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FROM THE REMINISCENCES ABOUT DOSTOEVSKY
Trutovsky Konstantin Alexandrovich (1826-1893)
An artist; academic painting. Dostoevsky's school-mate in
the Principle Engineering School (entered in 1839). He was
the author of the earliest portrait of Dostoevsky (1847),
the only portrait of the writer in his young years. Trutovsky
left "Recollections about Dostoevsky" (1893) which
also contain the description of his appearance when he studied
at the engineering school.
"At that period of time Fyodor Mikhailovich
was very slender; his complexion was somewhat pale, and gray,
his hair fair and thin, his eyes sunken but his look was
piercing and deep.
In the whole school there was no other pupil who
would be less suitable to a military bearing as F. M. Dostoevsky.
His movements were awkward and jerky at the same time. His
full-dress coat did not suit him well, his knapsack, shako
and gun seemed to be chains worn by ascetics as an act of
penance. Always concentrated inside himself he would walk
up and down somewhere, not seeing and not hearing what was
going around him. He was always kind and soft…".
Having returned after his penal servitude and
exile to Petersburg, Dostoevsky had paid a visit to Trutkovsky
who wrote about this meeting in his recollections:
"In 1862 Fyodor Mikhailovich returned from his exile.
Great was my joy when I saw him come into my flat, free. He
told me a lot about his hard life and about his physical and
moral sufferings. In spite of this he seemed healthier than
before. He looked cheerful and said that his epileptic fits
became fewer. … But that was almost our last meeting. The
circumstances and life separated us entirely".
Riesenkampf Alexander Egorovich (1821-1895).
Physician, botanist, a close friend of the young Dostoevsky.
In 1838 he served in Revel engineering team with M. M. Dostoevsky,
the writer's brother. He met Dostoevsky when he came to Petersburg
in late 1838 to enter the Medical Surgery Academy. In 1843
Dostoevsky shared a flat with Riesenkampf. In 1845 Riesenkapmf
left for Siberia and passing through Omsk he met with Dostoevsky
and S. F. Durov. Beginning from 1875 Riesenkampf lived in
Pyatigorsk all the time. He left his reminiscences about Dostoevsky.
"Fyodor Mikhailovich in his young
years was a little round plump blond man with a rounded face
and slightly turned-up nose". He was not taller than
his brother; his light chestnut hair was cut short; his small
deep-set eyes hid under his high forehead and thin eye-brows;
he had pale and freckled cheeks, his complexion was unhealthy
and sallow; his lips on the thick side. He was far livelier,
with hotter temper than his sedate brother…"
Panayeva Avdot'ya Yakovlevna (1819-1893).
Writer, the wife of I. I. Panayev, later (in mid-40-ies) a
civil wife of N. A. Nekrasov. For the first time Dostoevsky
visited the Panayevs in 1845 of which he wrote his brother
the next day: "yesterday I was at Panayev's and I seem
to fall in love with his wife. She is smart and pretty, besides
she is amiable and as frank as can be". The writer's
wife A. G. Dostoyevskaya wrote: "<…>
his love for Panayeva was transient, but it was the only Dostoevsky's
love for somebody in his young years".
"…From the first look at Dostoevsky one could
see that he was a very nervous and sensitive young man. He
was slim, small, blond-haired, with unhealthy complexion;
his small gray eyes somewhat anxiously passed from one object
to another and his pale lips twitched…”
Yanovsky Stepan Dmitriyevich (1815-1897).
Physician; graduated from Moscow department of the Medical
Surgery Academy and began to serve as a doctor in Preobrazhensky
Regiment. Dostoevsky addressed him for medical help in January
1846. From that time and up to Dostoevsky being arrested they
met frequently. From 1877 Yanovsky settled in Switzerland
for good. Throughout his life he maintained very sincere and
warm feelings to Dostoevsky. In 1859 when Dostoevsky was allowed
to live in Perm' with no right to go to capitals Yanovsky,
as he wrote, "was the first among his close friends to
visit him in that town". After the writer's death Yanovsky
confessed to Dostoevsky's widow Anna Grigoryevna: "Fyodor
Mikhailovich was forty years to me the man in whom I always
saw the ideal of truth, honour and love to his neighbour,
and whom I loved and respected infinitely".
