Interesting facts about the life of Dostoevsky. Origin and early years
Dostoevsky's life was not easy: he was poor all his life, suffered setbacks in his personal life for a long time, he was almost executed, but the death sentence was commuted to hard labor, depriving him of everything he had. Despite all the difficulties, the writer never left literature, and the difficulties only sharpened the understanding of human characters and the circumstances under the influence of which they were formed. moved to the pages of his books, giving vitality, helped the works become classics of world literature.
- Dostoevsky was born in the family of a doctor and the daughter of a merchant, his grandfather was a priest in the Ukrainian village of Voytovtsy. But such interesting facts from the life of Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky as his family tree from Polish nobles and their moving to Russian Empire after the partition of the Commonwealth, became known after the death of the writer, when his wife began compiling the genealogical tree of the family.
- By profession, Dostoevsky was an engineer, but the years spent at the school, considered wasted time
. All this time he dreamed of literature and after training, having worked for a year in the St. Petersburg engineering team, he resigned with the rank of lieutenant and began to write.
- Dostoevsky's first novel, Poor People, received the most commendable reviews from readers and critics, but no one accepted the second. The "Double" became a disappointment for fans of the new genius of literature, because of quarrels, Dostoevsky left the literary circle of V. Belinsky and stopped publishing in Sovremennik.
- Friends and employees characterized Fedor Mikhailovich as an evil, depraved and envious person.. He could treat servants with arrogance and contempt, but he himself considered himself the best of people. The second wife wrote about him as a generous, kind, selfless and compassionate person.
- On November 13, 1849, Dostoevsky and other Petrashevites, as state criminals, were sentenced to death by firing squad, but a week later the writer was sentenced to 8 years of hard labor, and at the end of the month to 4 years of hard labor, followed by service as a simple soldier. They also took away all the rights, status, titles, titles of nobility.
- In 1856, the convict Dostoevsky was transferred from Omsk to Semipalatinsk.. From a private, he was promoted to junior officer, and soon he received the title, but only thanks to the amnesty of the Decembrists and Petrashevists, which was announced by Alexander II.
- During the penal servitude, the convicts were forbidden to read any literature, but in Tobolsk, from the wives of the Decembrists, Dostoevsky and other Petrashevites secretly received the Gospel, in each of which 10 rubles were pasted. Fyodor Mikhailovich kept the book all his life and bequeathed it to his eldest son.
- The personal life of the writer did not develop for a long time, the first time he married at the age of 36 to Maria Isaeva, but the marriage was not happy due to betrayal and complex characters spouses.
- Hiding from creditors, Dostoevsky fled to Europe, where he lived for 4 years.. In the same place, he became addicted to gambling, lowered everything to the penny at roulette, which amassed huge debts. The second wife helped the writer get rid of the game.
- The second time Dostoevsky married 20-year-old Anna Snitkina. The writer was then 45 years old, but this did not prevent the spouses from loving each other, Fedor Mikhailovich, received the conditions in which he could work without being distracted by the surrounding problems - Anna Grigorievna took over all the household chores and financial affairs. She began to publish and sell her husband's novels, without using the services of intermediaries, earning thousands of rubles on this, but giving everything to creditors.
- Dostoevsky wrote the novel The Gambler in 26 days, dictating it to stenographer and future wife Anna Snitkina. The urgency was justified by a contract with the publisher Strelovsky, who acquired the right to print all the works of the writer without payment, and demanded that the new novel. Anna remained her husband's stenographer until his death.
- When Dostoevsky worked, there was always a glass of strong tea next to him, and in the dining room, even at night, a samovar was kept hot for him. The author himself said that even if the light fails, he will still drink tea.
- In the 20-60s of the 20th century, the Soviet authorities did not favor Dostoevsky - his works were not banned, but they were not studied at schools and universities, they were not published in full. Books were rehabilitated only when their success in the West outweighed accusations of counter-revolutionary ideas and anti-Semitism. They justified the author with the words that he got confused, stumbled and therefore walked the path not bequeathed by Lenin.
- Dostoevsky was a very famous writer during his lifetime, but only after his death did he receive worldwide fame.. His books have been translated and are still being translated into many languages of the world, most of all translations have been made into German.
