Editing Fyodor Dostoevsky (section)

== Career ==
=== Early career (1844–1849) ===
[[File:Trutovsky 004.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Dostoevsky, 1847]]

Dostoevsky completed his first novel, ''[[Poor Folk]]'', in May 1845. His friend [[Dmitry Grigorovich (writer)|Dmitry Grigorovich]], with whom he was sharing an apartment at the time, took the manuscript to the poet [[Nikolay Nekrasov]], who in turn showed it to the influential literary critic [[Vissarion Belinsky]]. Belinsky described it as Russia's first "[[social novel]]".{{sfnp|Sekirin|1997|p=73}} ''Poor Folk'' was released on 15 January 1846 in the ''St Petersburg Collection'' [[almanac]] and became a commercial success.{{sfnp|Frank|1979|pp=113–57}}{{sfnp|Kjetsaa|1989|pp=42–49}}

Dostoevsky felt that his military career would endanger his now flourishing literary career, so he wrote a letter asking to resign his post. Shortly thereafter, he wrote his second novel, ''[[The Double: A Petersburg Poem|The Double]]'', which appeared in the journal ''[[Notes of the Fatherland]]'' on 30 January 1846, before being published in February. Around the same time, Dostoevsky discovered [[socialism]] through the writings of the French thinkers [[Charles Fourier]], [[Étienne Cabet]], [[Pierre-Joseph Proudhon]] and [[Henri de Saint-Simon]]. Through his relationship with Belinsky he expanded his knowledge of the philosophy of socialism. He was attracted to its logic, its sense of justice and its preoccupation with the destitute and the disadvantaged. However, his Russian Orthodox faith and religious sensibilities could not accord with Belinsky's admixture of [[atheism]], [[utilitarianism]] and [[scientific materialism]], leading to increasing friction between them. Dostoevsky eventually parted with him and his associates.{{sfnp|Frank|1979|pp=159–82}}{{sfnp|Kjetsaa|1989|pp=53–55}}

After ''The Double'' received negative reviews (including a particularly scathing one from Belinsky) Dostoevsky's health declined and his seizures became more frequent, but he continued writing. From 1846 to 1848 he published several short stories in the magazine ''Notes of the Fatherland'', including "[[Mr. Prokharchin]]", "[[The Landlady (novella)|The Landlady]]", "A Weak Heart", and "[[White Nights (short story)|White Nights]]". The negative reception of these stories, combined with his health problems and Belinsky's attacks, caused him distress and financial difficulty, but this was greatly alleviated when he  joined the [[Utopian Socialism|utopian socialist]] Beketov circle, a tightly knit community which helped him to survive. When the circle dissolved, Dostoevsky befriended [[Apollon Maykov]] and his brother [[Valerian Maykov|Valerian]]. In 1846, on the recommendation of the poet [[Aleksey Pleshcheyev]],{{sfnp|Mochulsky|1967|pp=115–21}} he joined the [[Petrashevsky Circle]], founded by [[Mikhail Petrashevsky]], who had proposed social reforms in Russia. [[Mikhail Bakunin]] once wrote to [[Alexander Herzen]] that the group was "the most innocent and harmless company" and its members were "systematic opponents of all revolutionary goals and means".{{sfnp|Kjetsaa|1989|p=59}} Dostoevsky used the circle's library on Saturdays and Sundays and occasionally participated in their discussions on freedom from censorship and the abolition of [[serfdom]].{{sfnp|Frank|1979|pp=239–46, 259–346}}{{sfnp|Kjetsaa|1989|pp=58–69}} Bakunin's description, however, was not true of the aristocrat [[Nikolay Speshnev]], who joined the circle in 1848 and set about creating a secret revolutionary society from amongst its members. Dostoevsky himself became a member of this society, was aware of its conspiratorial aims, and actively participated, although he harboured significant doubts about their actions and intentions.{{sfnp|Frank||2010|loc=[https://books.google.com/books?id=lp1RpM8o9BQC&pg=PA152 pp. 152–158]}}