"Here is an exact description of the
appearance of Fyodor Mikhailovich as he was in 1846: "his
height was shorter than medium, with big bones, and in particular
was broad in shoulders and chest; his head was proportional
but with a well-developed forehead with especially protruding
forehead eminences, his eyes were small, light-gray and extremely
lively, his lip thin and always pressed giving the entire
face an expression of a certain concentrated kindness and
caress, his hair was more than fair, almost whitish and extremely
thin and soft, his hands and feet were remarkably large. He
was neatly dressed, even with some elegance <…>; the
only thing that broke the harmony of all his dress was <…>
that he behaved awkwardly, not like graduates of military
schools but rather like seminarians having finished their
course".
"…He was continually smoothing his blond soft,
Russian-style hair with his hand".
"The scull of Fyodor Mikhailovich was
excellently shaped, indeed. His big, compared to the entire
head, forehead, sharply distinguishing frontal sinuses and
protruded edges of the eye-sockets, without any eminences
in the bottom part of the occipital bone, made the head of
Fyodor Mikhailovich look like Socrates'."
Vrangel Alexander Yegorovich (1833-1915).
He was a baron, a lawyer, a diplomat and a memoirist. Soon
after graduating from Alexander Lyceum, wishing to be useful
to Russia, he went to the newly established Semipalatinsk
province to serve as a regional public procurator. Vrangel
knew Dostoevsky as a talented writer. He was on Semenovsky
parade ground and witnessed the cruel execution of the members
of Petrashevsky circle. M. M. Dostoevsky whom Vrangel was
familiar with learned that that he was going to Semipalatinsk
and asked him to take a message, some clothes and money for
his brother. On 20 November 1854 Vrangel got to Semipalatinsk
and on the following day called Dostoevsky to hand him over
the parcel and family greetings.
From that moment they became friends. Vrangel did
quite a lot to facilitate Dostoevsky's life; the latter
appreciated the kindness and the noble heart of his young
friend.
Later on, when Dostoevsky returned to Petersburg,
they started a correspondence. Although their meetings and
letter communication were becoming more and more scarce Vrangel
memorized the years of friendship with Dostoevsky. He wrote
"Recollections about F. M. Dostoevsky in Siberia, 1854-56"
that are the most valuable source of learning about the writer's
life in that period.
"He was in a soldier's overcoat with a red high
collar and red shoulder-straps, sullen, with an unhealthy
pale freckled face. His fair hair was cut short, his height
was taller than medium. Looking intently at me with his clever
gray-blue eyes he seemed to look into my soul as if to learn
what kind of person I was… But when I apologized for not
coming to him first and passed him over the messages, parcels
and greeting and talked to him heartily, he changed, cheered
up and became trustful".
…
"When Fyodor Mikhailovich was in good mood he
was fond of reciting, especially Pushkin.. His face was shining,
eyes sparkling".
…
"I can vividly remember Fyodor Mikhailovich zealously
help me to water the seedlings in the sweat of his brow, having
taken off his soldier's overcoat, wearing a pink cotton print
waistcoat faded from washing; on his neck there was hanging
a somebody's gift: a long home-made chain of small blue beads,
on the chain a big onion-shaped watch was suspended".
…
"His manner of speech was very peculiar. He generally
spoke in a low voice, almost a whisper, but the more enthusiastic
he grew, the louder his voice became, and in the moments of
high excitement he spoke breathlessly and attracted the entire
attention of his listener with his ardour".
Strakhov
Nikolay Nikolaevich (1828-1896). He was a critic, a publisher,
a philosopher. From 1861 Strakhov became one of the leading
contributors first in the journal "Vremya" ("Time")
and then in "Epokha" ("Epoch") published
by the Dostoevskys brothers. In 1862 Dostoevsky together with
Strakhov traveled abroad. Mostly close in their friendship
and ideas they were in the first half of 60-ies, however later
on the mutual coolness took place. Strakhov was one of the
first biographers of Dostoevsky.
"I
vividly remember his face; he was wearing only the moustaches
and in spite of his huge forehead and beautiful eyes he looked
like a soldier, his features were like those of the common
people…"
"He
often used to speak with his interlocutor in a low voice,
almost in whisper until something excited him so that he was
inspired and raised his voice".
Grigorovich
Dmitry Vasiliyevich (1822-1899). A writer. From 1836 to
1840 he studied at the Principle Engineering School where
he made friends with Dostoevsky. In 1844-45 they shared
a flat. Grigorovich witnessed Dostoevsky work over his novel
"The poor people"(?) and was the first to read it.
However in further years they had no close friendly relationship
"Among
those young people there was a youth of about seventeen, of
medium height, thick-set, blond-haired whose face featured
an unhealthy paleness'.
"…
I remember quite well that of all my youth mates I didn't
love anybody so soon and wasn't attached to as to Dostoevsky.
