Women in the life of Dostoevsky. Brilliant wife

A young, largely naive girl.

Used frame from the documentary film “Anna Dostoevskaya. Letter to my husband", film company "ATK-Studio"

Behind him were hard labor, exile, an unhappy first marriage, the death of his wife and beloved brother, endless debts, the terrible physical pain of epileptic seizures, an obsession with playing roulette, loneliness and, most importantly, knowledge of life from its most unsightly side. She was cheerful, young, brought up in a warm and carefree manner, she didn’t even really know how to do housework. But Dostoevsky was able to notice the depth and strength of personality, which she, out of modesty, did not note in herself.

Their hasty marriage could easily end in disappointment. But it was he who brought famous writer that great happiness that he had never known before. It was during these last 14 years of his life that he wrote his most powerful and famous works. “You are the only woman who understood me,” he repeated to his Anya, and it was to her that he dedicated his last, brilliant novel"The Brothers Karamazov". What kind of marriage was this? How did a fragile, inexperienced girl manage to make happy a genius who, it seems, felt all the evil in life and became a great preacher of Light?

“There was no happiness yet. I'm waiting for him"

At the beginning of the 20th century, recalling a meeting with Dostoevsky’s widow Anna Grigorievna, Russian actor L. M. Leonidov (he played Dmitry Karamazov in the 1910 production of The Brothers Karamazov at the Moscow Art Theater) wrote: “I saw and heard “something”, unlike anything else, but through this “something,” through this ten-minute meeting, through his widow, I felt Dostoevsky: a hundred books about Dostoevsky would not have given me as much as this meeting!”

Fyodor Mikhailovich admitted that he and his wife “merged in soul.” But at the same time, he also noticed: their inequality in age - and there was no less than a quarter of a century difference between the spouses - the inequality of their life experiences could lead to one of two opposite options: “Either, after suffering for several years, we’ll separate, or Let's live happily all our lives." And judging by the fact that Fyodor Mikhailovich wrote with surprise and admiration in the 12th year of marriage that he was still madly in love with his Anya, their life turned out to be very happy indeed. However, it was not easy from the very beginning: the marriage of Anna Grigorievna and Fyodor Mikhailovich was tested by poverty, illness, death of children, and all of Dostoevsky’s relatives rebelled against it. And, probably, what helped him resist was that the spouses “looked in the same direction”, having been brought up with the same values...

Anna Grigorievna was born on August 30, 1846 in the family of a minor official Grigory Ivanovich Snitkin. Together with his old mother and four brothers, one of whom was also married and had children, Grigory Ivanovich and his family lived in a large apartment of 11 rooms. Anna Grigorievna recalled that a friendly atmosphere reigned in their large family, she did not know any quarrels or showdowns with relatives and thought that this happens in any family. Anna Grigorievna's mother - Anna Nikolaevna Snitkina Miltopeus) - was a Swede of Finnish origin, and by religion she was a Lutheran. The meeting with her future husband put her before a serious choice: marriage with her loved one or loyalty to the Lutheran faith. She prayed a lot for a solution to this dilemma. And one day I saw a dream: she enters an Orthodox church, kneels in front of the shroud and prays there. Anna Nikolaevna took this as a sign - and agreed to convert to Orthodoxy. Imagine her surprise when, having arrived to perform the rite of anointing at the Simeon Church on Mokhovaya, she saw the very same shroud and exactly the situation that she had seen in her dream!

Since then, Anna Nikolaevna Snitkina lived a church life, confessed and received communion. The confessor of her daughter Netochka with early years was Archpriest Philip Speransky. And as a teenager of 13, while vacationing in Pskov, young Anya suddenly decided to go to a monastery. Her parents managed to return her to St. Petersburg, although they resorted to a trick: they lied that her father was seriously ill...

In Dostoevsky’s family, as he later put it in “The Diary of a Writer,” “they knew the Gospel almost from early childhood.” His father Mikhail Andreevich was a doctor at the Mariinsky Hospital for the Poor, so the fates of those whom the writer would later make heroes of his works unfolded before his eyes - he learned compassion from childhood, although his father’s character was strangely mixed with generosity and gloominess, hot temper . Dostoevsky's mother, Maria Fedorovna, whom he loved and respected immensely, was a person of rare kindness and sensitivity. And she died like a true righteous woman: just before her death, she suddenly came “to perfect memory, demanded an icon of the Savior, and first blessed everyone<близких>, giving subtle blessings and instructions.”

In Anya Snitkina, Dostoevsky saw the same kind, sensitive, compassionate heart... And suddenly he felt: “with me she can be happy.” That's right: she can be happy, not me.

Did he think about his happiness? Like any person, I thought. He told his friends and hoped that after all the hardships of life and at an age that was considered old age by his parents’ generation, he would still land in a quiet haven and be happy in his family. “There was no happiness yet. “I’m waiting for him,” he said, a man already tired of life.

“It’s good that you are not a man”

As often happens, by the time this happiness was achieved, tragic, turning-point events had occurred in the destinies of both. In the spring of 1866 after long illness Anna's father dies. A year earlier, doctors announced that Grigory Ivanovich was terminally ill, and there was no hope for recovery, then she was forced to leave the Pedagogical Gymnasium in order to be with her dad more. At the beginning of 1866, shorthand courses opened in St. Petersburg; they made it possible to combine education and caring for a parent - and Anna Grigorievna, at his insistence, signed up for the course. But after 5-6 lectures, she returned home in despair: “gibberish writing” turned out to be a very difficult task. It was Grigory Ivanovich who was indignant at his daughter’s lack of patience and perseverance and made her promise that she would complete the course. If only he knew how fateful this promise would be!

What was happening at this time in Dostoevsky’s life? By that time he was quite famous - in the same Snitkin house they read all his works. Already his first story, “Poor People,” written in 1845, evoked the most flattering praise from critics. But then there was a wave negative reviews, which befell his subsequent works, was hard labor, the death of his first wife from tuberculosis, sudden death beloved brother, entrepreneur, whose debt obligations - imaginary and real - Fyodor Mikhailovich took upon himself...

By the time he met Anna, he was also supporting his already adult, 21-year-old stepson (the son of his first wife Maria Dmitrievna), as well as the family of his deceased brother Mikhail and helping the younger one, Nikolai... As he later admitted, “all his life he lived in the grip of money "

And so, at the end of the summer of 1866, the literary genius had to enter into an enslaving agreement with his publisher Stellovsky: cunning and enterprising, this man undertook to publish the complete works of Fyodor Mikhailovich for 3,000 rubles, provided that he would write a full-fledged big novel by November 1, 1866 . If there is a delay of a month, Dostoevsky will be obliged to pay a large penalty, and if he does not have time to deliver the novel before December 1, the rights to all his works will be transferred to Stellovsky for 9 years, and the writer will lose interest from publications. In essence, this meant doom to debtor's prison and poverty. As Anna Grigorievna wrote in “Memoirs,” Stellovsky “knew how to lie in wait for people in difficult moments and catch them in his nets.”

