The Psycho-Spiritual Turn

This chapter centers on Fyodor Dostoevsky's final break with Vissarion Belinsky and his circle, as well as his increasing struggles to stay afloat, internally and externally. It provides a unifying analysis of the novels The Double, Mr. Prokharchin, The Landlady, and A Novel in Nine Letters, which Dostoevsky wrote in 1847. It also explains how the lead characters in Dostoevsky's novels confused readers with timeworn portrayals of mania and madness, roguery, and romance that related little to contemporary life. The chapter explains The Double, Mr. Prokharchin, The Landlady, and A Novel in Nine Letters as a significant exercise in which Dostoevsky probed minds, hearts, and souls to understand human faults and failings. It talks about Dostoevsky's assertion that his four works did not portray political, social, and economic injustices that wreaked havoc on society, but rather the psychological and spiritual traumas of individuals that eroded humankind.

Conclusion

This chapter recounts how Fyodor Dostoevsky was decidedly not on the straight and steady path that Pushkin and Gogol, Turgenev, and Tolstoy appeared to travel to glory and fame in 1846 and 1847. It elaborates Dostoevsky's feelings of going off the rails in literature and life when he published The Double, Mr. Prokharchin, The Landlady, and A Novel in Nine Letters after he released Poor Folk. It also describes the disturbed and deranged characters, complex and convoluted plots, and winding and windy prose of Dostoevsky's four works that caused former admirers and fans to lose faith in him and look elsewhere for solutions to national problems. The chapter speculates about scenarios of what would have happened if Dostoevsky had handled the success of Poor Folk in a more humble and judicious way.

Pride before the Fall

This chapter focuses on Fyodor Dostoevsky's increasingly tense ties with Vissarion Belinsky, Nikolai Nekrasov, Ivan Turgenev, Ivan Panaev, and other figures of the Russian literary world. It begins with a piece about Dostoevsky's tortuous tie to Belinsky as a stance of love and hate that haunted him throughout his life. It also recounts Dostoevsky's conflicted feelings over Belinsky, particularly during the eighteen or so months of their close relationship. It then discusses how Dostoevsky saw Belinsky as a mentor and guide, even as a parental figure who extended the life lessons of father Michael and mother Maria in his childhood, adolescence, and youth. Finally, the chapter looks at Dostoevsky's disagreement on Belinsky's attempt to bend him to his aesthetic will and to make him a critic of political and social ills.

Havens from the Storms

This chapter deals with the negative reception of Fyodor Dostoevsky from writers and critics in response to the success of Poor Folk and the failures that followed quickly. It discusses the Vielgorskys, Maykovs, and Beketovs as the three families who proved to be Dostoevsky's salvation from personal and professional storms from 1846 to 1847. It also mentions Mikhail Vielgorsky who was a wealthy count, composer, and writer of romances that Dostoevsky visited in early 1846. The chapter recounts how the colorful Maykovs came into Dostoevsky's life in the first two years after the publication of Poor Folk in early 1846. It talks about the Beketovs, who enjoyed personal and professional success and provided solace and support for Dostoevsky.

Introduction

This chapter recounts Fyodor Dostoevsky's popularity as a young Russian writer in early 1846 after his publication of Poor Folk. It elaborates how Dostoevsky was hailed as a savior, a prophet, and an idol whom God had chosen to lead Russian literature from alleged deserts to promised lands during his time. It also mentions Vissarion Belinsky and Nikolai Nekrasov, who had been educated in the school of hard knocks and were particularly taken with Dostoevsky. The chapter describes Belinsky and Nekrasov as romantics, staunch realists, and avid proponents of progressivism in Russian literature and life from 1846 to 1847. It then explains how Dostoevsky was alien or indifferent to sociopolitical discussions despite the cosmopolitan formation of his early years.