undertook to unravel complex material matters, freeing the impractical writer from this routine. Dostoevsky could only marvel at the stubbornness and inflexibility of the character of a woman who loves and protects her family.

She managed everything: work fourteen hours a day, take shorthand, correct, listen to new chapters of the novel at night, write a diary, monitor her husband’s shattered health ... And when her third child appeared, she decided to publish the works herself.

family business

Publishing and bookselling, with the organizational skills of Anna Grigorievna, went successfully. Isn't this the personal achievement of Anna Dostoevskaya? Success inspired the writer. But Anna Grigoryevna never lost sight of the little things either. When they went somewhere, she stocked up on a blanket to wrap her husband, took cough medicine, handkerchiefs. All this is imperceptible, but irreplaceable, and is valued by the spouse as the highest manifestation of love.

But the little one is dying. The depth of Fyodor Mikhailovich's despair is indescribable. Anna Grigoryevna hid her grief as best she could, although her hands fell, she sometimes even could not deal with two children - Lyubov and Fedya. And they go to the elders in Optina Pustyn. Then this episode will be included in the novel "The Brothers Karamazov".

Big job

Of course, it doesn't come by itself. Behind him is tireless work on himself, which Anna Grigoryevna did. She humbled her natural impetuosity, because of which quarrels could and did occur. But they always ended in reconciliation, and Fyodor Mikhailovich fell in love with her with new force. And his inner life was difficult and stressful. It was at times small in addition sick and demanding. That is, the feelings of the spouses did not become stagnant in everyday life, but were full of mutual care.

Collecting stamps

Even when they were in Geneva, the young couple argued. Fedor Mikhailovich assured that a woman is not capable of doing anything for a long time. To which, flaring up, Anna replied that she would start collecting stamps and would not give up this occupation. Bought right here stationery store klyasser and at home proudly pasted the first stamp from the letter that had come to them. The hostess, seeing this, gave her old stamps.

This is how Anna Dostoevskaya laid the foundation for the collection. The most interesting thing is that she was engaged in philately for the rest of her life. But what happened to the collection after her death, no one knows.

Irreparable grief

Fyodor Mikhailovich was a very sick man. Emphysema brought him to the grave in 1881. Anna Grigorievna was thirty-five years old. Everyone spoke about the genius that the country had lost, but everyone forgot about his widow, who lost happiness and love with him. She vowed to live for their children and to publish his collected works, and created his museum. Her biography testifies to this. Anna Dostoevskaya served her husband even after his death.

Anna Grigoryevna herself died in 1918 in the Crimea. She was seriously ill, she was starving, she was already beginning to Civil War, and she continued to parse her husband's manuscripts, creating an archive of Fedor Mikhailovich. This is how Anna Grigorievna Dostoevskaya lived her life. Her biography is both simple and complex at the same time.

Childhood and youth of the future wife of the great writer

Born Anna Snitkina came from a St. Petersburg family of a petty official. Since childhood, the girl dreamed of somehow changing the world, making it better and kinder. The first acquaintance with creativity then already famous writer Anna took place at about the age of sixteen, when she accidentally found Dostoevsky's Notes from the House of the Dead in her father's library. It was this work that became for Anna the starting point that she had been waiting for. From that moment on, the girl decides to become a teacher and in 1864 enters the Department of Physical and Mathematical Sciences of the Pedagogical Courses. However, Anna only managed to study for a year, her father died and the young dreamy lady had to put aside high ideals a little and start earning a living for her family.

In order to somehow help her relatives after the death of her father, Anna Snitkina enters stenographer courses, where her natural zeal leads to the fact that by the end of her studies, the girl becomes a better student of Professor Olkhin, to whom Dostoevsky will turn later. The acquaintance with her future husband took place on October 4, 1866, when Anna was invited to work with Dostoevsky on the novel The Gambler. This enigmatic writer struck the girl at first sight. Yes, and Anna Snitkina, an ordinary stenographer, did not leave Fyodor Mikhailovich indifferent. After a few days of working together, he was able to really speak frankly and pour out his soul in front of this young lady. Maybe even then the writer felt a real kinship of souls, which many never meet on their life path.

