Fyodor Dostoevsky
Characteristics of Outstanding Works
The Brothers Karamazov, Crime and Punishment, The Idiot, The Possessed (also and more precisely known as The Demons and The Devils), and Notes from the Underground are some of Dostoevsky’s best-known works. He also wrote four lengthy novels. Each of these works is renowned for its depth of psychology, and Dostoyevsky is regarded as one of the greatest psychologists in literary history. In addition to studying the emotions of humiliation, self-destruction, tyrannical dominance, and murderous rage, he was an expert in the analysis of pathological mental states that result in insanity, murder, and suicide. These significant works are also renowned for being outstanding “novels of ideas” that address relevant, current, and enduring philosophical and political issues. Dostoyevsky’s portrayals of intellectuals who “feel ideas” in the depths of their souls involve a fusion of psychology and philosophy. Furthermore, these novels were the first to try ground-breaking literary experiments.
Young Age
Due to the fact that the crucial moments in his life—the mock execution, the imprisonment in Siberia, and the epileptic seizures—were so well-known, even outside the context of his writing, Dostoyevsky enjoyed considerable fame during his lifetime. In fact, he frequently tapped into his legend by using the incredibly dramatic events in his own life as the basis for his most enduring characters. But some of the happenings in his life have remained a mystery, and regrettably, hasty conclusions have come to be accepted as fact.
Early writings
As his first publication, Dostoyevsky’s loose and emotionally charged translation of Honoré de Balzac’s Eugénie Grandet would have a big impact on his own fiction. It wasn’t for very long that Dostoyevsky had to toil in obscurity. He had just finished writing his first novella, Bednyye lyudi (1846; Poor Folk), when the most well-known critic of the time, the “furious” Vissarion Belinsky, hailed him as the great new talent of Russian literature.
Dostoyevsky recounted his “discovery” in The Diary of a Writer, written three decades later. “. After finishing it, he gave his friend Dmitry Grigorovich a copy of Poor Folk, and Grigorovich then gave it to poet Nikolay Nekrasov. As they read aloud Dostoyevsky’s manuscript, the psychological insight and emotional resonance left these two authors speechless. Even though it was 4:00 in the morning, they went to Dostoyevsky right away and told him that his first novella was a masterpiece. Later that day, Belinsky received Poor Folk from Nekrasov. Nekrasov exclaimed, “A new Gogol has appeared,” to which Belinsky replied, “With you, Gogols spring up like mushrooms,” and then inquired of Dostoyevsky, “Do you, you yourself, realize what it is that you have written?Dostoyevsky referred to this as the happiest time of his life in The Diary of a Writer.
Detention
Dostoyevsky became a member of the Petrashevsky Circle in 1847, a group of intellectuals who talked about socialism as a utopian ideal. Later, he joined a similar, covert organization that was committed to revolution and illicit propaganda. Contrary to popular belief, Dostoyevsky appears to have been motivated by his vehement opposition to serfdom rather than by his support for communism and terrorism. He and the other Petrashevsky Circle members were imprisoned on April 23, 1849. Ahead of being abruptly directed to Semyonovsky sq\.. Dostoyevsky was imprisoned for eight months. at December 22. Three prisoners were led outside to be shot first, the firing squad verdict was announced, and then the execution began. As the guns were being brought to a halt, a messenger came bearing the good news that the tsar had decided to spare their lives. The mock execution that was required as part of the penalty. While the third prisoner immediately went insane, the other two went on to write Crime and Punishment.
1860s-era literary Works
Upon his return to Russia, Dostoyevsky started writing. He co-edited two important periodicals with his brother Mikhail: Vremya (1861–1863), also known as “Time,” which the government shut down due to an offensive article, and Epokha (1864–1855), also known as “Epoch,” which failed after Mikhail’s passing. Dostoyevsky initially tried to adopt a moderate stance before attacking the radicals, who in essence represented the Russian intelligentsia. Dostoyevsky found their materialism, utilitarian morality, reduction of art to propaganda, and most importantly, their denial of individual responsibility and freedom, particularly repugnant. His post-Siberian works eventually came to be despised by the Bolsheviks and viewed with suspicion by the Soviet government because he retained a strong sense of the danger of radical ideas for the rest of his life.
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