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 the Historical Museum 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.
Fyodor Dostoevsky was unlucky in love. It is the descendants who exclaim: "He's a genius!" And for contemporary women, the writer was completely unattractive. The player, ugly, poor, epileptic and no longer young - he was over forty. When his wife died of consumption, he did not even think about a new marriage. But fate decreed otherwise - he met Anna Snitkina.
Extreme need forced Dostoevsky to conclude a losing contract with the publisher. Fedor Mikhailovich had to write a novel in 26 days, otherwise he would lose all income from the publication of his books. It may seem incredible to us, but the eccentric Dostoevsky agreed. The only thing he needed for the successful execution of the plan was a skilled stenographer.
Anya Snitkina, 20, was the best student in shorthand courses. In addition, she admired the work of Dostoevsky, and friends advised the writer to take her. He doubted whether it was worth taking this thin and pale girl for such hard work, however, Ani's energy convinced him. And a long joint work began ...
At first, Anya, who expected to see a genius, a wise man who understands everything, was a little disappointed in Dostoevsky. The writer was absent-minded, always forgot everything, did not have good manners and did not seem to have much respect for women. But when he began to dictate his novel, he changed before our eyes. Before the young stenographer, a shrewd man appeared, accurately noticing and remembering the character traits of people unfamiliar to him. He corrected unfortunate moments in the text on the go, and his energy seemed inexhaustible. Fyodor Mikhailovich could do his favorite thing around the clock without stopping for food, and Anya worked with him. They spent so much time together that they slowly bonded.
Dostoevsky immediately noticed the unusual selflessness of the stenographer, who did not spare herself at all. She forgot to eat, and even comb her hair - just to finish the work on time. And exactly one day before the deadline set by the publisher, tired Anya brought Dostoevsky a neatly tied pile of sheets. It was a rewrite of the novel "The Gambler" by her. Carefully accepting the result of their joint monthly work, Dostoevsky realized that he was not in a position to let Anya go. Incredibly, during these days he fell in love with a girl who was 25 years younger than him!
The next week was a real torment for the writer. Together with the police, he had to chase after a dishonest publisher who had fled the city and forbade his employees to accept the manuscript of the novel. And yet, Dostoevsky was most worried about something else - how to keep Anya close to him and find out how she feels towards him. It was not easy for Fedor Mikhailovich to do this. He did not believe that someone could truly fall in love with him. In the end, Dostoevsky decided on a cunning move. He pretended to ask Anya's opinion about the plot of the new work - a beggar artist prematurely aged from failures falls in love with a young beauty - is this possible? The smart girl immediately figured out the trick. When the writer asked her to imagine herself in the place of the heroine, she bluntly said: "... I would answer you that I love you and will love you all my life."
A few months later they got married. Anya became a wonderful match for Dostoevsky. She helped him rewrite novels, took care of their publication. Thanks to the fact that she skillfully managed her husband's affairs, she managed to pay off all his debts. Fyodor Mikhailovich could not get enough of his wife - she forgave him everything, tried not to argue, always followed him wherever he went. Little by little, changes for the better came in Dostoevsky's life. Under the influence of his wife, he stopped playing for money, his health began to improve, and there were almost no attacks of the disease.
Dostoevsky understood perfectly well that all this became possible only thanks to his wife. She could break down and leave him a thousand times - especially when he lost all her things at roulette, even dresses. Quiet, faithful Anya withstood these tests, because she knew that everything can be fixed if the person really loves you. And she was not wrong.
Her sacrifices were not in vain. She was rewarded with strong love, which Fyodor Mikhailovich had not experienced before. During the hours of separation, her husband wrote to her: “My dear angel, Anya: I kneel down, pray to you and kiss your feet. You are my future everything - and hope, and faith, and happiness, and bliss. She was, in fact, the most precious person to him. In the last minutes of his life, Dostoevsky held her hand and whispered: “Remember, Anya, I have always loved you dearly and have never cheated on you, even mentally!”.
When Anna lost her husband, she was only 35 years old. She never married again. Contemporaries wondered why the young widow puts an end to herself, rejecting her admirers. They didn't understand that real love maybe just one for life.
Anya was born in St. Petersburg at the end of August 1846, on the day of the memory of St. Alexander Nevsky. The girl's father, Grigory Ivanovich, a petty official, "an extremely cheerful character, a joker, a joker, as they say," the soul of society "" and her mother, Anna Nikolaevna, "a woman of amazing beauty - tall, thin, slender, with surprisingly regular features" * managed to create a friendly and welcoming atmosphere in the family. And this despite the fact that they lived with the old mother of Grigory Ivanovich and his four brothers, one of whom was also married and had children. Anya never heard any quarrels or mutual claims between relatives. “They lived amicably and hospitably in the old-fashioned way, so that on birthdays and name days of family members, on Christmas and the Holy Day, all close and distant relatives gathered at their grandmother’s in the morning and had fun until late at night” *.
In her youth, the girl made an uncompromising decision to go to the monastery. Resting in Pskov, she realized that best moment to implement the solution will not. Anya is on her way. She was only 13 years old. Needless to say, what the parents experienced when they heard about such a desire of their beloved daughter. They had to make a lot of effort to turn the unreasonable child. Only the news of her father's serious illness (exaggerated to put it mildly) forced her to submit and return to St. Petersburg.
From her mother, a Swede of Finnish origin, Anya inherited not only accuracy, composure, a desire for order and purposefulness, but also a deep faith in God.
