Fedor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky is a generally recognized literary classic. He is considered one of the best novelists in the world and the finest expert in human psychology.

In addition to writing, 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 well as in, there were many contradictory moments and, which we will tell you about right now.

So, here is the biography of Fyodor Dostoevsky.

Brief biography of Dostoevsky

Fyodor Dostoevsky was born on November 11, 1821 c. 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 Fedorovna, was a merchant's daughter. To feed their families and give their children a good education, parents had to work from dawn to dawn.

Having matured, Fyodor Mikhailovich repeatedly thanked his father and mother for everything that they had done for him.

Dostoevsky's childhood and adolescence

Maria Feodorovna taught her little son to read on her own. To do this, she used a book that described biblical events.

Fedya was very fond of the Old Testament book of Job. He admired this righteous man, who faced 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.

The Dostoevsky family had seven children. Fedor felt 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 school of L. I. Chermak.

At this time, the first tragedy occurred in the biography of Dostoevsky. Mother died of consumption.

Having mourned for 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 KF Kostomarov's boarding school. And although he knew that boys were carried away, 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 studies. He read the works of Russian and foreign classics day and night.

In 1838, an important event took place in his biography: he, together with his friends, managed to create a literary circle. It was then that he first became seriously interested in writing.

After completing his studies after 5 years, Fedor got a job as an engineer-second lieutenant in one of the St. Petersburg brigades. 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 give up his passion, which gradually became the meaning of life for him.

He diligently wrote novels, and soon enough achieved success in this field. In 1844, his first book, Poor People, was published, receiving 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 "The Double". This time, the success did not repeat itself, but rather the opposite - devastating criticism of the failed novel awaited the young genius.

The Double received a lot of negative reviews, as for most of the readers this book was completely incomprehensible. An interesting fact is that later her innovative writing style was highly praised by critics.

Soon the members of Belinsky's circle asked Dostoevsky to leave their society. This happened due to the scandal of the young writer with and.

However, at that point in time, Fyodor Dostoevsky already had a fairly large popularity, so he was gladly accepted into other literary communities.

Arrest and hard labor

In 1846, an event occurred in the biography of Dostoevsky that influenced his entire subsequent life. He met MV 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 c.

At one of the meetings, Fyodor Mikhailovich met the communist N. A. Speshnev, who soon formed a secret society consisting of 8 people.

This group of people advocated the implementation of a coup in the state and for the formation of an underground printing house.

In 1848, another novel "White Nights" was published from the pen of the writer, which was warmly received by the public, and in the spring of 1849 he, along with the rest of the Petrashevites, was arrested.

They are charged with attempted coup d'état. For about six months Dostoevsky was kept in the Peter and Paul Fortress, and in the fall the court sentenced him to death.

Fortunately, the sentence was not carried out, since at the last moment the execution was commuted to 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 up to serve as an ordinary soldier. It is curious to note that this fact from Dostoevsky's biography was the first time in Russia when a convict was allowed to serve.

Thanks to this, he again became a full citizen of the state, enjoying the same rights that he had before his arrest.

The years spent in hard labor greatly influenced the views of Fyodor Dostoevsky. Indeed, in addition to exhausting physical labor, he also suffered from loneliness, since ordinary prisoners at first did not want to communicate with him because of his title of nobility.

In 1856 he was on the throne (see), who amnestied all Petrashevites. At that time, 35-year-old Fyodor Mikhailovich was already a fully formed person with deep religious views.

The flourishing of Dostoevsky's creativity

In 1860 the collected works of Dostoevsky were published. Its appearance did not arouse much interest in the reader. However, after the publication of "Notes from the House of the Dead", the popularity of the writer returns again.

Fedor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky

The fact is that the "Notes" describes in detail the life and sufferings of convicts, which the majority of ordinary citizens did not even think about.

In 1861, Dostoevsky, together with his brother Mikhail, created the Vremya magazine. After 2 years, this publishing house was closed, after which the brothers began to publish another magazine - "Epoch".

Both magazines made the Dostoevskys very famous, since they published any works of their own composition in them. However, after 3 years, a black streak begins in the biography of Dostoevsky.

In 1864, Mikhail Dostoevsky dies, and a year later the publishing house itself is closed, since it was Mikhail who was the engine of the entire enterprise. In addition, Fyodor 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 study in his last apartment in St. Petersburg

His next works were the no less famous "Demons", "Teenager" and "The Brothers Karamazov" (this book is considered by many to be the most important in the biography of Dostoevsky).

After the release of these novels, Fyodor Mikhailovich began to be considered a perfect connoisseur of the human, capable of conveying in detail the deep feelings and genuine experiences of any person.

Dostoevsky's personal life

The first wife of Fyodor Dostoevsky was Maria Isaeva. Their marriage lasted 7 years, until her death.

In the 60s, during his stay abroad, Dostoevsky met Apollinaria Suslova, with whom he began a romantic relationship. It is interesting that the girl became the prototype for Nastasya Filippovna in The Idiot.

The second and last wife of the writer was Anna Snitkina. Their marriage lasted 14 years, until the death of Fyodor Mikhailovich. They had two sons and two daughters.

Anna Grigorievna Dostoevskaya (née Snitkina), the "main" woman in the writer's life

For Dostoevsky, Anna Grigorievna was not only a faithful wife, but also an irreplaceable assistant in his writing.

Moreover, on her shoulders lay all the financial issues that she skillfully solved, thanks to her foresight and insight.

A huge number of people came to see him on his last journey. Perhaps, then no one guessed that they were contemporaries of one of the most outstanding writers of mankind.

If you liked the biography of Dostoevsky, share it on social networks. If you generally like the biographies of great people, subscribe to the site. InteresnyeFakty.org... It's always interesting with us!

Did you like the post? Press any button.

Today the world is celebrating the birthday of one of the greatest writers in human history. Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky was born on November 11 (October 30, old style), 1821. His "great five books" - "Crime and Punishment", "The Brothers Karamazov", "Idiot", "Teenager" and "Demons" - is well known to every educated person.

