1st Edition

Dostoevsky 1821-1881

By E.H. Carr Copyright 1962
    258 Pages
    by Routledge

    258 Pages
    by Routledge

    The bare events of Dostoevsky’s life – his father murdered by peasants, his own ordeal before a firing squad, then exile in Siberia, his epilepsy, gambling, poverty and debts – go far to account for his strange intensity of vision. This biography, first published in 1931, traces his wayward development, from his strict and secluded childhood to his debut as ‘literary pimple’, through his years of anguish, to his maturity as artist and final apotheosis as Russian patriot.

    Written some fifty years after Dostoevsky’s death, when the material necessary for a full study first became available, Carr’s classic study reflects an approach to the life and genius of Dostoevsky dominated by the concerns of the mid-twentieth century. With its illuminating chapters on each of the great novels and its stylistic precision, this treatment of Dostoevsky remains a perfect introduction to the man, both as a novelist and as a human being.

    Introductory Note  Book One  1. Childhood  2. Early Years in Petersburg  3. Firstfruits  4. Catastrophe  5. The House of the Dead  Book Two  6. Exile and First Marriage  7. Journalistic Experiment  8. Intimate Life  9. Years of Anguish  10. Interludes mainly Sentimental  Book Three  11. Annus Mirabilis  12. First Months Abroad  13. Residence Abroad Continued  14. The Ethical Problem – Crime and Punishment  15. The Ethical Ideal – The Idiot  16. Ethics and Politics – The Devils  Book Four  17. Return to Russia  18. Dostoevsky as Psychologist – A Raw Youth  19. Dostoevsky as Publicist – The Journal of an Author  20. Dostoevsky as Prophet – The Brothers Karamazov  21. Apotheosis  22. Epilogue

    Biography

    Edward Hallett Carr