Fyodor Dostoevsky

Financial difficulties resulting from an extravagant lifestyle and excessive gambling led Fyodor Dostoevsky to pen his first novel "Poor Folk". First published in 1846, "Poor Folk" is the story of impoverished cousins Varvara Dobroselova and Makar Devushkin. The two live in run-down apartments across the street from each other in St. Petersburg. Through a series of letters to each other we learn of the suffering, humiliation, and isolation that results...

The Possessed is a novel by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, first published in the journal The Russian Messenger in 1871—2. It is considered one of the four masterworks written by Dostoyevsky after his return from Siberian exile, along with Crime and Punishment (1866), The Idiot (1869) and The Brothers Karamazov (1880). Demons is a social and political satire, a psychological drama, and large scale tragedy. Joyce Carol Oates has described it as "Dostoyevsky's...

After a brief military career, the illustrious Russian author Fyodor Dostoyevsky quickly turned to writing as a profession with the publication of his first novel, "Poor Folk," in 1846. This novel sparked a literary career that would eventually cement Dostoyevsky's reputation as one of the greatest novelists of the nineteenth century. Early participation in a literary/political group landed the writer in exile in Siberia for nearly a decade, an experience...

How can there be any such thing as "An Honest Thief"? I know Astafy has stolen my coat so why can't he just admit it?'An Honest Thief' tells the story of Astafy Ivanovich, who takes up lodging in the narrator's house. When the narrator's coat is stolen, Astafy recalls the story of a thief he once gave shelter to, and a similar theft. With a careful depiction of the thief's psychological and drunken state, and the situations that he finds himself in,...

The story "Uncle's Dream" was written by Dostoyevsky after a five-year exile in Siberia and covers the tale of a provincial family desperate to better itself through a marriage of their daughter to a senile prince. The old man is hoodwinked and almost forced into a wedding that is expected to last for a short period before he dies and leaves his fortune to the young girl. There are complications however with the young girl Zina already in love with...

Who doesn't love the magic of Christmas? Waiting for presents and enjoying the taste of the delicious food? Though the poor can't afford all this they still have the closeness of their families to treasure, unless that family is now dead!'The Heavenly Christmas Tree' is a short story by Dostoevsky that very much resembles Hans Christian Andersen's 'The Little Match Girl'.In St. Petersburg, on Christmas Eve, a poor boy wakes up in a damp and gloomy...

"The Adolescent" is Fyodor Dostoyevsky's 1875 novel which tells the story of the life of a 19-year-old intellectual, Arkady Dolgoruky, and his conflict with his father. Arkady is the illegitimate child of the controversial and womanizing landowner Versilov and was raised by one of Versilov's serf, the pious Makar Dolgoruky. The novel's primary tension arises between Arkady and Versilov, when Arkady becomes an adult and joins Versilov's family in St....

"A Little Hero" is a short story that deals with the topic of pre-adolescence, maturity, the abandonment of pure childhood, and the resulting and inevitable discovery of the existence of sexual life. The protagonist is trying to understand the world of adults in every possible way, and faces problems at every turn. Interesting enough, this story lacks the trademark disaster and drama in the majority of Dostoevsky's works, and is a light and humorous...

Though he is best known for his realist and deep realistic and psychological novels, Dostoevsky's literary life produced memorable short stories as well. "Polzunkov" is a story that should not be skipped by the author's fans and the connoisseurs of short story writing in general. It is a tale about a joke that misfired on the protagonist Polzunkov, whose expectations crash down headlong in the end. Another narrative that explores the theme of financial...

The story presents itself as a childhood memory, when the speaker was nine and living with his father in Tula province. The boy frightened by apparitions of a wolf prowling the countryside finds refuge with one of his father's serfs, Marey.