It is interesting that on the same day, only a century later (1922), the outstanding American classic Kurt Vonnegut was born, who believed that in "The Brothers Karamazov" you can find "everything you need to know about life." However, the literary legacy of Fyodor Mikhailovich, of course, is by no means exhausted by the "five books". The lesser-known works of the outstanding researcher of human whims are an integral part of his work, and in them the reader can learn a lot of new and unexpected not only about the author and the world around him, but also - as it should be when reading such literature - about himself. The "RG" site decided to recall several important works from Dostoevsky's bibliography, which the modern reader often undeservedly ignores (we also suggest leaving the monumental collection "Diary of a Writer" outside the brackets - it requires a separate discussion).

1. "Poor People", novel, 1846

Dostoevsky wrote only eight novels, five of which make up the "Great Five Books". But the remaining three are definitely included in the category of necessary literature for reading. The first work in this genre by Dostoevsky, who was just becoming an independent author at that time, was written in epistolary form. Dostoevsky is credited with the phrase "we all came out of the" Gogol's overcoat ". Be that as it may, the influence of Nikolai Vasilievich on Fyodor Mikhailovich - especially the early one - is obvious. And the famous figure of the "little man" became the main theme in Dostoevsky's first major work. This book, causing an unprecedented painful melancholy in the reader, provoked a real stir in 1846 and immediately attracted attention to the young author among writers and publicists. Critics already then noted Dostoevsky's "psychological" orientation (opposing it to Gogol's "sociality", which, however, is not always true). But this was just the beginning!

2. "Humiliated and Insulted", novel, 1861

Dostoevsky wrote his next novel only 15 years later, having already returned from exile. Here, the features of the writer's work, which later became well-known, are already clearly visible. The terrible anguish that this novel evokes is in tune with the feelings that arise when reading The Idiot - and this is every time a very difficult (and useful) psychological and emotional experience. In The Humiliated and Insulted there is no such degree of permanent hysteria, which Dostoevsky masterfully maintains in The Idiot, but the terrible morbidity characteristic of the relationship between the characters in the books of the great psychologist permeates the entire work.

3. The Gambler, novel, 1866

The third major work not included by critics in the "five books" is "The Gambler". However, it cannot be said that this novel lacks attention from readers. Still, the topic of gambling has always been close and interesting to the Russian public. The history of the creation of the work is anecdotal - "The Gambler" was written in pieces by the lost Dostoevsky in order to cover the debts. And although the author found it difficult to hide from the reader that the book was written in a hurry and to fulfill a fixed-term contract, the description of the psychology of a gambler by the gambler himself, possessing Dostoevsky's literary gift and insight, is a real treasure.

4. "The Double", story, 1846

The early story of the young Dostoevsky was able to evoke approval from Turgenev and Belinsky themselves, and this, of course, at that time was the best pass to the literary environment. Here Fyodor Mikhailovich's early orientation toward the work of Gogol is especially visible. Light surrealism, to which Dostoevsky did not resort so often, reveals the dark depths of fears and ambitions of petty bureaucrats. The grotesque atmosphere and the corresponding ending - it was no coincidence that the story made an impression on the literary elite of his day.

5. "Netochka Nezvanova", story, 1848

One of Dostoevsky's strangest and most unusual works was planned as a novel. The result is a story, but the impression, despite the incompleteness, it still makes a colossal one. With unprecedented frankness even for Fyodor Mikhailovich, the mechanisms and nature of the "aberrations of consciousness" of the characters are revealed, and the intensity with which they inflict moral injuries on each other cannot but frighten.

6. "White Nights", a tale, 1848

Another heartbreaking tale of the master, which is generally distinguished by sentimentality, which is not typical for Fyodor Mikhailovich. The poetic image of the dreamer, who by the end of the book discovers stoicism, unexpected for such a character, evokes a sympathy akin to the disinterested compassion that he himself experiences. The atmosphere of the quiet white nights of imperial Petersburg, during which the drama unfolds, has such a bewitching effect that several filmmakers undertook to film a short story in the 20th century. The excellent film by the outstanding director Luchino Visconti (who, however, transferred the scenery to his native Italy) is the best recognition of the story.

7. "Notes from the House of the Dead", novella, 1860

The story "Notes from the House of the Dead", which has features of an autobiography, is an interesting document describing the life and customs of criminals who were exiled to Siberia in the Russian Empire. The types that the reader learns about from the book, Dostoevsky brought from exile. Told with the writer’s love for detail and his insight, the sketches really cannot be overestimated.

8. "Notes from the Underground", story, 1864

"Notes from the Underground" are among the works of Dostoevsky, with which one should get acquainted immediately after reading the "Great Pentateuch". No wonder this story is called the "prologue" to it and is considered a harbinger of existentialism. The problem of the "underground", into which the reflexive St. Petersburg official drives himself, remains relevant and understandable to many of our contemporaries. Reflection and inaction as a result of existential despair provoke decadence, and here there is already a danger of the habit of cruelty and full-fledged moral deformity - and, worst of all, the character himself, of course, understands all this very well. The real "Dostoyevschina" begins right here. Two years later, "Crime and Punishment" appeared.

9. "Someone else's wife and husband under the bed", story, 1860

It is interesting that while writing such a difficult book as "Notes from the House of the Dead" Fyodor Mikhailovich turned to his early humorous sketches, which resulted in the amusing story "Another's wife and husband under the bed." The name itself is typical of the vaudeville of the time. A vaudeville in the works of Dostoevsky can be found, frankly, infrequently. And how can I miss this? The story was not left unattended by the Soviet filmmakers, who in 1984 filmed it with Oleg Tabakov in the title role.

10. "Crocodile", short story, 1865

And, finally, one cannot but recall such an unusual story for Dostoevsky as "The Crocodile". It is not known whether the gloomy surrealist Franz Kafka, who was born two years after the death of the Russian writer, read it, but it is simply impossible not to remember him when reading this story. As well as Gogol's "Nose", in imitation of which, obviously, "Crocodile" was written. And the action of the work is as bizarre as it is simple: an official, swallowed entirely by a crocodile and inexplicably remaining alive, absurdly talks about the career prospects opening up to him thanks to this incident. Here Fyodor Mikhailovich attacks his political opponents from the liberal camp with particular causticity - there is much more malice and bile here than even in his other story of the same direction, "A Bad Joke".

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

Birth and family

1821, October 30 (November 11) Fedor 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). Fyodor grew up in a rather harsh environment, over which hovered the gloomy spirit of his father - a man of "nervous, irritable and proud". 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. Unless only through patients with whom Fyodor Mikhailovich, secretly from his father, sometimes spoke. There was also a nanny taken from Moscow bourgeois women for hire, whose name was Alena Frolovna. Dostoevsky recalled her with the same fondness as Pushkin recalled Arina Rodionovna. It was from her that he heard the first tales: about the Firebird, Alyosha Popovich, Bluebird, etc.