The very thought of having time to write a new full-fledged novel in such a short time made Fyodor Mikhailovich despondent - after all, the writer had not yet finished work on Crime and Punishment, the first parts of which had already been published - he needed to finish it. And by not fulfilling Stellovsky’s conditions, he risked losing everything, and this prospect seemed much more realistic than the possibility of putting a finished novel on the publisher’s table in the remaining time.

As Dostoevsky later admitted, in these circumstances, Anna Grigorievna became the first person who helped him in deed, and not just in word: friends and relatives sighed and groaned, lamented and sympathized, gave advice, but no one entered into his almost hopeless situation. Except for the girl, a recent graduate of shorthand courses, with virtually no work experience, who suddenly appeared at the door of his apartment. She was recommended by the founder of the courses, Olkhin, as the best graduate.

It’s good that you are not a man,” said Dostoevsky after their first brief acquaintance and “testing the pen.”
- Why?
- Because the man would probably drink. You won't drink, will you?..

Good and unfortunate

Anna Grigorievna's first impression of meeting her was really not the most pleasant... Yes, she did not believe her luck when shorthand professor Olkhin invited her to work for the famous Dostoevsky - the same one! - who was so revered at home, did not sleep at night, repeated, afraid to forget, the names of the heroes of his works (she was sure that the writer would ask them), with a beating heart she hurried, fearing to be late even a minute, to Stolyarny Lane, and there...

There she was met by a life-weary, sickly-looking man, gloomy, absent-minded, irritable: either he could not remember her name, then, having dictated a few lines too quickly, he grumbled that she couldn’t keep up, then he said that there was nothing she could do about this idea. will come out.

At the same time, Dostoevsky endeared himself to Anna Grigorievna with his sincerity, openness and gullibility. At that first meeting, he told perhaps the most incredible episode of his life - he would later describe it in detail in the novel “The Idiot.” This is the moment when Dostoevsky was arrested for his connection with the Petrashevsky political circle, sentenced to death and led to the scaffold...

“I remember,” he said, “how I stood on the Semenovsky parade ground among my condemned comrades and, seeing the preparations, I knew that I had only five minutes to live. But these minutes seemed to me like years, tens of years, so it seemed that I had a long time to live! They had already put mortal shirts on us and divided us into threes; I was eighth, in the third row. The first three were tied to posts. In two or three minutes both rows would have been shot, and then it would have been our turn. How I wanted to live, Lord my God! What a journey life seemed, how much good, how much good I could do! I remembered my whole past, not very good use of it, and I so wanted to experience everything again and live for a long, long time... Suddenly I heard the all clear, and I felt encouraged. My comrades were untied from the posts, brought back and read new sentence: I was sentenced to four years of hard labor. I don't remember another one like this have a good day! I walked around my casemate in the Alekseevsky ravelin and kept singing, singing loudly, I was so glad of the life given to me!”

When Snitkina left the writer’s office, she left with her a painful impression. It was not a weight of disappointment, but of compassion.

“For the first time in my life,” she would later write, “I saw a smart, kind man, but unhappy and abandoned by everyone”...

And that gloominess, unsociability, discontent that was on the surface did not hide the depths of his personality from her sensitive heart. Dostoevsky would later write to his wife:

“You usually see me, Anya, gloomy, gloomy and capricious; it's just outside; This is how I have always been, broken and spoiled by fate; It’s different inside, believe me, believe me!”

And she not only believed, but was also surprised: how could people see gloom in her husband when he is “kind, generous, selfless, delicate, compassionate - like no one else!”

26 days

The future spouses had 26 days collaboration over the novel “The Gambler”, it was in it that Fyodor Mikhailovich described his passion for roulette and his morbid hobby completely a real person-Apollinaria Suslova, an infernal woman, as the writer himself spoke about her. However, this passion for the game, which Fyodor Mikhailovich could not overcome for many years, disappeared as suddenly as it appeared, thanks to the extraordinary patience and extraordinary wisdom of his young wife.

So, Anna Grigorievna Snitkina took a shorthand copy of the novel, at home, often at night, copied it in ordinary language and brought it to Fyodor Mikhailovich’s house. Slowly he began to believe that everything would work out. And by October 30, 1866, the manuscript was ready!

Dostoevsky's study in his last St. Petersburg apartment

But when the writer came to the publisher with the finished novel, it turned out that he... had gone to the province and who knows when he will return! The servant did not agree to accept the manuscript in his absence. The head of the publisher's office also refused to accept the manuscript. It was meanness, but the meanness was expected. With her characteristic energy, Anna Grigorievna got involved in the matter - she asked her mother to consult with a lawyer, and he ordered Dostoevsky’s work to be carried to a notary, to certify its receipt. But Fyodor Mikhailovich was late to the notary! However, he still assured his work - in the management of the quarter against receipt. And he was saved from collapse.

By the way, we note that Stellovsky, whose name was associated with more than one scandal and more than one meanness in the fate of writers and musicians, ended his days sadly: he died in a psychiatric hospital before reaching the age of 50.

So, “The Gambler” is finished, a stone has been lifted from his shoulders, but Dostoevsky understands that he cannot part with his young assistant... And he proposes, after a short break, to continue working on “Crime and Punishment.” Anna Grigorievna also notices changes in herself: all her thoughts are about Dostoevsky, her former interests, friends, entertainment are dimming, she wants to be near him.

They are explained in an unusual form. Fyodor Mikhailovich seems to be telling the plot of a novel he had conceived, where an elderly, seasoned artist falls in love with a young girl... “Put yourself in her place for a minute,” he said in a trembling voice. - Imagine that this artist is me, that I confessed my love to you and asked you to be my wife. Tell me, what would you answer me?” -

“I would answer you that I love you and will love you all my life!”

On February 15, 1867, Anna Grigorievna Snitkina and Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky got married. She is 20, he is 45. “God gave her to me,” the writer would later say more than once about his second wife. True, for her this first year turned out to be a year of both happiness and difficult deliverance from illusions. She entered the house of the famous writer, the “heart expert” Dostoevsky, whom she sometimes admired even excessively, calling him her idol, but real life roughly “pulled” her from these blissful heavens onto solid ground...

First difficulties

“She loved me infinitely, I also loved her beyond measure, but we did not live happily with her...” Dostoevsky said about his first marriage to Maria Isaeva. And indeed, the writer’s first marriage, which lasted 7 years, was unhappy almost from the very beginning: he and his wife, who had a very strange character, in fact, did not live together. How did Anna Grigorievna manage to make Dostoevsky happy?

After the death of her husband, in a conversation with Leo Tolstoy, she said (though not about herself, but about her husband): “Nowhere is a person’s character expressed so much as in everyday life, in his family.” It was here, in the family, in everyday life, that her kind, wise heart made itself felt...

After a serene and peaceful home environment, Snitkina - now Dostoevskaya - entered the house where she was forced to live under the same roof with Fyodor Mikhailovich's eccentric, dishonest and spoiled stepson Pavel. The 21-year-old young man constantly complained to his stepfather about his daughter-in-law, and, when left alone with her, tried to hurt the young woman more painfully. He reproached her for her inability to manage the house, the anxiety that she brings to her already sick father, and he constantly demanded money for his
content.

