Ivan Poddubny is a vegetarian or not. Ivan Poddubny
The educational experience of Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky was largely formed from the impressions of his childhood, when his cruel, domineering, stingy father, Mikhail Andreevich, authoritarianly dictated his pedagogical will to his sons. Father engaged with them primarily in natural scientific research (since he was a doctor), read to them “The History of the Russian State” by Karamzin, the Gospel, and the lives of saints. From childhood, the writer perceived the authority of his father as something strong, indestructible and not even amenable to discussion. Subsequently, he admitted to his brother Mikhail that people like their father were difficult to find: “after all, they were real, genuine people.” He adhered to this opinion despite everything - despite the cruel character of his father, despite his tyranny in relation to the peasants, for which he was killed by them. And yet, all his life, Fyodor Mikhailovich, who believed in the theory of heredity according to his father, was afraid to adopt his negative qualities.
It would seem that the writer after his difficult childhood, after difficult studies at the Engineering School, life after hard labor and very difficult personal stories, fate did not foretell a happy family. But, largely thanks to his character, love, dedication last wife Anna Grigorievna, family life Things worked out for Fyodor Mikhailovich after all.
Anna Grigorievna and Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky
After getting married, the Dostoevskys went abroad. Their first daughter* was born and died there. Anna Grigorievna became pregnant again, about which one of his friends wittily writes to Dostoevsky: “I’m glad, first of all, that you finished the novel “The Idiot.” And the second is that Anna Grigorievna also began to think about the novel. And she herself cannot say which one, although she will think about it for 9 months. Where will Anna Grigorievna’s novel be born?”
Apparently, this “novel”, the first surviving child, was destined to be born in Florence. But nevertheless this did not happen. When his wife’s “romance” was approaching “completion,” Dostoevsky became worried. He didn’t know Italian, so he began to think: if his wife went into labor and lost consciousness, he would not be able to communicate with the doctors. And the Dostoevskys left for Germany - Dostoevsky spoke German well, even translated Schiller’s “The Robbers”.
Daughter Lyubov Fedorovna was born in Dresden in 1869. And in 1871, already in St. Petersburg, a son, Fedor, was born.
Dostoevsky the teacher: “With love, buy the hearts of our children”
At that time, in the 70s of the 19th century, many parents and school teachers began to turn to Dostoevsky as a famous author of works about children (in particular, “Netochka Nezvanova”, “Little Hero”, etc.), which served as one of the impetus edition of the “Diary of a Writer”, where many pages are devoted to education. While creating the Diary, Dostoevsky was interested in the situation of children in factories, visited educational homes, colonies for minors, critically assessed the education system in them and made recommendations.
In Dostoevsky’s prose and journalism one can see what the author considered to be the main vices of upbringing. First of all, the disdainful attitude of adults towards inner world child, which never goes unnoticed by the child. Next is the excessive importunity of adults that irritates children. Then comes bias, leading to erroneous conclusions about the child’s character. He condemns cruelty to children, the suppression of any originality in them. Dostoevsky especially condemns flirting with children, blind love for them and the desire to make everything easier for the child. And he concludes:
“First of all, we must buy the hearts of our children with love, we must give the child the sun, a bright example and at least a drop of love for him... We teach, and they make us better just by one contact with them. We must become closer to them in soul every hour.”
Dostoevsky allows punishment, but no punishment should be accompanied by a loss of faith in the possibility of correcting the child.
The main pedagogy is the parental home. The writer sees the core of the problem here:
“In our families, the highest goals of life are almost never mentioned, and the idea of immortality is not only not thought of at all, but is even too often treated satirically - and this is all in front of children, from a very early age...”
Therefore, education and upbringing according to Dostoevsky is not only science, but also “spiritual light that illuminates the soul, enlightens the heart, guides the mind and shows it the way.” Therefore, the writer especially sharply criticized contemporary pedagogy, which gives rise to atheists, “Svidrigailovs”, “Stavrogins” and “Nechaevs”.
Dostoevsky was also interested in public education. He believed that it should not go against religious beliefs, because “It is important to preserve tenderness and a heartfelt religious feeling in society”. In his “intuitive” pedagogy, Dostoevsky foresaw many important provisions for modern pedagogy. He spoke about the role of heredity in the formation of a person’s spiritual appearance, about the developing and educative nature of education, about the influence speech development child on his thinking abilities.
Dostoevsky the father: “I tremble for the children and their fate”
It is unlikely that Dostoevsky the father somehow systematized his pedagogical methods and principles. For him, pedagogy has always been living, effective, and practical. His upbringing of his stepson Pavel (the son of his first wife Isaeva) was unsuccessful. The young man was ungrateful, arrogant, and disdainful of his stepfather, despite the fact that Dostoevsky, even with his difficult financial situation I helped him financially whenever possible. Therefore, the father tried to make every effort to ensure that the education of his own children achieved its goal.
Fyodor and Lyubov Dostoevsky
He started doing them too early, when most fathers still keep their children in the nursery. He probably knew that he was not destined to see Lyuba and Fedya grow up, and he was in a hurry to plant them in their receptive souls. good thoughts and feelings.
For this purpose, he chose the same means that his father had previously chosen - reading great writers. Daughter Lyubov remembered the first one literary evenings which their father regularly arranged for them:
“One autumn evening in Staraya Russa, when the rain was pouring down in torrents and yellow leaves covered the ground, my father announced to us that he would read Schiller’s “The Robbers” aloud to us(in its own translation, presumably - Yu.D.). I was seven years old at that time, and my brother was barely six years old. The mother wished to be present at this first reading. Dad read with enthusiasm, sometimes stopping to explain a difficult expression to us. But since sleep took possession of me the more, the more ferocious the Moore brothers became, I frantically opened my poor tired children’s eyes as wide as possible, and brother Fyodor completely unceremoniously fell asleep... When my father looked at his audience, he fell silent, burst out laughing and began to laugh at himself . “They can’t understand this, they are still too young,” he told his mother sadly. Poor father! He hoped to experience with us the delight that Schiller's dramas aroused in him; he forgot that he was twice our age when he could appreciate them himself!”
The writer read Pushkin’s stories, Lermontov’s Caucasian poems, and “Taras Bulba” to children. After their literary taste was more or less developed, he began to read to them poems by Pushkin and Alexei Tolstoy, the two Russian poets whom he loved most. Dostoevsky read them amazingly, and in particular one of them he could not read without tears - Pushkin’s poem “Poor Knight”.
The writer’s family did not neglect the theater. In Russia at that time it was customary for parents to take their children to ballet. Dostoevsky was not a fan of ballet and never attended it. He preferred opera. He himself really loved Glinka’s opera “Ruslan and Lyudmila” and instilled this love in his children.
When his father left or his work did not allow him to do it himself, he asked his wife to read to the children the works of Walter Scott and Dickens - this “great Christian,” as he calls him in “The Diary of a Writer.” During lunch, he asked the children about their impressions and reconstructed entire episodes from these novels.
Dostoevsky loved to pray with his whole family. During Holy Week he fasted, went to church twice a day, and put off all literary work. I really loved the Easter night service. Children usually did not attend this service filled with great joy. But the writer certainly wanted to show his daughter this wondrous service when she was barely nine years old. He placed her on a chair so she could see better and lifted her high in his arms as he explained what was happening.
Dostoevsky the father cared not only about the spiritual, but also about the material condition of the children. In 1879, shortly before his death (+1881), he wrote to his wife about purchasing the estate:
“I keep thinking, my dear, about my death myself and about what I will leave you and the children with... You don’t like villages, but I have every conviction that the village is capital, which will triple by the age of the children, and that the one who owns land and participates in political power over the state. This is the future of our children... I tremble for the children and for their fate.”
Daughter Lyubov lived with her father for 11 years, until his death. One day her father wrote her the following letter:
“My dear angel, I kiss you and bless you and love you very much. Thank you for writing me letters, I will read and kiss them. And I’ll think about you every time I receive it.”
“Listen to your mother and don’t quarrel with Fedya. Don't forget to both study. I pray to God for you all and ask Him for your health. Give my regards to the priest (a friend of Dostoevsky, an old priest, Father John Rumyantsev. - Yu.D.). Goodbye, dear Lilichka, I love you very much.”
Writer Markevich recalls the day of Dostoevsky’s funeral:
"Two children(Luba 11 years old, Fedya 9 years old - Yu.D.) They hurriedly and fearfully crossed themselves on their knees. The girl, in a desperate impulse, rushed to me, grabbed my hand: “Pray, I ask you, pray for dad, so that if he had sins, God would forgive him.” She spoke with some amazing childish expression.”
At Dostoevsky's grave. In the center: A.G. Dostoevskaya and the writer’s children - Fyodor and Lyubov
Lyubov Fedorovna Dostoevskaya: Find happiness...