Father, Mikhail Andreevich (1789-1839), - the son of a Uniate priest, doctor (head physician, 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 Chermoshnia.

In raising his children, his 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 apoplectic stroke. However, according to the recollections of relatives and oral legends, he was killed by his peasants.

Mother, Maria Fedorovna (née Nechayeva; 1800-1837) - from a merchant family, a religious woman, took her children to the Trinity-Sergius Lavra every year. In addition, she taught them to read from the book "One hundred and four sacred stories of the Old and New Testaments" (in the novel "" memories of this book are included in the story of Elder Zosima about his childhood). In the parents' house 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.

With special animation Dostoevsky recalled in his mature years about his acquaintance with Scripture. "We in our family knew the Gospel almost from our first childhood." The Old Testament "Book of Job" also became a vivid childhood impression of the writer. Fyodor's younger brother Andrei, wrote that “Fyodor's brother read more of historical, serious, and also novels that he came across. Brother Mikhail loved poetry and wrote poetry himself ... But they put up with Pushkin, and both, it seems, then knew almost everything by heart ... ".

The death of Alexander Sergeevich 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 did not have family mourning (mother - Maria Fedorovna died), he would have asked his father's permission to mourn for Pushkin."

Dostoevsky's youth

Since 1832, the family annually spent the summer in the village of Darovoe (Tula province) bought by their father. Meetings and conversations with peasants were forever left in the memory of Dostoevsky and later served as creative material. 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 house of L.I. The teacher of the Russian language N.I.Bilevich played a certain role in the spiritual development of Dostoevsky.

Museum "Estate of Fyodor Dostoevsky in the village of Darovoe"

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 "", experiencing deep moral upheavals in the "Touchard 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 never met his father, who died in 1839 (according to official information, he died of an apoplectic stroke, according to family legends, he was killed by serfs). Dostoevsky's attitude to his father, a suspicious and morbidly suspicious person, was ambivalent.

Hardly enduring 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 in May 1837 went with his brother Mikhail to St. Petersburg and entered the preparatory boarding school of KF Kostomarov. At the same time, he met I.N.Shidlovsky, whose religious and romantic mood captivated Dostoevsky.

Dostoevsky's first literary publications

The main engineering school, where Dostoevsky F.M. studied.

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

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

The heavy impression of the "convict years" of the doctrine was partially brightened up by friendly relations with V. Grigorovich, doctor A. E. Rizenkampf, duty officer A. I. Saveliev, artist K. A. Trutovsky. Subsequently, Dostoevsky always believed that the choice of educational institution was wrong. He suffered from a military atmosphere and drills, from disciplines alien to his interests and from loneliness.

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

Konstantin Aleksandrovich 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 names - "Mary Stuart" and "Boris Godunov" - giving rise to associations with the names of F. Schiller and A. Pushkin, apparently the deepest literary hobbies of the young Dostoevsky; was also read by N. V. Gogol, E. Hoffmann, W. Scott, Georges 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 resigned with the rank of lieutenant, deciding to completely devote himself to literary creativity.

Among Dostoevsky's literary passions of that time was O. de Balzac: by translating his story "Eugene Grande" (1844, without specifying the name of the translator), the writer entered the literary field. At the same time, Dostoevsky was working on the translation of the novels by Eugene Sue and Georges Sand (they did not appear in print).

The choice of works testified to the literary tastes of the aspiring writer. In those years, he was not alien to the romantic and sentimental 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, 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 "Zhid Yankel" in January 1844. The manuscripts of the dramas have not survived, but already from their names the literary hobbies of the novice writer emerge: Schiller, Pushkin, Gogol. After the death of his father, 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 enrolled as a field engineer-second 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 resigned with the rank of lieutenant.

The novel "Poor People"

In January 1844, Dostoevsky completed the translation of Balzac's story "Eugene Grande", which at that time he was especially fond of. The translation was Dostoevsky's first published literary work. In 1844 he began and in May 1845, after numerous alterations, finished the novel "".

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

Summer 1845 (like the next) Dostoevsky spent in Revel with his brother Mikhail. In the fall of 1845, upon his return to St. Petersburg, he often met with Belinsky. In October, the writer, together with Nekrasov and Grigorovich, compiles an anonymous program announcement for the almanac "Zuboskal" (03, 1845, No. 11), and in early December, at an evening at Belinsky's, 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” changed his “convictions”. The essence of these changes, Dostoevsky formulated in the most general form as "a return to the national root, to the recognition of the Russian soul, to the recognition of the spirit of the people." In the magazines Vremya and Epoha, the Dostoevsky brothers appeared as the ideologists of “pochvennichestvo” - a specific modification of the ideas of Slavophilism.

"Soilism" was rather an attempt to outline the contours of a "general idea", to find a platform that would reconcile Westernizers and Slavophiles, "civilization" and the popular principle. Skeptical about the revolutionary ways of transforming Russia and Europe, Dostoevsky expressed these doubts in works of art, articles and announcements of Vremya, in sharp polemics with the publications of Sovremennik.

The essence of Dostoevsky's objections is the possibility, after the reform, of rapprochement between the government and the intelligentsia with the people, their peaceful cooperation. Dostoevsky continues this polemic in the story "" ("Epoch", 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. Tragedy consists in the consciousness of ugliness. I was the only one who brought out the tragedy of the underground, consisting 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 unfortunates that everyone is like that, and therefore it is not worth correcting! ”.

The Idiot novel

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, the dramatic relationship with whom (1861-1866) was reflected in the novel "", "" and other works.

In Baden-Baden, carried away, by the gambling nature of his nature, playing roulette, "all, completely to the ground" is played; this long-term passion for 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 is present at the funeral of Grigoriev. After his brother's death, Dostoevsky took upon himself the publication of the Epoch magazine, burdened with a great 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 remained indebted to creditors about 15 thousand rubles, which he was able to pay only by the end of his life. In an effort to provide conditions for work, Dostoevsky signed a contract with F.T. Stellovsky to publish his collected works and undertook to write a new novel for him by November 1, 1866.