“This stepson of mine,” admitted Fyodor Mikhailovich, “is a kind, honest boy; but, unfortunately, with an amazing character: he positively promised himself, from childhood, to do nothing, not having the slightest fortune and at the same time having the most ridiculous concepts about life.”

And other relatives behaved arrogantly towards Dostoevskaya. She soon noticed: as soon as Fyodor Mikhailovich receives an advance for a book, out of nowhere, the widow of his brother Mikhail, Emilia Fedorovna, or his younger unemployed brother Nikolai appears, or Pavel has “urgent” needs - for example, the need to buy a new coat to replace the old one, out of fashion.

One winter, Dostoevsky returned home without a fur coat - he gave it as collateral in order to provide Emilia with 50 rubles, which she urgently needed... Relatives took advantage of the writer’s kindness and dependability, things disappeared from the house - either a Chinese vase given by friends, then a fur coat, or silverware: everything had to be pawned. So Anna Grigorievna was faced with the need to live in debt, and to live very modestly. And she calmly and courageously accepted this necessity.

One more ordeal the writer was ill. Dostoevskaya knew about her from the first day they met, but she hoped that Fyodor Mikhailovich’s health would improve from the joyful change in life. And for the first time the seizure happened when the young couple were visiting: “Fyodor Mikhailovich was extremely animated and was telling my sister something interesting. Suddenly he interrupted his speech mid-sentence, turned pale, stood up from the sofa and began to lean towards me. I looked in amazement at his changed face. But suddenly a terrible, inhuman scream, or rather a scream, was heard, and Fyodor Mikhailovich began to lean forward.<…>Subsequently, I heard this “inhuman” cry dozens of times, common in an epileptic at the beginning of an attack. And this scream always shocked and frightened me.<…>

Here I saw for the first time what terrible disease Fyodor Mikhailovich suffers. Hearing his screams and moans that did not stop for hours, seeing his face distorted with suffering, completely unlike him, his insanely fixed eyes, not at all understanding his incoherent speech, I was almost convinced that my dear, beloved husband was going crazy, and what horror I brought this thought hits me!” She hoped that with marriage his attacks would become less frequent. But they continued... She hoped that they had at least Honeymoon there will be time to be alone, to talk, to enjoy each other’s company, but all of her free time occupied by frequent guests, Dostoevsky's relatives, whom she had to treat and entertain, while the writer himself was constantly busy.

The young wife is sad about old life, quiet and homely, where there was no place for worries, melancholy, or clashes. She is sad about that short time between the engagement and the wedding, when she and Dostoevsky spent evenings together, waiting for their happiness to be fulfilled... But it was in no hurry to be fulfilled.

“Why doesn’t he, the “great heart expert,” see how hard my life is?”

She asked herself. She was tormented by thoughts: he stopped loving her, saw how much lower she was than him in spiritual and intellectual development (which, of course, was far from the truth). Anna Grigorievna was thinking about divorce, thinking that if she had ceased to be interesting to her beloved husband, then she would not have enough humility to stay with him - she would have to leave: “I placed too many hopes for happiness on the alliance with Fyodor Mikhailovich and it was so bitter I wouldn’t care if this golden dream didn’t come true!”

One day, another misunderstanding occurs, Anna Grigorievna cannot stand it, sobs and cannot calm down, and Fyodor Mikhailovich finds her in this state. Finally, all her hidden doubts come out - and the couple decide to leave. First to Moscow, then abroad. This was in the spring of 1867. The Dostoevskys would return to their homeland only after 4 years.

Save the marriage

Although Dostoevskaya constantly emphasized that she was just a child, when she got married, she got used to it unusually quickly, taking care of the family “treasury.” Her main task was to provide her husband with peace and the opportunity to engage in creativity. He worked at night. Writing was not only a vocation for Fyodor Mikhailovich, but also his only income: not having a fortune, like, for example, Tolstoy or Goncharov, he was forced to write all his works (except for the first story) hastily, in a hurry, to order, otherwise he would not survive ...

Smart and energetic, Anna Grigorievna took upon herself relations with creditors, analysis of debt receipts, protecting her husband from all these worries. And she took a risk - she pawned her considerable dowry in order to go abroad and “save her happiness.”

She was sure that only

“Constant spiritual communication with my husband can create that strong and friendly family that we dreamed of.”

By the way, it was her efforts that helped reveal the fictitiousness of many of Dostoevsky’s debts. Despite his enormous life experience, he was such a trusting, honest, conscientious person, not adapted to life, that he believed everyone who came to him for money. After the death of his brother Mikhail, who also owned a tobacco factory, people began to come to Fyodor Mikhailovich, demanding the return of the money that his brother owed them. Among them there were many crooks who decided to profit from the writer’s simplicity. He didn’t demand confirmation or paper from anyone, he believed everyone. Anna Grigorievna took it all upon herself. One can only guess how much wisdom, patience and work such an activity required.

In “Memoirs,” Dostoevskaya admits: “A bitter feeling rises in me when I remember how these other people’s debts ruined my personal life... My whole life at that time was darkened constant reflection about where to get so much money by such and such a date; where and for how much to pawn such and such an item; how to make sure that Fyodor Mikhailovich does not find out about the creditor’s visit or about the pawning of some thing. This took away my youth, my health suffered and my nerves were upset.” She wisely protected him from her own emotions: when he wanted to cry, she went into another room, tried never to complain - neither about her health (rather weak), nor about her worries, and always to encourage him. Considering compliance a necessary condition happy marriage, Dostoevsky’s wife fully possessed this rare quality. Even in those moments when he went to play roulette and returned, having lost all their food...

Roulette was a terrible disaster. The great writer suffered from it. He dreamed of winning in order to free his family from debt bondage. This “fantasy” possessed him completely, and he alone could not find the strength to escape from its clutches... If it were not for Anna Grigorievna’s unparalleled endurance, love for her husband and the absence of any self-pity.

“It pained me to the depths of my soul to see how Fyodor Mikhailovich himself suffered,” she wrote. - He returned from roulette, pale, exhausted, barely able to stand on his feet, asked me for money (he gave me all the money), left and half an hour later returned even more upset, for money, and this until he had lost everything that We have it." What about Dostoevskaya? She understood that it was not a matter of weak will, that it was real illness, all-consuming passion. And she never reproached him, did not quarrel with him, and did not argue with his requests for money for the game.

Dostoevsky begged her for forgiveness on his knees, sobbed, promised to give up his destructive passion... and returned to her again. At such moments Anna Grigorievna... no, she did not remain silent meaningfully: she tried to convince her husband that everything would get better, that she was happy, and distracted him with a walk or reading newspapers. And Dostoevsky calmed down...

When in 1871 Fyodor Mikhailovich wrote that he was throwing roulette, his wife did not believe it. But he really didn’t return to the game again: “Now it’s yours, yours inseparably, all yours. Until now, half of this damned fantasy belonged to me.”