Faithful wife and true companion

A few months after they met, Dostoevsky makes a marriage proposal to Anna Snitkina. According to the girl herself, he was very worried about the fact that she might refuse. But the feeling was mutual, and on February 15, 1867, the wedding of the Dostoevsky spouses took place. However, the first months of married life turned out to be not “honey” at all, the family of Fyodor Mikhailovich humiliated his young wife in every possible way and tried, on occasion, to sting as painfully as possible. But Anna Grigoryevna did not break down, she decided that family happiness was only in her hands. Having sold all her valuables, she takes her husband to Germany, where she gives him complete freedom and provides peace for normal work. This is where they really started happy life. Anna Dostoevskaya also has another important victory - it was she who helped the novelist to give up his addiction to roulette, for which he later thanked her very much.

In 1868, the first-born daughter Sonya appeared in the Dostoevsky family, who, unfortunately, died in early childhood. The next year, in Dresden, God sends them another daughter, Lubov. And in 1871, when the family had already returned to St. Petersburg, Dostoevsky had a son, Fyodor, and then, in 1875, a son, Alexei, who died three years later from epilepsy.

Personal achievements of Anna Dostoevskaya

In addition to the fact that it was Anna Grigoryevna who was in charge of all the economic affairs of the family and was able to get her out of the debt hole, she also dealt with all matters with printing houses and publishing houses, thereby providing her husband with scope for creativity, not burdened with everyday problems. Dostoevskaya herself published all the works of the writer and even distributed his books. Thus, Anna Grigorievna Dostoevskaya became one of the first Russian women entrepreneurs of that time. Even after the death of the writer, she did not leave the work of his life. It was Dostoevsky's wife who collected all his writings, documents, photographs, letters and organized a whole room in Historical Museum city ​​of Moscow, dedicated to Dostoevsky. An important biographical source of Dostoevsky's life is her diaries and memoirs about her husband, published in 1923 and 1925, respectively.

Anna Grigorievna Dostoevskaya is also known as one of the first Russian women who were fond of philately. collect your own collection postage stamps the writer's wife started back in 1867, partly to prove to her husband that a woman is also capable of long time go to your goal and do not stop. Interestingly, in her entire life, Anna Dostoevskaya did not pay for a single stamp; all of them were received by her as a gift or removed from envelopes. Where the album with the stamps of Dostoevsky's wife went is unknown.

This question was asked by biographers of many famous people. How often are great women next to great men who become like-minded people, helpers, friends? Be that as it may, Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky was lucky: his second wife, Anna Grigorievna Snitkina, was just such a person.

In order to understand the role of Anna Grigorievna in the fate of the classic, it is enough to look at Dostoevsky's life "before" and "after" the meeting with this amazing woman. So, by the time he met her in 1866, Dostoevsky was the author of several stories, some of which were highly acclaimed. For example, "Poor people" - they were enthusiastically received by Belinsky and Nekrasov. And some, for example, "Double" - suffered a complete fiasco, having received devastating reviews from these same writers. If success in literature, although variable, was still there, then other areas of Dostoevsky's life and career looked much more deplorable: participation in the Petrashevsky case led him to four years of hard labor and exile; the magazines created with his brother were closed and left behind huge debts; health was so undermined that practically most life the writer lived with a feeling of "on last days»; an unsuccessful marriage with Maria Dmitrievna Isaeva and her death - all this did not contribute to either creativity or peace of mind.

On the eve of his acquaintance with Anna Grigorievna, one more catastrophe was added to these: under a bonded agreement with the publisher F.T. Stelovsky Dostoevsky had to submit a new novel by November 1, 1866. There was about a month left, otherwise all rights to subsequent works by F.M. Dostoevsky passed to the publisher. By the way, Dostoevsky was not the only writer who found himself in such a situation: a little earlier, on unfavorable terms for the author, the works of A.F. Pisemsky; V.V. got into the "bondage" Krestovsky, author of Petersburg Slums. For only 25 rubles, the works of M.I. Glinka at his sister L.I. Shestakova. On this occasion, Dostoevsky wrote to Maikov: “He has so much money that he will buy all Russian literature if he wants to. Does that person not have money who bought Glinka for 25 rubles».

The situation was critical. Friends suggested that the writer create the main line of the novel, a kind of synopsis, as they would say now, and divide it between them. Each of the literary friends could write a separate chapter, and the novel would be ready. But Dostoevsky could not agree to this. Then friends suggested finding a stenographer: in this case, the chance to write a novel on time still appeared.

Anna Grigoryevna Snitkina became this stenographer. It is unlikely that another woman could be so aware and feel the situation. During the day the novel was dictated by the writer, at night the chapters were transcribed and written. By the appointed date, the novel "The Gambler" was ready. It was written in just 25 days, from October 4 to October 29, 1866.