In the spring of 1865, Dostoevsky was a frequent visitor to the family of General V.V. Korvin-Krukovsky, whose eldest daughter A.V. Korvin-Krukovskaya he was greatly attracted to. In July he left for Wiesbaden, from where in the fall of 1865 he offered Katkov a story for the Russian Bulletin, which later grew into a novel.

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

The novel "Crime and Punishment"

Petersburg and "current reality", the wealth of social characters, "the whole world of estate and professional types" are accurately and multifacetedly depicted in the novel, but this is a 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 ghost town 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 work simultaneously on two novels - "" and "". Dostoevsky resorts 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.

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

In the winter of 1867, Snitkina becomes the wife of Dostoevsky. 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, his daughter Sophia was born, whose sudden death (May of the same year) Dostoevsky was very upset. The daughter Love was born on September 14, 1869; later in Russia on July 16, 1871 - son Fedor; 12 Aug 1875 - son Alexei, who died at the age of three from an epileptic seizure.

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 tackle it. The main idea of ​​the novel is to portray a positively wonderful person. There is nothing more difficult in the world, and especially now ... "

Dostoevsky began his novel "", interrupting work on the widely conceived epics "Atheism" and "The Life of the Great Sinner" and hastily composing a "storyline" "". The immediate impetus for the creation of the novel was the "nechaev's affair".

The activities of the secret society "People's Massacre", the murder by five members of the organization of the student of the Petrovskaya Agricultural Academy I.I. Ivanova - 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 ("Catechism of a Revolutionary"), the figures of accomplices in the crime, the personality of the head of society S.G. Nechaev.

In the process of working on the novel, the concept changed many times. Initially, it is a direct response to events. The scope of the pamphlet later expanded significantly, not only nechaevites, but also figures of the 1860s, liberals of the 1840s, T.N. Granovsky, Petrashevtsy, Belinsky, V.S. Pecherin, A.I. Herzen, even the Decembrists and P.Ya. Chaadaev falls into the grotesque-tragic space of the novel.

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

In July 1871, Dostoevsky returned to St. Petersburg with his wife and daughter. The writer spent the summer of 1872 with his family in Staraya Russa; this city has become a permanent summer residence for the family. In 1876 Dostoevsky bought a house here. In 1872, the writer visited the "Wednesday" of Prince VP Meshchersky, a supporter of counterreforms and publisher of the newspaper-magazine "Citizen". At the request of the publisher, supported by A. Maikov and Tyutchev, Dostoevsky in December 1872 agreed to take over the editorial board of "Grazhdanin", having stipulated in advance that he was taking on these duties temporarily.

released by the Sretensky Monastery in 2006.

Dostoevsky reveals in his writings a harmonious and very complete outlook on the world: all the most varied particulars of life and thought, which endlessly pass before his reader, are imbued with one moral idea. In the outline of countless types from the most diverse areas of social life - from a schema-monk to a socialist, from infants and philosophers to elderly elders, from praying mongrels to harlots - Dostoevsky does not miss a single picture, not one, one might say, a line tied in one way or another to his idea. The richness of the author's moral content is so abundant, so rapidly in a hurry to pour out that twelve thick volumes and sixty years of work life are not enough for him to have time to express the desired words to the world. Tormented by a thirst for this sermon, he does not have time to improve his stories from the external artistic side, and instead of the usual stretching and chewing of sometimes insignificant ideas on hundreds of pages of different pictures and types of law; the reader's intense attention does not have time to catch up with his eyes, and he, constantly stopping his reading, turns his gaze again to the re-read lines - they are so meaningful and serious. It is not the incomprehensibility of the presentation of this, not the vagueness of thought, but precisely the overflowing plenitude of the content, which does not know anything similar to itself in all our literature. Reading Dostoevsky is sweet, but tiring, hard work; fifty pages of his story give the reader the content of five hundred pages of stories by other writers, and in addition, often a sleepless night of agonizing self-reproaches or enthusiastic hopes and aspirations.

WHAT DOSTOEVSKY WRITTED ABOUT

... Dostoevsky the psychologist is one and the same at a distance of all his literary activity. Let's say more. He wrote about the same thing all the time. What exactly? Many find it difficult to answer this question; critics admit that there is no area in science or life for which one cannot glean ideas from his creations. All, even the fiercest enemies of the author, recognize his amazingly correct psychic analysis, but I have not met a generalization of his creations and therefore offer my own.

The idea that unites all his works, which many seek in vain, was not patriotism, not Slavophilism, not even religion understood as a collection of dogmas, this idea was from an inner, spiritual, personal life; she was her premise, not a tendency, but simply the central theme of his story, she is living, close to everyone, his own reality. Renaissance - this is what Dostoevsky wrote about in all his stories: repentance and rebirth, the fall and correction, and if not, then fierce suicide; only around these moods the whole life of all his heroes revolves, and only from this point of view is the author himself interested in various theological and social issues in the latest publicistic works. Yes, this is that sacred tremor in the human heart of the rudiments of a new life, a life of love and virtue, which is so dear, so delightful for everyone that it encourages the reader himself, along with the heroes of the stories, to experience almost really exciting feelings; this determination, gradually preparing, but sometimes instantly rising before consciousness, to abandon the service of self-love and passions, those tormenting sufferings of the soul with which it is preceded and accompanied; this cross of a prudent robber or, on the contrary, a robber-blasphemer - this is what Dostoevsky described, and the reader himself deduces from this, if he does not want to resist reason and conscience, that between two different crosses there must certainly be a third, in which one robber trusts and is saved, and the other spews blasphemy and perishes. "Poor People", "Teenager", the hero of the "House of the Dead", the heroes of the "Demons", Raskolnikov and Sonya, the Marmeladovs, Nelly and Alyosha with their ugly father, the Karamazov family and their acquaintances women and girls, monks and numerous types of children - all this mass of good, evil and hesitant people, but equally dear to the author's heart, bursting with love, they put before the question of life and solve it in one form or another, and if they have already solved it, they help others to solve it. Some, for example Netochka Nezvanova and her Katya, Polenka Marmeladova, Little Hero, "The Boy at Christ's Tree", partly Nelly, and especially Kolya Krasotkin and Ilyusha and his comrades, allow it in childhood; others, like "Teenager", Natasha in "Humiliated and Insulted", Raskolnikov with Sonya, Dmitry Karamazov with Smerdyakov, husband of "Meek", and a happy rival of "Eternal Husband", and all almost female types, come across him in his youth or marriage; finally, the same question finds people sometimes in their old age, for example Makar Devushkin, "Funny man", Natasha's parent and his enemy, the prince, the Marmeladovs, Versilov in "Adolescent" and Verkhovensky-father in "Demons". Nobody can evade this question in life, or at least before death.

