Trip+to+St.+Petersberg

Kristin Scalzo and Kristy Nigbur. Hour 3.

The main reason Dostoevsky goes to St. Petersburg is to attend the Academy of Military Engineers, a prestigious boarding school. On the way to the city, he happened to stop to get something to eat and experienced an injustice that would stay with him for the rest of his life,which he called [|"his first insult"], and is even mentioned in //The Brothers Karamazov//. As he was eating, a government official came into the restaurant to get vodka, and then as he was leaving was picked up by a different carriage and began to beat the driver. He continued to do so even after the driver got the carriage moving and drove away. This brought Dostoevsky face to face with the unjust behavior of some government officials. It encouraged him to join a movement to abolish serfdom later in life. The memory was one of physical punishment and this type of issue was a point of discussion in many of his books.  Dostoevsky soon found out that the Academy was wrong for him. He found it boring because he wasn’t just interested in the facts and books, he was interested in the “eternal questions.” In 1843, he graduated with mediocre grades, lived in poverty out of choice because he gambled all of his money away. He then began writing for his own enjoyment, but in 1844 when he was ordered to move to a different post, he declined and soon writing became his only source of income.  His first work that was printed was a translation and not his own: //[|Balzac’s Eugine Grandet].// In January of 1844, on the Neva River he saw inspiration for the subject of his first book. It was about a lonely civil servant and the woman who loved him, named //Poor Folk.// The theme of this book and many of his other stories was [|“the redemptive power of selfless love in a world of grim reality”]. He got a lot of praise from this book and through a close friend, met a man named Belinsky, who was powerful and well-known in the world of Russian literature. Belinsky soon set up a meeting with Dostoevsky and although this was a good sign, Dostoevsky was nervous for the meeting.  The meeting initiated Dostoevsky into the inner circle of Russian literary culture which also tied him into Belinsky’s socialist political circle. [|Belinsky] was an atheist who wanted a revolution against the Tsar and his institutions, while Dostoevsky, a Christian, emphasized brotherhood for all with its emphasis on love and believed that it held the answers to Russia’s social ills. This disagreement with Belinksy set him up for a lot of ridicule and the depth of his talent only intensified this. He was envied for his talent and acclaim and soon would find another circle whose [|influence on his life would be profound].

Overall, it is important for us to know about Dostoevsky's trip to St. Petersburg because it was an inspirational city where he first started to write and form opinions. Events occurred on his way to the city and in the city that made him form opinions that stayed with him throughout his whole life. It is also good to know where he started, he wasn't a genius in school and actually found it really boring so in a sense it relates to us as students. Also, this helps us to know the background of his life and that he struggled with a gambling addiction, again making Dostoevsky more personable. Finally,. it helps us to relate events of the book to his life and it gives us a better understanding of the emothions that are evoked through his books. Dostoevsky wasn't just the average person but one who took things seriously and personally and it is good to know this as we begin to read //The Brothers Karamazov.//   The Cathedral of Spilled Blood  Catherine Palace Chapel

These two monuments in St. Petersburg, Russia just show how inspirational and monumental the city is. It seems to be a big place with a lot of opportunities and that is exactly what Dostoevsky found when he went there.