Dostoevsky

Abstract

It is a convention — readily understandable in the light of his evolution as a writer — to emphasise that Dostoevsky’s career began and ended with moments of personal triumph. His career as a writer opened in 1846 with the resounding triumph of his first original work, Poor Folk; it ended with the resounding applause that greeted his famous Pushkin speech at the ceremony in Moscow to mark the unveiling of a memorial to the poet in June 1880. A little over six months later, on 28 January 1881, Dostoevsky died and on 2 February his body was followed to its rest in the cemetry of the Alexander Nevsky Monastery in St Petersburg by a vast gathering of mourners, the beginning of what was to become a world-wide following that has brought him increasing fame since his death.