Biography fm dostoevsky. The life and work of Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky

Biography of Dostoevsky F.M.: birth and family, Dostoevsky's youth, first literary publications, arrest and exile, flourishing of creativity, death and funeral of the writer.

Birth and family

1821, October 30 (November 11), Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky was born in Moscow in the right wing of the Mariinsky Hospital for the Poor. The Dostoevsky family had six more children: Mikhail (1820-1864), Varvara (1822-1893), Andrei, Vera (1829-1896), Nikolai (1831-1883), Alexandra (1835-1889). Fedor grew up in a rather harsh environment, over which the gloomy spirit of his father hovered - a “nervous, irritable, proud” person. He was always busy looking after the welfare of the family.

Children were brought up in fear and obedience, according to the traditions of antiquity, spending most of their time in front of their parents. Rarely leaving the walls of the hospital building, they communicated very little with the outside world. Is it only through patients with whom Fyodor Mikhailovich, secretly from his father, sometimes spoke. There was also a nanny hired from Moscow bourgeois women, whose name was Alena Frolovna. Dostoevsky remembered her with the same tenderness as Pushkin remembered Arina Rodionovna. It was from her that he heard the first fairy tales: about the Firebird, Alyosha Popovich, the Blue Bird, etc.

Father, Mikhail Andreevich (1789-1839), the son of a Uniate priest, doctor (head doctor, surgeon) of the Moscow Mariinsky Hospital for the Poor, in 1828 received the title of hereditary nobleman. In 1831 he acquired the village of Darovoe in the Kashirsky district of the Tula province, in 1833 the neighboring village of Chermoshnya.

In terms of raising children, the father was an independent, educated, caring family man, but he had a quick-tempered and suspicious character. After the death of his wife in 1837, he retired and settled in Darovoe. According to the documents, he died of apoplexy. However, according to the recollections of relatives and oral tradition, he was killed by his peasants.

Mother, Maria Fedorovna (nee Nechaeva; 1800-1837) - from a merchant family, a religious woman, annually took children to the Trinity-Sergius Lavra. In addition, she taught them to read from the book “One Hundred and Four Sacred Stories of the Old and New Testament” (in the novel “” memories of this book are included in the story of the elder Zosima about his childhood). In the house of parents, they read aloud the History of the Russian State by N. M. Karamzin, the works of G. R. Derzhavin, V. A. Zhukovsky, A. S. Pushkin.

In his mature years, Dostoevsky recalled with particular enthusiasm his acquaintance with the Scriptures. “We in our family knew the Gospel almost from the first childhood.” The Old Testament "Book of Job" also became a vivid childhood impression of the writer. The younger brother of Fyodor, Andrei, wrote that “brother Fedya read more historical, serious works, as well as novels that came across. Brother Mikhail loved poetry and wrote poetry himself ... But they put up at Pushkin, and both, it seems, then knew almost everything by heart ... ”.

The death of Alexander Sergeevich by young Fedya was perceived as a personal grief. Andrei Mikhailovich wrote: “Brother Fedya, in conversations with his older brother, repeated several times that if we didn’t have family mourning (his mother, Maria Fedorovna, died), he would ask his father’s permission to mourn for Pushkin.”

Youth of Dostoevsky

From 1832, the family annually spent the summer in the village of Darovoe (Tula province), bought by the father. Meetings and conversations with the peasants were forever deposited in Dostoevsky's memory and served as creative material in the future. An example is the story "" from the "Diary of a Writer" for 1876.

In 1832, Dostoevsky and his older brother Mikhail began to study with teachers who came to the house. From 1833 they studied at the boarding school of N. I. Drashusov (Sushara), then at the boarding school of L. I. Chermak, where the astronomer D. M. Perevoshchikov and paleologist A. M. Kubarev taught. The Russian language teacher N. I. Bilevich played a certain role in the spiritual development of Dostoevsky.

Museum "Manor of F.M. Dostoevsky in the village of Darovoye"

Memories of the boarding house served as material for many of the writer's works. The atmosphere of educational institutions and isolation from the family caused a painful reaction in Dostoevsky. For example, this was reflected in the autobiographical features of the hero of the novel "", who is experiencing deep moral upheavals in the "Tushar boarding house". At the same time, the years of study were marked by an awakened passion for reading.

In 1837, the writer's mother died, and soon his father took Dostoevsky and his brother Mikhail to St. Petersburg to continue their education. The writer did not meet his father again, who died in 1839 (according to official information, he died of apoplexy, according to family legend, he was killed by serfs). Dostoevsky's attitude to his father, a suspicious and painfully suspicious man, was ambivalent.

It was hard to survive the death of his mother, which coincided with the news of the death of A.S. Pushkin (which he perceived as a personal loss), Dostoevsky traveled with his brother Mikhail to St. Petersburg in May 1837 and entered the preparatory boarding school of K. F. Kostomarov. At the same time, he met I. N. Shidlovsky, whose religious and romantic mood fascinated Dostoevsky.

The first literary publications of Dostoevsky

The main engineering school, where Dostoevsky F.M.

Even on the way to St. Petersburg, Dostoevsky was mentally “composing a novel from Venetian life,” and in 1838 Riesenkampf told “about his own literary experiences.”

From January 1838, Dostoevsky studied at the Main Engineering School, in which he described an ordinary day as follows: “... from early morning until evening, we barely have time to follow lectures in classes. ... We are sent to fencing training, we are given lessons in fencing, dancing, singing ... they put us on guard, and all the time passes in this ... ".

The heavy impression of the “hard labor years” of the teachings was partially brightened up by friendly relations with V. Grigorovich, doctor A. E. Rizenkampf, officer on duty A. I. Saveliev, artist K. A. Trutovsky. Subsequently, Dostoevsky always believed that the choice of an educational institution was erroneous. He suffered from the military atmosphere and drill, from disciplines alien to his interests and from loneliness.

As his colleague at the school, the artist K. A. Trutovsky, testified, Dostoevsky kept himself closed. However, he impressed his comrades with his erudition, and a literary circle formed around him. The first literary ideas took shape in the school.