Living and creating under the shadow of a genius is difficult. Lyubov Fedorovna also dared to become a writer, but her attempt failed. She wrote three novels, which she published at her own expense. These works were received rather coldly and were never republished. Someone suggested that she take a pseudonym, but she refused and tried to conquer the literary Olympus under the name Dostoevskaya, probably not realizing what temptations this was associated with.
She was often sick and never had a family. She left Russia before the revolution and was treated in Europe. Her only significant contribution to literature is a large book of memories about her father. These memories became the main work of her life. Certain excerpts of this book were published in the USSR in the 20s of the 20th century - but only biographical information about her father, Dostoevsky’s genealogy, and her thoughts on the revolution, naturally, were removed by Soviet censorship.
The questionnaire filled out by her, still an 18-year-old girl, is very revealing. Here are some answers from it:
— What goal do you pursue in life?
- Find happiness on earth and do not forget about the future life.
- What is happiness?
- In a calm conscience.
- What is the misfortune?
- In self-deprecation and suspicious character.
- How long would you like to live?
- As long as possible.
—What death would you like to die?
- left unanswered.
—What virtue is the most important for you?
- Sacrifice yourself for others.
— Your favorite writer?
- Dostoevsky.
—Where would you like to live?
- Where there is more sun...
She spent her last years in Italy, where she died at the age of 56 in 1926.
Fyodor Fyodorovich Dostoevsky: Save and continue
Dostoevsky's son Fyodor graduated from the law and natural sciences faculties of Dorpat University and became a major horse breeder. He had a love for horses since childhood. My father wrote about little Fed:
“Fechka asks to go for a walk too, but you can’t even think about it. He grieves and cries. I show him the horses through the window when they’re driving, he’s terribly interested and loves horses, shouts whoa.”
Fyodor Fedorovich, apparently, adopted vanity and the desire to excel from his grandfather, Mikhail Andreevich. At the same time, attempts to prove himself in the literary field soon disappointed him. However, according to some contemporaries, he had abilities, but it was precisely the label “son of the writer Dostoevsky” that prevented him from revealing them.
In 1918, after the death of his mother, who was kicked out of her dacha by a watchman and spent her last days in a Yalta hotel, Fyodor Fedorovich came to Crimea and, risking his life (he was almost shot by security officers, deciding that he was smuggling), took the archive to Moscow father.
Fedor Fedorovich died in 1921. His son, Andrei Fedorovich Dostoevsky, became the only successor of the direct line of descendants of the great writer.
Dostoevsky's children did not become geniuses and outstanding personalities: they say that nature rests on children. And world history does not know the duplication of geniuses in one family, from generation to generation. Geniuses are born once every century. It was the same with Tolstoy’s children - many of them wrote and left memoirs, but who remembers them today, except literary scholars and admirers of the great old man’s work? Lyuba and Fedya undoubtedly grew up to be decent and responsible people. And in such a “scattered” fate of Lyubov and Fyodor, of course, those storms and thunderstorms that swept over Russia at the beginning of the 20th century and which their father, the great writer-prophet, foresaw and predicted back in the 19th century were largely to blame.
In the end, at God's judgment we will be asked not for what we left behind, but for the kind of people we were. In this regard, I am sure that Dostoevsky’s children have something to justify themselves to the Almighty.
Fyodor Fedorovich Dostoevsky, Anna Grigorievna Dostoevskaya, Lyubov Fedorovna Dostoevskaya
Note:
*Another child of the Dostoevskys, younger son, did not live to be three years old and died in 1878. Fyodor Mikhailovich was very worried early death two of their children.
We met Dmitry Andreevich Dostoevsky, the great-grandson of the writer, at the theater, where we both watched the one-man show by St. Petersburg actor Leonid Mozgovoy “Funny” based on the story by F.M. Dostoevsky "The Dream of a Funny Man".
Russian newspaper: Dmitry Andreevich, you were at the Mariinsky Theater at the premiere of the opera "The Brothers Karamazov". What is your impression?
Dmitry Dostoevsky: Got upset. The opera reduces the harshness of the dialogues, it turned out too melodious. In my opinion, it shouldn't have been installed. Everything happened, and a ballet based on “Demons” was staged. We lived to see the modern rollicking television series "The Brothers Karamazov".
Frost Illustrations
RG: Did he disappoint you?
Dostoevsky: Complete disappointment! Yuri Moroz could not convey Dostoevsky. I see how he avoids the most difficult, serious scenes. And “The Legend of the Grand Inquisitor”, a very intense chapter that reveals a lot about the brothers - Ivan, Alexei... There is nothing left, everything has been reduced to a few phrases! The actors, in my opinion, generally don’t understand what to play. Especially the performer of the role of Alyosha Karamazov. Remember the scene where he is scared when he realizes that he no longer believes - not a single muscle on his face flinched! Or one of major events- murder of father. Well, it doesn’t take it at all!
RG: Did you really not like anyone at all?
Dostoevsky: Maybe not the main characters. Not only do I like Liza Khokhlakova, our whole family likes her. Truly an eccentric child. Apparently, by nature, the actress is close to the heroine. And the rest... It’s stupid to take artists who are the same age as the characters in the novel. Because a modern 20-year-old young man is almost a child and behaves childishly. Twenty-year-olds were not like that in the 19th century; then they grew up much earlier. The director was unable to set up the young actors. They just voice the texts. I even feel sorry for them. You can see how they are puffing themselves up. Ivan is a little better than others. True, there was not much of it. Dmitry didn’t leave any trace, you don’t sympathize with him, you don’t empathize. Serious scenes, but he just runs. Alexey always walks with open mouth and looks at everyone from under his brows.
Interiors? Lubokaya province, everything is clean and smooth. I’m shaking because they constantly show footage of Dmitry going to hard labor with shackles on his hands and feet. Well, at that time (70s of the 19th century) there were no shackles! Or Grushenka rushes around the hut in a ball gown embroidered with stones... Why suddenly? And in general she doesn’t look like Dostoevsky’s heroine, you don’t believe her. Rough, cheeky intonations...
RG: Maybe you, willingly or unwillingly, compare this film with Pyryev’s film?
Dostoevsky: No. I'm not even trying to compare. Pyryev filmed in the 20th century, now is a different time. But Bortko managed it. Quite a decent TV movie "The Idiot". And then there are two “blank shots” in a row: “Crime and Punishment” and “The Brothers Karamazov”. Both were filmed in 2007, they were just not shown at the same time. And that series disappointed me. I imagined Raskolnikov to others.
RG: Dmitry Andreevich, how many living bearers of the famous surname are there now?
Dostoevsky: Direct descendants continuing men's line from Fyodor Mikhailovich, only two: me and my son Alexey. I have three granddaughters. We are trying to change the situation. If a boy is born, it is already clear what he will be named: Ivan. In The Brothers Karamazov, considered Dostoevsky's main work, as you know, there are Ivan, Dmitry and Alexei. We have Dmitry and Alexey, it’s up to Ivan.
The literary gene and many professions
RG: You are not a writer by profession.
Dostoevsky: I proudly consider myself to be a member of the sixties. I'm one of those who didn't high-profile career. I ran to literary and poetry evenings, which took place in various research institutes and closed institutions. After graduating from school, I basically did not pursue higher education. I wanted to gain all sorts of skills, learn to communicate with the most different people. This is a very “Dostoevsky” trait. I began to master working professions. Today I can proudly (and not without reason!) say that I have quite seriously mastered 23 professions. I became interested in some profession, began to study, and when I felt that I had already reached the top in this matter and could teach others, I moved on to something new. Every single one of the 23 specialties was interesting to me, because I chose them myself. From Fyodor Mikhailovich, who knew how to draw, I also received an artistic gift; I mastered a rather rare profession - a diamond maker. This is the application of a diamond cut to crystal. The crystal vases that stand in grandma's cupboards are made, as a rule, at our Russian enterprises and, in particular, at the one where I worked, at the Leningrad Art Glass Factory.
I really liked another profession that I practiced for eight years - a tram driver. You drive along the streets of the city, observe life every day, some scenes are remembered for a long time. My son and then my daughter-in-law became a tram driver. So we have a “tram family”.
In the early 90s I lost my job. And then I was invited to open the Dostoevsky Society in Germany. He opened the society and decided to stay for a while. I knew that I wouldn’t be lost. And sure enough, I found a job: I repaired televisions, tape recorders, and other equipment. With the money I earned, I drove a car from Hamburg to Leningrad, albeit a used one, but a Mercedes.
"Dostoevsky's daughter-in-law lives here"
RG: You travel a lot around the world, what kind of attitude do you encounter towards Dostoevsky abroad?
Dostoevsky: There you are historical incidents. In Germany there was always a special affection for Dostoevsky, because Nietzsche spoke about him as a teacher, and in our country he was considered a reactionary writer. When the occupiers captured Simferopol, my grandmother, Ekaterina Petrovna, lived there, her husband, the writer’s son, Fyodor Fedorovich, had long since died, her son Andrei lived in Leningrad and was at the front at that time. Despite this, during the quartering, the Germans hung a sign on her door in German: “Dostoevsky’s daughter-in-law lives here, do not occupy the apartment.”