Anna Nikolaevna Snitkina (née Miltopeus) was a Lutheran, among her ancestors there is even a Lutheran bishop. At the age of nineteen, she became engaged to an officer who soon died during the Hungarian campaign. The grief of the girl was extraordinary. She decided never to marry. “But the years passed, and little by little the bitterness of loss softened,” her daughter wrote much later. - In that Russian society where my mother revolved, there were lovers of wooing (this was the custom of that time), and at one meeting, in fact for her, they invited two young people who were looking for a bride. They liked my mother very much, but when they asked her if she liked the young people presented, she replied: “No, I liked that old man who talked and laughed all the time.” She was talking about my father.
Grigory Ivanovich was 42 years old. Anna Nikolaevna - 29. They were introduced to each other. “... he really liked her, but since she spoke Russian poorly, and he spoke French poorly, the conversations between them did not drag on very long. When the words of my mother were conveyed to him, he was very interested in the attention of a beautiful young lady, and he began to intensively visit the house where he could meet her. They ended up falling in love and decided to get married.
But marriage with a loved one was possible for Anna Nikolaevna only if she accepted Orthodoxy. For the girl, the choice was not easy. She prayed for a long time in the hope of hearing an answer to the torment of her heart. And then one day she saw in a dream how she enters Orthodox church, kneels before the shroud and prays ...
The answer was heard. And when a young couple arrived at the Simeonovskaya Church on Mokhovaya to perform the rite of chrismation, lo and behold! - in front of Anna Nikolaevna was the same shroud and the same situation that she saw in a dream!
Anna Nikolaevna joyfully entered the life of the Orthodox Church, went to confession, took communion and raised her daughter in the faith. “She never repented that she had changed religion, “otherwise,” she said, “I would feel far from my husband and children, and it would be hard for me.”*
Profession - stenographer
Anya - Netochka, as she was called in the family - spoke with unfailing warmth about life under the wing of her parents. “I remember my childhood and youth with the most gratifying feeling: my father and mother loved us all very much and never punished in vain. Life in the family was quiet, measured, calm, without quarrels, dramas or disasters.
Except for the sudden "escape" to the monastery, Anya did not make her parents worry about herself. She was among the first students at St. Anna's School, graduated from the Mariinsky with a silver medal women's gymnasium and entered the Pedagogical Course. The serious illness of the father made its own adjustments: pedagogy had to be abandoned.
“... I, regretting leaving my dear patient alone for whole days, decided to leave the courses for a while. Since dad suffered from insomnia, I read Dickens novels to him for hours and was very pleased if he had the opportunity to fall asleep a little under my monotonous reading.
But her father literally insisted that Anya still get a profession and complete at least shorthand courses. Already at sunset own life Anna Grigorievna wrote: “My good father foresaw exactly that, thanks to shorthand, I would find my happiness”*.
In 1866, Grigory Ivanovich reposed in the Lord. The orphaned Snitkin family had a hard time. For Anna, this was the first misfortune in her life. “My grief was expressed violently: I cried a lot, spent whole days on Bolshaya Okhta, at the grave of the deceased, and could not come to terms with the heavy loss”*. By that time the shorthand lectures had been interrupted for summer vacation, but the teacher P.M. Olkhin, knowing about the difficult state of mind girls, invited her to take up shorthand correspondence. “Twice a week I had to send him two or three pages of a certain book, written by me in shorthand. Olkhin returned the transcripts to me, correcting the mistakes he had noticed. Thanks to this correspondence, which lasted for three summer months, I was very successful in shorthand. When the lectures resumed, Anna already mastered the skill of shorthand so much that the teacher could recommend her for literary work.
Ask Dostoevsky
On a dank November evening in 1866, the whole future life fragile girl - and not only her.
Olkhin offered Anna shorthand work for the writer and handed her a four-fold piece of paper on which it was written: “Stolyarny lane, corner of M. Meshchanskaya, Alonkin’s house, apt. No. 13, ask Dostoevsky.
“Dostoevsky's name was familiar to me from childhood: he was my father's favorite writer. I myself admired his works and wept over Notes from dead house". The idea of not only getting to know a talented writer, but also helping him in his work excited and delighted me greatly.
On the eve of a significant meeting, the girl hardly managed to close her eyes.
“For joy and excitement, I did not sleep almost all night and kept imagining Dostoevsky. Considering him a contemporary of my father, I assumed that he was already very old man. He was drawn to me now as a fat and bald old man, now tall and thin, but certainly stern and gloomy, as Olkhin found him. I was most worried about how I would talk to him. Dostoevsky seemed to me so learned, so clever, that I trembled in advance for every word I said. I was also embarrassed by the thought that I did not clearly remember the names and patronymics of the heroes of his novels, but I was sure that he would certainly talk about them. Never meeting in my circle with outstanding writers, I imagined them as some special creatures with whom it was necessary to talk in a special way. Remembering those times, I see what a small child I was then, despite my twenty years.
Many years later, Anna Grigoryevna will describe in detail all the circumstances of the first meeting and her feelings from it:
“At first glance, Dostoevsky seemed to me rather old. But as soon as he spoke, he immediately became younger, and I thought that he was hardly more than thirty-five to seven years old. He was of medium height and carried very straight. Light brown, even slightly reddish hair was heavily pomaded and carefully smoothed. But what struck me was his eyes; they were different: one was brown, in the other the pupil was dilated to the whole eye and the irises were imperceptible. This duality of the eyes gave the look some enigmatic expression. Dostoyevsky's face, pale and sickly, seemed extremely familiar to me, probably because I had seen his portraits before. He was dressed in a cloth jacket of blue color, rather second-hand, but in snow-white linen (collar and cuffs) (...) Almost from the first phrases he said that he had epilepsy and had a seizure the other day, and this frankness surprised me very much (...) Looking through the rewritten, Dostoevsky found, that I missed the point and put it unclear solid sign, and he pointed it out to me. He was visibly annoyed and could not collect his thoughts. Now he asked me my name and immediately forgot it, then he began to walk around the room and walked for a long time, as if forgetting about my presence. I sat without moving, afraid to disturb his thoughts ... "*.