Konstantin Alexandrovich Trutovsky, Russian artist, genre painter, friend of Dostoevsky F.M.

In 1841, at an evening hosted by his brother Mikhail, Dostoevsky read excerpts from his dramatic works, which are known only by their names - "Mary Stuart" and "Boris Godunov", - giving rise to associations with the names of F. Schiller and A. S. Pushkin, apparently, the deepest literary passions of the young Dostoevsky; was also read by N. V. Gogol, E. Hoffmann, V. Scott, George Sand, V. Hugo.

After graduating from college, having served less than a year in the St. Petersburg engineering team, in the summer of 1844 Dostoevsky retired with the rank of lieutenant, deciding to devote himself completely to literary creativity.

Among the literary predilections of Dostoevsky of that time was O. de Balzac: the translation of his story "Eugene Grande" (1844, without indicating the name of the translator) the writer entered the literary field. At the same time, Dostoevsky worked on the translation of novels by Eugene Sue and George Sand (they did not appear in print).

The choice of works testified to the literary tastes of the novice writer. In those years, he was not alien to romantic and sentimentalist style, he liked dramatic collisions, large-scale characters, and action-packed narration. For example, in the works of George Sand, as he recalled at the end of his life, he was "struck ... by the chaste, the highest purity of types and ideals and the modest charm of the strict restrained tone of the story."

Dostoevsky informed his brother about the work on the drama The Jew Yankel in January 1844. The manuscripts of the dramas have not been preserved, but their titles already reveal the literary passions of the novice writer: Schiller, Pushkin, Gogol. After the death of his father, the relatives of the writer's mother took care of Dostoevsky's younger brothers and sisters. Fedor and Mikhail received a small inheritance.

After graduating from college (end of 1843), he was enlisted as a field engineer-lieutenant in the St. Petersburg engineering team. However, already at the beginning of the summer of 1844, having decided to devote himself entirely to literature, he resigned and retired with the rank of lieutenant.

Novel "Poor people"

In January 1844, Dostoevsky completed the translation of Balzac's Eugene Grande, which he was then particularly fond of. The translation was Dostoevsky's first published literary work. In 1844, he begins and in May 1845, after numerous alterations, finishes the novel "".

The novel "Poor Folk", whose connection with Pushkin's "Station Master" and Gogol's "Overcoat" was emphasized by Dostoevsky himself, was an exceptional success. Based on the traditions of the physiological sketch, Dostoevsky creates a realistic picture of the life of the "downtrodden" inhabitants of "Petersburg corners", a gallery of social types from a street beggar to "His Excellency".

Dostoevsky spent the summer of 1845 (as well as the next) in Revel with his brother Mikhail. In the autumn of 1845, upon his return to St. Petersburg, he often met with Belinsky. In October, the writer, together with Nekrasov and Grigorovich, draws up an anonymous program announcement for the almanac "Zuboskal" (03, 1845, No. 11), and in early December at the evening at Belinsky's he reads the chapters "" (03, 1846, No. 2), in which for the first time gives a psychological analysis of the split consciousness, "duality".

In Siberia, according to Dostoevsky, "gradually and after a very, very long time" his "beliefs" changed. The essence of these changes, Dostoevsky in the most general form formulated as "a return to the folk root, to the recognition of the Russian soul, to the recognition of the spirit of the people." In the magazines Vremya and Epoch, the Dostoevsky brothers acted as the ideologists of "pochvennichestvo" - a specific modification of the ideas of Slavophilism.

"Pochvennichestvo" was rather an attempt to outline the contours of the "general idea", to find a platform that would reconcile Westerners and Slavophiles, "civilization" and the people's beginning. Skeptical about the revolutionary ways of transforming Russia and Europe, Dostoevsky expressed these doubts in works of art, articles and announcements of Vremya, in a sharp polemic with the publications of Sovremennik.

The essence of Dostoevsky's objections is the possibility, after the reform, of a rapprochement between the government and the intelligentsia and the people, of their peaceful cooperation. Dostoevsky continues this controversy in the story "" ("The Age", 1864) - a philosophical and artistic prelude to the "ideological" novels of the writer.

Dostoevsky wrote: “I am proud that for the first time I brought out the real man of the Russian majority and for the first time exposed his ugly and tragic side. The tragedy consists in the consciousness of ugliness. Only I brought out the tragedy of the underground, which consists in suffering, in self-punishment, in the consciousness of the best and in the impossibility of achieving it, and, most importantly, in the vivid conviction of these unfortunate people that everyone is like that, and therefore, it’s not worth it to improve!

Roman Idiot

In June 1862 Dostoevsky went abroad for the first time; visited Germany, France, Switzerland, Italy, England. In August 1863 the writer went abroad for the second time. In Paris, he met with A.P. Suslova, whose dramatic relationship (1861-1866) was reflected in the novel "", "" and other works.

In Baden-Baden, carried away, by the gambling of his nature, by playing roulette, he loses "all, completely to the ground"; this longstanding hobby of Dostoevsky is one of the qualities of his passionate nature.

In October 1863 he returned to Russia. Until mid-November, he lived with his sick wife in Vladimir, and at the end of 1863-April 1864- in Moscow, visiting St. Petersburg on business. 1864 brought heavy losses to Dostoevsky. On April 15, his wife died of consumption. The personality of Maria Dmitrievna, as well as the circumstances of their "unhappy" love, were reflected in many of Dostoevsky's works (in particular, in the images of Katerina Ivanovna - "" and Nastasya Filippovna - "").

On June 10, M.M. died. Dostoevsky. On September 26, Dostoevsky attends Grigoriev's funeral. After the death of his brother, Dostoevsky took over the publication of the periodical Epoch, burdened by a large debt and lagging behind by 3 months; the magazine began to appear more regularly, but a sharp drop in subscriptions in 1865 forced the writer to stop publishing.