The high dignity of the writer, depicting the torment and joy of the spiritual rebirth of a person, lies precisely in the fact that, through his all-pervading analysis, he has determined both those most important spiritual properties and movements in the conditions of which moral rebirth takes place, and those external, that is, received from outside, vital impulses , by which a person is called to self-deepening. If we reduce to general concepts all parts of Dostoevsky's stories that consider this subject, or, more precisely, all of the author's novels, for they are all examining this subject entirely, then we get a completely clear and highly convincing theory, in which, although almost and there are no words: "grace", "Redeemer", but where these concepts are constantly required by the very logic of things.

From this it is clear what a lively interest Dostoevsky's works should arouse from the point of view of moral theology and especially pastoral theology. Why pastoral? Namely because Dostoevsky, not limiting himself, as has been said, to a description of the inner life of those who are being reborn, with particular strength and artistic beauty describes the character of those people who contribute to the rebirth of their neighbors. The mood of his own creative spirit when describing life is exactly what a pastor needs to have, that is, an all-encompassing love for people, a fiery, suffering jealousy about their appeal to goodness and truth, a tearing grief about their stubbornness and malice, and with all that - bright hope for the return to goodness and to God of all the fallen sons. This hope for the all-conquering power of Christian truth and Christian love, confirmed by the paintings written by the author, in which the most bitter lawlessness bows before the invincible weapon of Christ, is truly a holy, apostolic hope. It is especially important that this hope does not live in the mind of a child or a sentimental darling of life, but in the soul of a victim who has seen a lot of sin and a lot of unbelief. We will talk about Dostoevsky's rebirth from the point of view of pastoral theology, not moral theology, that is, about the reviving influence of one will on another, and we will only touch on the description of the subjective process of rebirth itself to the extent necessary for this first task. The first question is: what should a regenerator be like? Second, who can contribute to the revival and how much? Third, how does the likeness of one or the other pass?

MINISTRY OF THE RENAISSANCE

Through what properties of the spirit does a person become a participant in this highest service? The writer either gives the answer to this question on his own behalf, for example, in The Dream of a Ridiculous Man, or he confesses on behalf of his heroes general motives that cause the chosen one to preach revival.

Knowledge of the truth and compassionate love are the main motives for preaching. The writer seemed to see God's paradise and contemplated in it revived people, pure and blessed, freed from all the contradictions of life completely, quickly and simply. From these heights of general spiritual bliss, he looks at the sinful and sorrowful world and in a swift outburst of love and word tries to lift it to heaven: this love and faith are so strong that all human ridicule is powerless before them: “... They call me crazy. .. But now I'm not angry, now everyone is dear to me, and even when they laugh at me ... I myself would laugh with them - not just at myself, but loving them, if I were not so sad, on looking at them. It's sad because they don't know the truth, but I know the truth. Oh, how hard it is for one to know the truth! But they will not understand this, no, they will not understand. " It is agonizing to know the truth when you love people who do not know it, but this torment, this sinful darkness of the world further increased the love for people.

Dostoevsky returns to the last thought often and with special force, contrasting the present sinful state of the world with the represented innocent state. "... Unhappy, poor, but dear and eternally beloved and the same painful love that gives birth to itself in the most ungrateful even of its children, as ours! .." which I left "(" The Dream of a Ridiculous Man "). “On our land, we can truly love only with torment and only through torment! We do not know how to love otherwise, and we do not know any other love. I want torment in order to love. I want, I thirst at this very minute to kiss, shedding tears, only that one land that I left, and I do not want, I do not accept any other life! "

“The righteous appeared who came to these people with tears and told them about their pride, about the loss of proportion and harmony, about the loss of shame. They were laughed at or stoned to death. Holy blood poured on the thresholds of the temples. But people began to appear who began to invent: how to reunite for everyone so that everyone, without ceasing, loves himself more than anyone else, at the same time does not interfere with anyone else and live in this way all together, as it were, in a harmonious society. Whole wars have been raised over this idea. All the warriors firmly believed at the same time that science, wisdom and a sense of self-preservation would finally force a person to unite in a harmonious and reasonable society, and therefore for the time being, in order to speed up things, the “wise” tried to quickly exterminate all “unwise” and did not understand their idea, so that they did not interfere with her triumph. But the sense of self-preservation began to quickly weaken, arrogant and voluptuous appeared, who directly demanded everything or nothing. To acquire everything, they resorted to villainy, and if they did not succeed, they resorted to suicide. Religions appeared with a cult of non-existence and self-destruction for the sake of eternal rest in insignificance. Finally, these people got tired of meaningless work and suffering appeared on their faces, and these people proclaimed that suffering is beauty, for in suffering there is only thought. They sang suffering in their songs. " This love, the author's tender love for the sinful earth, is expressed, among other things, in the fact that he always knows how to dress in a pretty costume the most prosaic setting of the most prosaic city in Russia, about which another poet speaks:

The vault of heaven is pale green,
Boredom, cold and granite.

When Dostoevsky describes the dirty St. Petersburg courtyards, janitors, cooks, housewives, the premises of the intelligent proletariat and even fallen women, the reader not only does not form a contemptuous disgust for all these people, but, on the contrary, some kind of especially compassionate love, some kind of the hope for the opportunity to announce all these wretched dens of poverty and vice with praising hymns to Christ and it is in this very atmosphere to create a warm atmosphere of tender love and joy. Here is an explanation for the fact that, without closing his eyes from the gloomy reality, the writer so deeply loves life for the bright hope of its revival, the life of a person: not devoid of love for nature, he simply does not have time to talk about nature and prefers pictures of urban life to all others ...