Do you know what paper the Germans used to print the first collected works of Dostoevsky? They were preparing a luxurious anniversary edition of Mein Hitler's Kampf, the best coated paper for it was in the warehouse in rolls. Hitler shot himself, the war ended, and on this very paper in 1946-1947 the first post-war full meeting works of our classic.
I was in France, met with schoolchildren, students, and then went into a second-hand bookstore and quite unexpectedly bought there for 8 euros the first translation into French of “Notes from the House of the Dead” - the 1883 edition. And in Japan in 2005 I give interviews on the radio. Suddenly they say to me: “We have published “Demons” in half a million copies (this is a huge figure for small Japan). There is so much terrorism in the world, and we want our youth to know from what, from what root, a terrorist grows.”
RG: Do you remember anything mystical?
Dostoevsky: Being a believer, I constantly observe my great-grandfather tracking “from there”, from heaven, my movements, not only mine, but also our entire family. I knew that on German The book “Dostoevsky in the Description of his Daughter” was published, and he dreamed of having her. When Lyuba went abroad, she lived there quite comfortably, receiving her share of the money from her father’s publications. But the first one struck World War, communication with Russia was interrupted, and Lyubov Fedorovna felt some restrictions. In 1921, she decided to write a book for the 100th anniversary of her father’s birth, hoping that the memoirs would be in demand for publication in several countries and the royalties for them would help her live for several more years. It's hard to imagine what a woman could write if her father died when she was only 11 years old. She has distorted a lot, now the historians are “digging”: what is confirmed and what is not. Three years later, this book was published in the USSR, but in an abridged form and in a small print run... My German friends found the book, although it is rare even in Germany, and gave it to me. Leafing through it, I found a bookmark inside in the form of a Feldpost postcard (“military mail”). I got the impression that already during the Second World War some German took it into the trenches to read it. Amazing thing, isn't it?
A little bit about yourself
Dostoevsky: I am 64 years old, and it was important for me to pass the 60-year mark. Unfortunately, a strange “tradition” arose among the Dostoevskys: Fyodor Mikhailovich died at the age of 60, his son Fyodor, my grandfather, died two months before he turned 60, and at the age of 60 my father, the writer’s grandson, Andrei, died. I am glad that I broke this “tradition”, and I am going to live with pleasure. I'm writing my memoirs. Besides them, sometimes stories are born in my torment. It must be said that in the descendants of Dostoevsky the literary gene is screaming with might and main - in the son, and in the daughter, and in the grandson, and in me, the great-grandson. But Fyodor Mikhailovich is the only genius. This literary gene seems to be taboo, prohibited, but in the end it leads to some kind of disease. The writer's daughter Lyuba wrote stories and even a novel and then was very upset that no one read them, this was the tragedy of her life. She dreamed that her books would be published, but only her mother Anna Grigorievna printed them with her own money. The writer's son Fyodor acted more wisely: he burned his works, realizing that there was no point in sticking his nose out after his father.
I have enough rich life. Not only because I have a big name and meet many people. It’s just that life itself presents many interesting situations that easily fall on paper.
In 1821, on November 11, Dostoevsky, one of the most famous Russian writers and philosophers, was born. In this article we will talk about his biography and literary work.
Dostoevsky family
Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky (1821-1881) was born in Moscow into the family of nobleman Mikhail Andreevich, a staff doctor serving at the Mariinsky Hospital, and Maria Fedorovna. In the family he was one of eight children and only the second son. His father came from whose estate was located in the Belarusian part of Polesie, and his mother came from an old Moscow merchant family, originating in the Kaluga province. It is worth saying that Fyodor Mikhailovich had little interest in the rich history of his family. He spoke of his parents as poor, but hard-working people who allowed him to receive an excellent upbringing and quality education, for which he was grateful to his family. Maria Fedorovna taught her son to read Christian literature, which left a strong impression on him and largely determined his future life.
In 1831, the father of the family acquired the small estate Darovoye in the Tula province. In that Vacation home The Dostoevsky family began to visit every summer. There the future writer had the opportunity to get acquainted with real life peasants In general, according to him, childhood was the best time in his life.
Writer's education
Initially, their father was in charge of the education of Fyodor and his older brother Mikhail, teaching them Latin. Then their home education was continued by teacher Drashusov and his sons, who taught the boys French, mathematics and literature. This continued until 1834, when the brothers were sent to the elite Chermak boarding school in Moscow, where they studied until 1837.
When Fedor was 16 years old, his mother died of tuberculosis. Later years F.M. Dostoevsky spent time with his brother preparing to enter engineering school. They spent some time at Kostomarov's boarding house, where they continued to study literature. Despite the fact that both brothers wanted to write, their father considered this activity completely unprofitable.
Beginning of literary activity
Fyodor did not feel any desire to be at the school and was burdened by being there; in his free hours he studied world and domestic literature. Under inspiration from her, at night he worked on his literary experiments and read passages to his brother. Over time, a literary circle was formed at the Main Engineering School under the influence of Dostoevsky. In 1843, he completed his studies and was appointed to the position of engineer in St. Petersburg, which he soon abandoned, deciding to devote himself entirely to literary creativity. His father died of apoplexy (although, according to the recollections of relatives, he was killed by his own peasants, which is questioned by researchers of Dostoevsky’s biography) in 1839 and was no longer able to oppose his son’s decision.
The very first works of Dostoevsky, whose birthday is celebrated on November 11, have not reached us - they were dramas on historical themes. Since 1844, he has been translating, while simultaneously working on his work “Poor People.” In 1845, he was greeted with pleasure in Belinsky’s circle, and soon he became a widely known writer, the “new Gogol,” but his next novel, “The Double,” was not appreciated, and soon Dostoevsky’s relationship (birthday according to the new style is November 11) with all around deteriorated. He also quarreled with the editors of the Sovremennik magazine and began publishing mainly in Otechestvennye zapiski. However, the fame he acquired allowed him to meet a much wider range of people, and he soon became a member of the philosophical and literary circle of the Beketov brothers, with one of whom he studied at an engineering school. Through one of the members of this society, he came to the Petrashevites and began regularly attending their meetings in the winter of 1847.
Circle of Petrashevites
The main topics that members of the Petrashevsky Society discussed at their meetings were the liberation of peasants, book printing and changes in legal proceedings. Soon Dostoevsky was one of several who organized a separate radical community among the Petrashevites. In 1849, many of them, including the writer, were arrested and imprisoned in the Peter and Paul Fortress.
Mock execution
The court recognized Dostoevsky as one of the main criminals, despite the fact that he strongly rejected the charges, and sentenced him to death penalty by execution, having first deprived him of his entire fortune. However, a few days later, the order to execute was replaced by an eight-year hard labor, which in turn was replaced by a four-year sentence followed by long service in the army, according to a special decree of Nicholas 1. In December 1849, the execution of the Petrashevites was staged, and only at the last moment was it announced pardon and sent to hard labor. One of those almost executed went crazy after such an ordeal. There is no doubt that this event had strong influence on the writer's views.
Years of hard labor
During the transfer to Tobolsk, a meeting took place with the wives of the Decembrists, who secretly handed over the Gospels to the future convicts (Dostoevsky kept his for the rest of his life). Next years He spent time in Omsk at hard labor, trying to change the attitude towards himself among the prisoners; he was perceived negatively due to the fact that he was a nobleman. Dostoevsky could write books only in secret in the infirmary, since the prisoners were deprived of the right of correspondence.
Soon after the end of hard labor, Dostoevsky was assigned to serve in the Semipalatinsk regiment, where he met his future wife Maria Isaeva, whose marriage was unhappy and ended unsuccessfully. The writer rose to the rank of ensign in 1857, when both the Petrashevites and the Decembrists were pardoned.
Pardon and return to the capital
Upon returning to Russia, he had to make his literary debut again - it was “Notes from the House of the Dead”, which received universal recognition, since the genre in which the writer talked about the life of convicts was completely new. The writer published several works in the magazine “Time,” which he published together with his brother Mikhail. After some time, the magazine was closed, and the brothers began to publish another publication - “Epoch”, which also closed a few years later. At this time he took an active part in public life country, having suffered the destruction of socialist ideals, recognized himself as an open Slavophile, and asserted the social significance of art. Dostoevsky's books reflect his views on reality, which his contemporaries did not always understand; sometimes they seemed too harsh and innovative, and sometimes too conservative.