He owed creditors about 15 thousand rubles, which he was able to pay only towards the end of his life. In an effort to provide conditions for work, Dostoevsky signed a contract with F.T. Stellovsky for the publication of the collected works and undertook to write a new novel for him by November 1, 1866.

In the spring of 1865, Dostoevsky was a frequent guest of the family of General V.V. Korvin-Krukovsky, whose eldest daughter, A.V. Korvin-Krukovskaya, he was greatly infatuated with. In July, he left for Wiesbaden, from where in the autumn of 1865 he offered Katkov a story for Russkiy Vestnik, which later developed into a novel.

In the summer of 1866, Dostoevsky was in Moscow and at his dacha in the village of Lyublino, close to the family of his sister Vera Mikhailovna, where he wrote the novel " ". “Psychological account of one crime” became the plot outline of the novel, the main idea of ​​which Dostoevsky outlined as follows: “Insoluble questions arise before the murderer, unsuspected and unexpected feelings torment his heart. God's truth, earthly law takes its toll, and he ends up being compelled to denounce himself. I was forced to die in hard labor, but to join the people again ... ".

Novel "Crime and Punishment"

St. Petersburg and “current reality”, the richness of social characters, “the whole world of estate and professional types”, are accurately and multifacetedly depicted in the novel, but this is reality transformed and discovered by the artist, whose gaze penetrates to the very essence of things.

Intense philosophical disputes, prophetic dreams, confessions and nightmares, grotesque caricature scenes that naturally turn into tragic, symbolic meetings of heroes, the apocalyptic image of a ghostly city are organically linked in Dostoevsky's novel. The novel, in the words of the author himself, "was extremely successful" and raised his "reputation as a writer."

In 1866, the expiring contract with the publisher forced Dostoevsky to simultaneously work on two novels - "" and "". Dostoevsky resorted to an unusual way of working: on October 4, 1866, the stenographer A.G. Snitkin; he began to dictate to her the novel The Gambler, which reflected the writer's impressions of his acquaintance with Western Europe.

In the center of the novel is the clash of the "multi-developed, but in everything unfinished, distrustful and not daring not to believe, rebelling against authorities and fearing them" "foreign Russian" with "finished" European types. The protagonist is "a poet in his own way, but the fact is that he himself is ashamed of this poetry, for he deeply feels its baseness, although the need for risk ennobles him in his own eyes."

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

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

Dostoevsky started the novel "", interrupting work on the widely conceived epics "Atheism" and "The Life of a Great Sinner" and hastily composing a "tale" "". The immediate impetus for the creation of the novel was the “Nechaev case”.

The activities of the secret society "People's Reprisal", the murder by five members of the organization of a student of the Petrovsky Agricultural Academy I.I. Ivanov - these are the events that formed the basis of "Demons" and received a philosophical and psychological interpretation in the novel. The writer's attention was drawn to the circumstances of the murder, the ideological and organizational principles of the terrorists ("Revolutionary's Catechism"), the figures of accomplices in the crime, the personality of the leader of the society, S.G. Nechaev.

In the process of working on the novel, the idea changed many times. Initially, it is a direct response to events. The framework of the pamphlet subsequently expanded significantly, not only the Nechaevs, but also the figures of the 1860s, the liberals of the 1840s, T.N. Granovsky, Petrashevites, Belinsky, V.S. Pecherin, A.I. Herzen, even the Decembrists and P.Ya. Chaadaev find themselves in the grotesque-tragic space of the novel.

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

In July 1871 Dostoevsky with his wife and daughter returned to St. Petersburg. The writer and his family spent the summer of 1872 in Staraya Russa; this city became the family's permanent summer residence. In 1876 Dostoevsky bought a house here. In 1872, the writer visits the Wednesdays of Prince V. P. Meshchersky, a supporter of counter-reforms and publisher of the newspaper-magazine Grazhdanin. At the request of the publisher, supported by A. Maikov and Tyutchev, Dostoevsky in December 1872 agrees to take over the editing of The Citizen, stipulating in advance that he takes on these duties temporarily.

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

The problems of Dostoevsky's work can be deeply understood only by becoming acquainted with the life of this man. After all, fiction always somehow reflects the features of the biography of the creator of works. In the case of Dostoevsky, this is especially noticeable.

Origin of Dostoevsky

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

However, by the beginning of the 19th century, the Dostoevsky family had become 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 of interest to us, graduated from the Medico-Surgical Academy in his time. During the 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 the position of a doctor in an open for poor people, which was nicknamed Bozhedomka among the people.

Where was Fyodor Mikhailovich born?

The apartment of the family of the future writer was in the right wing of this hospital. In it, allotted for the government apartment of the 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 first impressions of the boy, under the influence of which a very unusual view of the world of the future writer 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 just two rooms. Mikhail Andreevich was a suspicious and quick-tempered person.

Maria Feodorovna was of a completely different disposition: economic, cheerful, kind. Relations between the boy's parents were 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, educating the future generation in respect for the faith of the fathers. Maria Fedorovna died early - at the age of 36. She was buried at the Lazarevsky cemetery.

First encounter with literature

A lot of time was devoted to education and sciences in the Dostoevsky family. Even at an early age, Fedor Mikhailovich discovered the joy of communicating with a book. The very first works that he met were the folk tales of Arina Arkhipovna, the nanny. After that there were Pushkin and Zhukovsky, Maria Feodorovna's favorite writers.

Fyodor Mikhailovich at an early age got acquainted with the main classics of foreign literature: Hugo, Cervantes and Homer. His father in the evenings arranged a family reading of the work of N. M. Karamzin "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 formed under the influence of the environment from which this writer came.

Mikhail Andreevich achieves hereditary nobility

In 1827, Mikhail Andreevich was awarded the Order of the 3rd degree for 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 was well aware of the value of higher education and therefore sought to seriously prepare his children for admission to educational institutions.

Tragedy from the childhood of Dostoevsky

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

Writer's education

Fedor Mikhailovich received his initial education in 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 many famous people came out of there. 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 (Shipka hero). Both humanitarian and special disciplines were taught here. For example, world and national history, Russian literature, drawing and civil architecture.

