Fyodor Dostoyevsky Biography

Biography

Type: Russian novelist, Short story writer, Essayist, Journalist and Philosopher

Born: 11 November 1821, Moscow, Russia

Died: 9 February 1881 (aged 59), Saint Petersburg%

Dostoyevsky was the second son of a former army doctor. He was educated at home and at a private school. Shortly after the death of his mother in 1837 he was sent to St. Petersburg, where he entered the Army Engineering College. Dostoyevsky's father died in 1839, most likely of apoplexy, but it was rumored that he was murdered by his own serfs. Dostoyevsky graduated as a military engineer, but resigned in 1844 to devote himself to writing. His first novel, "Poor Folk" appeared in 1846. That year he joined a group of utopian socialists. He was arrested in 1849 and sentenced to death, commuted to imprisonment in Siberia. Dostoyevsky spent four years in hard labor and four years as a soldier in Semipalatinsk, a city in what it is today Kazakhstan.

Dostoyevsky returned to St. Petersburg in 1854 as a writer with a religious mission and published three works that derive in different ways from his Siberia experiences: "The House of the Dead" (1860) a fictional account of prison life, "The Insulted and Injured", which reflects the author's refutation of naive Utopianism in the face of evil, and "Winter Notes on Summer Impressions", his account of a trip to Western Europe.

In 1857 Dostoyevsky married Maria Isaev, a 29-year old widow. He resigned from the army two years later. Between the years 1861 and 1863 he served as editor of the monthly periodical Time, which was later suppressed because of an article on the Polish uprising.

In 1864-65 his wife and brother died and he was burdened with debts. His situation was made even worse by his gambling addiction. From the turmoil of the 1860s emerged "Notes from the Underground", a psychological study of an outsider, which marked a major advancement in Dostoyevsky's artistic development.

In 1867 Dostoyevsky married Anna Snitkin, his 22-year old stenographer. They traveled abroad and returned in 1871. By the time of "The Brothers Karamazov" (1879-80), Dostoyevsky was recognized in his own country as one of its great writers.

Selected works:

Novels and novellas:

(1846) Poor Folk (novella)
(1846) The Double (novella)
(1847) The Landlady (novella)
(1849) Netochka Nezvanova (unfinished)
(1859) Uncle's Dream (novella)
(1859) The Village of Stepanchikovo
(1861) Humiliated and Insulted
(1862) The House of the Dead
(1864) Notes from Underground (novella)
(1866) Crime and Punishment
(1867) The Gambler (novella)
(1869) The Idiot
(1870) The Eternal Husband (novella)
(1872) Demons
(1875) The Adolescent
(1880) The Brothers Karamazov

Fyodor Dostoyevsky Quotes

Man is a mystery. It needs to be unravelled, and if you spend your whole life

Man is a mystery. It needs to be unravelled, and if you spend your whole life unravelling it, don't say that you've wasted time. I am studying that mystery because I want to be a human being.

And yet how simple it is: in one day, in one hour everything could be arranged

And yet how simple it is: in one day, in one hour everything could be arranged at once! The chief thing is to love others like yourself, that’s the chief thing, and that’s everything; nothing else is wanted - you will find out at once how to arrange it all.

Above all, don't lie to yourself. The man who lies to himself and listens to his

Above all, don't lie to yourself. The man who lies to himself and listens to his own lie comes to a point that he cannot distinguish the truth within him, or around him, and so loses all respect for himself and for others. And having no respect he ceases to love.