Complete Works of Fyodor Dostoyevsky (850 page)

“Mr. Prochartschin”
(O. Z.,
No. 10).

In the summer, at Reval with his brother.

In the autumn, Dostoevsky thinks of issuing his collected tales in volume form.

At the end of the year come misunderstandings, and a breach with the editorial staff of the
Sovremennik.

1847. The “Novel in Nine Letters” is published in the
Sovremennik,
and “The Mistress of the Inn” in the
Otetschestvennia Zapiski.

“
Poor Folk” appears in book form.

1848. The February Revolution in Paris.

Political groups, such as those around Petrachevsky, form in Petersburg. — .

“The Stranger-Woman”
(O. Z.,
No. 1).

“A Weak Heart” (O.
Z„
No. 2).

“Christmas and Wedding” (O.
Z.,
No. 10).

“Bright Nights” (O.
Z.,
No. 16).

1848. “The Jealous Husband”
(O. Z.,
No. 12).

1849. “Netotchka Nesvanova” (O. Z.
,
Nos. 1-2, 5-6).

In March, Dostoevsky reads aloud [a revolutionary letter from Bielinsky to Gogol at Petrachevsky’s rooms].

On April 23, Dostoevsky, together with other members of the Petrachevsky circle, is arrested, and imprisoned in the Petropaulovsky Fortress. [He was accused of “having taken part in conversations about the severity of the Censorship; of having read, at a meeting in March, 1849, — Bielinsky’s revolutionary letter to Gogol; of having again read it at Dourov’s rooms, and of having given it to Monbelli to copy; of having listened at Dourov’s to the reading of various articles; of having knowledge of the plan to establish a clandestine printing-press,” etc.]

December 19: Dostoevsky is condemned to degradation from military rank, and imprisonment.

December 22: Dostoevsky, and all the Petrachevsky group, hear read over them, first, the death-sentence, and then the commuted sentence of hard labour in the Siberian prisons.

December 24-25: On this night Dostoevsky is put in irons, and transported from Petersburg to Siberia.

1850. January 11: Arrival at Tobolsk. Meeting with the wives of the Decembrists.

January 17: Continues journey to Omsk.

1850-54. Serves his sentence in the prison at Omsk.

1854. February 15: Completion of sentence.

February 22: Letter to his brother with description of his life in the prison.

March 2: Dostoevsky is enrolled as private in the 7th Siberian Regiment of the Line.

In end of March, arrives at Semipalatinsk.

In May, writes his poem on the European incidents of 1854.

November 21: Baron Vrangel arrives at Semipalatinsk.

1855. February 19: The Tsar Alexander II. ascends the throne. Dostoevsky writes a poem on the death of Nicholas I. and the accession of Alexander II. (It has not come down to us.) He begins “The House of the Dead.”

1856. January 15: Promotion to non-commissioned rank.

March 24: Letter to General Totleben, requesting his intercession with the Tsar.

October 1: By Imperial command, he is promoted to be Ensign in the same battalion.

1854. February 6: Dostoevsky’s betrothal to the widowed Maria Dmitryevna Issayev takes place at Kusnezk.

April 18: Imperial minute to the Commander of the Siberian Army Corps to the effect that Dostoevsky and his legal heirs regain the ancient title of nobility, though the confiscated property is not to be restored. Dostoevsky first hears of this in May.

At the end of the year, Dostoevsky sends in a petition, on discharge, begging to be allowed to live in Moscow.

“The Little Hero” (O. Z„ No. 8).

1859. March 18: Discharged from military service with the rank of Lieutenant. Indication of the town of Tver as a suitable place of abode.

Uncle’s Dream” (
Roussky Viestnik,
No. 3).

July 2: Departure from Semipalatinsk.

Autumn in Tver. Petition to the Tsar, that he may be allowed to live freely in all the towns of the Empire. Work at “The House of the Dead.”