Tragedy of the "little man"

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

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

Father's death

In 1839, Fyodor Mikhailovich's father died suddenly from an apoplexy. There were rumors that it was not a natural death - he was killed for his tough temper by the men. 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 enlisted 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 engage in literary work, a passion for which he had long felt. At first he began to translate the classics, such as Balzac. After some time, the idea of ​​a novel in letters called "Poor people" arose. It was the first independent work from which Dostoevsky's work begins. Then followed stories and novels: "Mr. Prokharchin", "Double", "Netochka Nezvanova", "White Nights".

Rapprochement with the circle of Petrashevists, tragic consequences

The year 1847 was marked by a rapprochement with Butashevich-Petrashevsky, who spent the famous "Fridays". It 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 the scientists Vladimir Milyutin and Nikolai Mordvinov. At meetings of the Petrashevites, socialist doctrines and plans for revolutionary upheavals were discussed. Dostoevsky was a supporter of the immediate abolition of serfdom in Russia.

However, the government found out about the circle, and in 1849 37 members, 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, in hard labor

He went to Tobolsk through 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 the money had been invested. The fact is that the prisoners were not allowed to have their own savings, so this softened the harsh living conditions for a while.

During hard labor, the writer realized how far the rationalistic, speculative ideas of the "new Christianity" are from the feeling of Christ, the bearer of which is the people. Fyodor Mikhailovich took 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, a four-year hard labor was replaced after some time by military service. He was escorted from Omsk under escort to the city of Semipalatinsk. Here the life and work of Dostoevsky continued. The writer served as a private, then received the rank of officer. He returned to Petersburg only at the end of 1859.

Magazine publishing

At this time, Fyodor Mikhailovich's spiritual search began, which in the 60s culminated in the formation of the writer's soil convictions. The biography and work of Dostoevsky at this time are marked by the following events. Since 1861, the writer, together with Mikhail, his brother, began to publish a magazine called "Time", and after its prohibition - "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 - a Russian, peculiar version of Christian socialism.

The first works of the writer after hard labor

The life and work of Dostoevsky after Tobolsk changed a lot. In 1861, the first novel of this writer appeared, which he created after hard labor. This work ("Humiliated and Insulted") reflected Fyodor Mikhailovich's sympathy for the "little people" who are subjected to incessant humiliation by the powerful of this world. The "Notes from the House of the Dead" (years of creation - 1861-1863), which were started by the writer while still in hard labor, also acquired great social significance. In the journal Vremya in 1863, Winter Notes on Summer Impressions appeared. In them, Fyodor Mikhailovich criticized the systems of Western European political beliefs. In 1864, Notes from the Underground were published. This is a kind of confession of Fyodor Mikhailovich. In the work, he renounced his former ideals.

Further work of Dostoevsky

Let us briefly describe other works of this writer. In 1866, a novel called "Crime and Punishment" appeared, which is considered one of the most significant in his work. In 1868, The Idiot was published, a novel where an attempt was made to create a good character who confronts a predatory, cruel world. In the 70s, the work of F.M. Dostoevsky continues. Such novels as "Demons" (published in 1871) and "Teenager", which appeared in 1879, gained wide popularity. "The Brothers Karamazov" is a novel that became the last work. He summed up the work of Dostoevsky. The years of publication of the novel are 1879-1880. In this work, the 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 has always been interested more than anyone else in the problem of man. Let us write briefly about this important feature that Dostoevsky's work had.

Man in the work of the writer

Fedor Mikhailovich, throughout his entire career, reflected on the main problem of mankind - how to overcome pride, which is the main source of separation of 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 whole life to the theme of Man. The biography and work of Dostoevsky confirm this.

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

Brief biography in dates

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

November 11, 1821 - birth. Where was Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky born? He was born in our glorious capital - Moscow. Father - head doctor Mikhail Andreevich, a believing, pious family. Named after my grandfather.

The boy began to study at a young age under the guidance of his parents, by the age of 10 he knew the history of Russia quite well, his mother taught him to read. Religious education was also given attention: daily prayer before going to bed was a family tradition.

In 1837, the mother of Fyodor Mikhailovich Maria died, in 1839 - father Mikhail.

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

1841 - becomes an officer.

1843 - enlisted in the engineering corps. The study did not please, there was a strong craving for literature, the writer made his first creative experiments even then.

1847 - visiting Fridays Petrashevsky.

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

From January 1850 to February 1854 - Omsk fortress, hard labor. This period had a strong influence on the work, the attitude of the writer.

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

1857 - wedding with Maria Dmitrievna Isaeva.

June 7, 1862 - the first trip abroad, where Dostoevsky stays until October. For a long time I was fond of gambling.

1863 - falling in love, relationship with A. Suslova.

1864 - the writer's wife Maria, older brother Mikhail die.

1867 - marries stenographer A. Snitkina.

Until 1871, they traveled a lot outside of Russia.

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

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

Biography in detail

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

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

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

The biography of Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky tells that serving the term was difficult for the writer. He compares that time to being buried alive. Hard monotonous work like burning bricks, disgusting conditions, cold undermined the health of Fyodor Mikhailovich, but also gave him food for thought, new ideas, topics for creativity.

After serving his term, Dostoevsky serves in Semipalatinsk, where the only consolation was the first love - Maria Dmitrievna Isaeva. These relationships were tender, somewhat reminiscent of the relationship of a mother with her son. The only thing that stopped the writer from proposing to a woman was the fact that she had a husband. A little later he died. In 1857, Dostoevsky finally achieves Maria Isaeva, they get married. After the marriage, the relationship changed somewhat, the writer himself speaks of them as "unfortunate".

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

In 1860, Dostoevsky falls in love with the young Apollinaria Suslova, who does not at all resemble his wife Maria. The relationship was also different - passionate, bright, lasted three years. Then Fedor Mikhailovich is fond of playing roulette, he loses a lot. This period of life is reflected in the novel "The Gambler".