He seemed to respond in the same way in spite of his inborn
restraint and the lack of the youth effusiveness, frankness….
Fyodor Mikhailovich showed the traits of unsociability, avoided
people, did not take part in games, sat somewhere reading
a book and sought for a secluded place…"
Martiyanov
Pyotr Kuzmich (1827-1899). A writer, a humour poet.
The author of a memoirs-historical book "The affairs
and people of the century", based mainly on his notes
made up by the stories told by various people that he collected
for many years. It is impossible to say to whom belongs the
description of Dostoevsky's appearance that he put down, however,
there are interesting details adding to the writer's portrait
during his hard-labour period.
"F.
M. Dostoevsky looked like a strong, squat, thick-set worker,
drilled and with good bearing due to military discipline'.
"His
pale, haggard, sallow complexion speckled with dark-red
spots… was not lightened up with a smile. He looked gloomy,
concentrated, unpleasant, he bent his head forward and dropped
his eyes to the earth".
Yakushkin
Yevgeny Ivanovich (1826-1905). He was a son of the
Decembrist I. D. Yakushkin. An ethnographer, a lawyer. He
was sent on business to Siberia, in 1853 he came to Omsk
and achieved a meeting with Dostoevsky. The description
of this meeting is in his letter to his son written many years
later. There is also a description of Dostoevsky as a convict
in the letter to his wife (1855). Yakushkin rendered Dostoevsky
his assistance and gave him a money support after the writer's
return from Siberia. The letters of Dostoevsky to Ye. I. Yakushkin
are full of deep appreciation and sincere liking.
<
From a letter to his son V. Ye. Yakushkin, 1887>
"He <Dostoevsky> was brought
on the following day by an escort to clean snow in the yard
of the house where I lived. Of course, he didn't clean any
snow but spent the whole morning with me. I remember feeling
sad when Dostoevsky entered the room in his prisoner clothes,
in chains, his face thin, with traces of a hard disease. There
are the known situations when people get together immediately.
In a few minutes we were talking like good old friends".
<From a letter to his wife, 1855>
"I
know very well that prisoners wear chains, that they are used
for works, I even saw several times Dostoevsky with a spade
or a broom in his hands, with feet chains and half-shaven
head, with an escort who had put down his gun and was looking
around indifferently…"
Kovalevskaya
(born Korvin-Krukovskaya) Sofiya Vasiliyevna (1850-1891).
A scientist, a mathematician, a prose-writer, a playwright,
a memoirist. Dostoevsky met Kovalevskaya when he was visiting
the Korvi-Krukovskis in 1865. The writer was in love with
an elder sister of Sofiya Vasiliyevna – Anna Vasiliyevna Korvin-Krukovskaya.
Dostoevsky enjoyed the friendly relationship with Kovalevskaya
for the rest of his life. After Dostoevsky's death Kovalevskaya
wrote his widow, Anna Grigoriyevna: "… I was deeply and
sincerely attached to your husband and now I am transferring
this feeling on all close and dear to him, thus I share your
grief".
<The
first visit to the Korvin-Krukovskis>
"Fyodor
Mikhailovich felt uneasy because of those strained relations,
he
was
both shy and angry amidst those old grand ladies. That he
looked old and sick, as always, however when he was in bad
mood. He nervously pinched his thin fair beard, chewed his
moustaches, his entire face twitching".
…
"However,
five days after Dostoevsky visited us again and that time
he was fortunate…The atmosphere became warmer. Fyodor Mikhailovich
took Anyuta's hand, they sat down on a sofa and started talking
as two good old friends. The conversation was easy, not like
the previous time.
I was sitting nearby, not interfering, looking at Fyodor Mikhailovich…
He seemed to me quite another person, very young, and so easy-going,
nice and clever. "he can't be forty three years old already",
I thought…"
Fon-Foht
N. N. (1851-1901). He was brought up at Konstantine
Boundary Institute where A. P. Ivanov, the husband of Vera
Mikhailovna, Dostoevsky's sister served as a doctor. Fon-Foht
met Dostoevsky at the Ivanovs' in 1866 in Moscow when he was
fifteen years old. Then he met with him in Lyublino where
the Ivanovs lived in the summertime of the same year. Ag.
G. Dostoyevskaya in her memoirs noted that the recollections
of Fon-Foht featured truthfulness and trustworthiness.
"One
evening in early 1866 I took my leave to visit the Ivanovs…There
were numerous guests and, exchanging greetings I was introduced
to an elderly man whose height was a little taller than medium,
with straight blond hair and beard, with rather expressive,
pale and almost unhealthy face. It was F. M. Dostoevsky".
