The success story of Fyodor Dostoevsky

1.

The success story of Fyodor
Dostoevsky

2.

Foreword
Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky is one of the
most famous writers in world literature.
However before he had achieved success he
went through a difficult path.
"There is no happiness in comfort, happiness
is bought by suffering" he said

3.

Childhood
He was born in 1821 in the family of a doctor and a
merchant's daughter. Despite the fact that the family
lived poorly, the parents tried to give a decent education
to their child. By the age of 16 he had learned Latin,
French, mathematics and Holy Scripture.
The writer's childhood was carefree, but in 1837 the first
tragedy happened on his life path. Dostoevsky's mother
died of tuberculosis. This left a deep imprint in the soul of
Fyodor Mikhailovich. Years later in many of his works it
will be possible to notice the topic of tuberculosis.

4.

College education
Dostoevsky always knew that he wanted to become a
writer but his father did not think that this was a
worthy profession. Therefore his father insisted that
Dostoevsky enter an engineering college. Dostoevsky
graduated from it successfully but the Emperor
himself rejected his first engineering project.
According to legend when the Emperor saw
Dostoevsky's drawing he said "What idiot drew this?"
And after that Fyodor Mikhailovich decided to leave
the career of an engineer.

5.

Second tragedy
In 1839 his father was killed by
peasants. This news shocked the 18year-old son and made him think
"what is a crime".

6.

The first steps in writing
In 1845, he presented his debut work "Poor People" to the
public. It was highly appreciated by the trendsetters of
literary fashion of those years. The writer was accepted into
the Belinsky’s circle.
But the success did not last long. When about a year later
Dostoevsky had presented the book "The Double" to the
public, praise of the writer were replaced by criticism and
sarcasm.
Than Dostoevsky had quarreled with Ivan Turgenev and was
expelled from the Belinsky circle.

7.

Arrest and penal servitude*
In 1847 he became interested in the views of the Russian thinker and
public figure the socialist Mikhail Petrashevsky. Participation in his circle
almost cost Dostoevsky his life. In April 1849 the writer with other
Petrashevites was arrested for "freethinking" and imprisoned.
Eight months later Dostoevsky was sentenced to death. On December 22,
1849, he was taken out to be shot, but at the last moment he was
informed of a pardon and the replacement of capital punishment with
hard labor*. The writer was exiled to Siberia. The events that had
happened radically changed the writer's worldview. He began to reject
socialist ideas - and turned to God.
*penal servitude/hard labour - каторга

8.

10 years later
Only after 10 years the writer will be able to
return to writing. After returning to St.
Petersburg, the writer expressed his
impressions about hard labor and the life of
imprisoned criminals in the novel "Notes
from the Dead House". For contemporaries,
she became a real revelation. Turgenev
compared its significance to Dante's "Hell",
and Herzen compared it to Michelangelo's
painting "The Last Judgment"

9.

The Great Pentateuch
While in Wiesbaden, Germany, to improve his
health, he began work on the novel "Crime
and Punishment", which reflected the entire
complex path of his internal experiences and
research. It was followed by four more of the
greatest works of the writer-thinker: "Idiot"
(1868-69), "Demons" (1871-72), "Teenager"
(1875) and "The Brothers Karamazov" (187980), later called the "great Pentateuch".

10.

Death
On January 26, an artery ruptured in his lungs. A stronger person
would most likely have survived, but the writer's health was
undermined. He died on January 29.
Unfortunately, Dostoevsky was not very popular during his
lifetime. He received ten times less money from his works than
Turgenev, and also often lived half-starved. Dostoevsky received
real fame only after his death.
Although Dostoevsky 's life was full of tragedies and suffering, a
century later his books are included in the lists of the best books
in the world and he is also one of the most widely read authors of
all time.