“It was a dark story, one of those dark and painful stories that so often and imperceptibly, almost mysteriously come true under the heavy St. Petersburg sky, in the dark hidden corners of a huge city, amidst the extravagant boil of life, dull selfishness, conflicting interests of street debauchery, secret crimes , in the midst of all this pitch hell of meaningless and abnormal life. " Defining life so gloomy, he, however, then looks at all its evil as a misunderstanding and writes an article "That we are all good people." Is it because “good people” are so easy to convert to the truth? No, it is difficult to convert them, but truth itself is so beautiful, love itself is so attractive that no matter how hard the feat of its preacher, the one who understood the mystery of life, who loved children, will not want another feat, another content for life. The author presents this high mood of the preacher in this story as the fruit of mystical insight, in another case it visits a young man dying of consumption, finally, this mood is fully revealed in the conversations of Elder Zosima. The chosen one of heaven is so imbued with his vocation, so closely merges his life with the work of preaching and reviving people, that he considers all the shortcomings, all their sins as his own, as proving his insufficient zeal, lack of wisdom and holiness in him, and that is why he considers himself guilty for everyone and in everything, he is even ready to consider himself the original tempter and seducer of humanity, as the hero of "The Dream of a Ridiculous Man" is ready to accept torment for everyone, as Elder Zosima explains. Such is the lofty meaning of Dostoevsky's often repeated thought about the common guilt for everyone and in everything, a thought, alas, so grossly misunderstood and vulgarized by some of his many unsuccessful interpreters. But let's summarize what has been said about the gift of spiritual rebirth: this gift is achieved by those who: 1) having learned through inner experience the sweetness of truth and communication with God, 2) loved life so much with sorrow and hope that 3) completely lost the thread of their personal life and died himself, 4) not through artificial preaching, but through confession, through the opening of his heart and through his whole life, calls the brethren to repentance and love. Such is Dostoevsky's elder Zosima, such is his disciple Alyosha, in his life so rich in content, as if he does not have any life of his own and does not know today what he will do tomorrow, but everywhere he instills peace, repentance and love around him: brothers, children and women - everything is humbled in the presence of his love, like animals to the sounds of the Orpheus harp, and his whole life merges into the wonderful unity of Christ's work. Such is also Makar Ivanovich in "Teenager" - an old wanderer and at the same time a moralist-philosopher, who passionately loves people and cares about common salvation; mention of such a person (retired Bishop Tikhon) and in the novel "Demons".

MINISTERS OF RENAISSANCE AND LOVE

Who are these ministers? We have just seen that to depict them, the type is given not only religious, but also directly ecclesiastical; it is understandable not only from a dogmatic point of view, but also from a purely psychological point of view: so that, living in the midst of a vale of sin and suffering, to know another life with the experience of your own heart, you need to know it not only as a mystical distraction, but as really acting and existing apart from me, and consequently, a continuous historical force, that is, you need to know the Church, which teaches you to believe in your invincibility by the gates of hell, you need to live in the Church. But what to say about those people who are involved in one of these properties of the called preacher, but did not manage to develop to the full, harmonious development of the rest?

The answer is - and such people are partly destined to have an influence on their neighbors, although far from being so complete and not so wide. Even those creatures who, not possessing the positive properties of a chosen one, are free, at least from the vices opposite to them, but inherent in every natural person, that is, first of all, pride and cold self-isolation, or, as the author puts it, isolation, are not devoid of it. These are primarily children and even babies. Yes, Dostoevsky's children always acquire the meaning of involuntary missionaries. Dostoevsky reproduces this idea so often in various stories that he could be accused of repetition, if he did not know how to put a new feature in every, so to speak, version of this idea, like a new pearl in a magnificent tiara. The foundling child compels the "teenager" to abandon his proud idea for the sake of compassion for his defenselessness, the child softened the evil, callous heart of the Pharisee merchant in the story of Makar Ivanovich ("Teenager"). The child Nelly reconciles the insulted father with the fallen daughter, the child Polenka softens the murderer of Raskolnikov, etc. Finally, in the last minutes of the life of god-loathing suicides, when their spirit finally rebelled against the Lord, Providence puts before them in reality, or even in feverish delirium, the images of innocent suffering babies, who sometimes for a while tear them away from their evil plan, then completely return them to repentance and life. Such is the meeting of a beggar child in The Dream of a Ridiculous Man, and the same meeting in the delirium of the suicide Svidrigailov (Crime and Punishment) or Shatov's newborn child in Demons.

Purity, humility of children, and especially with their defenselessness and suffering, awaken temporary love even in villains. Unbelievers, like Ivan Karamazov, see in childhood suffering the reasons for pessimistic bitterness, and believers, on the contrary, for reconciliation and forgiveness, like Ilya's father (in The Brothers Karamazov), who forgave the enemy of Dimitri for the suffering of the dying baby, whom he loved most in the world. The author himself, in the story "The Boy at Christ's on the Tree", obviously reveals the following idea: if even innocent children suffer here, then, of course, there is another, better world. But what practical significance can pointing to children have for us? What do children mean for pastoral theology? They mean the same as Christ's words: "If you do not turn and become like children, you will not enter the Kingdom of Heaven" (Matthew 18: 3). Children have purity and lack of self-esteem, this reason for general isolation, they have no difference between internal and external life. Not wanting to consciously influence others, they unconsciously achieve greater influence than adults who are alien to purity and openness. A detached, perishing person seeks among his neighbors such a heart with which he could immediately associate, merge, which would not be a stranger to him: such is the heart of children - these eternal cosmopolitans.

But don't adults have the same properties - direct humility, purity, openness and heartfelt availability? All this is found among people from the people, and then they are missionaries even the strongest: such a person immediately becomes close, dear to everyone and can freely pour the content of his soul into him, without fear from the learned proud rivalry, - such is the "man of Morey", Makar Ivanovich, Lukerya (in "Meek") and others. “First of all, what attracted him (in Makar Ivanovich), as I already noted above, was his extraordinary sincerity and lack of the slightest pride; there was a presentiment of an almost sinless heart. There was "joy" of the heart, and therefore - "goodness." He was very fond of the word "joy" and often used it. True, sometimes a kind of morbid enthusiasm was found on him, a kind of soreness of tenderness — partly, I suppose, because the fever, really speaking, did not leave him all the time; but this did not interfere with goodness. There were also contrasts: next to his amazing innocence, which sometimes did not notice irony at all (often to my annoyance), there was some cunning subtlety in him, most often in polemical errors. And he loved polemics, but sometimes he only used it in a peculiar way: it was evident that he traveled a lot in Russia, listened a lot, but, I repeat, most of all he loved tenderness, and therefore everything that was suggestive of him; and he himself loved to tell entertaining things. "