From the writer Anna Grigorievna came out broken. “I didn’t like him and left a heavy impression. I thought that I would hardly get along with him in work, and my dreams of independence threatened to crumble into dust ... "*.
That day, Anna visited Dostoevsky twice: for the first time, he was “decidedly unable to dictate,” so he asked the girl “to come to him today, at eight o’clock.” The second meeting went more smoothly. “I answered all the questions simply, seriously, almost sternly (...) I don’t think I even smiled once when speaking with Fyodor Mikhailovich, and he really liked my seriousness. He admitted to me later that he was pleasantly surprised by my ability to behave. He was accustomed to meeting nihilists in society and seeing their treatment, which revolted him. All the more he was glad to meet in me the complete opposite of the then dominant type of young girls. The conversation imperceptibly touched the Petrashevites and death penalty. Fedor Mikhailovich plunged into memories.
“I remember,” he said, “how I stood on the Semyonovsky parade ground among the condemned comrades and, seeing the preparations, I knew that I had only five minutes left to live. But these minutes seemed to me years, tens of years, so it seemed that I had to live a long time! We were already put on death shirts and divided into threes, I was the eighth in the third row. The first three were tied to poles. In two or three minutes both rows would have been shot, and then our turn would have come. How I wanted to live, Lord my God! How dear life seemed, how much good, good things I could do! I remembered all my past, not quite a good use of it, and so I wanted to experience everything again and live for a long, long time ... Suddenly I heard the all-clear, and I cheered up. My comrades were untied from the poles, brought back and a new sentence was read: I was sentenced to four years in hard labor. I don't remember another have a nice day! I walked around my casemate in Alekseevsky ravelin and sang all the time, sang loudly, I was so glad that life was given to me! Then they allowed my brother to say goodbye to me before parting, and on the eve of the Nativity of Christ they sent me on a long journey. I keep the letter that I wrote to my late brother on the day of the reading of the verdict, a letter was recently returned to me by my nephew.
"Execution" on the Semenovsky parade ground. Drawing from the book by Leonid Grossman "Dostoevsky"
Anna Grigorievna was amazed: this “seemingly secretive and stern person” poured out his soul before her, sharing his most intimate experiences. “This frankness on that first day of my acquaintance with him pleased me extremely and left a wonderful impression” *.
When this long day was coming to an end, Anna enthusiastically told her mother how frank and kind Dostoevsky had been with her ... and to herself she noted a heavy, depressing, never-before-experienced impression: “for the first time in my life I saw a smart, kind man, but unfortunate, as if abandoned by everyone, and a feeling of deep compassion and pity arose in my heart ... "*.
“It’s good that you are not a man”
By the time of the meeting with Anna, Fedor Mikhailovich was in an extremely difficult financial situation. He assumed the debts of his deceased elder brother. The debts were bills of exchange, and the creditors constantly threatened the writer to describe his property, and to put him in the debt department. In addition, Fyodor Mikhailovich maintained a 21-year-old stepson and the family of his deceased brother. Help was needed and younger brother- Nicholas.
There was no way to negotiate with creditors. The writer fell into despair. At this time, a cunning and enterprising person appeared in his life - the publisher F.T. Stellovsky. He offered three thousand for the publication of Dostoevsky's complete works in three volumes. At the same time, Fyodor Mikhailovich was obliged to write on account of the same amount new novel on time - November 1, 1866. In case of failure to fulfill this obligation, Dostoevsky had to pay a penalty to the publisher, and the rights to all works became the property of Stellovsky. “Of course, the predator was counting on this,” Anna Grigoryevna summarized in “Memoirs”.
In essence, Fyodor Mikhailovich had no choice. He agreed to the enslaving terms of the contract. The documents were drawn up, Stellovsky paid the money, but Dostoevsky did not receive a penny. The entire amount was transferred to creditors.
Fedor Mikhailovich was absorbed in work on the novel "Crime and Punishment", and when he finally remembered the contract, there was catastrophically little time to create a new full-fledged novel. The writer was on the verge of a nervous breakdown.
When Anna Grigorievna first came to help Dostoevsky, twenty-six days remained before the deadline for submitting the novel The Gambler. The work existed only in rough notes and plans.
In such difficult circumstances, in the person of Anna Grigoryevna, Fedor Mikhailovich first met active help: “friends and relatives sighed and groaned, lamented and sympathized, gave advice, but no one entered his almost hopeless situation. Except for a girl, a recent graduate of shorthand courses, with virtually no work experience, who suddenly appeared at the door of his apartment.
“It’s good that you are not a man,” Dostoevsky said after their first brief acquaintance and “test of the pen.”
Because the man would probably drink. You won't drink, will you?"
Thus began the joint work of Fyodor Mikhailovich and Anna Grigoryevna. And from that moment on, the young girl belonged less and less to herself every day, taking on her fragile shoulders the burden of sacrificial service ...
"What would you answer me?"
In twenty-six days, The Gambler was created. The almost impossible happened. The writer's talent would hardly have played a decisive role if there had not been a modest girl nearby who selflessly rushed into battle for the prosperous future of the writer, and, as it turned out very soon, her own.
Anna Grigoryevna came to Dostoevsky every day, took shorthand of the novel, returning home, often at night, rewrote it in plain language and brought Fyodor Mikhailovich to the house. By October 30, 1866, the manuscript was ready.
The shock work was over, and Fyodor Mikhailovich returned to the last part and the epilogue of Crime and Punishment. Of course, with the help of a stenographer (“I want to ask for your help, kind Anna Grigorievna. It was so easy for me to work with you. I would like to continue to dictate and I hope that you will not refuse to be my collaborator…”*).
