Dostoevsky Portrayed by his Wife

The Diary and Reminiscences of Mme. Dostoevsky

Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky (11 November 1821 - 9 February 1881) was a Russian novelist, short story writer, essayist, journalist and philosopher. Dostoevsky’s literary works explored human psychology in the troubled political, social, and spiritual atmosphere of 19th-century Russia, and engaged with a variety of philosophical and religious themes. He became one of the most widely read and highly regarded Russian writers. His writings were widely read both within and beyond his native Russia and influenced an equally great number of later writers, including Russians like Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn and Anton Chekhov, as well as philosophers such as Friedrich Nietzsche and Jean-Paul Sartre.

This book, first published in its present form in 1926, contains portions of the Diary of Dostoevsky’s second wife, Anna Dostoevsky, the rough notes of her Reminiscences, and copies of Fyodor Dostoevsky’s letters to her from 1866 to 1881. All of these, in her own handwriting, were found in August 1922 and delivered by the representative of the Commissar of Education in Georgia (in the Caucasus) to the directors of the Moscow Archives, and serve to provide a clear portrait of Dostoevsky’s wife during the last fourteen years of his life.

“Mme. Dostoevsky, with her practical mind, abounding energy, indomitable will and capacity for seeing things through when once a decision was made, is here revealed as the true complement of Dostoevsky, who was rather incompetent in practical affairs.”—Prefatory Note

The book is also beautifully illustrated with 4 full-page plates.