Traveling around Europe
In 1862, Dostoevsky, whose birthday is celebrated on November 11, traveled abroad for the first time to receive treatment at resorts, but he ended up traveling throughout most of Europe, becoming addicted to playing roulette in Baden-Baden and squandering almost all his money. Basically, Dostoevsky had problems with money and creditors throughout almost his entire life. He spent part of the trip in the company of A. Suslova, a young, relaxed lady. He described many of his adventures in Europe in his novel The Gambler. In addition, the writer was shocked by the negative consequences of the Great French Revolution, and he became convinced that the only possible path of development for Russia is unique and original, not repeating the European one.
Second wife
In 1867, the writer married his stenographer Anna Snitkina. They had four children, of whom only two survived, and in the end only the only surviving son, Fyodor, became the successor of the family. For the next few years they lived together abroad, where Dostoevsky, whose birthday is celebrated on November 11, began work on some of the last novels included in the famous "Great Pentateuch" - "Crime and Punishment", the most famous philosophical novel, "The Idiot", where the author reveals the theme of a person trying to make others happy, but ultimately suffering, “Demons”, which tells about revolutionary movements, and “Teenager”.
“The Brothers Karamazov,” Dostoevsky’s last novel, also related to the Pentateuch, was in a sense a summing up of his entire creative path, since it contained features and images of all the writer’s previous works.
The writer spent the last 8 years of his life in the Novgorod province, in the town of Staraya Russa, where he lived with his wife and children and continued to engage in writing, completing the novels he had begun.
In June 1880, Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky, whose work significantly influenced literature in general, came to the opening of the monument to Pushkin in Moscow, where many famous writers were present. In the evening, he delivered a famous speech about Pushkin at a meeting of the Society of Lovers of Russian Literature.
Death of Dostoevsky
Years of life of F. M. Dostoevsky - 1821-1881. Fyodor Mikhailovich died on January 28, 1881 from tuberculosis, chronic bronchitis, aggravated by emphysema, shortly after a scandal with his sister Vera, who asked him to give up the inherited estate in favor of his sisters. The writer was buried in one of the cemeteries of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra, and a huge number of people gathered to say goodbye to him.
Although the fame of Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky, biography and Interesting Facts whose life we discussed in this article, acquired during his lifetime, real, grandiose fame came to him only after his death.
1821, October 30 (November 11) Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky was born, in Moscow in the right wing of the Mariinsky Hospital for the Poor. There were six more children in the Dostoevsky family: 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 “nervous, irritable and proud” man, always busy caring for the well-being 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, except through the patients, with whom Fyodor Mikhailovich, secretly from his father, sometimes spoke. There was also a nanny, hired from among Moscow bourgeois women, whose name was Alena Frolovna. Dostoevsky remembered her with the same tenderness as Pushkin remembered Arina Rodionovna. It was from her that he heard the first fairy tales: about the Firebird, Alyosha Popovich, the Blue Bird, etc.
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Father, Mikhail Andreevich (1789-1839), the son of a Uniate priest, a doctor (head doctor, surgeon) at the Moscow Mariinsky Hospital for the Poor, received the title of hereditary nobleman in 1828. In 1831 he acquired the village of Darovoye, Kashira district, Tula province, and in 1833 the neighboring village of Chermoshnya.
In raising his children, the father was an independent, educated, caring family man, but had a quick-tempered and suspicious character. After the death of his wife in 1837, he retired and settled in Darovoe. According to documents, he died of apoplexy; according to the recollections of relatives and oral traditions, he was killed by his peasants.
Mother, Maria Fedorovna (née Nechaeva; 1800-1837) - from a merchant family, a religious woman, annually took the children to the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, taught them to read from the book “One Hundred and Four sacred stories 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.
Dostoevsky recalled with particular animation in mature years about becoming familiar with Scripture: “In our family, we knew the Gospel almost from our first childhood.” The Old Testament “Book of Job” also became a vivid childhood impression of the writer. Fyodor Mikhailovich’s younger brother Andrei Mikhailovich wrote that “brother Fedya read more historical works, serious works, as well as novels that came across. Brother Mikhail loved poetry and wrote poems himself... But at Pushkin they made peace, and both, it seems, then knew almost everything by heart...”
The death of Alexander Sergeevich by 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 Feodorovna died), then he would ask his father’s permission to mourn for Pushkin.”
Dostoevsky's youth
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Since 1832, the family annually spent the summer in the village of Darovoye (Tula province), purchased by their father. Meetings and conversations with men were forever etched in Dostoevsky’s memory and later served as creative material (the story “” from the “Diary of a Writer” for 1876).
In 1832, Dostoevsky and his older brother Mikhail began studying with teachers who came to the house, from 1833 they studied at the boarding house of N. I. Drashusov (Sushara), then at the boarding house of L. I. Chermak, where the astronomer D. M. Perevoshchikov and paleologist taught A. M. Kubarev. Russian language teacher N.I. Bilevich played a certain role in Dostoevsky’s spiritual development.
Memories of the boarding school 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 (autobiographical traits of the hero of the novel "", experiencing deep moral upheavals in the "Tushara 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 again with his father, who died in 1839 (according to official information, he died of apoplexy; according to family legends, he was killed by serfs). Dostoevsky's attitude towards his father, a suspicious and morbidly suspicious man, was ambivalent.
Having had a hard time surviving the death of her mother, which coincided with the news of the death of A.S. Pushkin (which he perceived as a personal loss), Dostoevsky in May 1837 traveled with his brother Mikhail to St. Petersburg and entered the preparatory boarding school of K. F. Kostomarov. At the same time, he met I. N. Shidlovsky, whose religious and romantic mood captivated Dostoevsky.
First literary publications
Even on the way to St. Petersburg, Dostoevsky mentally “composed a novel from Venetian life,” and in 1838 Riesenkampf spoke “about his own literary experiences.”
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From January 1838, Dostoevsky studied at the Main Engineering School, where he described a typical day as follows: “...with early morning Until the evening we in the classrooms barely have time to follow the lectures. ...We are sent to military training, we are given lessons in fencing, dancing, singing...we are put on guard, and this is how the whole time passes...”
The difficult impression of the “hard labor years” of the training was partially brightened by friendly relations with V. Grigorovich, doctor A. E. Riesenkampf, duty officer A. I. Savelyev, and artist K. A. Trutovsky. Subsequently, Dostoevsky always believed that the choice of educational institution was wrong. He suffered from the military atmosphere and drill, from disciplines alien to his interests and from loneliness.
As his college friend, the artist K. A. Trutovsky, testified, Dostoevsky kept himself aloof, but amazed his comrades with his erudition, and a literary circle formed around him. The first literary ideas took shape at the school.
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In 1841, at an evening organized by his brother Mikhail, Dostoevsky read excerpts from his dramatic works, which are known only by their titles - “Mary Stuart” and “Boris Godunov” - giving rise to associations with the names of F. Schiller and A. S. Pushkin, according to apparently the deepest literary passions of the young Dostoevsky; was also read by N.V. Gogol, E. Hoffmann, W. Scott, George 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 retired with the rank of lieutenant, deciding to devote himself entirely to literary creativity.
Among Dostoevsky’s literary passions at that time was O. de Balzac: with the translation of his story “Eugenia Grande” (1844, without indicating the name of the translator), the writer entered the literary field. At the same time, Dostoevsky worked on translating the novels of Eugene Sue and George 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 romantic and sentimentalist styles, he liked dramatic collisions, large-scale characters, and action-packed storytelling. In the works of George Sand, as he recalled at the end of his life, he was “struck... by the chaste, highest purity types and ideals and the modest charm of the story’s strict, restrained tone.”
Dostoevsky informed his brother about his work on the drama “The Jew Yankel” in January 1844. The manuscripts of the dramas have not survived, but the literary hobbies of the aspiring writer emerge from their titles: Schiller, Pushkin, Gogol. After the death of his father, the relatives of the writer's mother took care of younger brothers and Dostoevsky's sisters, and Fyodor and Mikhail received a small inheritance.
After graduating from college (end of 1843), he was enlisted as a field engineer-second lieutenant in the St. Petersburg engineering team, but already in the early summer of 1844, having decided to devote himself entirely to literature, he resigned and was discharged with the rank of lieutenant.
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In January 1844, Dostoevsky completed the translation of Balzac's story "Eugene Grande", which he was especially keen on at that time. The translation became Dostoevsky's first published literary work. In 1844 he began and in May 1845, after numerous alterations, he finished the novel ““.
The novel “Poor People,” the connection of which with Pushkin’s “The Station Agent” and Gogol’s “The Overcoat” was emphasized by Dostoevsky himself, was an exceptional success. Based on the traditions of the physiological essay, Dostoevsky creates a realistic picture of the life of the “downtrodden” inhabitants of the “St. Petersburg corners”, a gallery of social types from the street beggar to “His Excellency”.