- In 2007, the eighth translation of The Brothers Karamazov was published in Japan and became a bestseller, which indicates the relevance of the issues of reason, justice, spirituality and others that Dostoevsky set for himself and society more than 150 years ago.
Dostoevsky is one of the most famous writers not only in Russia, but all over the world. His works are popular, they are republished and translated, performances and films are staged on them, but at the same time his biography remains full of unknown, but interesting facts. 
Influence on world figures
Thinkers greatly appreciated Dostoevsky's work. Nietzsche considered Fyodor Mikhailovich a psychologist from whom he could learn. Einstein admitted that our thinker told him more than any scientist. Freud also appreciated his work, who put him on a par with Shakespeare himself. Lenin constantly criticized the work of the great writer for obvious reasons. In the sensational novel, it is the revolutionaries who are presented by the writer as "demons" who lead the people astray. Many laureates, for example, Nobel Prize in literature, they still call Dostoevsky one of their teachers.
The second wife is twenty-five years younger!
Dostoevsky himself was influenced by his nineteen year old wife. Initially, she, as a stenographer, helped the writer create a novel. After the wedding, the young wife Anna was with the writer until his last moments. By the way, the first wife died of tuberculosis, like Fyodor Mikhailovich's mother.
Romance in twenty-one days...
Why such a rush to write novels? Such volume, such philosophical themes many are able to “master” it only in a few years ... Dostoevsky wrote on credit! After his first novel, which was enthusiastically received by the public, the publishers paid the writer for his texts in advance, but only the deadlines were short. So I had to create "drunkenly", seek help from the stenographer Anna and not always check my works.
The hero "player" is written off from himself?
So it is, Fedor Mikhailovich was fond of gambling, especially roulette. He practically could not live without this passion. Naturally, he did not always win. That is why the feelings of the protagonist of his novel "The Gambler" are familiar to him firsthand. How this novel was created in record time.
Desperate tea drinker
Dostoevsky treated many things with passion, even bigotry. Even the usual tea drink here is no exception. The writer claimed that he would prefer a glass of tea to the whole world. When the novelist was writing, he always had a mug of tea on his table, and a hot samovar was waiting in another room.
peter singer
With the same fanaticism, Fyodor Mikhailovich treated the northern capital, again and again singing it in his work. This attitude was most like an obsession, because the writer also testified that this city “presses” a person, and a bad climate, and social discord, poverty, dirt. However, Dostoevsky saw the brilliance of the city, and the beauty of its nature, and the monumentality of architecture ... St. Petersburg, according to many critics, acts in the novels not just as a background, but as another hero. Moscow did not influence the writer in the same way, although he was born there and studied at a boarding house. Young Dostoevsky arrived in St. Petersburg, enrolling in an engineering school.
creative brothers
Interestingly, Fedor studied there along with his older brother Mikhail. Both of them felt in themselves a humanitarian talent and writing talent, but their father did not believe in seriousness " creative career". He insisted that his sons get a "normal" engineering profession. But according to the recollections of both, they dreamed of writing, and also devoted their time to reading classical works- Russian and foreign literature. 
Fedor even took up the translation and publication of works French writer Balzac. The Dostoevsky brothers are organizing a literary circle at the school!
In the future, Mikhail Fyodorovich Dostoevsky, like his younger brother, devoted himself to literature, but in a slightly different way. He published his own magazine. The first works of Fedor were even printed there.
The image of the head of the family
It was Dostoevsky's father, Fyodor Andreevich, who greatly influenced the character and worldview of the future writer. Their family was quite large - eight children, although not poor. Father - a doctor by profession - came from ancient family gentry who transferred to Russian citizenship. Dostoevsky's grandfather was the archpriest of the whole city. It is interesting that Dostoevsky never found out about the beginning of his kind since the time of the Commonwealth. Their family tree his wife took over after his death. Returning to the image of the father, we need to add a sad fact - he was killed by serfs.
Father king?
Many who have read the novel "The Idiot" should know that the image of the hero Dostoevskaya also drew from himself. The moment before the execution is known, when Fyodor Mikhailovich's whole short life flashed before his eyes. But few people know that at the last moment Tsar Nicholas I replaced the execution with a long exile, thanks to the monarch's positive assessment of the work of the young freethinker. 