"Could
it be, I thought, that the hands and feet of this comely man
also clanked with shackles and hand-cuffs, could it be that
he also had to wear a prisoner's coat?"
…
"F.
M. Dostoevsky used to get up about nine o'clock in the morning,
and having had his tea and coffee he got to work immediately
without stopping until dinner, that is three o'clock in the
afternoon. He had dinner at the Ivanovs where he stayed till
evening".
…
"
Dostoevsky spoke slowly and in a low tone, with concentration,
it was obvious that at that time he was deep in thought. His
small searching gray eyes penetrated the listener. Those eye
always reflected good nature but sometimes they began to sparkle
with a somewhat secret vicious light; it happened when he
touched the problems that excited him deeply. But that passed
quickly and those eyes shone again calmly, with good nature.
But
whatever he said there always was some mystery, as if he had
wanted to say something frankly but at the same time kept
the thought deep in his mind. Sometimes he would tell something
fantastic, incredible and reproduced amazing episodes which
later haunted the listener's mind. … This way other scenes
were performed and Dostoevsky always took part in them. Thus,
he amused with us like a child, probably finding so his rest
and retreat after a hard brain and spiritual work over his
great book ("Crime and Punishment")".
"F.
M. Dostoevsky was very fond of music, he used to murmur something
to himself continually and that indicated his good mood best
of all".
Ivanova
Maria Alexandrovna (1848-1929). Dostoevsky's niece,
a daughter of A. P. and V. M. Ivanovs. She was a piano-player
and studied at Moscow Conservatoire, a pupil of N. G. Rubinstein.
Dostoevsky appreciated the music gift of M. A. Ivanova; visiting
the Ivanovs he enjoyed listening to her play the piano. Recalling
Dostoevsky M. A. Ivanova is telling about the summer of 1866
he spent in Lyublino near Moscow.
"…
Although he was forty five years old he behave easily with
the young company, was the first organizer of entertainments
and pranks. He looked younger than he was. Always elegant-dressed,
in a starched shirt, gray trousers and a loose blue jacket,
Dostoevsky tried to look well-kept and was very much annoyed
with his beard being too thin, for instance…"
Koni
Anatoly Fyodorovich (1844-1927). A lawyer, a man
of letters, a memoirist, a public figure, an honorary academician
(1900). Koni got familiar with Dostoevsky's works when he
was a student of Moscow University (1865). Koni met Dostoevsky
in 1874. In 1875 Koni arranged Dostoevsky's trip to a colony
of juvenile criminals on the Okhta. This visit is described
in "Writer's Diary" of 1876 and was reproduced
in the story "A boy at the Christmas party of
Christ"(?). Koni saw Dostoevsky for the last
time in Moscow at the celebrations of the opening of Pushkin's
monument. A. F. Koni is the author of the article "Dostoevsky
as a criminalist" (1881) and a memoir-critical essay
"Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky" (1923).
"Stooping,
of a small height, usually with a slightly bent head and tired
eyes, with indecisive gestures and low voice Dostoevsky transformed
delivering his speech ðå÷ü <on Pushkin>. When standing
on the stage he seemed to become taller, he proudly raised
his head, his eyes sparkled on his face pale from the excitement,
his voice grew stronger and sounded with a special strength,
his gestures became energetic and powerful".
Letkova-Sultanova Yekaterina Pavlovna (1856-1937).
A writer, an author of memoirs, a translator. She first saw
Dostoevsky on "Fridays" at the poet Ya. Polonsky's
in winter 1878-79.
"… I saw a grayish face, a thin grayish beard,
a scared distrustful look and shoulders tightened as if from
feeling cold. "Why, this is Dostoevsky!"- I almost
shouted… Yes! Dostoevsky!… but he was not the man whose portraits
were familiar to me when I went to a gymnasium… "That
one" used to be big, striking, ardently speaking. And
this one was shrunk, timid and looked as if he was guilty".
"…He seemed to even smaller, thinner and paler
than previously"
"Fyodor Mikhailovich was listening quietly, with
dignity, bowed, smiled painfully and seemed to be thinking
about something else…"
Ivanova Maria Alexandrovna (1848-1929).
Dostoevsky's niece, a daughter of A. P. and V. M. Ivanovs.
She was a piano-player and studied at Moscow Conservatoire,
a pupil of N. G. Rubinstein. Dostoevsky appreciated the music
gift of M. A. Ivanova; visiting the Ivanovs he enjoyed listening
to M. A. (Mashenka) play the piano. Recalling Dostoevsky
M. A. Ivanova is telling about the summer of 1866 he spent
in Lyublino near Moscow.
