Fyodor Dostoevsky





Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoyevsky[note](Russian: Фёдор Миха́йлович Достое́вский; IPA: [ˈfʲodÉ™r mʲɪˈxajlÉ™vʲɪtÉ• dÉ™stɐˈjefskʲɪj] ([Image] listen); 11 November 1821 – 9 February 1881[note]), sometimes transliterated Dostoevsky, was a Russian writer of novels, short stories and essays. Dostoyevsky's literary works explore human psychology in the troubled political, social and spiritual context of 19th-century Russia. Although Dostoyevsky began writing books in the mid-1850s, his most remembered production is that from his last years, including Crime and Punishment, The Idiot and The Brothers Karamazov. He wrote eleven novels, three novellas, seventeen short novels and three essays, and is often acknowledged by critics as one of the greatest and most prominent psychologists in universal literature. Dostoyevsky was born in the Mariinsky hospital in Moscow, Russia. He was introduced to literature at an early age – fairy tales and legends, but also books by English, French, German and Russian authors. His mother's sudden death in 1837 devastated him and, at around the same time, he left school to enter the Nikolayev Military Engineering Institute. After his graduation he worked as an engineer and briefly enjoyed a liberal lifestyle. He soon began translating books to earn extra money. Around the mid-1840s he wrote his first novel, Poor Folk, through which he joined St Petersburg's literary circles. In 1849 he was arrested for his involvement with the Petrashevsky Circle, a progressive discussion group. He and other members were condemned to death, but the penalty eventually proved to be a mock execution, and Dostoyevsky's sentence was commuted to four years' hard labour in Siberia. After his release, he was forced to serve as a soldier but was discharged from the military due to his ill health and allowed to continue with his writing. In the following years Dostoyevsky worked as a journalist, publishing and editing several magazines of his own and later a serial, A Writer's Diary. When he began to travel around Western Europe, he struggled with financial issues because of his gambling addiction and, in consequence, had to face the humiliation of begging for money. He suffered from epilepsy throughout his adult life. Nevertheless, by means of his sheer energy and the volume of his work, he eventually became one of the most widely read and renowned Russian writers. His books have been translated into more than 170 languages and have sold around 15 million copies. Dostoyevsky's lasting legacy has influenced many other writers, ranging from James Joyce and Ernest Hemingway to Ayn Rand. Continue Reading »



The Karamazov Brothers
Crime and Punishment
The Brothers Karamazov
Notes from the Underground


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