The Divine Role of the Gospel
In exile, namely, the wife of Fonvizin, presented young man this holy book. Due to censorship, Dostoevsky was not allowed to read or write anything else. They didn't even give me a pencil! And for two years he re-read only this book, making thousands of notes in the margins with his fingernail.
Moreover, he did not part with this Book until the very end.
Interestingly, after this "second chance" Dostoevsky reconsidered his life. As if he had not one, but two ... Perhaps this explains the combination of love and hate, energy and apathy, visits to gambling and even brothels and knowledge of the sacred Gospel by heart.
The very image of Dostoevsky is a complete contradiction, and his books also do not have an unambiguous interpretation.
Fyodor Dostoevsky is generally recognized literary classic. He is considered one of the best novelists in the world and the finest expert on human psychology.
Apart from writing activity he was an outstanding philosopher and deep thinker. Many of his quotes have entered the golden fund of world thought.
In the biography of Dostoevsky, as in, there were many controversial points, which we will tell you about right now.
So, your attention is invited to the biography of Fyodor Dostoevsky.
Brief biography of Dostoevsky
Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky was born on November 11, 1821 in. His father, Mikhail Andreevich, was a physician, and during his life he managed to work both in the military and in ordinary hospitals.
Mother, Maria Feodorovna, was a merchant's daughter. To feed their families and give their children a good education, parents had to work from dawn to dusk.
Growing up, Fedor Mikhailovich repeatedly thanked his father and mother for all that they had done for him.
Childhood and youth of Dostoevsky
Maria Fedorovna independently taught her little son to read. To do this, she used a book that described biblical events.
Fedya really liked the Old Testament book of Job. He admired this righteous man, who had many difficult trials.
Later, all this knowledge and childhood impressions will form the basis of some of his works. It is worth noting that the head of the family was also not aloof from training. He taught his son Latin.
There were seven children in the Dostoevsky family. Fedor had a special affection for his older brother Misha.
Later, N. I. Drashusov became the teacher of both brothers, who was also helped by his sons.
Special signs of Fyodor Dostoevsky Education
In 1834, for 4 years, Fedor and Mikhail studied at the prestigious Moscow boarding house of L. I. Chermak.
At this time, the first tragedy occurred in Dostoevsky's biography. The mother died of consumption.
After mourning his dear wife, the head of the family decided to send Misha and Fedor to so that they could continue their studies there.
The father arranged for both sons in the boarding house of K. F. Kostomarov. And although he knew that the boys were addicted, he dreamed that in the future they would become engineers.
Fyodor Dostoevsky did not argue with his father and entered the school. However, the student devoted all his free time from study. He read the works of Russian and foreign classics day and night.
In 1838, in his biography, an important event: together with his friends he managed to create a literary circle. It was then that he first became seriously interested in writing.
After graduating after 5 years of study, Fedor got a job as an engineer-lieutenant in a St. Petersburg brigade. However, he soon resigned from this position and plunged headlong into literature.
The beginning of a creative biography
Despite objections from some family members, Dostoevsky still did not retreat from his passion, which gradually became the meaning of life for him.
He diligently wrote novels, and soon enough he achieved success in this field. In 1844, his first book, Poor People, was published, which received many flattering reviews, both from critics and from ordinary readers.
Thanks to this, Fyodor Mikhailovich was accepted into the popular "Belinsky circle", in which they began to call him "new".
His next work was "Double". This time, the success did not repeat, but rather the opposite - the devastating criticism of the failed novel was waiting for the young genius.
"Double" got a mass negative reviews because for most readers this book was completely incomprehensible. An interesting fact is that later her innovative writing style was highly appreciated by critics.
Soon the members of the "Belinsky circle" asked Dostoevsky to leave their society. This happened because of the young writer's scandal with and.
However, at that time, Fyodor Dostoevsky already had quite a lot of popularity, so he was gladly accepted into other literary communities.
Arrest and hard labor
In 1846, an event occurred in Dostoevsky's biography that influenced his entire subsequent life. He met M. V. Petrashevsky, who was the organizer of the so-called “Fridays”.