“Stepanchikovo Village”
(0. Z„
Nos. 11-12).

At the end of November, permission to leave Tver. Leaves for Petersburg.

1860. Collected Edition of Works. Two volumes. Moscow: N. A. Osnovsky.

1861. Collaboration on the journal
Vremya.

Publication of “Injury and Insult” in that journal and in book form.

1861-62. Publication of “The House of the Dead” (
Vremya,
1861, Nos. 4, 9-11; and 1862, Nos. 1-3, 5, 12).

“A Silly Story” (
Vremya
, No. 11).

1862. Two editions in book form of “The House of the Dead.”

June 7: Departure for abroad.

Stays in Paris, London (meeting with Herzen), and Geneva.

1863. “Winter Notes on Summer Impressions” (
Vremya,
Nos. 2-3).

In May, suppression of the
Vremya,
in consequence of an article by Strachov on the Polish Question.

During the summer, travel in foreign lands. Stay in Rome. Plan for “The Gambler.”

Wife’s illness during the winter.

1864 — 65. Direction of
The Epoch,
which took the place of the
Vremya.

1864. March 24: Appears the first number of
The Epoch
. “From the Darkness of the Great City” (
Epoch,
Nos. 1-2 and 4).

1864. April 16: Death of his wife.

June 10: Death of his brother Michael.

December 25: Death of his friend and collaborator, Apollon Grigoryev.

1865. “An Unusual Occurrence”
(Epoch,
No. 2).

At the end of July, goes abroad. Begins the novel “Rodion Raskolnikov” (“Crime and Punishment “).

Autumn in Wiesbaden.

October: Visit to Baron Vrangel at Copenhagen.

November: Return to Russia. Sale of his author’s rights to the publisher Stellovsky.

1865 — 66. First Collected Edition, in three volumes. Petersburg: Stellovsky.

Publication of “Rodion Raskolnikov” (“Crime and Punishment”) in the
Roussky Viestnik
(Nos. 1-2, 4, 6, 8, 11-12) and in book form.

Summer at Lublin, near Moscow.

End of the year, at work on “The Gambler.” Intercourse with the stenographer Anna Grigorevna Snitkin.

1867. February 15: Marriage to A. G. Snitkin.

1867-71. Life abroad.

1867. April 14: Goes abroad. Two months in Dresden. Article on Bielinsky (not preserved).

August 16: Letter to Apollon Maikov on the quarrel with Turgenev, and Dostoevsky’s losses at roulette.

Plan for the “Diary of a Writer.” (Letter to his niece of September 29.)

At the end of the year, begins “The Idiot.”

Third edition of “The House of the Dead second and third editions of “Crime and Punishment.”

1868. Publication of “The Idiot” in the
Roussky Viestnik
(Nos. 1, 2, 4-12) and in book form.

Summer in Switzerland and Italy, Idea of a novel on Atheism (prototype of “The Brothers Karamazov”). Letters about this to Maikov and his niece.

1869. Beginning of the year, in Florence. Connection with the new journal
Sarya,
and lively interest in Danilevsky’s essay on” Russia and Europe.”

1870. “The Permanent Husband”
(Sarya,
Nos. 1, 2). Beginning of “The Possessed.” Fourth edition of “Crime and Punishment.”

1871-72. Publication of “The Possessed”
(Roussky Viestnik,
1871, Nos. 1-2, 4, 7, 9-12; and 1872, Nos. 11-12).

1871. July 8: Return from abroad to Petersburg.

1867. Project of a trip to the East.

“The Permanent Husband” in book form.

1868. Joins editorial staff of
Grajdanin
(
The Citizen),
and publishes the “Diary of a Writer” (first sixteen chapters) and his “ Survey of Foreign Occurrences.”

“The Possessed” in book form.

1869. At the end of March, arrest for infraction of the Censorship regulations.

Autumn and winter, at Staraya-Roussa. Second edition of “The Idiot.”