Sonechka

For countless families, the loss of a child is a devastating experience. For the Dostoevskys, this terrible tragedy, experienced twice during the 14 years of their marriage, only brought them together. The first time the family faced severe grief was in the first year of marriage, when daughter Sonechka, having lived only 3 months, suddenly died of a common cold. Anna Grigorievna describes her grief sparingly; she, with her characteristic selflessness, thought about something else - “she was terribly afraid for my poor husband.” Fyodor Mikhailovich, according to her memoirs, “sobbed and cried like a woman, standing in front of the cooling body of his favorite, and covered her pale face and hands with hot kisses. I have never seen such violent despair.”

A year later, a second daughter, Lyubov, was born. And Dostoevskaya, who was afraid that her husband would never be able to love another child again, noticed that the joy of fatherhood eclipsed all previous experiences. In a letter to one critic, Fyodor Mikhailovich argued that a happy family life and the birth of children are three-quarters of the happiness that a person can experience on earth.

In general, his relationship with children was unique. He, like no one else, knew how, as she wrote, “to enter into a child’s worldview,” to understand the child, to captivate him in conversation, and at such moments he was like a child himself. While abroad, Fyodor Mikhailovich writes the novel “The Idiot”, and already at home he finishes the novel “Demons”. But living away from Russia was a difficult ordeal for the couple, and in 1871 they returned to their homeland.

8 days after returning to St. Petersburg, a son, Fyodor, is born into the family, and in 1875, another son, Alyosha, named in honor of the righteous Alexy, the man of God - a saint whom Fyodor Mikhailovich greatly revered. This is the year when the journal Otechestvennye Zapiski publishes the fourth great novel Dostoevsky,
“Teenager”* (the concept of “Dostoevsky’s Great Pentateuch”, which came into use thanks to critics, implies five novels by the writer: “Crime and Punishment”, “Idiot”, “Teenager”, “Demons”, “The Brothers Karamazov”. - Ed.).

But misfortune befalls the family again. Son Alyosha inherited epilepsy from his father, and the boy’s first attack, which occurred at the age of three, turned out to be fatal for him... This time the couple seemed to switch places. Unhappy Anna Grigorievna, an unusually strong woman, still could not cope with this grief, lost interest in life, in her other children, which frightened her husband. He spoke to her, convincing her to submit to the will of God and move on with her life. This year, the writer went to Optina Pustyn and twice met alone with Elder Ambrose, who conveyed to Dostoevskaya his blessing and those words that the writer would later put into the mouth of his hero, Elder Zosima, in The Brothers Karamazov: “Rachel cries for her children and cannot be consoled, because they are not there,” and this is the limit on earth for you, mothers. And don’t be comforted, and you don’t need to be comforted, don’t be comforted and cry, just every time you cry, remember unswervingly that your son is the only one from the angels of God - from there he looks at you and sees you, and rejoices at your tears, and He points to them to the Lord God. And for a long time you will continue to experience this great maternal cry, but in the end it will turn into quiet joy for you, and your bitter tears will be only tears of quiet tenderness and heartfelt cleansing, saving you from sins.”

What could he see in me?

Dostoevsky wrote his last and, according to many critics, most powerful novel, The Brothers Karamazov, from the spring of 1878 to 1880. He dedicates it to his beloved wife, Anna Grigorievna...

“Anka, you are my angel, my everything, alpha and omega! Oh, so you see me in a dream and, “when you wake up, you yearn that I’m not there.” It's terribly good, and I love it. Longing, my angel, yearning in all respects for me - that means you love me. That's for me sweeter than honey. I’ll come and kiss you”; “But how can I live without you and without children during this time? No joke, 12 whole days.”

These lines are from Dostoevsky's letters of 1875-1976, in the days when he went to St. Petersburg on business, and the family remained at the dacha in Staraya Russa. They do not require comments.

The family became a safe haven for him, and, by his own admission, he literally fell in love with his wife again many times. Anna Grigorievna, until the end of her life, sincerely could not understand what Dostoevsky himself found in her: “All my life it seemed to me like a kind of mystery that my kind husband not only loved and respected me, as many husbands love and respect their wives, but he almost worshiped me, as if I were some kind of special creature, created just for him, and this not only in the first time of marriage, but also in all other years until his death. But in reality, I was not distinguished by beauty, had neither talents nor special mental development, and had a secondary education (gymnasium). And despite this, she deserved it from such a smart and talented person deep reverence and almost worship.”

Of course, she was not an ordinary person, some kind of simpleton who, out of the blue, fell in love with a genius. Fyodor Mikhailovich fell in love with his stenographer, sensing in her not only a compassionate and kind, but also an active, strong-willed, noble character, rich inner world and the art of being a real woman, with dignity remaining in the shadow of her husband, while being, without exaggeration, his main inspiration.

And although Anna Grigorievna and Fyodor Mikhailovich really “didn’t match in character,” as they say now, she admitted that she could always rely on him, and he could count on her delicacy and care, and trusted her completely, which also sometimes surprised Anna Grigorievna. “Without repeating or imitating each other, and did not get entangled with our souls - I - in his psychology, he - in mine, and thus my good husband and I - we both felt free in soul... These relationships with both parties and gave us both the opportunity to live all fourteen years of our married life in the happiness possible for people on earth.”

Dostoevskaya did not have an ideal life - she was indifferent to outfits and was used to living in cramped conditions, in constant debt. An ideal husband great writer, of course, I wasn’t either. For example, he was very jealous and could make a scene for his wife and flare up. Anna Grigorievna wisely avoided situations that could infuriate her husband and tried to prevent the consequences of his temper. Thus, during the time of his editorial work, he could lose his temper because of the impudence of the authors who demanded that not a single comma be changed in their works - he could write them a sharp letter in response. And the next morning, having cooled down, he very much regretted it, was ashamed of his temper. So, in such cases, Dostoevskaya did not send letters, but waited until morning. When “it turned out” that they had not yet had time to send a harsh letter, Fyodor Mikhailovich was very happy and wrote a new one, having already softened.

She did not reproach him for his impracticality and gullibility. Anna Grigorievna recalled that her husband could not refuse help to anyone. If he didn't have any change, he could take the beggar home and give him money there. “Then these visitors began to come themselves and, having learned the husband’s name thanks to a board nailed to the door, began to ask Fyodor Mikhailovich. Of course, I came out; they told me about their misfortunes, and I gave them thirty or forty kopecks. Although we are not particularly rich people, we can always provide such help,” she said.

And although religiosity did not prevent the spouses for some reason, perhaps out of curiosity, from going one day to some fortune teller (who, by the way, foretold the death of their son Alyosha), the Gospel always accompanied their lives. Dostoevskaya recalled how, putting the children to bed , Fyodor Mikhailovich together with them read the prayer “Our Father”, “Virgin Mother of God” and his favorite - “I place all my trust in You, Mother of God, keep me under Your roof”...