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Dostoevsky spent the summer of 1845 (as well as the next) in Reval with his brother Mikhail. In the fall of 1845, upon returning to St. Petersburg, he often met with Belinsky. In October, the writer, together with Nekrasov and Grigorovich, compiled an anonymous program announcement for the almanac “Zuboskal” (03, 1845, No. 11), and in early December, at an evening with Belinsky, he read the chapters “” (03, 1846, No. 2), in which for the first time gives psychological analysis split consciousness, “dualism”. The story "" (1846) and the story "" (1847), in which many of the motives, ideas and characters of Dostoevsky's works of the 1860-1870s were outlined, were not understood by modern criticism.
Belinsky also radically changed his attitude towards Dostoevsky, condemning the “fantastic” element, “pretentiousness”, “manneredness” of these works. In other works of the young Dostoevsky - in the stories "", "", the cycle of acute socio-psychological feuilletons "The Petersburg Chronicle" and the unfinished novel "" - the problems of the writer's creativity are expanded, psychologism is intensified with a characteristic emphasis on the analysis of the most complex, elusive internal phenomena.
At the end of 1846, there was a cooling in the relations between Dostoevsky and Belinsky. Later, he had a conflict with the editors of Sovremennik: Dostoevsky’s suspicious, proud character played a big role here. The ridicule of the writer by recent friends (especially Turgenev, Nekrasov), the harsh tone of Belinsky’s critical reviews of his works were acutely felt by the writer. Around this time, according to the testimony of Dr. S.D. Yanovsky, Dostoevsky showed the first symptoms of epilepsy.
The writer is burdened by exhausting work for “Notes of the Fatherland.” Poverty forced him to take on any literary work (in particular, he edited articles for the “Reference Encyclopedic Dictionary” by A. V. Starchevsky).
Arrest and exile
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In 1846, Dostoevsky became close to the Maykov family, regularly visited the literary and philosophical circle of the Beketov brothers, in which V. Maykov was the leader, and A.N. was the regular participants. Maikov and A.N. Pleshcheev are friends of Dostoevsky. From March-April 1847, Dostoevsky became a visitor to the “Fridays” of M.V. Butashevich-Petrashevsky. He also participates in the organization of a secret printing house for printing appeals to peasants and soldiers.
Dostoevsky's arrest occurred on April 23, 1849; his archive was taken away during his arrest and probably destroyed in the III department. Dostoevsky spent 8 months in the Alekseevsky ravelin of the Peter and Paul Fortress under investigation, during which he showed courage, hiding many facts and trying, if possible, to mitigate the guilt of his comrades. He was recognized by the investigation as “one of the most important” among the Petrashevites, guilty of “intent to overthrow existing domestic laws and public order.”
The initial verdict of the military judicial commission read: “... the retired engineer-lieutenant Dostoevsky, for failure to report the dissemination of a criminal letter about religion and government by the writer Belinsky and the malicious writing of lieutenant Grigoriev, will be deprived of his ranks, all rights of state and subjected to the death penalty by shooting.”
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On December 22, 1849, Dostoevsky, along with others, awaited the execution of the death sentence on the Semyonovsky parade ground. According to the resolution of Nicholas I, his execution was replaced by 4 years of hard labor with deprivation of “all rights of state” and subsequent surrender to the army.
On the night of December 24, Dostoevsky was sent from St. Petersburg in chains. On January 10, 1850 he arrived in Tobolsk, where in the caretaker’s apartment the writer met with the wives of the Decembrists - P.E. Annenkova, A.G. Muravyova and N.D. Fonvizina; they gave him the Gospel, which he kept all his life. From January 1850 to 1854, Dostoevsky, together with Durov, served hard labor as a “laborer” in the Omsk fortress.
In January 1854, he was enlisted as a private in the 7th Line Battalion (Semipalatinsk) and was able to resume correspondence with his brother Mikhail and A. Maikov. In November 1855, Dostoevsky was promoted to non-commissioned officer, and after much trouble from prosecutor Wrangel and other Siberian and St. Petersburg acquaintances (including E.I. Totleben) to warrant officer; in the spring of 1857, the writer was returned to hereditary nobility and the right to publish, but police surveillance over him remained until 1875.
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In 1857 Dostoevsky married the widowed M.D. Isaeva, who, according to him, was “a woman of the most sublime and enthusiastic soul... An idealist in the full sense of the word... she was both pure and naive, and she was just like a child.” The marriage was not happy: Isaeva agreed after much hesitation that tormented Dostoevsky.
In Siberia, the writer began work on his memoirs about hard labor (the “Siberian” notebook, containing folklore, ethnographic and diary entries, served as a source for “” and many other books by Dostoevsky). In 1857 his brother published the story " Little hero", written by Dostoevsky in the Peter and Paul Fortress.
Having created two “provincial” comic stories - “” and “”, Dostoevsky entered into negotiations with M.N. through his brother Mikhail. Katkov, Nekrasov, A.A. Kraevsky. However, modern criticism did not appreciate and passed over these first works of the “new” Dostoevsky in almost complete silence.
On March 18, 1859, Dostoevsky, upon request, was dismissed “due to illness” with the rank of second lieutenant and received permission to live in Tver (with a ban on entry into the St. Petersburg and Moscow provinces). On July 2, 1859, he left Semipalatinsk with his wife and stepson. From 1859 - in Tver, where he renewed his previous literary acquaintances and made new ones. Later, the chief of gendarmes notified the Tver governor about permission for Dostoevsky to live in St. Petersburg, where he arrived in December 1859.
The flowering of Dostoevsky's creativity
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Dostoevsky’s intensive activity combined editorial work on “other people’s” manuscripts with the publication of his own articles, polemical notes, notes, and most importantly works of art.
“- a transitional work, a peculiar return at a new stage of development to the motives of creativity of the 1840s, enriched by the experience of what was experienced and felt in the 1850s; it has very strong autobiographical motives. At the same time, the novel contained the features of the plots, style and characters of the works of the late Dostoevsky. ““ was a huge success.
In Siberia, according to Dostoevsky, his “convictions” changed “gradually and after a very, very long time.” The essence of these changes, Dostoevsky formulated in the most general form as “a return to the folk root, to the recognition of the Russian soul, to the recognition of the folk spirit.” In the magazines "Time" and "Epoch" the Dostoevsky brothers acted as ideologists of "pochvennichestvo" - a specific modification of the ideas of Slavophilism.
“Pochvennichestvo” was rather an attempt to outline the contours of the “general idea”, to find a platform that would reconcile Westerners and Slavophiles, “civilization” and folk origin. 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 a rapprochement between the government and the intelligentsia and 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 lies in the consciousness of ugliness. I alone brought out the tragedy of the underground, which consists 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 there is no need to improve!”
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In June 1862, Dostoevsky traveled 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, whose dramatic relationship (1861-1866) was reflected in the novel ““, “” and other works.
In Baden-Baden, carried away by the gambling nature of his nature, playing roulette, he loses “all, completely to the ground”; This long-term hobby of 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, traveling to 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 attends Grigoriev’s funeral. After the death of his brother, Dostoevsky took over the publication of the magazine “Epoch”, which was burdened with a large debt and lagged 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 owed creditors about 15 thousand rubles, which he was able to pay only towards the end of his life. In an effort to provide working conditions, Dostoevsky entered into a contract with F.T. Stellovsky for the publication of collected works and undertook to write for him new novel by November 1, 1866.
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In the spring of 1865 Dostoevsky - frequent guest family of General V.V. Korvin-Krukovsky, eldest daughter whom A.V. Korvin-Krukovskaya he was very passionate about. In July he went to Wiesbaden, from where in the fall of 1865 he offered Katkov a story for the Russian Messenger, which later developed into a novel.
In the summer of 1866, Dostoevsky was in Moscow and at the dacha in the village of Lyublino, near the family of his sister Vera Mikhailovna, where he wrote the novel ““ at night. “A psychological report of a crime” became the plot outline of the novel, the main idea of which Dostoevsky outlined as follows: “Unsolvable questions arise before the murderer, unsuspected and unexpected feelings torment his heart. God's truth, earthly law takes its toll, and he ends up being forced to denounce himself. Forced to die in hard labor, but to join the people again...”
The novel accurately and multifacetedly depicts Petersburg and “current reality,” a wealth of social characters, “a whole world of class and professional types,” but this is reality transformed and revealed by the artist, whose gaze penetrates to the very essence of things. Intense philosophical debates, prophetic dreams, confessions and nightmares, grotesque caricature scenes that naturally turn into tragic, symbolic meetings of heroes, an apocalyptic image ghost town organically linked in Dostoevsky’s novel. The novel, according to the author himself, was “extremely successful” and raised his “reputation as a writer.”
In 1866, the expiring contract with the publisher forced Dostoevsky to simultaneously work on two novels - "" and "". Dostoevsky resorts to an unusual way of working: on October 4, 1866, stenographer A.G. comes to him. Snitkina; 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 authority and fearing them” “foreign Russian” with “complete” European types. Main character- “a poet in his own way, but the fact is that he himself is ashamed of this poetry, for he deeply feels its baseness, although the need for risk ennobles him in his own eyes.”