"… Although he was forty five years old he behave
easily with the young company, was the first organizer of
entertainments and pranks. He looked younger than he was.
Always elegant-dressed, in a starched shirt, gray trousers
and a loose blue jacket, Dostoevsky tried to look well-kept
and was very much annoyed with his beard being too thin, for
instance…"
Timofeeva Varvara Vasiliyevna (1850-1931).
A writer, a memoirist, a translator, her pen-name was O. Pochinovskaya.
In early 1872 Timofeeva came to Petersburg and started working
as a corrector in the printing-house where the journal "Grazhdanin"
was published edited by Dostoevsky in 1873 and early 1874.
In 1904 her reminiscences were published entitled "A
year's work with the famous writer (dedicated to Dostoevsky's
memory)". These reminiscences created a high-spiritual
portrait of Dostoevsky, one of the most truthful and exact.
"One the same day in the evening I first
saw him in Transhel's printing-house where I was reading the
proofs of that journal…
Once I made up my mind and looked at him,
but having met a motionless, severe look I involuntarily dropped
my eyes and tried not to look at him any more. I guessed it
was Dostoevsky but all the portraits I had seen and my own
imagination gave me quite another image, not like this, the
real one which I saw before me now.
It was a very pale, with a sallow, unhealthy
complexion elderly and very tired or sick man, with a gloomy
and haggard face with uncommonly expressive shades formed
by the tense and restrained muscle motions that covered it
like a net. Each muscle in this face with hollow cheeks and
a high, broad forehead seemed to be inspired by the emotions
and thoughts. And those thoughts and emotions were trying
to burst out but were stopped by the iron will of this thin
and stocky at the same time person, with broad shoulders,
calm and sullen. He seemed to be locked up with a key – no
motions, no gestures, just thin, pale lips twitched nervously
as he spoke. And the general impression at first sight reminded
me of soldiers from "the degraded to the ranks",
like those that I often saw as a child; it actually reminded
me of a prison, a hospital and various' horrors" of the
time of "serfdom".
…
"Once in late March we were
working together with Fyodor Mikhailovich late at night…
And when it was past midnight
I came up to him to say good-bye he also rose…
…I was standing before him like dumb: I was
so staggered by his own face! Yes, that was it, the real
face of Dostoevsky as I had imagined it reading his novels!
As if lit up with a powerful thought, lively-pale
and quite young, with a piercing look of deep darkened
eyes, with expressively closed outlines of thin lips, it breathed
with a triumph of its intellectual energy, with a proud awareness
of his power… that face was neither kind, nor wicked. It was
attractive and rejecting at the same time, scaring and charming…I
never saw such face of Dostoevsky further on. But during those
moments his face told me more about him than all his articles
and novels. That was the face of a great man…
"When he wrote down the conversations
he always repeated them several times in a whisper or aloud
first, making the appropriate gestures, as if he saw the character
before him".
"…He used to smoke a lot, and I still can see
his pale and thin hand with knobby fingers, with a pressed
in line around it, may be the trace from hand-cuffs… I can
see….. Fyodor Mikhailovich, his legs crossed, his arms round
his knees, just like in Perov's portrait, look keenly right
into my face; I can hear him speak in his tense and toneless
chest voice…"
"and when I saw in the doorway a slightly stooping
figure in the overcoat and galoshes, a pale, haggard, always
thoughtful writer's face, I would anxiously watch him
trying to guess his mood today, kind or angry. If
angry and irritated I knew that I'd better keep silent, not
addressing him. And if kind, I could smile and crack a joke.
Then he would talk, making jokes about the way I sat, the
way I read…"
Soloviyov Vsevolod Sergeevich (1849-1903).
A writer, a critic, a poet, and elder son of the historian
S. M. Soloviyov, the brother of Vl. S. Soloviyov. In December
1872 Vs. S. Soloviyov wrote an enthusiastic letter to Dostoevsky
with a request to let him visit the writer. On January 2
1873 their first meeting took place which Soloviyov described
in his diary. This is how Dostoevsky characterized Vs. Soloviyov:"I
met him recently and at such special circumstances that I
could not help loving him at once. <...> He is a rather
warm soul…." Vs. Soloviyov described his meeting with
his favourite writer in "Recollections about F.. M. Dostoevsky"
(1881).