1864 claimed the lives of his brother and wife. Something seems to have broken in the writer Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky. Relations with Suslova come to naught, the writer feels lost, alone in the world. He tries to escape from himself abroad, to get distracted, but the longing does not leave. Epileptic seizures become more frequent. This is how Anna Snitkina, a young stenographer, came to know and love Dostoevsky. The man shared with the girl the story of his life, he needed to speak out. Gradually, they became closer, although the age difference was 24 years. Anna accepted Dostoevsky's offer to marry him sincerely, because Fyodor Mikhailovich evoked the brightest, enthusiastic feelings in her. The marriage was perceived negatively by the society, Dostoyevsky's adopted son Pavel. The newlyweds leave for Germany.

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

In 1881 the writer dies.

A stick or a carrot: how Fedor Mikhailovich raised children

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

The writer considered the main mistakes of education:

• ignoring the inner world of the child;
• intrusive attention;
• bias.

He called the suppression of individuality, cruelty, and the relief of life a crime against a child. Dostoevsky considered the main instrument of education not corporal punishment, but parental love. He himself incredibly loved his children, greatly experienced their illnesses and losses.

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

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

Another educational element is a visit to the theater. Opera was preferred.

Lyubov Dostoevskaya

Attempts to become a writer were unsuccessful with Lyubov Fedorovna. Maybe the reason was that her work was always inevitably compared with the brilliant novels of her father, maybe she did not write about that. As a result, the main work of her life was a description of the biography of her father.

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

Lyubov Fedorovna lived to be 56 years old, spent the last few years in sunny Italy. She must have been happier there than at home.

Fedor Dostoevsky

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

Fedor lost his father at the age of 9, but he managed to invest in him the best qualities. The upbringing of his father greatly helped him in life, he received a good education. He was very successful in his business, perhaps because he loved what he did.

Creative path in dates

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

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

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

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

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

1845 - finished the story "Poor people", met Belinsky, Nekrasov.

1846 - the "Petersburg Collection" was published, "Poor People" were printed.

In February, "Double" was published, in October - "Mr. Prokharchin".

In 1847, Dostoevsky wrote The Mistress, published in the St. Petersburg Vedomosti.

In December 1848, "White Nights" was written, in 1849 - "Netochka Nezvanova".

1854-1859 - service in Semipalatinsk, "Uncle's Dream", "The Village of Stepanchikovo and Its Inhabitants".

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

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

In 1863, "Winter Notes on Summer Impressions" was created.

May of the same year - the Vremya magazine was closed.

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

1865 - "An Extraordinary Event, or a Passage within a Passage" is published in "The Crocodile".

1866 - written by Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky "Crime and Punishment", "Player". Departure abroad with family. "Idiot".

In 1870, Dostoevsky wrote the story "The Eternal Husband".

1871-1872 - "Demons".

1875 - printing of "Teenager" in "Notes of the Fatherland".

1876 ​​- the resumption of the activities of the Writer's Diary.

The Brothers Karamazov were written from 1879 to 1880.

Places in Petersburg

The city keeps the spirit of the writer, many books by Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky were written here.

1. Dostoevsky studied at the Engineering Mikhailovsky Castle.
2. The Serapinskaya hotel on Moskovsky Prospekt became the residence of the writer in 1837, he lived here, seeing St. Petersburg for the first time in his life.
3. "Poor people" were written in the house of the post director Pryanichnikov.
4. "Mr. Prokharchin" was created in Kohenderfer's house on Kazanskaya street.
5. Fedor Mikhailovich lived in Soloshich's tenement house on Vasilievsky Island in the 1840s.
6. The profitable house of Kotomin introduced Dostoevsky to Petrashevsky.
7. The writer lived on Voznesensky Prospekt during his arrest, wrote "White Nights", "Honest Thief" and other stories.
8. "Notes from the House of the Dead", "Humiliated and Insulted" were written on 3rd Krasnoarmeyskaya Street.
9. The writer lived in the house of A. Astafieva in 1861-1863.
10. In Strubinsky's house on Grechesky Prospekt - from 1875 to 1878.

Symbolism of Dostoevsky

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

• Axe.

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

• Clean linen.

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

• Smells.

It is enough to skim through any of Dostoevsky's novels to understand how important smells are to him. One of them, which is more common than others, is the smell of a putrid spirit.

• Silver pledge.

One of the most important characters. The silver cigarette case was not made of silver at all. There is a motive of falsity, forgery, suspicion. Raskolnikov, having made a cigarette box out of wood, similar to silver, as if he had already committed a deceit, a crime.

• The ringing of a copper bell.

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

• Wood and iron.

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

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

1. Dostoevsky wrote most of all in the last 10 years of his life.
2. Dostoevsky loved sex, used the services of prostitutes, even when he was married.
3. Nietzsche called Dostoevsky the best psychologist.
4. He smoked a lot and liked strong tea.
5. He was jealous of his women for every pillar, forbade even smiling in public.
6. Mostly worked at night.
7. The hero of the novel "The Idiot" is a self-portrait of the writer.
8. There are many film adaptations of Dostoevsky's works, as well as those dedicated to him.
9. The first child appeared with Fedor Mikhailovich at the age of 46.
10. Leonardo DiCaprio also celebrates his birthday on November 11th.
11. More than 30,000 people attended the writer's funeral.
12. Sigmund Freud considered Dostoyevsky's The Brothers Karamazov the greatest novel ever written.

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

1. One must love life more than the meaning of life.
2. Freedom is not in not holding back, but in being in control of yourself.
3. In everything there is a line beyond which it is dangerous to cross; for once crossed, it is impossible to turn back.
4. Happiness is not in happiness, but only in achieving it.
5. No one makes the first move because everyone thinks it's not mutual.
6. The Russian people, as it were, enjoy their suffering.
7. Life goes breathless without an aim.
8. To stop reading books means to stop thinking.
9. There is no happiness in comfort, happiness is bought by suffering.
10. In a truly loving heart, either jealousy kills love, or love kills jealousy.

