Fyodor Dostoevsky

Dostoevsky, Dostoyevsky and Dostoevsky are redirections to this article. For other meanings, see Dostoevsky (disambiguation).

Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky (also Dostoevsky, Фёдор Михайлович Достоевский^{? /i} [ˈfʲodər mʲɪˈxajləvʲɪtɕ dəstʌˈjɛfskʲɪj], scientific transliteration Fëdor Mihajlovič Dostoevskij; b. 11 November 1821 in Moscow; † 9 February 1881 in Saint Petersburg) is considered one of the most important Russian writers. His writing career began in 1844; his major works, including Crime and Punishment, The Idiot, The Demons, and The Brothers Karamazov, were written in the 1860s and 1870s. Dostoevsky wrote nine novels, numerous novellas and short stories, and an extensive body of nonfictional writing. The literary work describes the political, social, and spiritual conditions at the time of the Russian Empire, which was in fundamental upheaval in the 19th century. Dostoevsky was a seismograph of the conflicts in which man found himself with the dawn of modernity. The central subject of his works was the human soul, whose impulses, compulsions and liberations he traced with the means of literature; Dostoevsky is regarded as one of the outstanding psychologists of world literature. Almost his entire oeuvre of novels appeared in the form of feuilleton novels and therefore has the short suspense arcs typical of this genre, which makes it easily accessible even to inexperienced readers despite its complexity. His books have been translated into more than 170 languages.

In the second half of the 1840s, Dostoevsky was close to early socialism and attended meetings of the revolutionary Petrashevsky Circle. This led to his arrest in 1849, sentencing him first to death and then - after commutation of the sentence - to imprisonment and subsequent military service in Siberia. After his release in 1859, he began to restore his reputation as a writer, first with minor works and then with Notes from a House of the Dead. With his brother Mikhail he founded two periodicals (Vremya and Epocha). The first was banned; the ruin of the second forced him to flee from creditors abroad, where he was to remain for three years. Dostoevsky suffered from epilepsy and was addicted to gambling for several years. While his contemporaries Lev Tolstoy, Ivan Turgenev, and Ivan Goncharov could write under conditions of material carelessness, the external circumstances of Dostoevsky's writing were marked by financial hardship for most of his life. In the last ten years of his life he lived in financially orderly circumstances and enjoyed recognition throughout the country.

Dostoevsky, 1872. He completed the novel The Demons that year. Portrait of Vasily Perov

Dostoevsky's Works

Novels

(1846) Poor people (Russian: Бедные люди, scientific transliteration: Bednye ljudi).
(1849) Nyochka Nezvanova (Неточка Незванова, Netočka Nezvanova; Fragment)
(1861) Humiliated and Insulted (Униженные и оскорбленные, Unižennye i oskorblënnye).
(1866) Guilt and Atonement (Преступление и наказание, Prestuplenie i nakazanie).
(1867) The Gambler (Игрок, Igrok)
(1869) The Idiot (Идиот, Idiot).
(1872) The Demons (Бесы, Besy).
(1875) The Young Man (Подросток, Podrostok)
(1880) The Brothers Karamazov (Братья Карамазовы, Brat'ja Karamazovy).

Novellas

(1846) The Double (Двойник, Dvojnik).
(1847) A Novella in Nine Letters (Роман в девяти письмах, Roman v devjati pis'mach).
(1847) The Landlady (Хозяйка, Chozjajka)
(1848) The Weak Heart (Слабое сердце, Slaboje serdce).
(1848) Christmas Tree and Wedding (Ёлка и свадьба, Ëlka i svad'ba).
(1848) White Nights (Белые ночи, Belye noči).
(1859) Uncle's dream (Дядюшкин сон, Djaduškin son).
(1859) The Stepanchikovo Estate and its Inhabitants (Село Степанчиково и его обитатели, Selo Stepančikovo i ego obitateli).
(1864) Records from the Cellar Hole (Записки из подполья, Zapiski iz podpolʹja).
(1870) The Eternal Husband (Вечный муж, Večnyj muž).
(1876) The Gentle (Кроткая, Krotkaya).

Narratives

(1846) Mr. Procharčin (Господин Прохарчин, Gospodin Procharčin).
(1848) The Strange Woman (Чужая жена, Čužaja žena).
(1848) The Jealous Husband (Ревнивый муж, Revnivyi muž).
(1848) Polzunkov (Ползунков, Polzunkov).
(1848) The Honest Thief (Честный вор, Čestnyj vor).
(1849) A Little Hero (Маленький герой, Malen'kij geroj).
(1860) The Strange Woman and the Man Under the Bed (Чужая жена и муж под кроватью, Čužaja žena i muž pod krovat'ju).
(1862) Records from a House of the Dead (Записки из Мёртвого дома, Zapiski iz mërtvogo doma).
(1862) A Silly Story (Скверный анекдот, Skvernyj anekdot).
(1865) The Crocodile - An Unusual Event (Крокодил, Crocodile; Fragment).
(1873) Bobok (Бобок).
(1876) The Boy with the Lord Jesus at Christmas (Мальчик у Христа на ёлке, Mal'čik u Christa na ëlke).
(1876) The Centenarian (Столетняя, Stoletnyaya).
(1877) The Dream of a Ridiculous Man (Сон смешного человека, Son smešnogo čeloveka).

Essay Collections

(1863) Winter Records of Summer Impressions (Зимние заметки о летних впечатлениях, Zimnie zametki o letnich vpečatlenijach).
(1873-1881) Diary of a writer (Дневник писателя, Dnevnik pisatelja).

Translations

(1843) Eugénie Grandet (Honoré de Balzac)
(1843) La dernière Aldini (George Sand)

Current total expenditure

Russian:

V. G. Bazanov (ed.): Polnoe sobranie sočinenij. V tridcati tomach (Полное собрание сочинении в тридцати томах). Izdat. Nauka, Leningrad, ISBN 5-02-027952-8 (1972-1990, Complete Works in Thirty Volumes).

German:

Complete novels and short stories. 13 vols. Aufbau, Berlin 1994, ISBN 3-351-02300-6.
Complete Works. 10 vols. Piper, Munich 2008, ISBN 978-3-492-25265-2 (German by E. K. Rahsin).
Complete Works. 37 volumes on a USB stick incl. diaries. anker-eBooks, 2011, ISBN 978-3-942963-00-8 (digital edition).