Stellovsky was not going to give up the opportunity to outplay Dostoevsky so quickly. On the day the manuscript was handed over, he simply left the city. The clerk refused to accept the manuscript. The discouraged and disappointed Dostoevsky was again rescued by Anna Grigoryevna. After consulting with acquaintances, she persuaded the writer to hand over the manuscript against receipt to the bailiff of the unit in which Stellovsky lived. The victory remained with Dostoevsky, but in many respects the merit belonged to Anna Grigorievna Snitkina, who pretty soon became not only his wife, but also true friend, assistant and companion.

To understand the relationship between them, it is necessary to turn to events much earlier. Anna Grigorievna was born in the family of a petty St. Petersburg official Grigory Ivanovich Snitkin, who was an admirer of Dostoevsky. In the family, she was even nicknamed Netochka, after the name of the heroine of the story "Netochka Nezvanova". Her mother, Anna Nikolaevna Miltopeus, a Swede of Finnish origin, was the complete opposite of her addicted and impractical husband. Energetic, imperious, she showed herself to be the complete mistress of the house.

Anna Grigorievna inherited both the understanding character of her father and the determination of her mother. And she projected the relationship between her parents onto her future husband: “... They always remained themselves, not echoing or imitating each other in the least. And they did not get entangled with their soul - I - in his psychology, he - in mine, and thus my good husband and I - we both felt free at heart."

Anna wrote about her attitude to Dostoevsky: My love was purely head, ideological. It was rather adoration, admiration for a person who was so talented and possessed of such high spiritual qualities. It was a soul-searching pity for a man who had suffered so much, who had never seen joy and happiness, and who had been so abandoned by those close ones who would be obliged to repay him with love and care for him for everything that (he) did for them all his life. The dream of becoming his companion in life, sharing his labors, making his life easier, giving him happiness - took possession of my imagination, and Fyodor Mikhailovich became my god, my idol, and I, it seems, was ready to kneel before him all my life X".

The family life of Anna Grigorievna and Fyodor Mikhailovich also did not escape misfortunes and uncertainty in the future. They happened to survive years of almost beggarly existence abroad, the death of two children, Dostoevsky's manic passion for playing. And yet, it was Anna Grigorievna who managed to put their life in order, organize the work of the writer, and finally free him from those financial debts that had accumulated since the unsuccessful publication of magazines. Despite the difference in age and the difficult nature of her husband, Anna was able to fix them life together. The wife struggled with addiction roulette games, and helped in the work: shorthand his novels, rewrote manuscripts, read proofs and organized the book trade. Gradually, she took over all the financial affairs, and Fedor Mikhailovich no longer interfered in them, which, by the way, had an extremely positive effect on the family budget.

It was Anna Grigorievna who decided on such a desperate act as her own edition of the novel "Demons". There were no precedents at that time when a writer managed to independently publish his works and get real profit from it. Even Pushkin's attempts to receive income from the publication of his literary works have been a complete fiasco. There were several book firms: Bazunov, Volf, Isakov and others who bought the rights to publish books, and then published and distributed them throughout Russia. How much the authors lost on this can be calculated quite easily: Bazunov offered 500 rubles for the right to publish the novel "Demons" (and this is already a "cult" and not a novice writer), while income after the independent publication of the book amounted to about 4,000 rubles.

Anna Grigoryevna proved herself to be a true business woman. She delved into the matter to the smallest detail, many of which she learned literally in a “spy” way: ordering Business Cards; asking in printing houses on what conditions books are printed; pretending to be bargaining in a bookstore, I found out what extra charges he makes. From such inquiries, she found out what percentage and at what number of copies should be ceded to booksellers.

And here is the result - "Demons" were sold out instantly and extremely profitably. From that moment on, the main activity of Anna Grigoryevna was the publication of her husband's books ...

In the year of Dostoevsky's death (1881), Anna Grigorievna turned 35 years old. She did not remarry and devoted herself entirely to perpetuating the memory of Fyodor Mikhailovich. She published the collected works of the writer seven times, organized an apartment-museum, wrote memoirs, gave endless interviews, and spoke at numerous literary evenings.

In the summer of 1917, events that disturbed the whole country threw her into the Crimea, where she fell ill with severe malaria and died a year later in Yalta. They buried her away from her husband, although she asked otherwise. She dreamed of finding peace next to Fyodor Mikhailovich, in the Alexander Nevsky Lavra, and that at the same time they would not put a separate monument to her, but would only cut out a few lines on the tombstone. last will Anna Grigoryevna was performed only in 1968.

Victoria Zhuravleva