"Fridays" were meetings of like-minded people, at which participants criticized the actions of the king and discussed various laws. In particular, questions were raised regarding the abolition of serfdom and freedom of speech in.
At one of the meetings, Fyodor Mikhailovich met the communist N. A. Speshnev, who soon formed secret society consisting of 8 people.
This group of people advocated a coup in the state and the formation of an underground printing house.
In 1848, another novel “White Nights” was published from the writer’s pen, which was warmly received by the public, and already in the spring of 1849 he was arrested along with the rest of the Petrashevites.
They are accused of attempting a coup d'état. For about half a year Dostoevsky is kept in Peter and Paul Fortress, and in the autumn the court sentences him to death.
Fortunately, the sentence was not carried out, because at the last moment the execution was replaced with eight years of hard labor. Soon the king softened the punishment even more, reducing the term from 8 to 4 years.
After hard labor, the writer was called to serve as an ordinary soldier. It is curious to note that this fact from the biography of Dostoevsky was the first case in Russia when a convict was allowed to be in the service.
Thanks to this, he again became a full-fledged citizen of the state, having the same rights that he had before his arrest.
The years spent in hard labor greatly influenced the views of Fyodor Dostoevsky. After all, in addition to the exhausting physical labor he also suffered from loneliness, since ordinary prisoners at first did not want to communicate with him because of his noble title.
In 1856, Alexander II came to the throne and granted amnesty to all the Petrashevites. At that time, 35-year-old Fedor Mikhailovich was already a fully formed personality with deep religious views.
The heyday of Dostoevsky's work
In 1860, Dostoevsky's collected works were published. His appearance did not arouse much interest in the reader. However, after the publication of Notes from dead house”, popularity returns to the writer again.
Fedor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky The fact is that the “Notes” describes in detail the life and suffering of convicts, which most ordinary citizens did not even think about.
In 1861, Dostoevsky, together with his brother Mikhail, created the magazine Vremya. After 2 years, this publishing house closed, after which the brothers began to publish another magazine - Epoch.
Both magazines made the Dostoevskys very famous, since they published any works in them. own composition. However, after 3 years, a black streak begins in Dostoevsky's biography.
In 1864, Mikhail Dostoevsky died, and a year later the publishing house itself was closed, since it was Mikhail who was the engine of the entire enterprise. In addition, Fedor Mikhailovich has accumulated a lot of debts.
The difficult financial situation forced him to sign an extremely disadvantageous contract with the publisher Stelovsky.
At the age of 45, Dostoevsky finished writing one of his most famous novels, Crime and Punishment. This book brought him absolute recognition and universal fame during his lifetime.
In 1868, another epoch-making novel, The Idiot, was published. Later, the writer admitted that this book was given to him extremely hard.
Dostoevsky's office in the last apartment in St. Petersburg His next works were the equally famous Possessed, The Teenager and The Brothers Karamazov (many consider this book to be the most important in Dostoevsky's biography).
After the release of these novels, Fyodor Mikhailovich began to be considered a perfect connoisseur of the human, capable of conveying in detail the deepest feelings and true experiences of any person.
Dostoevsky's personal life
The first wife of Fyodor Dostoevsky was Maria Isaeva. Their marriage union lasted 7 years, until her death.
In the 60s, during his stay abroad, Dostoevsky met Apollinaria Suslova, with whom he began romantic relationship. Interestingly, the girl became the prototype of Nastasya Filippovna in The Idiot.
Second and last spouse Anna Snitkina became the writer. Their marriage lasted 14 years, until the death of Fyodor Mikhailovich. They had two sons and two daughters.
Anna Grigoryevna Dostoevskaya (nee Snitkina), the "main" woman in the writer's life For Dostoevsky, Anna Grigorievna was not only a faithful wife, but also an indispensable assistant in his writing.
Moreover, all financial issues lay on her shoulders, which she masterfully solved, thanks to her foresight and insight.
Carry it to last way a huge number of people came. Perhaps then no one guessed that they were contemporaries of one of the most prominent writers humanity.
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With a death sentence and penal servitude, stormy romances and roulette games, burnt manuscripts and The Gambler, written in 26 days... We recall interesting facts from the life of Fyodor Dostoevsky.