When Anna Snitkina came to the writer on November 8, 1866 to arrange a job, Dostoevsky started talking about a new novel. The protagonist - an elderly and sick artist, who has experienced a lot, who has lost relatives and friends - meets a girl. “Let's call her Anya, so as not to call her a heroine,” the writer said. - This is a good name ... "*. Half a century later, Anna Grigorievna recalled: “Put yourself in her place,” he said in a trembling voice. - Imagine that this artist is me, that I confessed my love to you and asked you to be my wife. Tell me, what would you answer me? 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 glanced at Fyodor Mikhailovich's agitated face, so dear to me, and said:
- I would answer you that I love you and will love you all my life!
Anna Grigorievna modestly continues: “I will not convey those tender, full of love words that Fyodor Mikhailovich spoke to me in those unforgettable moments: they are sacred to me ...” *.
The explanation took place. The proposal was made, consent received. And on February 15, 1867, Anna Grigoryevna Snitkina and Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky got married. She is 20, he is 45. “God gave her to me,” the writer will say more than once about his incomparable Anna.
“I loved Fyodor Mikhailovich infinitely, but it was not physical love, not a passion that could exist in people of equal age. My love was purely head, ideological. It was rather adoration, admiration for a man so talented and possessing 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 was so abandoned by his loved ones.
Cheerful and serious, cheerful and keenly aware of someone else's pain, Anna entered the thorny path family life. Living with a genius
"Days of Undeserved Happiness"
The young woman was forced to be under the same roof with the stepson of Fyodor Mikhailovich Pavel, spoiled and dishonorable. Moreover, the “stepmother” was a year younger than the “undergrowth”. He constantly complained to his stepfather about Anna Grigorievna, and when he was alone with her, he did not disdain any means to offend her more painfully. In front of his father, Pasha had foresight itself: he looked after Anna during dinners, picked up the napkins she had dropped.
“This is my stepson,” Fyodor Mikhailovich softly admitted, “a kind, honest boy; but, unfortunately, with a surprising character: he positively promised himself, from childhood, not to do anything, while not having the slightest fortune and at the same time having the most absurd ideas about life.
And with other relatives it was no easier. They behaved arrogantly with Dostoevskaya. As soon as Fyodor Mikhailovich received an advance for a book, out of nowhere, his brother's widow Emilia Fedorovna appeared, or his younger unemployed brother Nikolai, or Pavel had "urgent" needs - for example, the need to buy a new coat to replace an old one that had gone out of fashion. The writer could not refuse to help anyone ...
Another inevitability was Dostoyevsky's illness. Anna knew about her from the first day they met, but she hoped that Fyodor Mikhailovich, being under her close supervision and care, would be healed. Once, when the couple were visiting, there was another seizure:
“Fyodor Mikhailovich was extremely lively and told something interesting to my sister. Suddenly he interrupted his speech in mid-sentence, turned pale, got up from the sofa and began to lean towards me. I looked in amazement at his changed face. But suddenly there was a terrible, inhuman scream, or rather, a scream, and Fyodor Mikhailovich began to lean forward.<…>Subsequently, dozens of times I had to hear this "inhuman" cry, common in an epileptic at the beginning of an attack. And this cry always shocked and frightened me.<…>It was here that I saw for the first time what a terrible disease Fyodor Mikhailovich was suffering from. Hearing his cries and groans that did not stop for hours, seeing a face distorted from suffering, completely unlike him, madly stopping his eyes, not at all understanding his incoherent speech, I was almost convinced that my dear, beloved husband was going crazy, and what horror I inspired this thought on me!
Anna Grigoryevna confessed to the writer and critic A.A. Izmailov: “... I remember the days of our life together, as about the days of great, undeserved happiness. But sometimes I redeemed him with great suffering. Terrible disease Fyodor Mikhailovich threatened to destroy all our well-being any day ... As you know, this disease cannot be prevented or cured. All I could do was unbutton his collar, take his head in my hands. But 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 ... "*.
Dostoevskaya could not help remembering - with quiet sadness - parental home, quiet family comfort, devoid of hardships and upheavals.
When it became completely unbearable, Anna asked herself: “Why doesn’t he, the “great heart specialist”, see how hard it is for me to live?” *.
Gradually exhausted, Anna comes to the conclusion that a change of scenery is the only way to escape. The husband didn't mind. And Dostoevskaya set about organizing the trip with all her energy. For lack of finances (her husband's relatives with their urgent needs miraculously appeared every time the writer received even the merest fee), Anna Grigoryevna had to pawn her dowry. But she did not regret anything - after all, she was happy at stake family life. And on April 14, 1867, the couple went abroad.
Roulette and wedding ring
“We went abroad for three months, and returned to Russia after more than four years,” recalled Anna Grigoryevna. - A lot has happened during this time. joyful events in our lives, and I will forever thank God that he strengthened me in my decision to go abroad. There a new, happy life began for Fyodor Mikhailovich and me, and our mutual friendship and love grew stronger, which continued until the very death of my husband.
Dostoevskaya started notebook in which she wrote down, day by day, the history of their journey. “This is how the diary of Dostoevsky's wife appeared - a unique phenomenon in memoir literature and an indispensable source for everyone involved in the biography of the writer”***. “At first I wrote down only my road impressions and described our everyday life- recalls Anna Grigorievna. “But little by little I wanted to write down everything that so interested and captivated me in my dear husband: his thoughts, his conversations, his opinions about music, about literature, etc.”*
In addition to joys, the trip brought many difficult moments. Here, Fyodor Mikhailovich's morbid passion for playing roulette was revealed, which he became interested in as early as 1862, during his first trip abroad. The already skinny purse of the spouses was emptied instantly. “A simple everyday motive - to win“ capital ”in order to pay off creditors, live without needing for several years, and most importantly - to finally get the opportunity to work quietly on your works - at the gambling table lost its original meaning. Impetuous, passionate, impetuous, Dostoevsky surrenders to unbridled passion. The game of roulette becomes an end in itself.
