F. M. Dostoevsky

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Birth Name: Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Born: 11 November 1821 Died: 9 February 1881

Country of origin: Russian Federation

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Description: Dostoyevsky's mother was Russian. His paternal ancestors were from a place called Dostoyeve, natives of the guberniya (province) of Minsk, not far from Pinsk. The last name of the paternal family is assumed to be 'Rdishev' prior to its assumption of the township eponym 'Dostoyevsky'. According to one account, Dostoyevsky's paternal ancestors were Polonized nobles (szlachta) of Russian origin and went to war bearing Polish Radwan Coat of Arms. Dostoyevsky (Polish "Dostojewski") Radwan armorial bearings were drawn for the Dostoyevsky Museum in Moscow. Dostoyevsky was the second of six children born to Mikhail and Maria Dostoyevsky's mother was Russian. His paternal ancestors were from a place called Dostoyeve, natives of the guberniya (province) of Minsk, not far from Pinsk. The last name of the paternal family is assumed to be 'Rdishev' prior to its assumption of the township eponym 'Dostoyevsky'. According to one account, Dostoyevsky's paternal ancestors were Polonized nobles (szlachta) of Russian origin and went to war bearing Polish Radwan Coat of Arms. Dostoyevsky (Polish "Dostojewski") Radwan armorial bearings were drawn for the Dostoyevsky Museum in Moscow.
Dostoyevsky was the second of six children born to Mikhail and Maria Dostoyevsky[5]. Dostoyevsky's father Mikhail was a retired military surgeon and a violent alcoholic, who served as a doctor at the Mariinsky Hospital for the Poor in Moscow. The hospital was situated in one of the worst areas in Moscow. Local landmarks included a cemetery for criminals, a lunatic asylum, and an orphanage for abandoned infants. This urban landscape made a lasting impression on the young Dostoyevsky, whose interest in and compassion for the poor, oppressed, and tormented was apparent. Though his parents forbade it, Dostoyevsky liked to wander out to the hospital garden, where the suffering patients sat to catch a glimpse of sun. The young Dostoyevsky loved to spend time with these patients and hear their stories.

There are many stories of Dostoyevsky's father's despotic treatment of his children. After returning home from work, he would take a nap while his children, ordered to keep absolutely silent, stood by their slumbering father in shifts and swatted at any flies that came near his head. However, it is the opinion of Joseph Frank, a biographer of Dostoyevsky, that the father figure in The Brothers Karamazov is not based on Dostoyevsky's own father. Letters and personal accounts demonstrate that they had a fairly loving relationship.

The young Dostoyevsky, in a portrait of Trutovsky, 1847Shortly after his mother died of tuberculosis in 1837, Dostoyevsky and his brother were sent to the Military Engineering Academy at Saint Petersburg. Fyodor's father died in 1839. Though it has never been proven, it is believed by some that he was murdered by his own serfs.[6] According to one account, they became enraged during one of his drunken fits of violence, restrained him, and poured vodka into his mouth until he drowned. An account similarly noted in "Notes From the Underground." Another story holds that Mikhail died of natural causes, and a neighboring landowner invented the story of his murder so that he might buy the estate inexpensively. Some have argued that his father's personality had influenced the character of Fyodor Pavlovich Karamazov, the "wicked and sentimental buffoon", father of the main characters in his 1880 novel The Brothers Karamazov, but such claims fail to withstand the scrutiny of many critics.

Dostoyevsky had epilepsy and his first seizure occurred when he was 9 years old.[7] Epileptic seizures recurred sporadically throughout his life, and Dostoyevsky's experiences are thought to have formed the basis for his description of Prince Myshkin's epilepsy in his novel The Idiot and that of Smerdyakov in The Brothers Karamazov, among others.

At the Saint Petersburg Academy of Military Engineering, Dostoyevsky was taught mathematics, a subject he despised. However, he also studied literature by Shakespeare, Pascal, Victor Hugo and E.T.A. Hoffmann. Though he focused on areas different from mathematics, he did well on the exams and received a commission in 1841. That year, he is known to have written two romantic plays, influenced by the German Romantic poet/playwright Friedrich Schiller: Mary Stuart and Boris Godunov. The plays have not been preserved. Dostoyevsky described himself as a "dreamer" when he was a young man, and at that time revered Schiller. However, in the years during which he yielded his great masterpieces, his opinions changed and he sometimes poked fun at Schiller.

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Tags: Russian (2), Writer (1), Author (1), Novelist (1), Philosopher (1), Essayist (1), Short Story Writer (1), Russian Novelist (1)

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My Favourite Prose Writers (55 person items)

"35 stars 1846 The Double*** 1848 White Nights** 1849 A Little Hero* 1859 The Village of Stepanchikovo*** 1861 Humiliated and Insulted*** 1862 The House of the Dead*** 1864 Notes from Underground*** 1866 Crime and Punishment*** 1866 The Gambler*** 1868 The Idiot*** 1870 The Eternal Husband*** 1876 The Meek One* 1877 The Dream of a Ridiculous Man* 1880 The Brothers Karamazov*** "