DOSTOEVSKY DOSTOEVSKY A Writer in His time JOSEPH FRANK edited by Mary Petrusewicz Copyright © 2010 by Princeton University Press Published by Princeton University Press, 41 William Street, Princeton, New Jersey 08540 In the United Kingdom: Princeton University Press, 6 Oxford Street, Woodstock, Oxfordshire OX20 1TW press.princeton.edu All Rights Reserved Second printing, and first paperback printing, 2012 Paperback ISBN 978-0-691-15599-9 The Library of Congress has cataloged the cloth edition of this book as follows Frank, Joseph, 1918– Dostoevsky : a writer in his time / Joseph Frank. p. cm. Abridged ed. of author’s work in 5 v.: Dostoevsky. c1976–2002. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-691-12819-1 (acid-free paper) 1. Dostoyevsky, Fyodor, 1821–1881. 2. Novelists, Russian —19th century—Biography. 3. Russia—Intellectual life—1801–1917. I. Title. PG3328.F75 2010 891.73′3—dc22 [B] 2009001418 British Library Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available This book has been composed in Adobe Garamond Printed on acid-free paper. ∞ Printed in the United States of America 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 Frontispiece: The bust of Dostoevsky on his grave Parched with the spirit’s thirst, I crossed An endless desert sunk in gloom, And a six-winged seraph came Where the tracks met and I stood lost. Fingers light as dream he laid Upon my lids; I opened wide My eagle eyes, and gazed around. He laid his fingers on my ears And they were filled with roaring sound: I heard the music of the spheres, The flight of angels through the skies, The beasts that crept beneath the sea, The heady uprush of the vine; And, like a lover kissing me, He rooted out this tongue of mine Fluent in lies and vanity; He tore my fainting lips apart And, with his right hand steeped in blood, He armed me with a serpent’s dart; With his bright sword he split my breast; My heart leapt to him with a bound; A glowing livid coal he pressed Into the hollow of the wound. There in the desert I lay dead. And God called out to me and said: “Rise, prophet, rise, and hear, and see, And let my words be seen and heard By all who turn aside from me. And burn them with my fiery word.” —A. S. Pushkin, “The Prophet” trans. D. M. Thomas CONTENTS List of illustrations Preface: Dostoevsky: A Writer in His Time Acknowledgments Transliteration Abbreviations PART I The Seeds of Revolt, 1821–1849 1 Prelude 2 The Family 3 The Religious and Cultural Background 4 The Academy of Military Engineers 5 The Two Romanticisms 6 The Gogol Period 7 Poor Folk 8 Dostoevsky and the Pléiade 9 Belinsky and Dostoevsky: I 10 Feuilletons and Experiments 11 Belinsky and Dostoevsky: II 12 The Beketov and Petrashevsky Circles 13 Dostoevsky and Speshnev PART II The Years of Ordeal, 1850–1859 14 The Peter-and-Paul Fortress 15 Katorga 16 “Monsters in Their Misery” 17 Private Dostoevsky 18 A Russian Heart 19 The Siberian Novellas 20 Homecoming PART III The Stir of Liberation, 1860–1865 21 Into the Fray 22 An Aesthetics of Transcendence 23 The Insulted and Injured 24 The Era of Proclamations 25 Portrait of a Nihilist 26 Time: The Final Months 27 Winter Notes on Summer Impressions 28 An Emancipated Woman, A Tormented Lover 29 The Prison of Utopia 30 Notes from Underground 31 The End of Epoch PART IV The Miraculous Years, 1865–1871 32 Khlestakov in Wiesbaden 33 From Novella to Novel 34 Crime and Punishment 35 “A Little Diamond” 36 The Gambler 37 Escape and Exile 38 In Search of a Novel 39 An Inconsolable Father 40 The Idiot 41 The Pamphlet and the Poem 42 Fathers, Sons, and Stavrogin 43 Exile’s Return 44 History and Myth in Demons 45 The Book of the Impostors PART V The Mantle of the Prophet, 1871–1881 46 The Citizen 47 Narodnichestvo: Russian Populism 48 Bad Ems 49 A Raw Youth 50 A Public Figure 51 The Diary of a Writer, 1876–1877 52 A New Novel 53 The Great Debate 54 Rebellion and the Grand Inquisitor 55 Terror and Martial Law 56 The Pushkin Festival 57 Controversies and Conclusions 58 The Brothers Karamazov: Books 1–4 59 The Brothers Karamazov: Books 5–6 60 The Brothers Karamazov: Books 7–12 61 Death and Transfiguration Editor’s Note Index ILLUSTRATIONS Unless otherwise noted, all illustrations are from Feodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky v portretakh, illyustratsiyakh, dokumentakh, ed. V. S. Nechaeva (Moscow, 1972). Frontispiece The bust of Dostoevsky on his grave 1. Dr. M. A. Dostoevsky 2. Mme M. F. Dostoevsky 3. A government courier on a mission 4. The Academy of Military Engineers 5. F. M. Dostoevsky in 1847 6. Feodor’s older brother, M. M. Dostoevsky, in 1847 7. V. G. Belinsky in 1843 8. M. V. Butashevich-Petrashevsky in 1840 9. N. A. Speshnev 10. The Peter-and-Paul Fortress 11. The mock execution of the Petrashevtsy 12. Marya Dimitrievna Isaeva 13. Dostoevsky in uniform, 1858 14. Nikolay Strakhov in the 1850s 15. Apollon Grigoryev in the 1850s 16. Mikhail Dostoevsky’s home and the offices of Time 17. F. M. Dostoevsky, 1861 18. I. S. Turgenev, ca. 1865. From Turgenev, Polnoe sobranie sochinenii, vol. 9 (Moscow–Leningrad, 1965) 19. Main hall of the Crystal Palace. From Scientific American, March 19, 1851. 20. Apollinaria Suslova. From Dominique Arban et al., Dostoïevski (Paris, 1971)