The depth of humility with which Anna Grigoryevna endured this “illness” of her husband is amazing, and in fact he pledged literally everything in excitement, even ... wedding ring and her earrings.
“I realized,” Dostoevskaya recalled, “that this is not a simple “weakness of will”, but an all-consuming passion, something spontaneous, against which even a strong character cannot fight. We must come to terms with this, look at it as a disease against which there are no remedies.
Anna Grigorievna, with her humble love, created a miracle: her husband was cured of passion. AT last time he played in 1871, before returning to Russia, in Wiesbaden. On April 28, 1871, Dostoevsky wrote to his wife from Wiesbaden to Dresden: “A great deed has been done to me, the vile fantasy that has tormented me for almost 10 years has disappeared. For ten years (or, better, since my brother's death, when I was suddenly overwhelmed by debt), I kept dreaming of winning. I dreamed seriously, passionately. Now it's all over! It was quite the last time. Do you believe, Anya, that now my hands are untied; I was bound by the game, and now I will think about the matter and not dream for whole nights about the game, as it used to be. And so, things will get better and go faster, and God bless! Anya, save your heart for me, do not hate me and do not stop loving me. Now that I am so renewed - let's go together and I will make you happy!
The writer kept his oath.
Gradually, the spouses grew together with each other inextricably, becoming, according to the word of the Lord, "one flesh." In letters, Fyodor Mikhailovich often repeated that he felt "glued" to the family and could not bear even a short separation.
Flowers for a sweet daughter
During the trip, the happiness of waiting and the birth of the first child fell, which rallied the spouses. Anna Grigorievna recalled: “Fyodor Mikhailovich turned out to be the most tender father: he was certainly present when the girl was bathing and helped me, he wrapped her in a pique blanket and pinned it with safety pins, carried and rocked her in his arms and, leaving his classes, hurried to her, a little as soon as he heard her voice (...) he sat for hours at her bedside, either singing songs to her, or talking to her, and when she was in her third month, he was sure that Sonechka would recognize him, and this is what he wrote to A.N. Maykov dated May 18, 1868: “This small, three-month-old creature, so poor, so tiny - for me there was already a face and character. She began to know me, love me and smiled when I approached. When I sang songs to her with my funny voice, she loved to listen to them. She didn't cry or wince when I kissed her; she would stop crying when I came up.”*
Is it possible to describe the grief of parents when, after a short illness, their three-month-old baby Sonya died. “I am unable to portray the despair that took possession of us when we saw our dear daughter dead,” Dostoevskaya recalled. “Deeply shocked and saddened by her death, I was terribly afraid for my unfortunate husband: his despair was stormy, he sobbed and cried like a woman.” Misfortune brought them even closer. “Every day my husband and I went to her grave, carried flowers and cried.”*
Their second child, the girl Lyuba, saw the light abroad. The happy father wrote a criticism of Strakhov: “Ah, why are you not married, and why do you not have a child, dear Nikolai Nikolayevich. I swear to you that this is ¾ of the happiness of life, and the rest is only one quarter.
Quiet family happiness seemed now to be firmly established under their roof in Dresden. The catastrophic lack of money was covered with love, complete mutual understanding and optimism.
Fyodor Mikhailovich jokingly complained:
For two years we live in poverty,
We have only one pure conscience.
And we are waiting for money from Katkov
For a failed story.
Anna Grigoryevna scolded him in response:
You took money from Katkov,
I promised the essay.
You are the last capital
He whistled on the roulette wheel.
But life outside the homeland gradually became more and more painful. Tickets were bought with the last money, and the family went to Russia.
Main way
On July 8, 1871, the Dostoevskys arrived in St. Petersburg. Soon the spouses had an heir - Fedor.
Creditors quickly found out about the return of the writer to St. Petersburg and had serious intentions to overshadow the life of the Dostoevskys. But Anna Grigoryevna decided to take matters into her own hands. Secretly from her husband, she managed to meet with the most impatient and agree with them on the waiting time.
This was no longer the modest Netochka who had set foot on the threshold of Dostoevsky's apartment four years earlier. “From a timid, shy girl, I developed into a woman with a decisive character, who could no longer be frightened by the struggle with everyday hardships, or rather, with debts that had reached twenty-five thousand by the time we returned to St. Petersburg” *.
In an effort to improve financial position family, Anna Grigorievna decided on her own edition of the novel "Demons". It should be noted that there were no precedents for an independent publication by a writer of his work and the proceeds from this real profit at that time.
The indefatigable Dostoevskaya delved into the matter to the smallest detail, and as a result, "Demons" were sold out instantly and extremely profitably. From that moment on, the main activity of Anna Grigorievna was the publication of her husband's books ... Finally, there was a little more freedom in the means, one could breathe easy.
In 1875, the second son, Alexei, appeared in the family. A bolt from the blue of a happy family life broke out three years later - beloved Alyoshenka died of a fit of epilepsy.
Fyodor Mikhailovich was heartbroken, because the cause of the boy's death was his father's illness, which was transmitted to the child. The very first attack of epilepsy turned out to be fatal for Alyosha. For the sake of other children, for the sake of her husband, Anna initially restrained her suffering and even insisted on Dostoevsky's trip - together with the philosopher Solovyov - to Optina Pustyn. But there was no strength to withstand the tension of grief.
“I was so lost, so sad and crying that no one recognized me,” she wrote many years later. - My usual cheerfulness disappeared, as well as the usual energy, in the place of which apathy appeared, I cooled off to everything: to the household, business, and even to my own children. Such was found by her returned husband. Now he, spiritually comforted, began to save his beloved.
