DOSTOYEVSKY, FYODOR


Meaning of DOSTOYEVSKY, FYODOR in English

born Nov. 11, [Oct. 30, Old Style], 1821, Moscow died Feb. 9, [Jan. 28, O.S.], 1881, St. Petersburg, Russia in full Fyodor Mikhaylovich Dostoyevsky Dostoyevsky also spelled Dostoevsky Russian novelist and short-story writer whose psychological penetration into the darkest recesses of the human heart, together with his unsurpassed moments of illumination, have had an immense influence on 20th-century fiction. Dostoyevsky is usually regarded as one of the finest novelists who ever lived. Literary modernism, existentialism, and various schools of psychology, theology, and literary criticism have been profoundly shaped by his ideas. His works are often called prophetic because he so accurately predicted how Russia's revolutionaries would behave if they came to power. In his time he was also renowned for his activity as a journalist. Additional reading Biography The superior biography of Dostoyevsky (in any language) is the still incomplete multivolume study by Joseph Frank, Dostoevsky: The Seeds of Revolt, 18211849 (1976), Dostoevsky: The Years of Ordeal, 18501859 (1983), Dostoevsky: The Stir of Liberation, 18601865 (1986), and Dostoevsky: The Miraculous Years, 18651871 (1995); these volumes also offer excellent portraits of the Russian intellectual milieu and illuminating readings of Dostoyevsky's works. Another good biography is Leonid Grossman, Dostoevsky (1974; originally published in Russian, 2nd ed., 1965). Jessie Coulson, Dostoevsky: A Self-Portrait (1962, reprinted 1975), creates a biography out of Dostoyevsky's letters. One may also consult the diary of Dostoyevsky's mistress, Suslova, mentioned above; and the reminiscences of his second wife, Anna Dostoevsky, Dostoevsky: Reminiscences (1975; originally published in Russian, 2nd ed., 1971). Criticism Several studies survey Dostoyevsky's career with a chapter on each major work. The one to read first is Konstantin Mochulsky, Dostoevsky: His Life and Work (1967; originally published in Russian, 1947). Others of note are Edward Wasiolek, Dostoevsky: The Major Fiction (1964); Michael Holquist, Dostoevsky and the Novel (1977, reissued 1986); and Richard Peace, Dostoevsky: An Examination of the Major Novels (1971, reissued 1992).The most brilliant and most controversial book on Dostoyevsky is Mikhail Bakhtin, Problems of Dostoevsky's Poetics, ed. and trans. by Caryl Emerson (1984; originally published in Russian, 2nd ed., rev. and enlarged, 1963). Other classics of Russian criticism in English include a study by a prominent existentialist theologian, Nicholas Berdyaev, Dostoievsky, trans. by Donald Attwater (1934, reissued 1974; originally published in Russian, 1923). Also available are the studies by the Symbolist poet Vyacheslav Ivanov, Freedom and the Tragic Life: A Study in Dostoevsky (1952, reissued 1989; originally published in Russian, 1932); and an essay originally published in Russian in 1903 by the Russian existentialist and Nietzschean Lev Shestov, Dostoevsky and Nietzsche: The Philosophy of Tragedy, in his Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, and Nietzsche (1969), pp. 141332.Donald Fanger, Dostoevsky and Romantic Realism: A Study of Dostoevsky in Relation to Balzac, Dickens, and Gogol (1965, reissued 1974), places Dostoyevsky in the context of European literature. On Dostoyevsky's obsessions and creative process, an outstanding, if diffuse, work is Jacques Catteau, Dostoyevsky and the Process of Literary Creation (1989). The best study of Dostoyevsky's aesthetics is Robert Louis Jackson, Dostoevsky's Quest for Form: A Study of His Philosophy of Art, 2nd ed. (1978), while his The Art of Dostoevsky: Deliriums and Nocturnes (1981), is especially good on The House of the Dead. Robert Louis Jackson (ed.), Dostoevsky: New Perspectives (1984), is a fine critical anthology. Dostoyevsky's anti-Semitism is treated in David I. Goldstein, Dostoyevsky and the Jews, trans. from French (1981); and in Gary Saul Morson, Dostoevsky's Anti-Semitism and the Critics, Slavic and East European Journal, 27(8):302317 (Fall 1983).The outstanding study of The Idiot is Robin Feuer Miller, Dostoevsky and The Idiot: Author, Narrator, and Reader (1981). On Crime and Punishment, Robert Louis Jackson (ed.), Twentieth Century Interpretations of Crime and Punishment (1974), is a superb anthology of pithy extracts. Two divergent interpretations of A Writer's Diary by the same author are Gary Saul Morson, The Boundaries of Genre: Dostoevsky's Diary of a Writer and the Traditions of Literary Utopia (1981), and Dostoevsky's Great