_(cropped).jpg) Fyodor Dostoyevsky, 1879 | |
| Novels↙ | 13 |
|---|---|
| Articles↙ | 221 + |
| Stories↙ | 18 |
| Pamphlets↙ | 1 |
| Plays↙ | (3) |
| Journals↙ | 2 |
| Letters↙ | 725 |
| Translations↙ | 1 (4) |
| Books edited↙ | 1 |
| Poems and epigrams↙ | 10 |
| Almanacs↙ | 3 |
| Novellas↙ | 3 |
| References and footnotes | |
The bibliography of Fyodor Dostoyevsky (1821 – 1881) comprises novels, novellas, short stories, essays and other literary works. Raised by a literate family, Dostoyevsky discovered literature at an early age, beginning when his mother introduced the Bible to him. Nannies near the hospitals—in the grounds of which he was raised—introduced Dostoyevsky to fairy tales, legends and sagas. His mother's subscription to the Library of Reading gave him access to the leading contemporary Russian and non-Russian literature. After his mother's death, Dostoyevsky moved from a boarding school to a military academy and despite the resulting lack of money,[1] he was captivated by literature until his death.
Dostoyevsky started his writing career after finishing university.[2] He started translating literature from French—which he learnt at the boarding school—into Russian,[3] and then wrote short stories. With the success of his first novel, Poor Folk, he became known throughout Saint Petersburg and Russia. Vissarion Belinsky, Alexander Herzen and others praised Poor Folk's depiction of poverty, and Belinsky called it Russia's "first social novel".[4] This success did not continue with his second novel, The Double, and other short stories published mainly in left-wing magazines. These magazines included Notes of the Fatherland and The Contemporary.
Dostoyevsky's renewed financial troubles led him to join several political circles. Because of his participation in the Petrashevsky Circle, in which he distributed and read several Belinsky articles deemed as anti-religious and anti-government,[5] he and other members were sentenced to capital punishment. He was pardoned at the last minute, but they were imprisoned in Siberia—Dostoyevsky for four years. During his detention he wrote several works, including the autobiographical The House of the Dead. A New Testament booklet, which had been given shortly before his imprisonment, and other literature obtained outside of the barracks, were the only books he read at that time.
Following his release, Dostoyevsky read a myriad of literature and gradually became interested in nationalistic and conservative philosophies and increasingly sceptical towards contemporary movements—especially the Nihilists. Dostoyevsky wrote his most important works after his time in Siberia, including Crime and Punishment, The Idiot, The Gambler and The Brothers Karamazov. With the help of his brother Mikhail, Dostoyevsky opened two magazines—Vremya and Epoch—in which some of his stories appeared. Following their closures, most of his works were issued in the conservative The Russian Messenger until the introduction of A Writer's Diary, which comprised most of his works—including essays and articles. Several drafts and plans, especially those begun during his honeymoon, were unfinished at his death.