"Before me was a man of a small height,
slender but quite broad-shouldered, who seemed to be younger
than his fifty two years, with a thin fair beard, high forehead
with thin but not gray soft hair, with small light brown eyes,
with a homely and common, at first sight, face. But this was
only the first and instantaneous impression, this face once
and forever stamped up in one's memory, it bore an imprint
of an exclusive, spiritual life. One could also observe something
sick about him, his skin was thin, pale, as if waxen ".
"Out of habit he worked at night, went to sleep
at seven in the morning and got up at about two. I used to
meet with him at that time… He was sitting at a small writing
desk…, stuffing his thick fags, and smoking them one after
another, drinking the strongest tea or even stronger coffee.
I used to find him in the lowest spirits. It showed at once:
his eye-brows put together, eyes sparkling, his face as pale
as wax, his lips compressed'.
"Coming to him in the evening at about eight
o'clock I found him after a late dinner, just finished, and
the morning scene of keeping silent and not noticing each
other was not to be repeated. He used to be calmer and more
cheerful then. The same black coffee and the same black tea
were on the desk, the same fags were chain- smoked. …He sometimes
used to be very kind, and when he became kind he was profoundly
attractive. Being in such mood he used to repeat the words
"my dear fellow".
Alexandrov Mikhail Alexandrovich (1844-1902).
A clicker in Petersburg printing-house of A. I. Transhel
where "Grazhdanin" edited by Dostoevsky was published
in 1873; later on a clicker in the printing-house of V. V.
Obolensky, where ""The Writer's Diary" was
published in 1876-77. Alexandrov was interested in literature,
wrote articles and essays. Their meeting with Dostoevsky in
late 1872 passed into good relationship. Having read the manuscript
of reminiscences by Alexandrov, A. G. Dostoyevskaya wrote
him: "I read your article with real pleasure .<...>
In your work you noticed all the characteristic features
of the late Fyodor Mikhailovich to the point".
"At first sight he seemed
to me a severe and not quite well-bred person of the known
type, but an ordinary and rather coarse man; but since I knew
that I saw an intellectual, and a high-degree intellectual,
I was stricken by his being a purely Russian type, with his
small hands being, of course, clean and soft, but with ugly
nails on some fingers from rough, hard labour emphasized
the impression, and his voice and the manner of speech completed
it… For all that, dressed in a light musquash coat, slender,
with sunken eyes, with a long and thin fair rust-coloured
beard and hair of the same colour Fyodor Mikhailovich reminded
of a clever and active industrial merchant, but a merchant
that looked like a Duma boyar of Russia of the times before
Peter the Great as they are portrayed by our painters in historical
pictures; this likeness in the appearance of Fyodor Mikhailovich
softened the impression of his coarseness".
"Fyodor Mikhailovich took it <the manuscript>
and the expression of his face obviously changed: his serious
and rather gloomy face beamed with pleasure expressed in
his kind smile".
Altchevskaya Khristina Danilovna (1841-1920). A
public person, a teacher, a publicist. In 1876 a correspondence
started between Altchevskaya and Dostoevsky. Their first meeting
was on May 20, 1876. In a letter to Altchevskaya Dostoevsky
wrote: "You are a rare, kind and clever creature. Such
people as you are needed everywhere. My wife and me love you
in a family way, as a truthful, sincere and clever heart".
"Before me there was a man of a small height,
thin, casually dressed. I would not call him old: neither
bald spot, nor gray hair could be observed; it would be even
difficult to tell his age, how old he was exactly; however,
looking at this painful face, at the small, sunken, dimmed
eyes, at his sharp face-lines that seemed to have their own
life-stories one could say with confidence that the man had
thought a lot, had suffered a lot, had born a lot. Even the
life seemed to have died out in this week body…"
Opotchinin Yevgeny Nikolayevich (1858-1928).
A writer, a historian, a collector. Opotchinin met Dostoevsky
in 1879. He met with him in 1880: in spring, on "Fridays"
at the poet Ya. Polonsky's; in July, at Pushkin's Festival
in Moscow. In his reminiscences he wrote down his talks with
Dostoevsky and gave a description of his appearance.
"Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky. His looks plain:
a little stooping; his hair and beard are rust-coloured, his
face is thin, with prominent cheek-bones; on the right cheek
there is a wart. His eyes are sullen, sometimes suspicion
and distrustfulness would appear in them for a moment, but
mostly there is some thought and supposedly sadness. When
he talks his eyes sparkle sometimes and sometimes threat…".
Popov Ivan Ivanovich (1862-1942).
A revolutionary member of the "Narodnaya Volya"
("People's Freedom"). He graduated Petersburg Teachers'
Institute, taught history. In 1882 I. I. Popov joined the
party "Narodnaya Volya". In 18885 he was arrested
and sent to exile to Zabaikaliye. From 1906 he lived in Moscow.
