First published 2018
Fyodor Dostoevsky opens his heart through personal correspondence with those closest to him. These letters reveal the Russian author's struggles with debt, illness, and gambling addiction while he created his major novels. Dostoevsky shares his thoughts on writing, his political views, and his relationships with publishers and critics. The correspondence spans his career from early works through the completion of The Brothers Karamazov. His wife Anna receives tender messages about their domestic life and travels abroad. Friends hear his frustrations with censorship and his passionate beliefs about Russian society. The letters show Dostoevsky as both vulnerable human being and dedicated artist, offering readers direct access to the mind behind Crime and Punishment and other classics.
Genres: biography, literary-fiction, historical-fiction, 20th-century, 19th-century
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: epistolary, vulnerable-protagonist
Setting: Russia
Period: 19th-Century
376 pages · Paperback · Franklin Classics
Content warnings: addiction