Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Author profile

born

in Moscow, Russian Federation

November 11, 1821

died

February 09, 1881

gender

male

website

http://www.fmdostoevsky.com/

genre

Literature & Fiction

influences

Honoré de Balzac, Charles Dickens, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, E.T.A....more

About this author

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Fyodor Mikhaylovich Dostoyevsky (Russian: Фёдор Михайлович Достоевский) was a Russian novelist, journalist, and short-story writer whose psychological penetration into the human soul had a profound influence on the 20th century novel.

Dostoevsky was the second son of a former army doctor. He was educated at home and at a private school. Shortly after the death of his mother in 1837 he was sent to St. Petersburg, where he entered the Army Engineering College. Dostoevsky's father died in 1839, most likely of apoplexy, but it was rumored that he was murdered by his own serfs. Dostoevsky graduated as a military engineer, but resigned in 1844 to devote himself to writing. His first novel, Poor Folk appeared in 1846.

That year he joined a group of...more Fyodor Mikhaylovich Dostoyevsky (Russian: Фёдор Михайлович Достоевский) was a Russian novelist, journalist, and short-story writer whose psychological penetration into the human soul had a profound influence on the 20th century novel.

Dostoevsky was the second son of a former army doctor. He was educated at home and at a private school. Shortly after the death of his mother in 1837 he was sent to St. Petersburg, where he entered the Army Engineering College. Dostoevsky's father died in 1839, most likely of apoplexy, but it was rumored that he was murdered by his own serfs. Dostoevsky graduated as a military engineer, but resigned in 1844 to devote himself to writing. His first novel, Poor Folk appeared in 1846.

That year he joined a group of utopian socialists. He was arrested in 1849 and sentenced to death, commuted to imprisonment in Siberia. Dostoevsky spent four years in hard labor and four years as a soldier in Semipalatinsk, a city in what it is today Kazakhstan.

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

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

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

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

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Fyodor Dostoyevsky's Books

Average rating: 4.13 · 413,703 ratings · 17,053 reviews · 539 distinct works · Similar authors

	Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, David McDuff (Translator), Alex Jennings (narrator) 4.12 of 5 stars 4.12 avg rating — 192,565 ratings — published 1866 — 755 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Richard Pevear (Translator), Larissa Volokhonsky (Translator) 4.26 of 5 stars 4.26 avg rating — 78,615 ratings — published 1878 — 487 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Notes from Underground by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Andrew R. MacAndrew (Translator, Afterword), Ben Marcus (Goodreads Author) (Introduction) 4.12 of 5 stars 4.12 avg rating — 39,960 ratings — published 1861 — 350 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Constance Garnett (Translator), Joseph Frank (Introduction) 4.12 of 5 stars 4.12 avg rating — 38,188 ratings — published 1868 — 362 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Demons by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Richard Pevear (Translator), Larissa Volokhonsky (Translator) 4.22 of 5 stars 4.22 avg rating — 11,009 ratings — published 1872 — 231 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Gambler by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Constance Garnett (Translator), Gary Saul Morson (Editor) 3.86 of 5 stars 3.86 avg rating — 11,330 ratings — published 1866 — 301 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	White Nights 4.03 of 5 stars 4.03 avg rating — 6,028 ratings — 87 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The House of the Dead 3.99 of 5 stars 3.99 avg rating — 4,437 ratings — published 1860 — 110 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Notes from Underground & The Double by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Jesse Coulson (Translator, Introduction) 4.18 of 5 stars 4.18 avg rating — 2,922 ratings — published 1864 — 13 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Insulted and Humiliated 4.18 of 5 stars 4.18 avg rating — 3,001 ratings — published 1860 — 90 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

More books by Fyodor Dostoyevsky…

Quotes by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

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

tags: lies, love, respect, self-deception, truth

2,720 people liked it

“Pain and suffering are always inevitable for a large intelligence and a deep heart. The really great men must, I think, have great sadness on earth.”
― Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Crime and Punishment

2,081 people liked it

“What is hell? I maintain that it is the suffering of being unable to love.”
― Fyodor Dostoyevsky, The Brothers Karamazov

tags: hell, love, suffering

1,915 people liked it

See all Fyodor Dostoyevsky's quotes »

Polls

What would you like to read for September? (Cast your vote ONLY if you mean to take part in the discussion of your choice))

Quiet Flows the Don by Mikhail Sholokhov

3 votes, 27.3%

The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

3 votes, 27.3%

A Confession by Leo Tolstoy

1 vote, 9.1%

We by Yevgeny Zamyatin

1 vote, 9.1%

A Hero of Our Time by Mikhail Lermontov

1 vote, 9.1%

The Gulag Archipelago 1918-1956 by Aleksandr I. Solzhenitsyn

1 vote, 9.1%

Mother by Maxim Gorky

1 vote, 9.1%

Fathers and Sons by Ivan Turgenev

0 votes, 0.0%

Pale Fire by Vladimir Nabokov

0 votes, 0.0%

The House of the Dead by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

0 votes, 0.0%

Doctor Zhivago by Boris Pasternak

0 votes, 0.0%

Pnin by Vladimir Nabokov

0 votes, 0.0%

11 total votes

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