The Dostoevsky clan of the coat of arms Radvan
On the side of his father, the writer came from the gentry family of the Dostoevskys of the Radvan coat of arms, dating back to 1506. The ancestor of the family was considered the boyar Daniil Irtishch. He acquired the village of Dostoevo in the Belarusian Polesie, from its name the writer's surname originated. Fyodor Dostoevsky did not know such details about his ancestors: the writer's wife, Anna Dostoevsky, began to study the family tree only after his death.
Lost Manuscripts
The first works of Fyodor Dostoevsky - theatrical plays - have not been preserved. In the early 1840s, while studying at the Engineering School of St. Petersburg, the aspiring writer worked on three dramas - "Mary Stuart", "Boris Godunov" and "Jew Yankel". He read excerpts from his works to his brother Mikhail. Today, the manuscripts are considered lost.
New Gogol
Fyodor Dostoevsky wrote his first novel, Poor People, in 1845. The writer Dmitry Grigorovich, who lived with Dostoevsky in the same apartment, gave the manuscript to Nikolai Nekrasov. He read the work in one night and the next day took the manuscript to Vissarion Belinsky, saying about the author: "New Gogol has appeared!" Later, Nekrasov published the novel in his new almanac Petersburg Collection.
"Death penalty by firing squad"
This was the verdict that the Military Judicial Commission pronounced on Dostoevsky in the "case of the Petrashevites." The writer got into Petrashevsky's circle in the late 1840s. Many topical issues were discussed here - the abolition of serfdom, freedom of the press, and reforms. Fyodor Dostoyevsky was arrested for publicly reading Belinsky's forbidden letter. The fact that the execution would be a staging, and the prisoners would go to hard labor, was announced to the convicts at the very last moment. The feelings of a man sentenced to death, Fyodor Dostoevsky later described in the novel The Idiot.
Secret Gospel
Dostoevsky was heading to the Omsk jail through Tobolsk. Here he met with the wives of the exiled Decembrists Josefina Muravieva, Praskovya Annenkova and Natalya Fonvizina. They gave the Petrashevites the Gospel - the only book that was allowed in prison. Dostoevsky did not part with her all his life. Today the book is stored in the museum-apartment of the writer in Moscow.
“I will only say that participation, lively sympathy, almost a whole lot of happiness rewarded us. The exiles of the old time (that is, not them, but their wives) took care of us as if they were family. What wonderful souls, experienced by 25 years of grief and selflessness. We caught a glimpse of them, for we were kept strictly. But they sent us food, clothes, consoled and encouraged us.”
Fedor Dostoevsky
"A new era is before us..."
In exile, Dostoevsky learned about the death of Emperor Nicholas I and wrote a poem dedicated to his widow, Empress Alexandra Feodorovna - "On European events in 1854", as well as poems for the coronation of Alexander II - "On the first of July 1855", "On the coronation and the conclusion of peace. On the day of the coronation of Alexander II in 1856, a pardon was announced to the Petrashevites, but Dostoevsky's "loyal" poems were not published during his lifetime.
A new era is before us.
Sweet dawn hopes
Rises bright before the eyes ...
God bless the king!Fyodor Dostoevsky, excerpt from the poem "To the coronation and the conclusion of peace"
"Time" and "Epoch"
Fyodor Dostoevsky and his older brother Mikhail (also a writer) published the literary and political magazine Vremya, and after its closure, they published the magazine Epoch. For the first time, the works “Humiliated and Insulted”, “Notes from the House of the Dead”, “Bad Anecdote”, “Winter Notes on Summer Impressions” and “Notes from the Underground” appeared on the pages of publications for the first time.
Passion according to Dostoevsky
In 1862, the writer went abroad for the first time. He traveled to Germany, France, England, Switzerland, Italy and Austria. In Europe, the writer first became interested in playing roulette, and later he met Apollinaria Suslova, the wife of Vasily Rozanov. Between Dostoevsky and Suslova, a short but stormy romance broke out. Fyodor Dostoevsky described his love experiences in the novel The Gambler, and Apollinaria Suslova became the prototype of Nastasya Filippovna in The Idiot.
