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Fyodor Dostoevsky in St. Petersburg
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Dostoevsky

Dostoevsky has influence far beyond Russia.

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Walking distance to Metro and all main attractions.
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Tolstoy and Krestovsky wrote at this time also.

Dostoevsky MuseumA souvenir of St. Petersburg, amongst a diverse collection of ticket stubs, mementos and knick-knacks, there's a postcard with an excerpt from the novel The Idiot, by Fyodor Dostoevsky:

"On my arrival to Switzerland, the bray of a donkey aroused me. I saw the donkey and was extremely pleased with it; and, thanks to this donkey, I began to like the whole country."

A strange choice? Perhaps not, as this postcard was picked up in the Dostoevsky Museum gift shop, a reminder of a visit to find out more about this renowned Russian author.

A must-see St. Petersburg institution, the F.M. Dostoevsky Literary-Memorial Museum is located a building on the corner of Kuznechny Lane and Dostoevsky Street (formerly Yamskaya) that held particular significance as one of Dostoevsky's Petersburg addresses. Not only did the author live and die at these otherwise unremarkable apartments, but it was here that he wrote his last novel, The Brothers Karamazov. Numerous literary contemporaries also visited him at this address, so entering the site really makes the visitor feel like this is an experience that harks back to the golden age of Russian literature.

Dostoevsky traveled after his marriage to his 20-year-old stenographer, Anna Grigorevna Snitkina.

The couple spent four years abroad in Western Europe, mainly in Switzerland and Germany, avoiding creditors. The couple returned to Russia in 1871, and for the following decade Dostoevsky spent his time between Petersburg and his summer residence at Staraya Russa, a resort town in northwestern Russia. The Brothers Karamazov and The Possessed are also credited with having been created at Staraya Russa.

Fyodor Dostoevsky's first novel, Poor Folk, was published in 1845 to almost immediate acclaim and made him a literary celebrity at the age of 24. Success was difficult to sustain and his next work, The Double, was less favorably received. Dostoevsky was imprisoned on April 23, 1849 for his involvement with the liberal literary group the Petrashevsky Circle.

After enduring a mock execution, Dostoevsky was sentenced to hard labor in Siberia, followed by a five year conscription in the Siberian Regiment. These experiences resulted in a conversion to Orthodox Christianity and a rejection of Western ideals that was reflected in his writing from that point. His most enduring and popular works would follow.

Dostoevsky never had the pleasure of attending the Olympics or understanding what is Cheburashka. But his name will be heard in Sochi, Sochi's American sister-city Long Beach, Hollywood and by children who love the inocence of the Cheburashkan spirit. Who would Dostoevsky choose for mascot for the Sochi Olympics?



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