"Don't hold back"

In 1880, Anna Grigorievna took up the task of independently publishing his works, founding the enterprise “Book Trade of F. M. Dostoevsky (exclusively for nonresidents).” And it was a success! The family's financial situation improved, and the Dostoevskys were able to pay off their debts. But Fyodor Mikhailovich did not have long to live. In 1880, his novel The Brothers Karamazov was published, and this, according to his wife, was the last happy event in his long-suffering life.

On the night of January 26, 1881, the writer’s throat began to bleed (he had suffered from emphysema since hard labor). During the day, the bleeding repeated, but Fyodor Mikhailovich calmed his wife and entertained the children so that they would not be frightened. During the doctor's examination, the bleeding was so severe that Dostoevsky lost consciousness. When he came to his senses, he asked his wife to invite a priest for confession and communion. I confessed for a long time. And in the morning, a day later, he said to his wife: “You know, Anya, I haven’t slept for three hours and I’m still thinking, and only now I clearly realized that I’m going to die today.” He asked to give him the Gospel, given on the way to exile by the wives of the Decembrists, and opened it at random: “John restrained Him and said: I need to be baptized by You, and are You coming to me? But Jesus answered and said to him, “Do not hold back, for in this way it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.”

“You hear,” he said to his wife. - “Don’t hold me back” means I will die.”

He is recognized as a classic of literature and one of the best novelists of world significance. It is 195 years since the birth of Dostoevsky.

First love

Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky was born on November 11, 1821 in Moscow and was the second child in a large family. His father, a doctor at the Moscow Mariinsky Hospital for the Poor, received the title of hereditary nobleman in 1828. Mother is from a merchant family, a religious woman. From January 1838, Dostoevsky studied at the Main Engineering School. He suffered from the military atmosphere and drill, from disciplines alien to his interests and from loneliness. As his college friend, the artist Trutovsky, testified, Dostoevsky kept himself aloof, but amazed his comrades with his erudition, and a literary circle formed around him. Having served less than a year in the St. Petersburg engineering team, in the summer of 1844, Dostoevsky resigned with the rank of lieutenant, deciding to devote himself entirely to creativity.

In 1846, a new talented star appeared on the literary horizon of St. Petersburg - Fyodor Dostoevsky. Novel young author"Poor People" creates a real sensation among the reading public. Dostoevsky, hitherto unknown to anyone, in an instant becomes a public person, for the honor of seeing whom famous people fight in their literary salon.

Most often Dostoevsky could be seen at the evenings at Ivan Panaev's, where the most famous writers and critics of that time: Turgenev, Nekrasov, Belinsky. However, it was not the opportunity to talk with his more venerable fellow writers that drew him there. young man. Sitting in the corner of the room, Dostoevsky, holding his breath, watched Panaev's wife, Avdotya. This was the woman of his dreams! Beautiful, smart, witty - everything about her excited his mind. In his dreams, confessing his ardent love, Dostoevsky, because of his timidity, was even afraid to speak to her again.

Avdotya Panaeva, who later left her husband for Nekrasov, was completely indifferent to the new visitor to her salon. “At first glance at Dostoevsky,” she writes in her memoirs, “it was clear that he was a terribly nervous and impressionable young man. He was thin, small, blond, with a sallow complexion; his small gray eyes somehow moved anxiously from object to object, and his pale lips twitched nervously.” How can she, the queen, pay attention to such a “handsome man” among these writers and counts!

Petrashevsky circle

One day, out of boredom, at the invitation of a friend, Fyodor dropped in for the evening at Petrashevsky’s circle. Young liberals gathered there, read French books banned by censorship, and talked about how good it would be to live under republican rule. Dostoevsky liked the cozy atmosphere, and although he was a staunch monarchist, he began to come to “Fridays.”

But these “tea parties” ended badly for Fyodor Mikhailovich. Emperor Nicholas I, having received information about the “Petrashevsky circle,” gave an order to arrest everyone. One night they came for Dostoevsky. First, six months of imprisonment in solitary confinement in the Peter and Paul Fortress, then the sentence - the death penalty, commuted to four years in prison with further service as a private.

The years that followed were some of the hardest in Dostoevsky's life. A nobleman by birth, he found himself among murderers and thieves who immediately disliked the “political”. “Every new arrival in the prison, two hours after arrival, becomes like everyone else,” he recalled. - Not so with a noble, with a nobleman. No matter how fair, kind, smart he may be, he will be hated and despised by everyone for years, by the whole mass.” But Dostoevsky did not break. On the contrary, he came out a completely different person. It was during penal servitude that knowledge of life, human characters, and the understanding that a person can combine good and evil, truth and lies, came together.

In 1854, Dostoevsky arrived in Semipalatinsk. Soon I fell in love. The object of his desires was the wife of his friend Maria Isaeva. This woman has felt deprived of both love and success all her life. Born into a fairly wealthy family of a colonel, she unsuccessfully married an official who turned out to be an alcoholic. Dostoevsky, throughout for long years who did not know female affection, it seemed that he had met the love of his life. He spends evening after evening at the Isaevs', listening to the drunken eloquence of Maria's husband just to be near his beloved.

In August 1855, Isaev dies. Finally, the obstacle was removed, and Dostoevsky proposed to the woman he loved. Maria, who had a growing son and debts for her husband’s funeral, had no choice but to accept her admirer’s offer. On February 6, 1857, Dostoevsky and Isaeva got married. On the wedding night, an incident occurred that became an omen of the failure of this family union. In Dostoevsky, due to nervous tension I had an epileptic attack. The body convulsing on the floor, foam flowing from the corners of his mouth - the picture she saw forever instilled in Maria a shade of some kind of disgust for her husband, for whom she already had no love.

Conquered peak

In 1860, Dostoevsky, thanks to the help of friends, received permission to return to St. Petersburg. There he met Apollinaria Suslova, whose features can be seen in many of the heroines of his works: in Katerina Ivanovna and Grushenka from The Brothers Karamazov, and in Polina from The Player, and in Nastasya Filippovna from The Idiot. Apollinaria made an indelible impression: a slender girl “with large gray-blue eyes, with regular features of an intelligent face, with her head thrown back proudly, framed by magnificent braids. In her low, somewhat slow voice and in the whole demeanor of her strong, tightly built body there was a strange combination of strength and femininity.”

Their romance, which began, turned out to be passionate, stormy and uneven. Dostoevsky either prayed to his “angel”, lay at her feet, or behaved like a brute and a rapist. He was either enthusiastic, sweet, or capricious, suspicious, hysterical, shouting at her in some nasty, thin woman's voice. In addition, Dostoevsky's wife became seriously ill, and he could not leave her, as Polina demanded. Gradually, the lovers' relationship reached a dead end.

They decided to leave for Paris, but when Dostoevsky arrived there, Apollinaria told him: “You’re a little late.” She fell passionately in love with a certain Spaniard, who, by the time Dostoevsky arrived, abandoned the Russian beauty that had bored him. She sobbed into Dostoevsky's vest, threatened to commit suicide, and he, stunned by the unexpected meeting, calmed her down and offered her brotherly friendship. Here Dostoevsky urgently needs to go to Russia - his wife Maria is dying. He visits the sick woman, but not for long - it’s very hard to watch: “Her nerves are extremely irritated. The chest is bad, withered like a matchstick. Horror! It’s painful and hard to watch.”