In pointing out this ability of the representatives of the people, we must protect our great writer from those accusations of preaching ignorance and superstition, which were very persistently and equally insincerely thrown at him by literary enemies. His teachers from the people or from monks are always lovers of science, and even worldly sciences, and do not humiliate the dignity of the latter: Makar Ivanovich even knows a telescope. Dostoevsky himself says in his “Diary of a Writer” about education and the need to spread it among the people: “Education even now occupies the first stage in our society. Everything is inferior to her; all class advantages, one might say, melt in it ... In the intensified, in the speedy development of education - all our future, all our independence, all strength, the only conscious way forward, and, most importantly, the peaceful way, the way of harmony, the way to real strength ... Only education can we fill up the deep ditch that now separates us from our native soil. Literacy and its intensified dissemination is the first step of any education ”. This is what he writes to the "teenager" -the idealist in the hand of his teacher: "The thought of your entering the university is extremely beneficial for you. Science and life will undoubtedly open even wider horizons of your thoughts and aspirations in three or four years, and if after university you want to turn to your idea again, then nothing will prevent that. " Obviously, Dostoevsky does not boast of the ignorance of the people, but the freedom of his best people from false self-isolation and painful pride, these worst enemies of our rebirth, alas, not noticed by the cultured public and cultural education. Appreciating science and education, Dostoevsky ordered to learn from the people, but not in the sense of complete isolation of Russian life from Europe, but for purposes, firstly, moral, and secondly, general cultural, world goals. European culture, imbued with the motive of pride, does not bring closer, but separates, internally alienates people and peoples. The ability to truly spiritually unite with everyone is possessed only by those who are humble in heart. And since humility in Russia is not only a trait of individuals, but a folk trait, that is, it is introduced into individuals by a folk culture that grew out of Orthodoxy, from Orthodox asceticism, then the entire Russian people has the ability of spiritual communication. The latter was expressed in the genius of Pushkin, who knew how to artistically transform into all nationalities, which neither Shakespeare nor Schiller could do. This is the content of Dostoevsky's famous "Pushkin speech" and, in general, his teaching on the all-human mission of the Russian people. We will not talk about it, but we will mention it to confirm the idea that Dostoevsky's social and philosophical views follow from moral and psychological observations and facts, and do not precede them. Let's return to the consideration of personal life. Before turning to a description of how humility and love can, according to Dostoevsky, convert sinners and plant the Kingdom of God, let us finish another review of the character of his missionaries: after the ministers of the Church, children and peasants, he calls women to this cause. A woman who is loving but also humble is a great strength.

Love, but devoid of humility, produces family torment and gope, so that the stronger this love, not only for the husband, but also for the children, the more evil it is from it - if there is no humility in it. From proud love, betrayal and binge of husbands, suicide of grooms and suffering of children: the love of Katerina Ivanovna - the bride ("The Brothers Karamazov") and Katerina Ivanovna - the mother and wife ("Crime and Punishment"), the love of Liza - the daughter and the bride, the love of Grushenka, "Meek", or Nelly ("Humiliated and Insulted"), Katya ("Netochka Nezvanova"), Shatov's wife ("Demons") and all generally proud natures are a source of evil and unnecessary suffering. On the contrary, the love of the humble and self-humiliated is the source of peace and repentance. Such are the mother of Raskolnikov and Sonya, whom even the prisoners began to adore, guessing in her a humble and contrite heart, such is Natasha's mother ("The Humiliated and Insulted") and the mother of "Teenager", the legless sister of Ilyusha ("The Brothers Karamazov"), "Netochka Nezvanova" , the mother of Alyosha Karamazov and many others. They do not strive to forcefully insist on their own, but with love, tears, forgiveness and prayer, they almost always achieve repentance and conversion of their beloved husbands, parents and children. On the difficult step of renouncing their former life, their favorites and favorites are inspired by the example of this constant self-denial, as if they absorb the power of self-denial, and the love of a creature filled with humility makes the very feat of the former proud man sweet.

The fifth missionary for Dostoevsky is himself reborn in his sufferings.

“He who suffers from the flesh stops sinning,” said the apostle (1 Pet 4: 1). Almost all cases of conversion and repentance of Dostoevsky's heroes occur during either severe loss or illness. We will not explain the thought that “if our outer man smolders, then the inner one is renewed from day to day” (2 Cor 4:16), we will not, for it is too familiar to all who read the Divine Scriptures. The practical conclusion from this, for the pastors proper, is that one does not need to look with horror and murmur at the sufferings of others, others and their own. This thought generally reconciles a person with life, soothes at the sight of the persistence of triumphant anger, which nevertheless once in its sufferings will give access to repentance, and according to the word of the apostle: “I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase; therefore, he who plants and he who waters is nothing, but God who returns everything ”(1 Cor. 3: 6-7).

To be continued...

Someone calls him a prophet, a gloomy philosopher, someone - an evil genius. He himself called himself "a child of the century, a child of unbelief, 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 heroes so alive, and the works - full of mental suffering. Immersion in the world of Dostoevsky can be painful, difficult, but it gives rise to something new in people, this is exactly the literature that educates. Dostoevsky is a phenomenon that needs to be studied for a long time and thoughtfully. A short 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," in spite of all the trials sent from above. And a lot of them fell to his lot.

November 11, 1821 - birth. Where was Fedor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky born? He was born in our glorious capital - Moscow. Father - head physician Mikhail Andreevich, a believing family, pious. Called by the name of his 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 to read. Attention was also paid to religious education: daily prayer before bedtime was a family tradition.

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

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

1841 - becomes an officer.

1843 - Enrolled in the Engineering Corps. Studying was not pleasing, there was a strong craving for literature, the writer did his first creative experiments even then.

1847 - visiting Petrashevsky Fridays.

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 writer's creativity and attitude.

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

1857th - wedding with Maria Dmitrievna Isaeva.

June 7, 1862 - the first trip abroad, where Dostoevsky stays until October. I got carried away with gambling for a long time.

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

1864 - the writer's wife Maria, elder 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 gives 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 education at home 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 house. 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 the biography of Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky testifies, 1839 takes the life of his father. Internal protest is looking for a way out, Dostoevsky begins to get acquainted with the socialists, attends 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 the censorship intervened.

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

The biography of Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky says that serving a sentence was given to a writer hard. He compares that time to being buried alive. Heavy monotonous work like burning bricks, disgusting conditions, cold undermined Fyodor Mikhailovich's health, but also gave him food for thought, new ideas, themes for creativity.