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In the winter of 1867, Snitkina became Dostoevsky's wife. 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, daughter Sophia was born, sudden death which (May of the same year) Dostoevsky was very worried about. On September 14, 1869, daughter Lyubov was born; later in Russia July 16, 1871 - son Fedor; Aug 12 1875 - son Alexey, who died at the age of three from an epileptic fit.
In 1867-1868 Dostoevsky worked on the novel ““. “The idea of the novel,” the author pointed out, “is my old and favorite one, but it is so difficult that I did not dare take on it for a long time. the main idea novel - to portray a positively beautiful person. There is nothing more difficult in the world than this, and especially now...”
Dostoevsky began the novel "" by interrupting work on the widely conceived epics "Atheism" and "The Life of a Great Sinner" and hastily composing the "story" "". The immediate impetus for the creation of the novel was the “Nechaev case.”
Activity secret society“People’s reprisal”, the murder by five members of the organization of a student of the Petrovsky Agricultural Academy I.I. Ivanov - 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 the accomplices in the crime, the personality of the head of the society S.G. Nechaeva.
In the process of working on the novel, the concept was modified many times. Initially, it is a direct response to events. The scope of the pamphlet subsequently expanded significantly, not only Nechaevites, but also figures of the 1860s, liberals of the 1840s, T.N. Granovsky, Petrashevites, Belinsky, V.S. Pecherin, A.I. Herzen, even the Decembrists and P.Ya. The Chaadaevs find themselves in the grotesque-tragic space of the novel.
Gradually, the novel develops into a critical depiction of the common “disease” experienced by Russia and Europe, a clear symptom of which is the “demonism” of Nechaev and the Nechaevites. At the center of the novel, its philosophical and ideological focus is not the sinister “swindler” Pyotr Verkhovensky (Nechaev), but the mysterious and demonic figure of Nikolai Stavrogin, who “allowed everything.”
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In July 1871, Dostoevsky with his wife and daughter returned to St. Petersburg. The writer and his family spent the summer of 1872 in Staraya Russa; this city has become permanent place family's summer stay. In 1876 Dostoevsky purchased a house here.
In 1872, the writer visited the “Wednesdays” of Prince V.P. Meshchersky, a supporter of counter-reforms 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 editorship of “Citizen”, stipulating in advance that he would assume these responsibilities temporarily.
In “The Citizen” (1873), Dostoevsky carried out the long-conceived idea of “A Writer’s Diary” (a cycle of essays of a political, literary and memoir nature, united by the idea of direct, personal communication with the reader), published a number of articles and notes (including political reviews “Foreign Events ").
Soon Dostoevsky began to feel burdened by the editor. work, the clashes with Meshchersky also became increasingly harsh, and the impossibility of turning the weekly into “an organ of people with independent convictions” became more obvious. In the spring of 1874, the writer refused to be an editor, although he occasionally collaborated with The Citizen and later. Due to deteriorating health (increased emphysema), in June 1847 he left for treatment in Ems and repeated trips there in 1875, 1876 and 1879.
In the mid-1870s. Dostoevsky's relationship with Saltykov-Shchedrin, interrupted at the height of the controversy between "Epoch" and "Sovremennik", and with Nekrasov, was renewed, at whose suggestion (1874) the writer published his new novel "" - "a novel of education" in "Otechestvennye zapiski" kind of “Fathers and Sons” by Dostoevsky.
The hero’s personality and worldview are formed in an environment of “general decay” and the collapse of the foundations of society, in the fight against the temptations of the age. The confession of a teenager analyzes the complex, contradictory, chaotic process of personality formation in an “ugly” world that has lost its “moral center,” the slow maturation of a new “idea” under the powerful influence of the “great thought” of the wanderer Versilov and the philosophy of life of the “pretty” wanderer Makar Dolgoruky.
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In con. 1875 Dostoevsky again returns to journalistic work - the “mono-magazine” “” (1876 and 1877), which had great success and allowed the writer to enter into a direct dialogue with corresponding readers.
The author defined the nature of the publication in this way: “A Writer’s Diary will be similar to a feuilleton, but with the difference that a month’s feuilleton naturally cannot be similar to a week’s feuilleton. I am not a chronicler: on the contrary, this is a perfect diary in the full sense of the word, that is, a report on what interested me most personally.”
“Diary” 1876-1877 - a fusion of journalistic articles, essays, feuilletons, “anti-critics,” memoirs and works of art. The “Diary” refracted Dostoevsky’s immediate, hot on the heels, impressions and opinions about the most important phenomena of European and Russian socio-political and cultural life, which worried Dostoevsky about legal, social, ethical-pedagogical, aesthetic and political problems.
A large place in the “Diary” is occupied by the writer’s attempts to see in modern chaos the contours of a “new creation”, the foundations of an “emerging” life, to predict the appearance of the “coming future Russia honest people who need only one truth.”
Criticism of bourgeois Europe and a deep analysis of the state of post-reform Russia are paradoxically combined in the “Diary” with polemics against various trends of social thought of the 1870s, from conservative utopias to populist and socialist ideas.
IN last years life, Dostoevsky's popularity increases. In 1877 he was elected a corresponding member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences. In May 1879, the writer was invited to the International Literary Congress in London, at the session of which he was elected a member of the honorary committee of the international literary association.
Dostoevsky actively participates in the activities of the St. Petersburg Frebel Society. He often performs at literary and musical evenings and matinees, reading excerpts from his works and poems by Pushkin. In January 1877 Dostoevsky was impressed by " Latest songs“Nekrasova visits the dying poet, often sees him in November; On December 30, he makes a speech at Nekrasov’s funeral.
Dostoevsky's activities required direct acquaintance with “living life.” He visits (with the assistance of A.F. Koni) colonies for juvenile delinquents (1875) and the Orphanage (1876). In 1878, after the death of his beloved son Alyosha, he made a trip to Optina Pustyn, where he talked with Elder Ambrose. The writer is especially concerned about events in Russia.
In March 1878, Dostoevsky was at the trial of Vera Zasulich in the St. Petersburg District Court, and in April he responded to a letter from students asking to speak out about the beating of student demonstration participants by shopkeepers; In February 1880, he was present at the execution of I. O. Mlodetsky, who shot M. T. Loris-Melikov.
Intensive, diverse contacts with the surrounding reality, active journalistic and social activity served as multifaceted preparation for a new stage in the writer’s work. In the "Diary of a Writer" ideas and the plot of it matured and were tested. last novel. At the end of 1877, Dostoevsky announced the termination of the Diary in connection with his intention to engage in “one artistic work that took shape... during these two years of publication of the Diary, inconspicuously and involuntarily.”
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“” is the final work of the writer, in which many of the ideas of his work received artistic embodiment. The history of the Karamazovs, as the author wrote, is not just family chronicle, but a typified and generalized “image of our modern reality, our modern intelligentsia Russia.”
The philosophy and psychology of “crime and punishment”, the dilemma of “socialism and Christianity”, the eternal struggle between “God” and “the devil” in the souls of people, the traditional theme of “fathers and sons” in classical Russian literature - these are the problems of the novel. In "" the criminal offense is connected with the great world "questions" and eternal artistic and philosophical themes.
In January 1881, Dostoevsky speaks at a meeting of the Slavyansky Council charitable society, working on the first issue of the renewed “Diary of a Writer”, learning the role of a schema-monk in “The Death of Ivan the Terrible” by A.K. Tolstoy for a home performance in S.A. Tolstoy’s salon, decides “to definitely participate in the Pushkin evening” on January 29. He was going to “publish the “Diary of a Writer”... for two years, and then dreamed of writing the second part ““, where almost all the previous heroes would appear...”. On the night of January 25-26, Dostoevsky’s throat began to bleed. On the afternoon of January 28, Dostoevsky said goodbye to the children at 8:38 a.m. evening he died.
Death and funeral of the writer
On January 31, 1881, the writer’s funeral took place in front of a huge crowd of people. He is buried in the Alexander Nevsky Lavra in St. Petersburg.
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Books on the biography of Dostoevsky F.M.
Dostoevsky, Fyodor Mikhailovich // Russian biographical dictionary: in 25 volumes. - St. Petersburg-M., 1896-1918.
Pereverzev V.F., Riza-Zade F. Dostoevsky Fyodor Mikhailovich // Literary encyclopedia. - M.: Publishing House Kom. Acad., 1930. - T. 3.
Friedlander G. M. Dostoevsky // History of Russian literature. - USSR Academy of Sciences. Institute rus. lit. (Pushkin. House). - M.; L.: USSR Academy of Sciences, 1956. - T. 9. - P. 7-118.
Grossman L. P. Dostoevsky. - M.: Young Guard, 1962. - 543 p. - (Life wonderful people; issue 357).
Friedlander G. M. F. M. Dostoevsky // History of Russian literature. - USSR Academy of Sciences. Institute rus. lit. (Pushkin. House). - L.: Nauka., 1982. - T. 3. - P. 695-760.