Conclusion

The result of a person's life is his deeds. Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky (years of life - 1821-1881) left behind brilliant novels, having lived a relatively short life. Who knows if these novels would have been born if the life of the author were easy, without obstacles and hardships? Dostoevsky, who is known and loved, is impossible without suffering, mental turmoil, inner overcoming. They are what make the work so real.

In Moscow.

He was the second child of six in the family of a doctor at the Moscow Mariinsky Hospital for the Poor, the son of the Uniate priest Mikhail Dostoevsky, who in 1828 received the title of hereditary nobleman. The mother of the future writer came from a merchant family.

Since 1832, Fedor and his older brother Mikhail began to study with teachers who came to the house, from 1833 they studied at the boarding school of Nikolai Drashusov (Sushara), then at the boarding school of Leonty Chermak. After the death of their mother in 1837, their father took them with their brother to St. Petersburg to continue their education. In 1839 he died of apoplexy (according to family legend, he was killed by serfs).

In 1838, Fyodor Dostoevsky entered the Engineering School in St. Petersburg, from which he graduated in 1843.

After graduating from college, he served in the St. Petersburg engineering team, was seconded to the drawing room of the Engineering Department.

In 1844 he retired to devote himself to literature. In 1846 he published his first work - the story "Poor People", enthusiastically received by the critic Vissarion Belinsky.
In the years 1847-1849, Dostoevsky wrote the novels "The Mistress" (1847), "Weak Heart" and "White Nights" (both - 1848), "Netochka Nezvanova" (1849, not finished).

During this period, the writer became close to the circle of the Beketov brothers (among the participants were Alexey Pleshcheev, Apollon and Valerian Maikov, Dmitry Grigorovich), in which not only literary, but also social problems were discussed. In the spring of 1847, Dostoevsky began attending the "Fridays" of Mikhail Petrashevsky, in the winter of 1848-1849 - the circle of the poet Sergei Durov, which also consisted mainly of Petrashevites. At the meetings, the problems of the liberation of the peasants, reforms of the court and censorship were discussed, treatises of the French socialists, articles by Alexander Herzen were read. In 1848, Dostoevsky joined a special secret society organized by the most radical Petrashovist Nikolai Speshnev, which aimed to "make a revolution in Russia."

In the spring of 1849, along with other Petrashevites, the writer was arrested and imprisoned in the Alekseevsky ravelin of the Peter and Paul Fortress. After eight months of imprisonment, where Dostoevsky behaved courageously and even wrote the story "The Little Hero" (published in 1857), he was found guilty "of intent to overthrow ... the state order" and initially sentenced to death. Already on the scaffold, he was told that the execution was replaced by four years of hard labor with the deprivation of "all rights of the state" and subsequent surrender to the soldiers. Dostoevsky served penal servitude in the Omsk fortress, among criminals.

From January 1854 he served as a private in Semipalatinsk, in 1855 he was promoted to non-commissioned officer, in 1856 - to ensign. In 1857 he was returned to the nobility and the right to publish. Then he married the widow Maria Isaeva, who took part in his fate even before marriage.

In Siberia, Dostoevsky wrote the stories Uncle's Dream and The Village of Stepanchikovo and Its Inhabitants (both 1859).

In 1859 he retired and received permission to live in Tver. At the end of the year, the writer moved to St. Petersburg and, together with his brother Mikhail, began to publish the magazines Vremya and Epoch. On the pages of Vremya, in an effort to strengthen his reputation, Dostoevsky published his novel The Humiliated and Insulted (1861).

In 1863, during a second trip abroad, the writer met Apollinaria Suslova, their complex relationship, as well as gambling at roulette in Baden-Baden, provided material for the future novel The Gambler.

After the death of his first wife in 1864, and then the death of his brother Mikhail, Dostoevsky assumed all the debts for the publication of the Epoch magazine, but soon stopped it due to a drop in subscription. After traveling abroad, the writer spent the summer of 1866 in Moscow and at a dacha outside Moscow, working on the novel Crime and Punishment. In parallel, Dostoevsky worked on the novel The Gambler, which he dictated to the stenographer Anna Snitkina, who became the writer's wife in the winter of 1867.

In 1867-1868, Dostoevsky wrote the novel The Idiot, the task of which he saw in "the portrayal of a positively beautiful person."

The next novel "Demons" (1871-1872) was created by him under the impression of the terrorist activities of Sergei Nechaev and the secret society "People's Reprisal" organized by him. In 1875, the novel "Teenager" was published, written in the form of a confession of a young man, whose consciousness is being formed in an environment of "general decay". The theme of the disintegration of family ties was continued in Dostoevsky's final novel The Brothers Karamazov (1879-1880), conceived as an image of "our intellectual Russia" and at the same time as a novel-life of the protagonist Alyosha Karamazov.

In 1873, Dostoevsky began editing the newspaper-magazine Grazhdanin. In 1874, he gave up editing the magazine due to disagreements with the publisher and deteriorating health, and at the end of 1875 he resumed work on The Writer's Diary, begun in 1873, which he continued intermittently until the end of his life.

On February 7 (January 26, old style), 1881, the writer began bleeding from his throat, doctors diagnosed a ruptured pulmonary artery.

On February 9 (January 28, old style), 1881, Fyodor Dostoevsky died in St. Petersburg. The writer was buried at the Tikhvin cemetery of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra.

On November 11, 1928, on the writer's birthday, the world's first museum of Dostoevsky was opened in Moscow in the northern wing of the former Mariinsky Hospital for the Poor.

On November 12, 1971, in St. Petersburg, in the house where the writer spent the last years of his life, the Literary and Memorial Museum of F.M. Dostoevsky.

In the same year, on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the birth of the writer, the Semipalatinsk Literary and Memorial Museum of F. M. Dostoevsky was opened in the house where he lived in 1857-1859 while serving in the line battalion.