Romance in 26 days
Fyodor Dostoevsky signed a contract for the publication of the novel due to debts. Under the terms of this agreement, he had to submit a new novel by November 1, 1866. In case of violation of the contract, the publisher received the right to publish all the works of the writer free of charge for 9 years.
Dostoevsky was writing Crime and Punishment with enthusiasm when he remembered his obligations. The writer hired a professional stenographer, Anna Snitkina. Using his experience from a trip abroad, from October 4 to October 29, he dictated to her the text of a new novel - "The Gambler". The work was handed over on time, and a week after that, Dostoevsky proposed to Anna Snitkina, who was 25 years younger than the writer.
put on fire
Fyodor Dostoevsky was related to Nikolai Gogol not only by literary devices and social subjects. Like his predecessor, Dostoevsky sometimes burned his manuscripts. In 1871, returning to Russia from abroad, the writer burned draft versions of The Idiot, The Eternal Husband and The Possessed. However, his wife insisted that the writer keep some of the drafts and excerpts from the works.
Zheg Dostoevsky and "Crime and Punishment": the writer added and redrawn it more than once. Dostoevsky wrote to his friend Baron Wrangel: “At the end of November, a lot was written and ready; I burned everything; Now I can admit it... New form, the new plan captivated me, and I started again ".
Dostoevsky Fyodor Mikhailovich (1821 - 1881) - Great Russian writer, essayist and philosopher. He made a huge contribution to Russian literature. We all know him famous works, such as "Crime and Punishment", "The Idiot", "The Brothers Karamazov", etc. In this article we will try to show you the most interesting facts about Dostoevsky Fyodor Mikhailovich.
1. It turns out that Fyodor Mikhailovich on his father's side came from the noble family of Dostoevsky, which dates back to the beginning of the 16th century. But Dostoevsky himself did not know about his family tree during his lifetime, and did not know before his death. Information about the pedigree of the writer began to be dealt with by his wife only after the death of Fedor.
3. Dostoevsky was very fond of strong and hot tea, and without it he simply could not work, so in the dining room they always kept a hot samovar at the ready.
4. The first time Dostoevsky married at the age of 36 was Maria Dmitrievna Isaeva, who at that time was the widow of his friend. But apparently the marriage was not particularly happy. Everything was especially aggravated by constant jealousy and betrayal, so Fedor himself spoke about his marriage - “We live somehow.” In 1864, Maria died of consumption, but Fedor continued to take care of her son from his first marriage.
5. Dostoevsky's father dreamed and even insisted that both of his eldest sons enter an engineering school and receive a profession of engineers that could always feed them. But the Dostoevsky brothers themselves (Fyodor and Mikhail) did not want this. They have always been drawn to literature. As a result, they both became writers.
6. The writer's favorite poet was undoubtedly. Fedor knew almost all of his works by heart. And a year before his death, he delivered a speech at the opening of the Pushkin monument in Moscow.
7. The second time Fedor Mikhailovich married in 1867 to a young, sweet and kind stenographer Anna Grigoryevna Snitkina. Unlike the first marriage, the marriage with Anna was perfect. They really loved each other. At the time of the writer's death, she was only 35 years old, but she never intended to marry again and remained faithful to her husband until the end of her days. She devoted her whole life to serving the name of Dostoevsky. She published complete collection Dostoevsky's writings, opened the Dostoevsky school, published her memoirs about him, asked her friends to compose detailed biography Fedor, etc.
8. In the novel "Crime and Punishment", when Raskolnikov hides stolen from an old woman in one of the courtyards of St. Petersburg, a real-life place was described. As Dostoevsky himself admitted, one day he turned into some deserted St. Petersburg courtyard to relieve himself there. And it was this place that he described in his famous novel.
9. In 1949, the writer was sentenced to death by a military court for having received a copy of Belinsky's criminal letter from Pleshcheev, after which he read this letter at various meetings. It never came to the death penalty, and Dostoevsky's sentence was changed to hard labor. Fedor was released in 1854.
10. From the first marriage, Dostoevsky had no children, and from the second there were already four left (Sofya, Lyubov, Fedor and Alexei). True, Sophia died a few months after birth, and Alexei died at the age of 3 years. Son Fedor continued his father's work and also became a writer.