Experiment, an introductory study to the Lantz translation of the Diary mentioned above. There are three outstanding books on The Brothers Karamazov: the reader should begin with Robin Feuer Miller, The Brothers Karamazov: Worlds of the Novel (1992); and then turn to Robert L. Belknap, The Structure of The Brothers Karamazov (1967, reprinted 1989), and The Genesis of The Brothers Karamazov: The Aesthetics, Ideology, and Psychology of Text Making (1990). Gary Saul Morson Major Works: Novels and novellas Bednyye lyudi (1846; Poor Folk, 1894); Dvoynik (1846; The Double, 1917); Netochka Nezvanova (1849; Nyetochka Nyezvanov, 1920); Dyadyushkin Son (1859; Uncle's Dream, 1888); Selo Stepanchikovo i yego obitateli (1859; The Friend of the Family, 1887); Zapiski iz myortvogo doma (186162; Buried Alive; or, Ten Years of Penal Servitude in Siberia, 1881, better known as The House of the Dead); Unizhennyye i oskorblyonnyye (1861; Injury and Insult, 1886, better known as The Insulted and Injured); Zimniye zametki o letnikh vpechatleniyakh (1863; Winter Notes on Summer Impressions, 1955); Zapiski iz podpolya (1864; Letters from the Underworld, 1913, better known as Notes from the Underground); Prestupleniye i nakazaniye (1866; Crime and Punishment, 1886); Igrok (1866; The Gambler, 1887); Idiot (186869; The Idiot, 1887); Vechny muzh (1870; The Permanent Husband, 1888, better known as The Eternal Husband); Besy (1872; The Possessed, 1913); Dnevnik pisatelya (187374, 187677, 1880, 1881; The Diary of a Writer, 1949); Podrostok (1875; A Raw Youth, 1916); Bratya Karamazovy (187980; The Brothers Karamazov, 1912). Short stories Krotkaya (1876; The Gentle Maiden, 1913, also known as The Meek One); Son smeshnogo cheloveka (1877; The Dream of a Queer Fellow, 1916, better known as The Dream of a Ridiculous Man). Editions in Russian and in English translation The authoritative edition of Dostoyevsky's complete works is Polnoe sobranie sochinenii F.M. Dostoevskogo, 30 vol. (197290). As a rule, the best translations for capturing the artistic power of the fiction are still the ones in The Novels of Fyodor Dostoevsky, trans. by Constance Garnett, 12 vol. (191220), available in many later editions, including in the Modern Library series. Since Garnett translated The Possessed, the missing chapter At Tihon's, which his publisher had not allowed Dostoyevsky to publish, has come to light; the 1936 edition includes it in a rendition by Avrahm Yarmolinsky. Garnett's translation of Notes from the Underground was revised by Ralph E. Matlaw, Notes from Underground, and The Grand Inquisitor (1960), which also contains extracts from Chernyshevsky's work What Is to Be Done?.Garnett has often been faulted for smoothing out the low and colloquial passages in Dostoyevsky. They are, however, admirably captured in The Brothers Karamazov (1990) and Crime and Punishment (1992), both trans. by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky; unfortunately, these versions are not as successful as Garnett's in capturing other passages, especially lyrical prose. Another good rendition is Notes from Underground, trans. and ed. by Michael R. Katz (1989). The Gambler, with Polina Suslova's Diary, trans. by Victor Terras and ed. by Edward Wasiolek (1972), is also of interest. Netochka Nezvanova, trans. by Ann Dunnigan (1970), is a fine version of this unfinished work.For a long time, The Diary of a Writer, trans. by Boris Brasol, 2 vol. (1949, reprinted 1985), was the only, and extremely poor, translation. The superior version, A Writer's Diary, trans. by Kenneth Lantz, 2 vol. (199394), is accompanied by helpful annotations explaining topical references. A selection of Dostoyevsky's journalism is Dostoevsky's Occasional Writings, trans. by David Magarshack (1963). His quasi-journalistic account of his first trip abroad is Winter Notes on Summer Impressions, trans. by David Patterson (1988). Dostoyevsky's letters are available in Complete Letters, ed. and trans. by David Lowe and Ronald Meyer, 5 vol. (198891).The notebooks for Dostoyevsky's five long novels are available in editions that not only translate but also helpfully organize the Russian material; they are all edited by Edward Wasiolek: The Notebooks for Crime and Punishment (1967), The Notebooks for The Idiot (1967), The Notebooks for The Possessed (1968), The Notebooks for A Raw Youth (1969), and The Notebooks for The Brothers Karamazov (1971). Additional notebooks are translated in The Unpublished Dostoevsky: Diaries and Notebooks (18601881), ed. by Carl R. Proffer, 3 vol. (197376).

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