Since 1974, the status of a museum of republican significance has been acquired by the Dostoevsky's estate, Darovoye, in the Zaraisk district of the Tula region, where the writer spent his holidays in the 1830s.

In May 1980, in Novokuznetsk, in the house rented by the first wife of the writer Maria Isaeva in 1855-1857, the Literary and Memorial Museum of F.M. Dostoevsky.

In May 1981, the House Museum of the writer was opened in Staraya Russa, where the Dostoevsky family spent their summers.

In January 1983, the Literary Museum named after A.I. F.M. Dostoevsky in Omsk.

Among the monuments to the writer, the most famous sculpture of Dostoevsky at the State Library named after V.I. Lenin on the corner of Mokhovaya and Vozdvizhenka in Moscow, a monument to Dostoevsky in the square of the Mariinsky hospital near the memorial museum of the writer in the capital, a monument to Dostoevsky in St. Petersburg on Bolshaya Moskovskaya street.

In October 2006, a monument to Fyodor Dostoevsky in Dresden, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Federal Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel.

Streets are named after the writer in Moscow and St. Petersburg, as well as in other Russian cities. In December 1991, the metro station "Dostoevskaya" was opened in St. Petersburg, in 2010 - in Moscow.

The writer's widow, Anna Dostoevskaya (1846-1918), after his death, devoted herself to republishing her husband's books and perpetuating his memory. She died in 1918 in Yalta, in 1968 her ashes, according to her last wish, were reburied in Dostoevsky's grave.

Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky is one of the greatest writers in the history of mankind, a thinker who subtly and accurately revealed the complex of moral issues, contradictions and problems of human existence, shedding light on the hidden depths of the inner world of man.

He created dozens of great works. A cycle of five of the most ambitious of them, written by him one after another - "Crime and Punishment", "Idiot", "Demons", "Teenager" and "The Brothers Karamazov", is called the "great pentateuch". This definition goes back to the "Pentateuch of Moses" (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy), allegedly dictated to him by God himself. Like this work of the prophet, the above-mentioned novels of the writer, which became the pinnacle of psychological prose, also seemed impossible to create by a simple person. All of them, except for "Teenager", were included in the list of "100 best books of all times and peoples", compiled in 2002 by the Norwegian Book Club in conjunction with the Norwegian Institute. Nobel.

Childhood and family

The future writer-philosopher was born on November 11, 1821 in Moscow. His Lithuanian father, Mikhail Andreevich, served as a military doctor, was a "nervous and irritably proud" person. There were many mentally ill people in his family. He belonged to the clergy, was the son of a Uniate priest. In 1828 he was promoted to the nobility.

The Ukrainian mother, Maria Feodorovna, came from the layers of the Moscow merchants, was a kind of religious warehouse, took her children (and there were seven of them) on a pilgrimage. The old traditions of upbringing in the spirit of unconditional obedience were observed in the family. The warmest memories of the writer's childhood were associated with their estate in the Tula province, where they spent the summer months (usually without a father).

The mother taught the alphabet to Fyodor and other children, the father taught them Latin, but even then the boy especially liked the lessons of literature. From the age of 13, the future literary genius underwent a three-year study at the boarding school of Karl Chermak, where the best professors of Moscow taught.

In 1837, having lost his mother, the young man, by the decision of his father, went to the Northern capital, where he entered the military engineering school. It was to the city on the Neva and its inhabitants that he subsequently dedicated a number of his masterpiece works.

At that time, in addition to educational literature, he devoted a lot of time to fiction: he read Pierre Corneille, Homer, Friedrich Schiller, Honore de Balzac, William Shakespeare, Alexander Pushkin, Gavriil Derzhavin, Nikolai Gogol, Karamzin and other authors. At the initiative of Fedor, a literary circle was formed at the school. Its members were such well-known personalities as Nikolai Beketov, Dmitry Grigorovich, Nikolai Vitkovsky and his friend Ivan Berezhetsky.

In 1839, his father died - he was killed by an gang of peasants, whom he was rude to while drunk. This news shocked the 18-year-old son and adversely affected his mental health - provoked a nervous attack, a harbinger of future epilepsy. Although, according to a number of researchers, it also became an impetus for reflection on the topic “what is a crime”.

At the end of the course in 1843, a young specialist in the field of military engineering was seconded to serve in the drawing room of the Engineering Department of the War Ministry. However, a year later, considering this occupation uninteresting, he retired and decided to devote himself to writing.

Attempt at writing

The first literary work of the novice writer, a passionate admirer of Honore de Balzac, was a translation of his novel "Eugene Grande", published in the journal "Repertoire and Pantheon". And a year later, in 1845, he presented his debut work, Poor People, to the public. It was published in the almanac "Petersburg Collection" by Nikolai Nekrasov, who called the author "the new Gogol", and was highly appreciated by the trendsetters of the literary fashion of those years, including Vissarion Belinsky, who proclaimed him "an original and enormous talent."

However, his second work, The Double, was considered by the critic and members of his circle to be unreasonably long. The author shortened some long dialogues, descriptions and reflections of the heroes of his story. But later, the innovation, exclusivity and in-depth psychologism of this and his subsequent works (“The Mistress”, “White Nights”, “Netochka Nezvanova”, etc.) were understood by admirers of his talent and appreciated.

penal servitude

In 1847, in search of a new life and literary experience, the writer began to visit the Petrashevsky circle, which united adherents of the ideas of French utopian socialism; became close to the radical Nikolai Speshnev (who later became the prototype of the key character Stavrogin in his novel The Possessed); participated in the creation of a secret printing house with the aim of printing prohibited books, appeals to the peasants.

In 1849, for involvement in illegal activities, the writer, along with other Petrashevites, was arrested, deprived of his rank, status, and sentenced to death. At the last moment (when the convicts were already standing on the scaffold), by royal decree, it was replaced by four years of hard labor in the mines.

Dostoevsky served his sentence in the Omsk prison "Dead House", and in 1854 he was enlisted as a private in the 7th line battalion in Semipalatinsk. A year later, he was promoted to non-commissioned officer, then to ensign, his hereditary nobility was returned, as well as the right to publish.