His letters contain a combination of sincere pain, compassion and petty cynicism. “My wife is dying, literally. Her suffering is terrible and resonates with me. The story drags on. Here's another thing: I'm afraid that my wife's death will happen soon, and then a break from work will be necessary. If it weren’t for this break, I think I would have finished the story.”

In the spring of 1864 there was a “break in work” - Masha died. Looking at her withered corpse, Dostoevsky writes in his notebook: “Masha is lying on the table... It is impossible to love a person as yourself according to the commandment of Christ.” Almost immediately after the funeral, he offers Apollinaria his hand and heart, but is refused - for her Dostoevsky was a conquered peak.

“For me, you are lovely, and there is no one like you”

Soon Anna Snitkina appeared in the writer’s life; she was recommended as Dostoevsky’s assistant. Anna perceived this as a miracle - after all, Fyodor Mikhailovich had long been her favorite writer. She came to him every day, and sometimes deciphered shorthand notes at night. “Talking to me in a friendly manner, every day Fyodor Mikhailovich revealed to me some sad picture of his life,” Anna Grigorievna would later write in her memoirs. “Deep pity involuntarily crept into my heart when he talked about difficult circumstances from which he, apparently, never came out, and could not come out.”

The novel "The Gambler" was completed on October 29. The next day Fyodor Mikhailovich celebrated his birthday. Anna was invited to the celebration. As he said goodbye, he asked permission to meet her mother to thank her for her magnificent daughter. By that time, he had already realized that Anna had fallen in love with him, although she expressed her feeling only silently. The writer also liked her more and more.

The few months from engagement to wedding were pure bliss. “It was not physical love, not passion. It was rather adoration, admiration for a person so talented and possessing such high spiritual qualities. The dream of becoming his life partner, sharing his labors, making his life easier, giving him happiness - took possession of my imagination,” she would later write.

Anna Grigorievna and Fyodor Mikhailovich got married on February 15, 1867. The happiness remained, but the serenity was completely gone. Anna had to use all her patience, perseverance and courage. There were problems with money, huge debts. Her husband suffered from depression and epilepsy. Convulsions, seizures, irritability - all this fell upon her in full. And that was only half the story.

Dostoevsky's pathological passion for gambling is a terrible passion for roulette. Everything was at stake: family savings, Anna's dowry, and even Dostoevsky's gifts to her. Losses ended in periods of self-flagellation and ardent repentance. The writer begged his wife for forgiveness, and then it all started all over again.

The writer's stepson Pavel, the son of Maria Isaeva, who actually ran the house, was not distinguished by a meek disposition, and was dissatisfied with his father's new marriage. Pavel constantly tried to prick the new mistress. He sat firmly on his stepfather’s neck, like other relatives. Anna realized that the only way out was to go abroad. Dresden, Baden, Geneva, Florence. It was against the backdrop of these divine landscapes that their real rapprochement took place, and their affection turned into a serious feeling. They often quarreled and made up. Dostoevsky began to show unreasonable jealousy. “For me, you are lovely, and there is no one like you. And every person with a heart and taste should say this if he takes a closer look at you - that’s why I’m sometimes jealous of you,” he said.

And while staying in Baden-Baden, where they spent their honeymoon, the writer lost again in a casino. After that, he sent a note to his wife at the hotel: “Help me, they’ve come wedding ring" Anna meekly complied with this request.

They spent four years abroad. Joys gave way to sorrows and even tragedies. In 1868, their first daughter, Sonechka, was born in Geneva. She left this world three months later. This was a big shock for Anna and her husband. A year later, their second daughter, Lyuba, was born in Dresden.

Returning to St. Petersburg, they spent a significant part of their time in the romantically secluded Staraya Russa. He dictated, she took shorthand. The children were growing up. In 1871, a son, Fedor, was born in St. Petersburg, and in 1875, a son, Alyosha, was born in Staraya Russa. Three years later, Anna and her husband again had to endure a tragedy - in the spring of 1878, three-year-old Alyosha died of an epileptic seizure.

Returning to St. Petersburg, they did not dare to stay in the apartment, where everything reminded them of their deceased son, and settled at the famous address - Kuznechny Lane, building 5. Anna Grigorievna’s room turned into the office of a businesswoman. She managed everything: she was Dostoevsky’s secretary and stenographer, was involved in the publication of his works and the book trade, managed all financial affairs in the house, and raised children.

The relative calm was short-lived. Epilepsy has subsided, but new diseases have appeared. And then there are family disputes over inheritance. Fyodor Mikhailovich's aunt left him the Ryazan estate, stipulating the payment of sums of money to his sisters. But Vera Mikhailovna, one of the sisters, demanded that the writer give up his share in favor of the sisters.

After a stormy showdown, Dostoevsky's blood started pouring down his throat. The year was 1881, Anna Grigorievna was only 35 years old. Until recently, she did not believe in her husband’s imminent death. “Fyodor Mikhailovich began to console me, spoke sweet, affectionate words to me, thanked me for happy life which he lived with me. He entrusted the children to me, said that he believed me and hoped that I would always love and take care of them. Then he told me the words that a rare husband could say to his wife after fourteen years of marriage: “Remember, Anya, I have always loved you dearly and have never cheated on you, even mentally,” she will remember later. Two days later he was gone.

What should a great man's wife be like? Biographers of many famous people asked this question.

How often do great women find themselves next to great men and become like-minded people, helpers, and friends? Be that as it may, Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky was lucky: his second wife, Anna Grigorievna Snitkina, was just such a person.

Anna Grigorievna Dostoevskaya lived a long and rich life, outliving the writer by almost 40 years.

In order to understand the role of Anna Grigorievna in the fate of the classic, it is enough to look at Dostoevsky’s life “before” and “after” his meeting with this amazing woman. So, by the time he met her in 1866, Dostoevsky was the author of several stories, some of which were highly regarded. For example, “Poor People” - they were enthusiastically received by Belinsky and Nekrasov. And some, for example, “The Double,” were a complete fiasco, receiving devastating reviews from the same writers.

If success in literature, albeit variable, was still there, then other areas of Dostoevsky’s life and career looked much more deplorable: participation in the Petrashevtsy case led him to four years of hard labor and exile; the magazines created together with his brother were closed and left behind huge debts; his health was so bad that for almost most of his life the writer lived with the feeling of being “in his last days”; an unsuccessful marriage with Maria Dmitrievna Isaeva and her death - all this did not contribute to either creativity or mental balance.

On the eve of meeting Anna Grigorievna, one more disaster was added to these disasters: under an enslaving agreement with the publisher F.T. Stellovsky Dostoevsky had to provide new novel by November 1, 1866. There was about a month left, otherwise all rights to subsequent works by F.M. Dostoevsky was transferred to the publisher. By the way, Dostoevsky was not the only writer who found himself in such a situation: a little earlier, Stellovsky published the works of A.F. on unfavorable terms for the author. Pisemsky; V.V. fell into “bondage”. Krestovsky, author of “Petersburg Slums”. The works of M.I. were purchased for just 25 rubles. Glinka with his sister L.I. Shestakova.

