The Novel "Poor Folk" in the Context of Dostoevsky's Letters from the time of the Kuznetsk Events

Abstract

The article shows the connection between the epistolary novel "Poor Folk", the events of the biography of F. M. Dostoevsky and his epistolary legacy of the Kuznetsk period (1855-1857). The novel "Poor Folk" created in after -penal colony time is considered as a high standard for the author, as a self-reflection. The letters of F. M. Dostoevsky from the time of the Kuznetsk events, where there are several excerpts about "Poor Folk", are presented as a workbook, a creative laboratory, where the writer develops a new quality of artistic expression characteristic of his mature works. For Dostoevsky, the novel "Poor Folk" is not just a brilliant debut that opened the way to "great literature", but also a text that has prophetic and life-creating modes, and has connections with the events of his life in Kuznetsk. Repeated reference to it, the presence of several versions of the novel, speaks about the peculiarities of the author's creative thinking and the significance of this work for the writer.