Ornatskaya T. I., Tunimanov V. A. Dostoevsky Fyodor Mikhailovich // Russian writers. 1800-1917.
Biographical Dictionary.. - M.: Great Russian Encyclopedia, 1992. - T. 2. - P. 165-177. - 624 s. - ISBN 5-85270-064-9.
Chronicle of the life and work of F. M. Dostoevsky: 1821-1881 / Comp. Yakubovich I. D., Ornatskaya T. I.. - Institute of Russian Literature (Pushkin House) RAS. - St. Petersburg: Academic Project, 1993. - T. 1 (1821-1864). - 540 s. - ISBN 5-7331-043-5.
Chronicle of the life and work of F. M. Dostoevsky: 1821–1881 / Comp. Yakubovich I. D., Ornatskaya T. I.. - Institute of Russian Literature (Pushkin House) RAS. - St. Petersburg: Academic Project, 1994. - T. 2 (1865-1874). - 586 p. - ISBN 5-7331-006-0.
Chronicle of the life and work of F. M. Dostoevsky: 1821–1881 / Comp. Yakubovich I. D., Ornatskaya T. I.. - Institute of Russian Literature (Pushkin House) RAS. - St. Petersburg: Academic Project, 1995. - T. 3 (1875-1881). - 614 p. - ISBN 5-7331-0002-8.
Troyat A. Fyodor Dostoevsky. - M.: Eksmo, 2005. - 480 p. - (“Russian biographies”). - ISBN 5-699-03260-6.
Saraskina L. I. Dostoevsky. - M.: Young Guard, 2011. - 825 p. - (Life of remarkable people; issue 1320). - ISBN 978-5-235-03458-7.
Inna Svechenovskaya. Dostoevsky. A duel with passion. Publisher: "Neva", 2006. - ISBN: 5-7654-4739-2.
Saraskina L.I. Dostoevsky. 2nd edition. Publishing house "Young Guard", 2013. Series: Life of remarkable people. — ISBN: 978-5-235-03458-7.
“When the children reached a more or less conscious age, Fyodor Mikhailovich charged them with the responsibility of mixing two types of tobacco”
The fact that Dmitry Andreevich Dostoevsky is a descendant of the great writer is clear at first glance. They are very similar - Fyodor Mikhailovich and his great-grandson. He lives in St. Petersburg. We met in Gatchina at the Literature and Cinema festival. Dostoevsky's great-grandson turned out to be a temperamental person and never let anyone get bored.
Dmitry Andreevich Dostoevsky
“I have mastered 21 professions, starting with a tram driver”
The grandson of Mikhail Sholokhov, Alexander Sholokhov, told how he once met Radishchev’s descendants. They struck him with their resemblance to the famous ancestor. You are also very similar to your great-grandfather. Have you ever dealt with representatives of other famous families?
At one time I was the leader of the Assembly of the Nobility, which, unlike the main one, united serving nobles. There were many representatives of famous families there, including the Karamzins. They are also very similar to their famous relative.
When you meet a descendant of a famous person, you first of all pay attention to his appearance, and when you get to know him better, you study his character. Many internal qualities are passed on from generation to generation. If we talk about Fyodor Mikhailovich, then it is impossible not to mention that he had a sweet tooth. This inclination manifested itself to a lesser extent in me, but my son and granddaughter are fine with it. I have seen references to the love of sweets in the letters of my father and grandfather.
Fyodor Mikhailovich smoked heavily. I conducted a study of my closest ancestors and found out that they also had this tendency. Dostoevsky's wife Anna Grigorievna mentions that her husband took cigarette after cigarette. Moreover, it was a whole action. When the children reached a more or less conscious age, Fyodor Mikhailovich charged them with the responsibility of mixing two types of tobacco in certain proportions. The children apparently loved to twirl this mixture. They were busy stuffing cigarettes. According to modern concepts, they prepared poison for their father, especially since he suffered from a lung disease. Antibiotics did not yet exist, so he was ruining himself, and the children helped him with this.
Fedor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky
- Did noble kinship predetermine your life?
Definitely. When they ask me if I have anything to do with famous writer, I look a person in the eyes and decide whether it’s worth communicating with him. But you can always say: “No. Namesake." People finding out that you are a descendant famous person, trying to understand: what are you like? And this can become a tragedy of life.
Fyodor Mikhailovich’s daughter, Lyuba, could say: why is everyone talking about my father, why don’t they talk about me, I will write too. And she wrote. But I wouldn't say she had talent. WITH with great difficulty I forced myself to read what she wrote.
Anna Grigorievna has a confessional where she says that nature rests on the descendants of geniuses. Lyuba lived hard all her life, never got married, did not give birth to children. Her family line was broken. She considered herself a special woman and was afraid to sell herself short with her chosen one, which has two written confirmations.
She wanted to marry the governor of Staraya Russa, but he did not pay attention to her. Her communication with Lev Lvovich Tolstoy also did not develop into a romance.
When her mother was told, why don’t you, a young widow, get married, she replied that after Dostoevsky, you could only marry Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy himself, but he was already taken. And something similar happened to Lyuba. Together with Lev Lvovich she wrote some plays, but in the end they broke up.
Dostoevsky has a prophecy regarding own family. Already on his deathbed, he called the children to him and read them the parable of the prodigal son. Both of his children were away from home. He understood that he would not be able to influence them. Lyuba leaves Russia when not a single Russian person has even thought about leaving: In 1912, she tells her mother that she is going to Europe for treatment, and then will return, and she lived abroad until her death and died there. And she lived on the money received from the publication of her father’s books, which her mother carefully sent her.
There is a tragic letter where Anna Grigorievna asks Lyuba not to play in the casino, reminds her of her father’s sad example (I have never seen any other mention of this). Maybe Lyuba pulled herself together and didn’t play anymore.
Abroad, she wrote memoirs for the anniversary of her father’s death. French. We published them in 1928. Lyuba was born in Dresden, so she was drawn to Europe. And her brother Fedya was born in St. Petersburg, and when his mother wrote to him: “Go to Europe, unwind, relax,” she answered: “What didn’t I see there?”
All his life he worked with racehorses, kept a stable, and when it burned down, he barely managed the best horses save. It is interesting that Fyodor Mikhailovich’s sisters remained in Moscow, and his brothers went to St. Petersburg. In his last days, and he had no intention of dying, Dostoevsky wrote in his notebook and in a letter to Anna Grigorievna about preparations for moving to Moscow.
- How old were you when you found out who you were?
About 15 years old. As soon as my mother felt that she could tell me about it, she added: “Just talk less about it.” It was such a time.
And I was in no hurry to tell my eldest granddaughter Anya about her famous ancestor. On New Year's days we went to the Dostoevsky Museum. Nearby is a monument to him. We've arrived. Anya already knew how to read, she traced the letters with her finger: “Oh, and I’m Dostoevskaya.” Then I explained to her that this uncle was a relative and promised to show her how many books he had written. Two days later we found a small book in her possession, which she had sewn herself, filled with sine waves. Anya wrote a book.
- And your son...
He is gradually replacing me. I immediately decided that I would not put pressure on him with my attitude towards Fyodor Mikhailovich, let him form on his own. He didn’t push books with the words: “Read your great-great-grandfather.” It formed itself.
- Who he is by profession?
He studied at the pedagogical school, but majored in “teacher” in English" did not work. And this is also in our genes.
Fyodor Mikhailovich received a higher education and was a topographical engineer, but six months later he resigned and became a free man, began to write and live on it. Then it was difficult to subsist on literary works. Turgenev and Tolstoy had villages and peasants who worked for them. Dostoevsky did not have such help. Son Fedor never spent a single day in public service. Grandson Andrei, my father, spent most of his life in Soviet time.
He graduated from the Industrial Institute, and now the Polytechnic Institute in Leningrad, and studied forest management. Then the war began, he actually went to the front in the first days, was wounded and in 1946, due to medical reasons, received an early pension. I refused on principle to receive higher education.
- What is the principle?
I thought that it was not interesting to be an engineer for 80 rubles a month. I wanted to learn a lot. I have 21 professions. In Soviet times, I was generally considered a flyer. In the personnel department, looking at my work record, they were wary of me. They looked carefully into the eyes, and in the end they accepted. It is obvious that he is not a drunkard.
- I know that you drove a tram, but what else did you do?
The range of professions ranges from technical to artistic.
- And which is the most artistic?
Applying diamond edges to crystal vases. This is one of my first professions. In high schools, compulsory professional education. I went to school on Fontanka, where half of my classmates studied at an art glass factory, and the other engraved rollers with which designs were applied to fabric. From early childhood he was interested in radio engineering and assembled receivers.
In the 90s, difficulties came and I found myself without a job. I was invited to Germany to open the Dostoevsky Society, and I stayed to work there, repairing the first VCRs and televisions. He received money and sent parcels to his family in order to somehow feed them.
