Life and Times of Life and Times of Fyodor Mikhailovich Fyodor Mikhailovich

DostoevskyDostoevsky

1821-18811821-1881

Dostoevksy TimelineDostoevksy Timeline• 1881- born in Moscow1881- born in Moscow• 1837-mother died of TB, Dostoevsky and brother 1837-mother died of TB, Dostoevsky and brother

were sent to the Military Engineering Academy at were sent to the Military Engineering Academy at Saint PetersburgSaint Petersburg

• 1839-father died 1839-father died • 1841- obtained commission in the military, wrote 1841- obtained commission in the military, wrote

Mary Stuart Mary Stuart and and Boris GodunovBoris Godunov, romantic plays, romantic plays• 1847- published 1847- published Poor Folk Poor Folk to great acclaimto great acclaim• 1849- arrested with the Petrashevsky Circle and 1849- arrested with the Petrashevsky Circle and

sentenced to death.sentenced to death.• 1849-sentence changed to four years of labor in 1849-sentence changed to four years of labor in

Siberia and the required to serve in the Siberian Siberia and the required to serve in the Siberian RegimentRegiment

Dostoevksy TimelineDostoevksy Timeline• 1857- married Maria Dmitrievna Isaeva1857- married Maria Dmitrievna Isaeva• 1859- returned to Saint Petersburg1859- returned to Saint Petersburg• 1863- travelled abroad and met 1863- travelled abroad and met

Apollinaria SuslovaApollinaria Suslova• 1864- Maria Dmitrievna Isaeva dies, 1864- Maria Dmitrievna Isaeva dies,

Dostoevsky sank into depression and Dostoevsky sank into depression and suffered from a gambling compulsionsuffered from a gambling compulsion

• 1867- married Anna Grigorevna 1867- married Anna Grigorevna Snitkina a 20-year-old stenographerSnitkina a 20-year-old stenographer

• 1880- died1880- died

Portraits

• Dostoevksy and Shokan Valikhanov- 1858

• 1863

• 1872

““Verily, verily, I say to you, Verily, verily, I say to you, except a corn of wheat except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and fall into the ground and

die, it abideth alone but if die, it abideth alone but if it die it bringeth forth it die it bringeth forth

much fruit”much fruit”

John 12:24John 12:24

Dostoevsky’s LiteratureDostoevsky’s Literature

• Characters fall into the categories of:– Humble Christians– Self-destructive Nihilists– Cynical Debauchees– Rebellious intellectuals

Characters tend to be symbolic of ideas rather than realistic- earning Dostoevsky the

reputation as being a forerunner of Literary and Russian Symbolism

Dostoevsky’s LiteratureDostoevsky’s Literature• James Joyce

...he is the man more than any other who has created modern prose… It was his explosive power which shattered the Victorian novel with its simpering maidens and ordered commonplaces; books which were without imagination or violence.

• Virginia Woolf

The novels of Dostoevsky are seething whirlpools, gyrating sandstorms, waterspouts which hiss and boil and suck us in. They are composed purely and wholly of the stuff of the soul. Against our wills we are drawn in, whirled round, blinded, suffocated, and at the same time filled with a giddy rapture. Out of Shakespeare there is no more exciting reading.

Dostoevksy’s LiteratureDostoevksy’s Literature

• Intense study of the New Testament while in prison led to a conversion experience

• Dostoevsky rejected his former liberal political ideas• His mature fiction conveys the conviction that

redemption is possible only through suffering and faith and criticizes the contemporary Nihilistic and Socialist ideas

• His works are considered the foundation of 20th Century existentialism

Crime and PunishmentCrime and Punishment

• Depicts the confrontation between Raskolnikov’s philosophical beliefs and his inherent morality

• “I wrote [this chapter] with genuine inspiration, but perhaps it is no good; but for them the question is not its literary worth, they are worried about its morality. Here I was in the right—nothing was against morality, and even quite the contrary, but they saw otherwise and, what's mores, saw traces of nihilism ... I took it back, and this revision of a large chapter cost me at least three new chapters of work, judging by the effort and the weariness; but I corrected it and gave it back.”— Dostoevsky's letter to A.P. Milyukov