On this occasion, Dostoevsky wrote to Maikov:

“He has so much money that he will buy all Russian literature if he wants. Isn’t that the kind of person who doesn’t have money, who bought Glinka for 25 rubles?”

The situation was critical. Friends suggested that the writer create the main line of the novel, a sort of synopsis, as they would say now, and divide it between them. Each of the literary friends could write a separate chapter, and the novel would be ready. But Dostoevsky could not agree to this. Then friends suggested finding a stenographer: in this case, the chance to write a novel on time would still arise.

Anna Grigorievna Snitkina became this stenographer. It is unlikely that another woman could understand and feel the current situation so much. During the day the novel was dictated by the writer, at night the chapters were transcribed and written. The novel “The Player” was ready by the appointed deadline. It was written in just 25 days, from October 4 to October 29, 1866.

Stellovsky was not going to give up the opportunity to outplay Dostoevsky so quickly. On the day the manuscript was submitted, he simply left the city. The clerk refused to accept the manuscript. The discouraged and disappointed Dostoevsky was again rescued by Anna Grigorievna. After consulting with friends, she persuaded the writer to hand over the manuscript against receipt to the bailiff of the unit in which Stellovsky lived. The victory remained with Dostoevsky, but much of the credit belonged to Anna Grigorievna Snitkina, who soon became not only his wife, but also a faithful friend, assistant and companion.

"Netochka Nezvanova"

To understand the relationship between them, it is necessary to turn to much earlier events. Anna Grigorievna was born into the family of a petty St. Petersburg official, Grigory Ivanovich Snitkin, who was an admirer of Dostoevsky. Her family even nicknamed her Netochka, after the heroine of the story “Netochka Nezvanova.” Her mother, Anna Nikolaevna Miltopeus, a Swede of Finnish origin, was the complete opposite of her enthusiastic and impractical husband. Energetic, domineering, she showed herself to be a complete mistress of the house.

Anna Grigorievna inherited both her father’s understanding character and her mother’s determination. And she projected the relationship between her parents onto her future husband: “...They always remained themselves, without repeating or imitating each other in the least. And with my soul I did not get entangled - I - in his psychology, he - in mine, and thus my good husband and I - we both felt free in soul.”

Anna wrote about her attitude towards Dostoevsky:

“My love was purely cerebral, ideological. It was rather adoration, admiration for a person so talented and possessing such high spiritual qualities. It was a soul-grabbing pity for a man who had suffered so much, who had never seen joy and happiness and was so abandoned by those close to him who would have been obliged to repay him with love and care for him for everything that (he) had done for them all his life. The dream of becoming his life partner, sharing his labors, making his life easier, giving him happiness - took possession of my imagination, and

• Fyodor Mikhailovich became my god, my idol, and I, it seems, was ready to kneel before him all my life.”

Life together with Dostoevsky

The family life of Anna Grigorievna and Fyodor Mikhailovich also did not escape misfortunes and uncertainty in the future. They had to endure years of almost poverty-stricken existence abroad, the death of two children, and Dostoevsky’s manic passion for the game. And yet, it was Anna Grigorievna who managed to put their life in order, organize the writer’s work, and finally free him from those financial debts that had accumulated since the unsuccessful publication of magazines.

Despite the age difference and her husband’s difficult character, Anna was able to improve their life together.

His wife also struggled with the addiction of playing roulette and helped him with his work: she took shorthand notes for his novels, rewrote manuscripts, read proofs and organized the book trade.

Gradually, she took over all financial matters, and Fyodor Mikhailovich no longer interfered in them, which, by the way, had an extremely positive impact on the family budget. (If only he had interfered - what a look Anna Grigorievna has)

It was Anna Grigorievna who decided on such a desperate act as her own publication of the novel “Demons”. At that time, there were no precedents when a writer managed to independently publish his works and make a real profit from it. Even Pushkin’s attempts to earn income from publishing his literary works, were a complete fiasco.

There were several book firms: Bazunov, Wolf, Isakov and others, which bought the rights to publish books, and then published and distributed them throughout Russia. How much the authors lost on this can be calculated quite easily: Bazunov offered 500 rubles for the right to publish the novel “Demons” (and this was for a “cult” writer, not a novice writer), while the income after self-publishing the book amounted to about 4,000 rubles.

Anna Grigorievna proved herself to be a true businesswoman. She delved into the matter down to the smallest detail, many of which she recognized literally in a “spy” way: when ordering Business Cards; asking printing houses about the conditions under which books are printed; Pretending that she was haggling in a bookstore, she found out what markups he made. From such inquiries she found out what percentage and at what number of copies should be given to booksellers.

And here is the result - “Demons” were sold out instantly and extremely profitably. From that moment on, Anna Grigorievna’s main activity became the publication of her husband’s books...

In the year of Dostoevsky's death (1881), Anna Grigorievna turned 35 years old. She did not remarry and devoted herself entirely to perpetuating the memory of Fyodor Mikhailovich. She published the writer’s collected works seven times, organized an apartment-museum, wrote memoirs, gave endless interviews, and spoke at numerous literary evenings.

In the summer of 1917, events that disturbed the entire country brought her to Crimea, where she fell ill with severe malaria and died a year later in Yalta. They buried her away from her husband, although she asked otherwise. She dreamed of finding peace next to Fyodor Mikhailovich, in the Alexander Nevsky Lavra, and that at the same time they would not erect a separate monument to her, but would only carve a few lines on the tombstone. Last will Anna Grigorievna was performed only in 1968.

In the work of any writer there is always something that inspires him and predetermines the themes in his works. Love is always a pressing topic that is revealed most vividly, since every person has experienced this multifaceted feeling. But what it will be: tragic or joyful is not a matter of chance, but of the personal life of the author himself. Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky was a timid and very dreamy man; he had to visualize and sort out pictures of love in his fantasies rather than experience many affairs and romances in reality. His dreams became real only in three cases, which we will talk about in this article.

She was the most honest, most noble woman I have known in my entire life.

Dostoevsky met Maria Isaeva and her husband at the age of 33. The blond girl had beauty, a strong mind and, most importantly, a passionate and lively nature. But she didn’t have love with her alcoholic husband. He soon died, and Dostoevsky had a chance to compete for the beauty’s heart, which he, of course, took advantage of. In November, after six months of courtship, Fyodor finally decides to propose marriage, they get married.

Either Maria did not have time to move away from her feelings for her husband after his death, or Dostoevsky was not the hero of her novel, but great love she did not experience, which cannot be said about him. The question arises, why did you still go down the aisle? And the answer is quite simple: the woman had a child in her arms, whom it was extremely difficult to feed alone. It was also beneficial that in the fall of 1858 Fyodor Mikhailovich received permission to publish the magazine “Time” and earned a good fee. The spouses did not coincide either in character or in feelings towards each other, because of this there were constant exhausting quarrels that drove one side and the other.