In 1849, the first parts of ''[[Netochka Nezvanova (novel)|Netochka Nezvanova]]'', a novel Dostoevsky had been planning since 1846, were published in ''Notes of the Fatherland'', but his banishment ended the project leaving only what was supposed to be the prologue of the novel. Dostoevsky never attempted to complete it leaving only a sketch of the novel behind.{{sfnp|Mochulsky|1967|pp=99–101}}

=== Siberian exile (1849–1854) ===
[[File:B pokrovsky kazn 1849.jpg|thumb|A sketch of the Petrashevsky Circle [[mock execution]]]]

The members of the Petrashevsky Circle were denounced to [[Ivan Petrovich Liprandi|Liprandi]], an official at the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Dostoevsky was accused of reading works by Belinsky, including the banned ''Letter to Gogol'',<ref name=Belinsky>Belinsky, Vissarion (1847). [http://academic.shu.edu/russianhistory/index.php/Vissarion_Belinsky,_Letter_to_Gogol Letter to Gogol]. ''Documents in Russian History'', Seton Hall University. Retrieved 27 December 2017.</ref> and of circulating copies of these and other works. Antonelli, the government agent who had reported the group, wrote in his statement that at least one of the papers criticised Russian politics and religion. Dostoevsky responded to these charges by declaring that he had read the essays only "as a literary monument, neither more nor less"; he spoke of "personality and human egoism" rather than of politics. Even so, he and his fellow "conspirators" were arrested on 23 April 1849 at the request of Count [[Alexey Fyodorovich Orlov]] and [[Nicholas I of Russia|Tsar Nicholas&nbsp;I]], who feared a revolution like the [[Decembrist revolt]] of 1825 in Russia and the [[Revolutions of 1848]] in Europe. The members were held in the well-defended [[Peter and Paul Fortress]], which housed the most dangerous convicts.{{sfnp|Mochulsky|1967|pp=121–33}}{{sfnp|Frank|1987|pp=6–68}}{{sfnp|Kjetsaa|1989|pp=72–79}}

The case was discussed for four months by an investigative commission headed by the Tsar, with Adjutant General [[Ivan Nabokov]], senator Prince [[Pavel Gagarin]], Prince [[Vasily Andreyevich Dolgorukov|Vasili Dolgorukov]], General [[Yakov Rostovtsev]] and General Leonty Dubelt, head of the secret police. They sentenced the members of the circle to death by firing squad, and the prisoners were taken to Semyonov Place in Saint Petersburg on 23 December 1849. They were split into three-man groups and the first group was taken in front of the firing squad. Dostoevsky was the third in the second row; next to him stood [[Pleshcheyev]] and [[Sergey Durov|Durov]]. The execution was stayed when a cart delivered a letter from the Tsar commuting the sentence. Dostoevsky later described the experience of what he believed to be the last moments of his life in his novel ''[[The Idiot#Autobiographical themes|The Idiot]]''. The story of a young man sentenced to death by firing squad but reprieved at the last moment is recounted by the main character, Prince Myshkin, who describes the experience from the point of view of the victim, and considers the philosophical and spiritual implications.

Dostoevsky served four years of exile with hard labour at a [[katorga]] prison camp in [[Omsk]], Siberia, followed by a term of compulsory military service. After a fourteen-day sleigh ride, the prisoners reached [[Tobolsk]], a prisoner way station. Despite the circumstances, Dostoevsky consoled the other prisoners, such as the Petrashevist Ivan Yastrzhembsky, who was surprised by Dostoevsky's kindness and eventually abandoned his decision to kill himself. In Tobolsk, the members received food and clothes from the [[Decembrist revolt|Decembrist]] women, as well as several copies of the New Testament with a ten-ruble banknote inside each copy. Eleven days later, Dostoevsky reached Omsk{{sfnp|Frank|1987|pp=6–68}}{{sfnp|Kjetsaa|1989|pp=79–96}} together with just one other member of the Petrashevsky Circle, the writer Sergei Durov.{{sfnp|Sekirin|1997|p=113}} Dostoevsky described his barracks:

{{blockquote|In summer, intolerable closeness; in winter, unendurable cold. All the floors were rotten. Filth on the floors an inch thick; one could slip and fall&nbsp;... We were packed like herrings in a barrel&nbsp;... There was no room to turn around. From dusk to dawn it was impossible not to behave like pigs&nbsp;... Fleas, lice, and black beetles by the bushel&nbsp;...<ref>Pisma, I: pp. 135–37.</ref>{{Missing long citation|date=November 2023}}}}

Classified as "one of the most dangerous convicts", Dostoevsky had his hands and feet shackled until his release. He was only permitted to read his New Testament Bible. In addition to his seizures, he had [[haemorrhoid]]s, lost weight and was "burned by some fever, trembling and feeling too hot or too cold every night". The smell of the privy pervaded the entire building, and the small bathroom had to suffice for more than 200 people. Dostoevsky was occasionally sent to the military hospital, where he read newspapers and Dickens novels. He was respected by most of the other prisoners, but despised by some Polish political prisoners because of his Russian nationalism and anti-Polish sentiments.{{sfnp|Kjetsaa|1989|pp=96–108}}<ref>In the semi-autobiographical "The House of the Dead", the attitude of Poles towards the main character, who is Dostoyevsky's alter ego, can be described as friendly. They basically treat him as their equal, partly because of what they had in common: nobility, higher education and idealistic beliefs.</ref>

=== Release from prison and first marriage (1854–1866) ===

[[File:Image dost 01.jpg|thumb|upright|Dostoevsky as a [[Military engineering|military engineer]] in 1858 or -59,<ref>{{cite web | url=https://fyodor-dostoevsky.com/gallery/ | title=Gallery }}</ref> portrait by [[Solomon Leibin]] (Соломон Лейбин)]]

After his release on 14 February 1854, Dostoevsky asked Mikhail to help him financially and to send him books by [[Giambattista Vico]], [[François Guizot]], [[Leopold von Ranke]], [[Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel]] and [[Immanuel Kant]].{{sfnp|Frank|1988|pp=8–20}} ''[[The House of the Dead (novel)|The House of the Dead]]'', based on his experience in prison, was published in 1861 in the journal ''[[Vremya (magazine)|Vremya]]'' ("Time") – it was the first published novel about Russian prisons.{{sfnp|Sekirin|1997|pp=107–21}} Before moving in mid-March to [[Semey|Semipalatinsk]], where he was forced to serve in the Siberian Army Corps of the Seventh Line Battalion, Dostoevsky met the geographer [[Pyotr Semyonov]] and the ethnographer [[Shokan Walikhanuli]]. Around November 1854, he met Baron Alexander Egorovich Wrangel, an admirer of his books, who had attended the aborted execution. They both rented houses in the Cossack Garden outside Semipalatinsk. Wrangel remarked that Dostoevsky "looked morose. His sickly, pale face was covered with freckles, and his blond hair was cut short. He was a little over average height and looked at me intensely with his sharp, grey-blue eyes. It was as if he were trying to look into my soul and discover what kind of man I was."{{sfnp|Kjetsaa|1989|pp=112–13}}{{sfnp|Frank|1987|pp=165–267}}{{sfnp|Kjetsaa|1989|pp=108–13}}

In Semipalatinsk, Dostoevsky tutored several schoolchildren and came into contact with upper-class families, including that of Lieutenant-Colonel Belikhov, who used to invite him to read passages from newspapers and magazines. During a visit to Belikhov, Dostoevsky met the family of Alexander Ivanovich Isaev and Maria Dmitrievna Isaeva and fell in love with the latter. Alexander Isaev took a new post in [[Novokuznetsk|Kuznetsk]], where he died in August 1855. Maria and her son then moved with Dostoevsky to [[Barnaul]]. In 1856, Dostoevsky sent a letter through Wrangel to General [[Eduard Totleben]], apologising for his activity in several utopian circles. As a result, he obtained the right to publish books and to marry, although he remained under police surveillance for the rest of his life. Maria married Dostoevsky in Kuznetsk on 7 February 1857, even though she had initially refused his marriage proposal, stating that they were not meant for each other and that his poor financial situation precluded marriage. Their family life was unhappy and she found it difficult to cope with his seizures. Describing their relationship, he wrote: "Because of her strange, suspicious and fantastic character, we were definitely not happy together, but we could not stop loving each other; and the more unhappy we were, the more attached to each other we became". They mostly lived apart.{{sfnp|Sekirin|1997|p=168}} In 1859 he was released from military service because of deteriorating health and was granted permission to return to European Russia, first to [[Tver]], where he met his brother for the first time in ten years, and then to St Petersburg.{{sfnp|Frank|1987|pp=175–221}}{{sfnp|Kjetsaa|1989|pp=115–63}}