In Optina Pustyna, Fyodor Mikhailovich twice met alone with Elder Ambrose, who conveyed his blessing and words of consolation to Anna Grigoryevna.
Upon his return from Optina, Dostoevsky set about writing The Brothers Karamazov. The work, coupled with the care of Anna Grigorievna, helped to return to life. In the mouth of his hero, Elder Zosima, Fyodor Mikhailovich put the very words that Father Ambrose conveyed to Anna: “Rachel weeps for her children and cannot be comforted, because they are not there, and such is the limit for you mothers on earth. And do not be comforted, and you do not need to be comforted, do not be comforted and cry, only every time you cry, remember steadily that your son is the only one from the angels of God - from there he looks at you and sees you, and rejoices at your tears, and points to them to the Lord God. And for a long time you will still have this great maternal crying, but in the end it will turn to you in quiet joy, and your bitter tears will be only tears of quiet tenderness and heartfelt cleansing, saving you from sins.
Dostoevsky went all his life to the creation of this novel. In it, the writer poses the fundamental problems human being: about the meaning of life of each person and the whole human history, about spiritual and moral foundations the existence of people, about faith and unbelief.
The novel was completed in November 1880 and was dedicated to Anna Grigorievna.
The Lord determined their life together for 14 years. All of his great novels and The Writer's Diary, that is, much more than half of what was written in his entire life, Fyodor Mikhailovich created during these years. "The Gambler", "Crime and Punishment", "Idiot", "Demons", "Teenager", "The Brothers Karamazov", "A Writer's Diary" with the famous Pushkin's speech passed through the hands of Anna Grigorievna - a stenographer and scribe. Its importance in the life and posthumous fate of the writer cannot be overestimated.
**********************
At the beginning of her "Memoirs" Anna Grigorievna wrote how much important points her life is connected with the Alexander Nevsky Lavra: the wedding of her parents, baptism, infancy, spent in a house belonging to the Lavra ... Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky was buried at the Tikhvin cemetery of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra. She also dreamed of being buried next to him.
“Walking behind the coffin of Fyodor Mikhailovich, I took an oath to live for our children, made a vow to devote the rest of my life, as much as I could, to glorifying the memory of my unforgettable husband and spreading his noble ideas”*.
Anna Grigorievna was 35 years old.
She kept her promise. Dostoevskaya published seven times complete collection works of her husband, created his museum, opened a school named after him.
It's amazing how much humility, kindness, and most importantly - love - was in this woman. In one of her letters, she addressed her husband: “I am such an ordinary woman, golden mean, with petty whims and demands ... And suddenly the most generous, noble, pure, honest, holy person loves me!
After the death of Fyodor Mikhailovich, Anna Grigoryevna lived for another 37 years. She did not marry again.
Anna Dostoevskaya confessed to L.P. Grossman, the writer's biographer: “I do not live in the twentieth century, I stayed in the 70s of the nineteenth. My people are Fyodor Mikhailovich's friends, my society is a circle of departed people close to Dostoevsky. I live with them. Everyone who works on the study of the life or works of Dostoevsky seems to me to be a kindred person.
“I gave myself to Fedor Mikhailovich when I was 20 years old. Now I am over 70, and I still only belong to him with every thought, every deed.
In the memorial album of S.S. Prokofiev, the future author of the opera "The Player", where the owner asked to dedicate all records only to the sun, in January 1917, Anna Grigorievna wrote: "The sun of my life is Feodor Dostoevsky" ***.
They were not ideal people. From the correspondence of the spouses it is clear that there were quarrels, bewilderment, and outbursts of jealousy between them. But their history once again proves: the Lord, who sanctified the sacrament of marriage with his first miracle in Cana of Galilee and sanctifies it every time when two stand before the altar with martyr crowns over their heads, the Lord, for the humble joint bearing of suffering and upheavals, will not fail to send down that precious gift, without which a person is only “ringing copper or a sounding cymbal”.
Anna Grigorievna wrote: “Feelings must be handled with care so that they do not break. There is nothing more precious in life than love. You should forgive more - look for guilt in yourself and smooth out the roughness in yourself.
Fyodor Mikhailovich echoes through the lips of his elder Zosima: “Brothers, love is a teacher, but you need to be able to acquire it, because it is difficult to acquire, expensive to buy, with long work and after a long time, because it is not necessary to love only the accidental moment, but for the whole time. And by chance, anyone can fall in love, and the villain will fall in love.
AT Last year of her earthly life in the war-torn Crimea, Anna Grigoryevna was seriously ill and starving.
Anna Dostoevskaya died on June 22, 1918 in Yalta and was buried at the city's Polikurovsky cemetery.
Half a century later, in 1968, her ashes were transferred to the Alexander Nevsky Lavra and buried next to her husband's grave.
On the gravestone of Dostoevsky, with right side, a modest inscription appeared:
Anna Grigoryevna Dostoevskaya. 1846-1918".
- (nee Snitkina; August 30 (September 12), 1846, St. Petersburg, Russian empire- June 9, 1918, Yalta, Crimea) - Russian memoirist. Stenographer, assistant, and since 1867 the second wife of F. M. Dostoevsky, the mother of his children - Sophia (February 22, 1868 - May 12 (24), 1868), Lyubov (1869-1926), Fyodor (1871-1922) and Alexei ( 1875-1878) Dostoevsky; publisher creative heritage Fyodor Mikhailovich. Known as one of the first philatelists in Russia.
Biography
Born in St. Petersburg, in the family of a petty official Grigory Ivanovich Snitkin. Since childhood, I have been reading the works of Dostoevsky. Student of shorthand courses.
From October 4, 1866, as a stenographer and copyist, she participated in the preparation for publication of the novel "The Gambler" by F. M. Dostoevsky. On February 15, 1867, Anna Grigoryevna became the writer's wife, and two months later the Dostoevskys went abroad, where they remained for more than four years (until July 1871).