After serving his sentence, Dostoevsky serves in Semipalatinsk, where the only joy was the first love - Maria Dmitrievna Isaeva. These relationships were tender, somewhat reminiscent of the relationship between mother and son. Stopped the writer from making a proposal to a woman, only the presence of her husband. He died a little later. In 1857, Dostoevsky finally achieves Maria Isaeva, they get married. After 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 clumsily, gets into debt, dies. Fyodor Mikhailovich has to deal with debts. He has to write quickly in order to be able to pay off 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 is not at all like his wife Maria. The relationship was also different - passionate, bright, lasted three years. At the same time, Fedor Mikhailovich is fond of playing roulette, he loses a lot. This period of his life is reflected in the novel The Gambler.

1864 claimed the lives of his brother and wife. In the writer Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky, something seems to have broken. Relations with Suslova are coming to naught, the writer feels lost, alone in the world. He tries to run away from himself abroad, to distract himself, but melancholy does not leave. Epileptic seizures are becoming more frequent. This is how Anna Snitkina, a young stenographer, recognized and fell in love with 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 society, Dostoevsky'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. In 1868 Sophia is born, but dies three months later. After a difficult period of common experiences, Anna and Fyodor Mikhailovich continue to try to conceive a child. They succeed: Love (1869), Fedor (1871) and Alexei (1875) are born. Alexey inherited the disease from his father, died at the age of three. The wife became for Fyodor Mikhailovich support and support, a spiritual outlet. In addition, she helped improve the financial situation. The family moves to Staraya Russa to escape from the nervous life in St. Petersburg. Thanks to Anna, a wise girl beyond her years, Fyodor Mikhailovich becomes happy, at least for a short 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.

Carrot or stick: how Fedor Mikhailovich raised children

The indisputability of the father's authority was the basis of Dostoevsky's upbringing, which also passed on to his own family. Decency, responsibility - these qualities the writer managed to put into his children. Even if they did not grow up as geniuses like their father, a certain 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 a crime against a child suppression of individuality, cruelty, and making life easier. Dostoevsky believed that the main instrument of upbringing was not corporal punishment, but parental love. He himself incredibly loved his children, greatly worried about 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 Dostoevsky Fyodor Mikhailovich fell asleep, did not understand anything they read, but he continued to educate literary taste. Often the writer read with such a feeling that in the process he began to cry. He loved 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 was writing about the wrong one. As a result, the main work of her life was the description of her father's biography.

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

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

Fedor Dostoevsky

Fedor Fedorovich became a horse breeder. The boy began to show interest in horses as a child. I tried to create literary works, but it didn't work out. He was vain, strived 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 expressed. He was nervous and withdrawn, wasteful, inclined to excitement, like his father.

Lost his father Fedor at the age of 9, but he managed to put the best qualities in him. The upbringing of his father helped him a lot in life, he received a good education. In his business, he achieved great success, perhaps because he loved what he was doing.

Creative way 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 outline;
• tragicomic story;
• Christmas story;
• story;
• novel.

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

1844 - Balzac's translation of Eugenia Grande is published.

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

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

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

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

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

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

In 1860, a fragment of the "Notes of a Dead House" was published in the "Russian World". The first collected works have been published.

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

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

May of the same year - Vremya magazine was closed.

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

1865 - "An Unusual Event, or Passage in the Passage" is printed in "Crocodile".

1866 - written by Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky "Crime and Punishment", "The Gambler". Departure abroad with family. "Moron".

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 "Diary of a Writer".

From 1879 to 1880, The Brothers Karamazov was written.

Places in St. Petersburg

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

1. Dostoevsky studied at the Engineering Mikhailovsky Castle.
2. The Serapinskaya hotel on Moskovsky Prospekt became the writer's residence in 1837, where he lived when he saw St. Petersburg for the first time in his life.
3. Poor People was written in the house of the post-director Pryanichnikov.
4. "Mr. Prokharchin" was created in the Kochenderfer house on Kazanskaya Street.
5. Fyodor Mikhailovich lived in Soloshich's tenement house on Vasilievsky Island in the 1840s.
6. Kotomin's apartment building introduced Dostoevsky to Petrashevsky.
7. The writer lived on Voznesensky Prospect 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. Astafyeva in 1861-1863.
10. In the Strubinsky house on Grechesky Avenue - from 1875 to 1878.

Dostoevsky's symbolism

You can endlessly analyze the books of Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky, 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 the novels becomes so fascinating.

• 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 says the word "ax", most likely the first thing that comes to his mind is "Crime and Punishment" by Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky.

• Clean linen.

Its appearance in novels occurs at certain similar moments, which allows us to speak of symbolism. For example, a maid hanging out clean linen prevented Raskolnikov from committing murder. Ivan Karamazov had a similar situation. It is not so much the linen itself that is symbolic, but its color - white, denoting purity, correctness, and 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 occurs more often than others, is the smell of a pernicious spirit.

• Silver pledge.

One of the most important symbols. The silver cigarette case was not made of silver at all. The motive of falsity, falsity, suspicion appears. Raskolnikov, having made a cigarette box out of wood, similar to a silver one, as if he had already committed a deception, a crime.

• The ringing of a brass bell.

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

• Wood and iron.

In novels, there are many things from these materials, each of them carries a certain meaning. If a tree symbolizes a person, a sacrifice, 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, loved strong tea.
5. He was jealous of his women to every pillar, forbidden even to smile in public.
6. He worked more often 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 dedicated to him.
9. The first child appeared at Fyodor 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 Dostoevsky's The Brothers Karamazov the greatest 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 about not holding yourself back, but about being in control of yourself.
3. In everything there is a line beyond which it is dangerous to cross; for once stepping over it is impossible to turn back.
4. Happiness is not in happiness, but only in achieving it.
5. No one will take the first step, because everyone thinks that it is not mutual.
6. The Russian people seem to enjoy their suffering.
7. Life goes breathless without an aim.
8. To stop reading books is 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 each person's life is his deeds. Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky (years of his life - 1821-1881) left behind great novels, having lived a relatively short life. Who knows if these novels would have been born if the author's life had been easy, without obstacles and hardships? Dostoevsky, who is known and loved, is impossible without suffering, emotional throwing, inner overcoming. It is they who make the works so real.