The+Constance+Garnetter+-+The+Translation



 Being the son of a doctor, people probably though that Fyodor Dostoevsky would lead a privileged life. This, in fact, was not the case. His parents were very hard working and religious but had trouble supporting their family. He grew up in a two-room house with four other siblings, and Dostoyevsky was sick and delicate as a child while being deeply religious throughout his life. The young man graduated from the St. Petersburg School of Engineering, and had already started writing novels, at this time in the middle of his first work “Poor Folk.” When he finished it, the poet Nekrassov published it and brought it to the public eye with great acclaim. It now seemed the new celebrity could accomplish anything, but then in 1849 he got himself arrested. He was accused of many treasonous activities under Tsar Nicholas I and was imprisoned for 8 months before being sentenced to death. Right before he was shot with his comrades, the Tsar decided to spare their lives and send them to a penal servitude in Siberia. The imprisonment greatly influenced his life and his works later on as he talks about it in some of the subjects he discusses. He began the book “Dead House,” while imprisoned. Before imprisonment he had signs of a nervous disease, and afterwards he had constant epilepsy attacks. His first wife and his brother died in 1864, five years after returning to Russia. He was in terrible poverty but still wrote his journals “Vremya,” and “Epoch,” with both journals soon being outlawed. His later years were filled with devotion to his 2nd wife and his address in 1880 to the Pushkin monument. When he died in 1880 he was given a funeral of a king. This was important because his works are probably influenced by his experiences in prison/oppression and religious undertones.

After reading this version of the introduction to the book, it is interesting to see what background knowledge Garnett feels is important to this book. With including information about Dostoyevsky's rough childhood, Garnett could be providing the connection between growing up challenged and the book. It is also interesting to see that there is so much about how Dostoyevsky spent time in jail and how he had hardships being imprisoned. This probably contributes to Dostoyevsky influence in this book, as it did with the "Dead House." Another probable influence in Dostoyevsky's writings that Garnett presents is his devotion to his second wife. Dostoyevsky's love life could have great influence in his writing and could bring a different tone to the literature. The Pushkin adress, along with the Tsar imprisoning him, were also important things, according to Garnett, and could provide political connections in Dostoyevsky's work. When finished with the book, we can come back to this introduction and actually make connections and draw conclusions based on Dostoyevsky's life.

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