On the way to Germany, the couple stopped for a few days in Vilna. On the building, located at the place where the hotel where the Dostoevskys stayed, was located, a memorial plaque was opened in December 2006 (sculptor Romualdas Kvintas).
Heading south to Switzerland, the Dostoevskys stopped at Baden, where at first Fyodor Mikhailovich won 4,000 francs at roulette, but he could not stop and lost everything that happened to him, not excluding his dress and his wife's things. For almost a year they lived in Geneva, where the writer worked desperately, and sometimes needed the bare necessities. On March 6 (February 22), 1868, their first daughter, Sophia, was born; but on May 24 (12), 1868 at the age three months the child died, to the indescribable despair of the parents. In 1869, in Dresden, the Dostoevskys had a daughter, Lyubov (d. 1926).
Upon the return of the spouses to St. Petersburg, their sons Fedor (July 16, 1871 - 1922) and Alexei (August 10, 1875 - May 16, 1878) were born to them. The brightest period in the life of the novelist began, in a beloved family, with a kind and intelligent wife, who took into her own hands all the economic issues of his activities (money and publishing) and soon freed her husband from debts. Since 1871, Dostoevsky gave up roulette forever. Anna Grigorievna arranged the life of the writer and did business with publishers and printing houses, she herself published his works. dedicated to her last novel writer "The Brothers Karamazov" (1879-1880).
In the year of Dostoevsky's death (1881), Anna Grigorievna turned 35 years old. She did not remarry. After the writer's death, she collected his manuscripts, letters, documents, photographs. Organized in 1906 a room dedicated to Fyodor Mikhailovich in the Historical Museum in Moscow. Since 1929, her collection moved to the F. M. Dostoevsky Museum-Apartment in Moscow.
Anna Grigoryevna compiled and published in 1906 " Bibliographic index works and works of art related to the life and work of F. M. Dostoevsky" and the catalog "Museum in memory of F. M. Dostoevsky in the Imperial Russian historical museum name Alexander III in Moscow, 1846-1903". Her books The Diary of A. G. Dostoevskaya 1867 (published in 1923) and Memoirs of A. G. Dostoevskaya (published in 1925) are an important source for the biography of the writer.
Anna Grigorievna died in Yalta in the hungry military year of 1918. After 50 years, in 1968, her ashes were transferred to the Alexander Nevsky Lavra and buried next to her husband's grave.
Bibliography
"Diary of A.G. Dostoevskaya 1867" (1923)
"Memoirs of A.G. Dostoevskaya" (1925).
Memory
Movies
- 1980 - Soviet Feature Film"Twenty-six Days in the Life of Dostoevsky". Stage director - Alexander Zarkhi. In the role of A. G. Dostoevskaya - the famous Soviet and Russian actress Evgenia Simonova.
- 2010 - documentary film "Anna Dostoevskaya. Letter to husband. Stage director - Igor Nurislamov. In the role of A. G. Dostoevskaya - Olga Kirsanova-Miropolskaya. Produced by the producer center "ATK-Studio".
Literature
- Grossman L.P.A.G. Dostoevskaya and her “Memoirs” [Introduction. Art.] // Memoirs of A. G. Dostoevskaya. - M.-L., 1925.
- Dostoevsky A.F. Anna Dostoevskaya // Women of the world. - 1963. - No. 10.
- Brief literary encyclopedia in 9 volumes. - M .: " Soviet Encyclopedia", 1964. - T. 2.
- Kissin B. M. Country of Philately. - M.: Communication, 1980. - S. 182.
- Mazur P. Who was the first philatelist? // Philately of the USSR. - 1974. - No. 9. - S. 11.
- Strygin A. Women's theme in philately. Some thoughts about collecting stamps // NG - Collection. - 2001. - No. 3 (52). - 7 March.
Is one of the first famous women Russia, fond of philately. The beginning of her collection was laid in 1867, in Dresden. The reason for this was the dispute between Anna Grigoryevna and Fyodor Mikhailovich about the female character:
“I was very indignant in my husband that he rejected in the women of my generation any restraint of character, any persistent and prolonged striving to achieve the intended goal.<...>
For some reason, this argument provoked me, and I announced to my husband that I would prove to him by my personal example that a woman could pursue the idea that attracted her attention for years. And since at the present moment<...>I don’t see any big task ahead of me, then I’ll start at least with the lesson you just indicated, and from today I’ll start collecting stamps.
No sooner said than done. I dragged Fyodor Mikhailovich into the first stationery shop I came across and bought (“with my own money”) a cheap album for sticking stamps on. At home, I immediately made stamps from the received three or four letters from Russia and thus laid the foundation for the collection. Our hostess, learning of my intention, rummaged through the letters and gave me some old Thurn-Taxis and the Saxon Kingdom. Thus began my collection of postage stamps, and it has been going on for forty-nine years ... From time to time, I boasted to my husband about the number of stamps that were added, and he sometimes laughed at this weakness of mine. (From the book “Memoirs of A. G. Dostoevskaya.”)”
"I'd be happier without you"
The object of desire 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. The husband lost position after position - and now the family found themselves in Semipalatinsk, which is difficult to call a city. Lack of money, broken girlish dreams of balls and beautiful princes - everything made her dissatisfied with marriage. How nice it was to feel the look of Dostoevsky's burning eyes on me, to feel desired.
In August 1855, Maria's husband died. And Dostoevsky proposed to his beloved woman. Did Mary love him? More likely no than yes. Pity - yes, but not the love and understanding that the writer, who suffered from loneliness, so longed to receive. But vital pragmatism took its toll. Isaeva, 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, Fyodor Dostoevsky and Maria Isaeva got married. In 1860, thanks to the help of friends, Dostoevsky received permission to return to St. Petersburg.