On April 15, 1964, a woman dies painfully from consumption. Her husband nursed her until her last day. Despite the quarrels, he was always grateful to her for herself and the feelings that he experienced. In addition, he took upon himself the responsibility of caring for her son, whom he provided for even when he grew up.

Appolinaria Suslova

I still love her, I love her very much, but I wouldn’t want to love her anymore. She's not worth that kind of love. I feel sorry for her because I foresee that she will forever be unhappy.

When Fyodor Mikhailovich finally returned to the capital, he began to lead active image life, move in the circles of enlightened youth and attend cultural events, where he met a 22-year-old student. It should be noted that Dostoevsky always had a great passion for young girls. Polina was young, charming and witty, she had everything that attracted the writer, and her age was a big plus. Full set. For her, he was the first man and her most adult love. The romance began while Maria Isaeva was living out her last days. That is why the union of Fyodor and Polina was a secret, and while one side sacrificed everything for the other, the other, hiding behind a sick wife, only accepted, without giving anything in return. But, nevertheless, he loved Polina, was attached to his wife, and this made it difficult for him to lead a double life.

But, casting aside doubts, Dostoevsky agrees to go on vacation in the summer with Polina, but due to his passionate love of gambling, he is constantly delayed. Soon the young beast cannot stand it and gives the gentleman a moral slap in the face with the news that she has fallen in love with another and, they say, there is no longer any need for him. The executioner and the victim change places, and the writer, loving her a little less than she does, begins to burn with passion at the mere thought that he has lost her.

After Maria's death, he tries for some time to bring her back, but gets turned around. Polina behaves coldly towards him, although nothing worked out with her new lover. As a result, it was worth guessing that these people ran away forever, and according to sources, Polina was unhappy in her personal life because of her domineering character.

Anna Snitkina

Remember, Anya, I have always loved you dearly and have never betrayed you, even mentally.

After the death of Maria and brother Mikhail, left in large debts, Dostoevsky receives an offer to write a novel for a handsome sum. He agrees, but understands that he simply won’t have time to write such a volume within the given time frame and takes a stenographer as his assistant. While working on the work, Fyodor and Anna become closer and closer, opening up to each other with best sides. And soon he realizes that he is in love, but due to his modesty and dreaminess, he is afraid to open up beautiful lady. And so he tells a story he invented about an old man who fell in love with a young beauty, and asks, as if by chance, what Anya would do in that girl’s place? But Anya, as it should have already been noted, was a smart young lady and understood what the “old man” was hinting at, and replied that she would love him to the end. As a result, the lovers got married.

But their family life was not as smooth as it might seem. Dostoevsky's family did not accept her, and her new relatives plotted various intrigues for her. Living in such an environment turns out to be painfully difficult, and Anya asks Fyodor to go abroad. Actually, little good came out of this venture either, because it was there, with the spouse, that his main passion - gambling. But the woman loves him very much and understands that she will not leave him. Soon they return to St. Petersburg, and the couple finally begins to have a bright streak. He works on numerous works, and she is his support and support, always nearby and still loves him dearly. In 1881, Dostoevsky dies, and Anna, even after his death, continues to remain faithful, devoting her life to serving his name.

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More than anything else, the genius loved to kiss women's toes.

On the occasion of the 190th anniversary of the birth of Fyodor DOSTOEVSKY, the first book dedicated to the sexual search of the great writer was published - “The Secret Life of Dostoevsky. Passions, obsessions, vices." The authors K. and T. ENKO thoroughly analyzed the relationship of the genius with women. With the permission of the Eksmo publishing house, Express Gazeta publishes fragments of the book.

Interest in Dostoevsky's eroticism arises because in his novels and stories he speaks so passionately about the secrets and madness of sex, many times shows libertines, molesters and sensualists, so figuratively presents sinful and fatal women that the reader has the right to ask himself the question: where did this come from? Dostoevsky have similar knowledge of the detailed sensual erotica of his corrupted heroes and heroines?
...In the Dostoevsky family, children were raised in obedience, no frivolity was allowed. It was allowed to talk about women only in poetry. Sisters who were younger than Fyodor and peasant girls - this was the female society that a teenager up to 16 years old found around him. His first erotic sensations were, of course, associated with these childhood memories - and this was subsequently reflected in his life and work.

Had a passion for prostitutes

Dostoevsky's sex life began in St. Petersburg, when he entered the Main Engineering School. Only two or three friends knew that, despite his outward lethargy and coldness, he was a hot, impetuous young man. Even then he was distinguished by morbid impressionability. He avoided visiting people, did not know how to behave in public, and was terribly embarrassed in female company. At the beginning of 1840, he fainted when at an evening Vielgorskikh he was introduced to a beauty famous in those years Senyavina.

Seduced the wife of an English sailor

WITH Martha Brown, the runaway wife of a Baltimore sailor, Dostoevsky met at the end of 1864. At this time, he remembered the loss of his wife as a misfortune and God's punishment, and separation from Apollinaria doomed him to loneliness... Dostoevsky once invited her to move to his apartment and live there temporarily. He was obviously motivated by more than just pity and the desire to give shelter to a homeless woman. Martha’s letter from the hospital (from the beginning of 1865): “Whether or not I will be able to satisfy you physically and whether that spiritual harmony will be realized between us, on which the continuation of our acquaintance will depend, but believe me that I will always remain grateful to you for the fact that you have honored me with your friendship and your affection even for a minute or for some time.” Marfa Brown managed to physically satisfy Dostoevsky for a short time: after two months they separated.

Satisfied his wife until his death

Dostoevsky found sexual harmony in his second marriage.
When marrying the writer, Anna Grigorievna was hardly aware of what awaited her, and only after marriage did she understand the difficulty of the questions facing her. There was his jealousy and suspicion, and his passion for the game, and his illness. And above all, the problem of physical relationships. At first he had no passionate desire, and he treated her with some caution and restraint. Physically, she was inexperienced and naive, she was ready to consider the pathological as normal, in her naivety she believed that this was how it should be, and naturally and calmly responded to what another woman, more experienced or instinctively more understanding, would find strange or offensive , and maybe even monstrous. Many years later, a year before his death, when he was almost 60 years old and she was barely 35, he wrote to her from Ems: “You write, “love me!” But don’t I love you? My constant (and moreover, more and more, increasing every year) spousal admiration for you could indicate a lot to you, but you either don’t want to understand this, or, due to your inexperience, you don’t understand this at all. Yes, point me to any other marriage you want, where this phenomenon would be as strong as in our twelve-year marriage. And my delight and admiration are inexhaustible. You will say that this is only one side and the roughest. No, not rude, but, in essence, everything else depends on it. I long to kiss every toe on your feet, and I will achieve my goal, you will see.”
No wonder Dostoevsky spoke of his “increasing” marital delight. He cautiously introduced her into the world of voluptuousness: he knew well both his sadistic and masochistic inclinations, and his fury when he was “allowed” to kiss feet. After all, the purely physical pleasure from sexual intercourse and its peak gave him the feeling of a breakthrough into eternity.