In 1859, already in the rank of second lieutenant, Fyodor Mikhailovich wrote a letter of resignation to Alexander II, attaching a medical certificate stating that he had a chronic illness - epilepsy, and was dismissed from military service due to illness. So 10 years later he got the opportunity to return to St. Petersburg and to literature.

The development of writing

After returning to the city on the Neva, the writer expressed his impressions of hard labor and the life of imprisoned criminals in the story Notes from the House of the Dead. For contemporaries, it was a real revelation. Turgenev compared its significance with Dante's "Hell", and Herzen - with Michelangelo's painting "The Last Judgment".

In the same period, his story "Uncle's Dream", the novel "Humiliated and Insulted", "Bad Anecdote", "Notes from the Underground" were published. In the 1860s, he also published the magazines Vremya and Epoch, where he propagated the idea of ​​"pochvennichestvo", akin to the Slavophil movement.

In 1862, Dostoevsky was able to travel abroad for the first time, visiting Germany, Austria, France, Switzerland, England, and Italy. There he became interested in playing roulette, tempting fate again and again. In 1866, he transferred everything he experienced because of this addiction to the pages of the novel The Gambler.

A year earlier, while in Wiesbaden, Germany, to improve his health, he began work on the novel Crime and Punishment, which reflected the whole complex path of his internal considerations and research. It was followed by four more of the greatest creations of the writer-thinker: The Idiot (1868-69), Demons (1871-72), The Teenager (1875) and The Brothers Karamazov (1879-80), later called the "great the Pentateuch."

In 1873, he took over the editorship of the Citizen magazine, where he began to print the Writer's Diary, bringing to life his long-standing idea of ​​​​direct communication with readers and discussing various topical topics with them.

In 1877 Dostoevsky was elected a corresponding member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences. Two years later he became an honorary member of the International Literary Association. In 1880, at the opening ceremony of the monument to Pushkin in Moscow, he delivered a famous speech that caused general delight, expressing his cherished thoughts about literature and, in general, about life.

Fyodor Dostoevsky's personal life

In his youth, the writer was known as a voluptuary and a regular visitor to brothels. There were rumors that prostitutes did not agree to meet him again because of the perversity of his desires. Turgenev allegedly called him "Russian De Sade", and Sofia Kovalevskaya wrote in her diary that he raped a ten-year-old girl.

His first life partner was Maria Isaeva. They met when Fedor arrived in Semipalatinsk. The woman was already married to a bitter drunkard and raised her son Paul. After the death of her husband, the writer made her an offer, which she accepted only after Dostoevsky was promoted to officer and the hereditary nobility returned. They married in February 1857, but the marriage was not a happy one. On their wedding night, Fedor had an epileptic seizure that turned his wife away from him forever.

In the early 1860s, the writer had a difficult romantic relationship with a young (20 years younger than him) Apollinaria Suslova. He became her first man. After the death of Isaeva from consumption in 1864, the writer offered her to marry him, but by that time the girl had already started an affair with a new lover.

In 1866, unable to write a novel on time, which threatened him with the loss of copyright for his own writings, Dostoevsky hired a stenographer, 20-year-old Netochka Snitkina. She helped him turn in a new work - "The Player" - on time and became a faithful wife and love of his life. They married in 1867 and lived together for 14 years. The wife bore the writer four children. Two of them died in childhood. A daughter and son survived - Lyubov Fedorovna and Fedor Fedorovich Dostoevsky.

The daughter (when her father died, she was 11) was a difficult person to communicate with. The posthumous interest in Dostoevsky's books provided the family with financial stability, so she did not need anything, tried to get into secular society, wrote plays, however, not highly appreciated by literary critics. Love inherited poor health from her father, was sick a lot, was treated at European resorts. On the eve of the outbreak of World War I, she emigrated from Russia and never returned. Abroad, she published a book of memoirs about her father. The writer's heiress had no husband and children. She died in 1926 from anemia.

The life of Fyodor Fyodorovich Dostoevsky can hardly be called happy either. From childhood, he admired horses and connected his life with horse breeding, received two higher educations: he studied biology and law. In everyday life, he, like his sister, was a heavy, quick-tempered and unsmiling person. Growing up, he became addicted to gambling and endangered the financial well-being of the family. Fedor tried to write, but he understood that he could not avoid unflattering comparisons with his father, so he wrote “on the table”. Only his articles on horse breeding saw the light. After the October Revolution, the son of Fyodor Mikhailovich went bankrupt, somehow making ends meet by lecturing. In 1920, he died, according to some sources, from starvation.

The wife gave birth to the son of the writer of two children. One was traditionally called Fedor. At the age of 16, the teenager died of typhoid fever. The youngest son Andrei survived and lived to a ripe old age.

The line of the Dostoevsky family continues. The descendants of the great writer still live in St. Petersburg. Great-grandson Dmitry worked as a tram driver, like his son Alexei, who later transferred to serve on the ship of the Valaam Monastery. Alexei raised two daughters, Vera and Maria, and a son, Fedor.

Death

The creative plans of the giant of Russian literature for 1881 included work on the continuation of the novel The Brothers Karamazov, but they were not destined to come true. Lung disease made itself felt. On January 26, an artery ruptured in his lungs, blood began to flow in his throat. A stronger person would most likely have survived, but the writer's health was undermined - for the last 9 years he suffered from pulmonary emphysema. On January 29 he passed away.

Hundreds of people came to say goodbye to the greatest writers. He was buried at the Tikhvin cemetery of the northern capital.

Fyodor Dostoevsky as a mirror of the Russian soul

World fame came to the genius of the pen after his death. His work, which became an epochal event, a revolution in the development of world literature, was compared with the discoveries in science of Albert Einstein. In The Brothers Karamazov, he expressed the idea that the comprehension of the secret of universal harmony is possible only by feeling and faith, but not by reason. And the famous theoretical physicist argued that intuition is stronger than knowledge.