How things have changed since the 1940s! Majority creative people publish newspapers and magazines. Dostoevsky was no exception. In January 1861, together with his brother, he began publishing the monthly review Vremya. Despite the joy that a literary creation gives, the body can hardly endure such an exhausting mode of life. Epilepsy attacks become more frequent. Family life does not bring peace at all. Constant quarrels with his wife, her reproaches: “I should not have married you. I would be happier without you."
"I love her, but I don't want to love her anymore"
The meeting with the young Appolinaria Suslova stirred up Dostoevsky's feelings, which seemed to have faded forever. Acquaintance happened quite banally. Suslova brought the story to the magazine. Dostoevsky liked it, and he wanted to communicate more with the author. These meetings gradually grew into an urgent need for the editor-in-chief, he could no longer do without them.
It is difficult to imagine people more inappropriate for each other than Dostoevsky and Suslova. She is a feminist, he was of the opinion about the primacy of men. She was interested revolutionary ideas, he is a conservative and supporter of the monarchy. At first, Polina became interested in Dostoevsky as a well-known editor and writer. He is a former exile, which means he is a victim of the regime she hates! However, disappointment soon set in. Instead of strong personality which she hoped to find, the young girl saw a shy, sick man, whose lonely soul dreamed of understanding.
The writer suggested that Apollinaria go to Europe, where nothing would distract them from their feelings. But the problems that arose with the Vremya magazine and the deterioration in the well-being of his wife Maria Dmitrievna, whom the doctors strongly recommended to be taken away from St. Petersburg, did not allow her dreams to come true. Dostoevsky persuaded Suslova to go alone, without him. From impatience to quickly change the situation, she left for Paris and persistently began to call him in letters.
However, he was in no hurry to meet. Only excited by the fact that his mistress suddenly fell silent - for the last three weeks he had not received a single line from her - the writer set off. True, the sudden silence of Apollinaria did not prevent Fyodor Mikhailovich from staying for three days in Wiesbaden and trying his luck at roulette. Three days passed, the passion was quenched, the prize, almost the only case in Dostoevsky's life when the roulette wheel favored him, was divided between the dying wife and the mistress waiting on the banks of the Seine. During these three days there was no news from her, but a letter was waiting for him in Paris, which Apollinaria left a week before her friend arrived. “Very recently, I dreamed of going to Italy with you, but everything changed in a few days. You once said that I could not give my heart away soon. I gave it away in a week at the first call, without a struggle, without confidence, almost without hope that they would love me Farewell, dear!” Dostoevsky read the confession.
His girlfriend did not develop a new romance: her lover, a Spanish student Salvador, avoided meetings after a couple of weeks. Witness these love experiences Apollinaria involuntarily turned out to be Dostoevsky. She then ran away from him, then returned again. At seven in the morning she got out of bed after a sleepless night and shared her doubts and hopes, dragged him through the Parisian streets, counting on a chance meeting with Salvador.
“Apollinaria is a sick egoist,” the writer complained to his sister Suslova after their final break. – The selfishness and pride in her are colossal I still love her to this day, I love her very much, but I would no longer want to love her. She doesn't deserve this kind of love. I feel sorry for her, because I foresee that she will be unhappy forever.
last love
The year 1864 became one of the hardest years in Dostoevsky's life. In the spring, his wife Maria dies of consumption, and in the summer, his brother Michael. Trying to forget himself, Dostoevsky delves into the solution of pressing problems. After the death of Mikhail, there were debts of 25 thousand rubles. Saving his brother's family from complete ruin, Fyodor Mikhailovich issues bills against the required debts in his name, takes relatives to provide.
And then the well-known St. Petersburg publisher-dealer Stellovsky appeared, offering Dostoevsky three thousand rubles for the publication of his three-volume collection. An additional clause to the contract was the obligation of the writer to write a new novel on account of the money already paid, the manuscript of which had to be submitted no later than November 1, 1866. Dostoevsky agrees to these onerous conditions. By the beginning of October, the writer had not yet written a single line of the future novel. The situation was simply catastrophic. Realizing that he himself would not have time to write a novel, Dostoevsky decides to resort to the help of a stenographer who would write down what the writer dictated. So a young assistant appeared in Dostoevsky's house - Anna Grigoryevna Snitkina. At first, they didn’t like each other, in the process of working on the book they get closer, imbued with warm feelings.
Dostoevsky understands that he fell in love with Anna, but is afraid to confess his feelings, fearing rejection. Then he told her a fictitious story about an old artist who fell in love with a young girl. What would she do in this girl's place? Of course, the insightful Anna, by her nervous trembling, by the face of the writer, immediately understands who the true characters of this story are. The girl’s answer is simple: “I would answer you that I love you and will love you all my life.” The lovers were married in February 1867.
For Anna, family life begins with trouble. The young wife was immediately disliked by the writer's relatives, the stepson, Pyotr Isaev, was especially zealous. Not working anywhere, living at the expense of his stepfather, Isaev saw Anna as a rival, feared for his future. He decided to get the young stepmother out of the house with various petty meanness, insults and slander. Realizing that this cannot go on any longer and a little more, and she will simply run away from this house, Anna persuades Dostoevsky to go abroad.
A four-year wandering in a foreign land begins. In Germany, Dostoevsky again awakens a craving for roulette. Loses all brought family savings. Dostoevsky returns with confession to his wife. She does not scold him, realizing that her Fedor simply cannot resist this passion.
After returning to St. Petersburg, a bright streak finally sets in in Dostoevsky's life. He is working on The Diary of a Writer, writes the most famous novel"The Brothers Karamazov", children are born. And all the time next to him is his life support - his wife Anna, understanding and loving.
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