Beginning of the novel, “The Hobbledehoy.”

1870. “The Hobbledehoy” (
Otetschestvennia Zapiski,
Nos. 1, 2, 4, 5, 9, 11, 12), and in book form.

Fourth edition of “The House of the Dead.”

Summer at Ems.

1876-77. “Diary of a Writer.”

1871. Summer at Ems.

Article (in the June number of the
Diary)
on the Balkan Question, and Dostoevsky’s political creed.

“The Hobbledehoy” in book form.

1872. “The Little Girl” (in the Supplement to
Grajdanin).

Summer in the Kursk Government.

December 24: “Memento for My Whole Life.”

1873. In the summer, begins “The Brothers Karamazov.”

Fourth edition of “Crime and Punishment.”

1879-80. Appearance of “The Brothers Karamazov”
(Roussky Viestnik,
1879, Nos. 1, 2, 4-6, 8-11; 1880, Nos. 1, 4, 7-11), and in book form.

1874. Second edition of the “Diary of a Writer” from the year 1876.

Fifth edition of “Injury and Insult.”

In June, goes with Vladimir Solovyov to the monastery at Optin.

1875. May 25: Banquet of Moscow writers and journalists in Dostoevsky’s honour.

June 6 and 7: Festivities at Moscow in connection with the unveiling of the Pushkin Memorial.

June 8: Dostoevsky’s speech on Pushkin at the meeting of the Society of Lovers of Russian Literature. Takes part in the “Pushkin Evenings” got up by the Literary Fund.

1876. January 28: At 8.38 o’clock p m. Dostoevsky dies.

January 31: Public burial in the Cemetery of the Alexander Nevsky Monastery at Petersburg.

I. To his Father

May
10, 1838.

MY DEAR GOOD FATHER,

Can you really think that your son is asking too much when he applies to you for an allowance? God be my witness that not for self-interest, nor even in actual extremest need, could I ever wish to despoil you in any way. How bitter it is to have to ask my flesh and blood a favour which so heavily oppresses them! I have my own head, my own hands. Were I but free and independent, I should never have asked you for so much as a kopeck — I should have inured myself to the bitterest poverty. I should have been ashamed to write from my very death-bed, asking for support. As things are, I can only console you with promises for the future; however, that future is no longer a distant one, and time will convince you of its reality.

At present I beg you, dearest Papa, to reflect that in the literal sense of the word — I
serve.
I must, whether I wish it or not, conform to the obligations of my immediate environment. Why should I set up as an exception? Such exceptional attitudes, moreover, are often attended by the greatest unpleasantnesses. You will readily understand this, dear Papa. You have mixed enough with men to do that. And therefore consider, please, the following points: Life in camp, for every student of the Military Academy, demands at least forty roubles. (I write this, because I am addressing my father.) In that sum are not included such necessities as tea, sugar, etc. Yet all those things I must have as well — assuredly not only as comforts, but as sheer indispensables. When one has to sleep in a canvas tent during damp and rain, or when, in such weather, one returns weary and chilled from practice, one may easily fall ill for want of tea, as I have frequently experienced in former years at these times. But I want to consider your difficulties, and so I will give up tea altogether, and ask you only for the barest necessary of all — sixteen roubles for two pairs of ordinary boots. Again: I
must
keep my things, such as books, footgear, writing materials, paper, etc., somewhere or other. I need for that a trunk, for in camp there is no kind of shelter but the tents. Our beds are bundles of straw covered with sheets. Now I ask you where, without a trunk, am I to keep my things? You must know that the Treasury does not care in the least whether I have one or not. For the exams will soon be over, and then I — shall need no books; and as it is supposed to look after my uniform, I ought not to require boots, etc. But how can I pass the time without books? and the boots with which we are supplied are so bad that three pairs scarcely see one through six months, even in the town. —

[Here follows a further catalogue of necessary purchases.]