- So you lived there alone?
First one. I brought my whole family to Germany when I realized that I could easily get a job, and if necessary, I would go and drive a Munich tram.
The quality knitting of my wife Lyuda came in handy. I took her to the park, she sat on a bench and knitted. There was an opportunity to make money, and we didn’t refuse anything. We returned home in a foreign car.
They left Germany in a surprising way. The Emergency Committee happened. They announce on TV that they are ready to provide political asylum in a simplified form, automatically extending the visa for Russians staying in Germany. We've gathered family council, we thought - suddenly the border will be closed, that’s it, and we’ll be stuck here. We packed up and went home. Although we had a rented apartment in Germany, Full time job, although unofficial. Live and be happy. But nostalgia set in for me in the third month.
- You could live happily by creating the Dostoevsky Foundation.
Even in my youth I thought: I am the great-grandson of a great man, but will I live off this or will I become independent? My life was divided into two parts: one belonged to Fyodor Mikhailovich, and the second was my own. But the idea of creating something special didn’t occur to me. The only thing I did was protect the surname itself as a trademark so that it would not appear everywhere, so that Dostoevsky casinos would not appear.
- But there is a hotel.
I received the corresponding paper later than the name of the hotel. We do not have the opportunity to change anything in hindsight.
I was informed from Staraya Russa that Muscovites purchased four plots of land, built a hotel, and named it “Dostoevsky”. They asked how I felt about this. I replied: “So be it.” Even Anna Grigorievna was not against the steamship of the same name on the Volga. While traveling along the river, she wrote: “The Dostoevsky steamship passed me.” And she lived on Dostoevsky Street in Yalta. When the metro station in St. Petersburg was named “Dostoevskaya,” I thought: so be it. In honor of Anna Grigorievna.
Anna Grigorievna Dostoevskaya
“Fyodor Mikhailovich loved beer”
- When you are invited to different cities and countries to events dedicated to Dostoevsky, what do they want from you?
Basically, representing oneself as a direct descendant. Roughly speaking, they call you as a wedding general. This does not suit me, and I make reports: for example, about the lives of children, based on a thousand letters from Anna Grigorievna to children and their letters to her. They are kept in the Pushkin House, but no one except me has attacked them so far.
From them I learned that Fyodor Mikhailovich was very fond of beer. Anna Grigorievna wrote that in every city where they stopped there was some nice place. There they sat, admired the scenery and drank beer, he mentions light beer. This drink was an important product in my family. I myself moved away from him, but my son loves him.
- So, it’s still possible to extract new facts and make discoveries?
It happens. We have a chance to find the draft manuscript of The Brothers Karamazov. Some traces remained, as well as the assumption that it was stolen and moved through the rebellious Russia in 1918 towards Georgia. Ultimately, I think she went abroad and is hiding somewhere, if we assume that the manuscripts do not burn. It contains the writer's edits, which are invaluable for textual work.
A lot of things are missing, for example, the manuscript of “Demons”, and the letters have disappeared. I found references to the fact that Dostoevsky’s children Fedya and Lyuba studied poorly. Fedya honestly writes to his mother that he is skipping classes and somehow, while walking in the garden, he ended up on a bench next to a gray-haired general. We got to talking, and it turned out that during his service in Siberia he had letters from Fyodor Mikhailovich, about twenty of them. But they all burned down. And when the Dostoevskys bought a house in Staraya Russa, it turned out that the owner hid that from time to time the plot was flooded with water. Somehow Lyuba was left there alone, but things from the first floor were not moved upstairs, and the suitcases with Dostoevsky’s letters got wet. She threw them away.
“Dostoevsky’s nephew was sent to build the White Sea-Baltic Canal”
- Let's reproduce the family tree.
Fyodor Mikhailovich had four children. The first and last died in infancy. Lyuba, as we have already said, had no offspring. There remained Fedor, whose pedigree stretches back to today. After him, Fyodor and Andrey were next again. Fedor III died at the age of 16. Mom saved his poems. They were published in the Chronicle of the Dostoevsky Family. When I showed them to the poets and told them that a 16-year-old boy wrote them, everyone was shocked. How mature it is.
- It’s interesting that three Fedors in a row.
It is an old Russian tradition to name the eldest son after his father. Andrei also had two children - my pre-war sister and me, post-war. The fact that I am Dmitry - my mother most likely insisted on this in memory of her early deceased brother. My sister Tatyana and I are almost ten years apart. We are from different generations. Her life in many ways repeated the fate of Lyuba. I don’t know whose life I’m living.
- What was your grandson’s name?
Fedya. Fedor is the fourth. I insisted on Ivan. I liked that Alexey was there, Dmitry was there, and let there be Ivan. I believe that for Fyodor Mikhailovich, three brothers are hypostases of one person: a rebel, a believer and a doubter. My son Alexey became captain of the monastery fleet on Valaam. He served in the army there and stayed. Everyone was worried then that their children might be sent to Chechnya. He didn’t have a family yet, but he had to continue the family line. And then Fyodor Mikhailovich, together with the Lord, helped.
It turned out that my son was late for the autumn draft; there was already a kit there. And he stayed at the monastery for the winter and came to court. The abbot gave him an eternal blessing - a rare occurrence. My son has been living there for almost twenty years.
During one of his trips, Alexey met with Vladyka Tomsk, and it turned out that he dreamed of turning the ship into a church so that it would ply the rivers of Siberia. He invited his son to become his captain. There are only one or two churches in the villages, but there is no money to build new ones. And on the ship you can have a wedding and a funeral service.
I received a call from the archbishop's office and asked, as a father, if I gave my blessing to my son for further action. I got excited and said I didn’t mind. But the son decided differently: “I have not yet been filled with the Valaam spirit.”
- If you honor your ancestors, then they support you?
I have my own ideas on this matter. I got cancer when I was young. I want to live, but I need to have surgery. There was no guarantee that I would survive. But he’s alive.
Although my mother was transformed into a Soviet person, she remembered that she came from the nobility. Her grandfather Shestakov was the chief of artillery of the Peter and Paul Fortress, governor-general of Vilna (present-day Vilnius). In Soviet times, my mother was forced to hide this; in the “social origin” column she indicated that she was from the middle class.
Then she joined the extremely nasty surname of Dostoevsky - as defined by Ulyanov-Lenin. She herself escaped arrest, but my father spent a month in prison on Shpalernaya. The file says that he was arrested three days after Kirov’s murder.
The fact that he was imprisoned became known abroad. They started writing there: the grandson of a great writer in prison. And the father was released. Fyodor Mikhailovich saved. Or they could have sewn on anything, as they did in relation to Andrei Andreevich, the nephew of Fyodor Mikhailovich, the son of his brother: he was taken away in 1931.
There are documents regarding these arrests that no one except me has seen. The hair stood on end, everything was so far-fetched. Andrei Andreevich was sent to build the White Sea-Baltic Canal, and he was 64 years old. Spas Lunacharsky, although he was no longer a minister. Andrei Andreevich died two years later. I first read his first explanation after his arrest in the Geneva archive, having permission to read it from the FSB. This is where the sheer devilry lies.
- Your surname probably attracted a variety of people to you?
Constantly. But I am also a relative of Pushkin through Pavlishchev, on the female side. And perhaps closer to him than some of his current descendants.
- What kind of history is connected in your family with Hollywood?
I am passionate about this topic; I want the script about Anna Grigorievna to be staged. My grandmother Ekaterina Petrovna wrote it and defined it as an artistic documentary. According to my research, it is based on her conversations with Anna Grigorievna about Fyodor Mikhailovich.
Grandmother, of course, did not see him: Dostoevsky died when she met his son. She sent the script to Hollywood in 1956, and died in 1957.
Ekaterina Petrovna talked with Nina Berberova. So she claimed that the script was accepted. It was necessary to conclude an agreement, but Ekaterina Petrovna was no longer in the world. The script went into the archives. If only I could find him, I don’t think he’s lost in the Hollywood archives.
My grandmother gave private lessons and taught the Bolshevik youth, since she knew four languages. This is what I lived on. And then she received a false message that her son Andrei had died. In general, she decided to leave the USSR. I ended up in Regensburg, Paris, and then in Menton. There she lived out the rest of her days and was buried in an Orthodox cemetery. I was there. An interesting thought came to me that I would like to lie there too. Such beauty! A view of the Mediterranean Sea, which looks like an emerald, and tangerines and lemons grow nearby.
- I'm glad I met you. That's how you are temperamental person, living what one should live.
There really is a temperament. Fyodor Mikhailovich was just as lively. And Fyodor Fedorovich also had a temperament. I won't say that about my father. And in our genes there is a complete absence of rancor. Also from Fyodor Mikhailovich. Anna Grigorievna writes about this. Although he called some people his literary enemies, he dreamed of making peace with them.