In his book "The past and experienced" Popov remembered
his meeting Dostoevsky near St. Vladimir Church where
Dostoevsky "liked to sit and watch children playing)
. the episode refers to the autumn 1880.
"Sometimes I went behind the fence and
always exchanged greeting with him. Hunched, thin, with sallow
complexion, with hollow cheeks, sunken eyes, with a Russian-style
beard and long straight graying hair Dostoevsky made an impression
of a gravely sick man. His brown coat was baggy; his neck
was tied with a scarf… Children were playing before us and
a small child emptied some sand from a wooden cup on Dostoevsky's
tail of coat lying on the bench… ".
Posse Vladimir Alexandrovich (1864-1940).
A writer, a journalist. He was in the hall of the Credit
assembly on October 19, 1880 on the memorial evening of the
lyceum anniversary. Dostoevsky recited the extracts from his
works and also the works of Gogol and Nekrasov and "Prophet"
by Pushkin. The impressions from this event were described
by V. A. Posse in his memoirs which were included in his book
"My life path" (1929).
"A small, dried-up man came out on the platform…His
very thin but not yet gray hair was neatly combed over his
high prominent forehead. A thin beard, thin mustaches, a dried-up
angular face…hardly had he opened a book, … I felt the power
of his wonderful eyes, anxious and appealing.
…The dark eyes of Dostoevsky called for everybody
to look into the inmost recesses of his split, his irreconcilable
heart. There was suffer and joy in the nervous play of his
pale face, his voice was soft and a little melodious".
Slivitsky Alexey Mikhailovich (1850-1913).
A teacher in a private gymnasium of L. I. Polivanov. The author
of many popular books for children. In 1880 in Moscow A. M.
Slivitsky was one of the closest assistants to the chair of
the committee involved in the arrangements for the inauguration
of the memorial to A. S. Pushkin.
"Dostoevsky's speech was quite an event. When
he entered the stage the audience was as if electrified.
The creator of the "Dead House"(?) stood
hunched, his hands down, and the audience was bursting with
applause for several minutes. Finally all silenced and he
began reading…"
Suvorin Alexey Sergeevich (1834-1912).
A man of letters, a journalist, a book-seller, a critic, a
playwright, a theatre specialist, an editor-publisher of the
newspaper "Novoye Vremya" ("The New Time"),
an owner of a large book shop and a printing-house in Petersburg.
By late XIX-early XX centuries the publishing and book-selling
activities of Suvorin had been in full swing. Suvorin was
familiar with almost all prominent writers of his time.
Dostoevsky met Suvorin in 1875. In the letters
and articles of Dostoevsky there are some quite critical observations
about Suvorin. However, in the last year of Dostoevsky 's
life friendly terms outlined between them. It was Suvorin
to whom Dostoevsky entrusted his further creative plans about
the continuation of "The Karamazovs Brothers".
Suvorin left his reminiscences about his meetings with Dostoevsky.
"Dostoevsky looked younger than he was, since
he was quick, lively and nervous, and he was boiling with
his ideas, he gave so little thought about his rest that an
idea of his death due to the rupture of some arteries never
occurred to me".
Suvorina Anna Ivanovna (1858-1936).
A. S. Suvorin's second wife, a writer. Dostoevsky met with
Suvorina at Pushkin's festival in Moscow in early July 1880.
"Fyodor Mikhailovich is looking, as always, with
his sparkling moving eyes into my eyes…'
"With burning and sincere eyes…"
"His look was piercing and he seemed to see everything
through and to read in one's heart"
Dostoyevskaya Anna Grigoriyevna (born
Snitkina) (1846-1918). The second wife of Dostoevsky with
whom he lived for fourteen years, a memoirist, a publisher,
a bibliographer. Anna Grigoriyevna, protecting the peace
of her husband undertook all money accounts, all relationship
with creditors and publishers; besides she was her husband's
stenographer on end throughout all their life. After Dostoevsky's
death Anna Grigoriyevna devoted her life to his memory and
never married again. A. G. Dostoyevskaya worked over her memoirs
in 1911-1916.
"at first sight Dostoevsky seemed to me rather
old. But as soon as he spoke he became younger… He was medium
and held himself very upright. His fair chestnut even slightly
rust-coloured hair was heavily pomaded and thoroughly smoothed..
Dostoevsky's face, pale and unhealthy, seemed to me extremely
familiar, probably because I had seen his portraits earlier.
He was wearing a broadcloth navy blue waist-coat, rather worn-out,
but his underwear (the collar and cuffs) was snow-white".
Dostoyevskaya Lyubov' Fyodorovna (1869-1926.
F. M. Dostoevsky's daughter, a writer, a memoirist. In 1913
L. F. Dostoyevskaya went abroad for treatment and never came
back to Russia. Being abroad, she published in 1920 the recollections
about her father in German. Translated into Russian, with
many cuts, they were published under the title of "Dostoevsky
portrayed by his daughter" (1922). The recollections
of L. F. Dostoyevskaya have a number of actual mistakes and
inaccuracies but undoubtedly they are of interest for readers,
they reveal a great many of the earlier unknown facts from
F. M. Dostoevsky 's life.
"I wasn't ever able top understand this love
of a nineteen-year-old girl to her forty-five-year-old husband
and often asked mother how she could fall in love with her
husband who was twice as old. "But he was young! – she
answered, smiling, -If only you knew how young your father
was then! He laughed, joked and enjoyed everything like a
youth. Your father was far more interesting and livelier than
the young men of that time…".
He died at 59 but he remained young till his last
day. He even didn't' t have gray hair they remained dark-blond
till the end of his life.
Stakensneider Elena Andreevna (1836-1897).
A daughter of architect A. I. Stakensneider, a hostess of
a literary salon who became closely acquainted with Dostoevsky.
Her friendship is one of the brightest pages of Dostoevsky's
life. He met her in Petersburg after his return from the
exile when he began to visit the Saturday nights in her father's
salon. From the recollections of L. F. Panteleev: "In
my young years the soul of the parties was the elder daughter
Elena, a very charming person, with a broad literary education
and very delicate artistic sense. E. A. Stakensneider, met
with the writer on January 27, 1881 before his death.
"Isn't it wonderful! A weakling, thin, with a
hollow chest and whispering voice but as soon as he begins
reading he seems to grow taller and healthier. A power comes
from somewhere. He is coughing continually and I've been told
many times that he has been suffering from the emphysema which
will kill him quickly some time. Good Lord! But when he is
reading the cough doesn't bother him as if it dares not".
"Now he often visits aristocrat's places and
even those of Grand Princes' and, of course, behaves with
dignity, but still, he shows that he belongs to lower middle
classes. It shows in some traits noticeable in an intimate
talk, bust most of all in his works".
"They say and go on saying that he thought too
much about himself. And I took the liberty of contending
that he thought too little about himself that he did not appreciated
himself properly, that he underestimated himself. Otherwise
he would be more arrogant and easy-tempered, he would become
less annoyed and capricious and more likable".
"Meanwhile he did not think about himself much,
otherwise he would not have looked into my eyes feeling guilty,
having spoken audaciously, and he would have told the audacities
in a different way. He was a sick and capricious person and
he told his audacities from his capriciousness, not from arrogance.
If he were not a great writer but a common mortal and with
the same illness, he may have been sometimes capricious and
unbearable but it would not have been noticed because he would
not have been noticed himself. He sometimes was more than
capricious, he was wicked and could snub and sting, but he
couldn't be arrogant and show arrogance".
"A queer and delicate old man! He is a fairy-tale
with its wonders, surprises and transformations, with its
huge frights and small details'.
laughter
A. Ye. Vrangel
(laughter) “he was in an infectiously merry mood,
he laughed,…. sang some opera fragments…”
Timofeeva V. V.
p. 190 (laughter)… "His laughter was always curt
but extremely sincere and good-natured. But he laughed very
seldom…
Suvorina A. I.
(laughter)… Fyodor Mikhailovich was especially fond
of listening to the role of general Dityatin and he laughed
like a child, and everybody at the table was dying from laughter…
(laughter) … Fyodor Mikhailovich was also laughing,
but I still remember his face; now he laughed, now he looked
gloomily, seriously, acutely, as if seeing that poor thing…
Kamenetskaya M. V.
(laughter)… suddenly he burst out with a loud and
good-natured laughter.
Dostoyevskaya L. F.
(laughter and characteristics)
"I wasn't ever able to understand this love of a nineteen-year-old
girl to her forty-five-year-old husband and often asked mother
how she could fall in love with her husband who was twice
as old. "But he was young! – she answered, smiling,
-If only you knew how young your father was then! He laughed,
joked and enjoyed everything like a youth. Your father was
far more interesting and livelier than the young men of that
time…".
Strakhov N. N.
(laughter) “we were glad to see each other… and began
to talk and laugh so loudly that disturbed the other visitors”.
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