[[File:Dostoevskij 1863.jpg|thumb|upright|left|Dostoevsky in Paris, 1863]]

The short story "A Little Hero" (Dostoevsky's only work completed in prison) appeared in a journal, but "Uncle's Dream" and "The Village of Stepanchikovo" were not published until 1860. ''[[Notes from the House of the Dead]]'' was released in ''Russky Mir'' (Russian World) in September 1860. ''[[Humiliated and Insulted]]'' was published in the new ''Vremya'' magazine,{{efn|''Time'' magazine was a popular periodical with more than 4,000 subscribers before it was closed on 24 May 1863 by the Tsarist Regime after publishing an essay by [[Nikolay Strakhov]] about the [[January Uprising|Polish revolt in Russia]]. ''Vremya'' and its 1864 successor ''[[Epoch (Russian magazine)|Epokha]]'' expressed the philosophy of the conservative and [[Slavophile]] movement ''[[Pochvennichestvo]]'', supported by Dostoevsky during his term of imprisonment and in the following years.{{sfnp|Frank|1988|pp=34–64}}}} which had been created with the help of funds from his brother's cigarette factory.{{sfnp|Frank|1987|pp=290 et seq}}{{sfnp|Frank|1988|pp=8–62}}{{sfn|Kjetsaa|1989|pp=135–37}}

Dostoevsky travelled to western Europe for the first time on 7 June 1862, visiting Cologne, Berlin, Dresden, Wiesbaden, Belgium and Paris. In London he met [[Alexander Herzen]] and visited [[the Crystal Palace]]. He travelled with [[Nikolay Strakhov]] through Switzerland and several North Italian cities, including Turin, Livorno, and the central Italian city of Florence. He recorded his impressions of those trips in the essay "[[Winter Notes on Summer Impressions]]", in which he also criticised capitalism, [[Modernisation|social modernisation]], [[materialism]], Catholicism and Protestantism.{{sfnp|Frank|1988|pp=233–49}}{{sfnp|Kjetsaa|1989|pp=143–45}} Dostoevsky viewed the Crystal Palace as a monument to soulless modern society, the myth of progress, and the worship of empty materialism.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Simpson |first=Tim |date=2023 |title=Betting on Macau: Casino Capitalism and China's Consumer Revolution |series=Globalization and Community series |location=Minneapolis MN |publisher=[[University of Minnesota Press]] |isbn=978-1-5179-0031-1 |page=276 }}</ref>

From August to October 1863, Dostoevsky made another trip to western Europe. He met his second love, [[Apollinaria Suslova|Polina Suslova]], in Paris and lost nearly all his money gambling in Wiesbaden and Baden-Baden. In 1864 his wife Maria and his brother Mikhail died, and Dostoevsky became the lone parent of his stepson Pasha and the sole supporter of his brother's family. The failure of ''[[Epoch (Russian magazine)|Epoch]]'', the magazine he had founded with Mikhail after the suppression of ''Vremya'', worsened his financial situation, although the continued help of his relatives and friends averted bankruptcy.{{sfnp|Frank|1988|pp=197–211, 283–94, 248–365}}{{sfnp|Kjetsaa|1989|pp=151–75}}

=== Second marriage and honeymoon (1866–1871) ===
The first two parts of ''[[Crime and Punishment]]'' were published in January and February 1866 in the periodical ''[[The Russian Messenger]]'',{{sfnp|Frank|2010|loc=[https://books.google.com/books?id=lp1RpM8o9BQC&pg=PA462 462]}} attracting at least 500 new subscribers to the magazine.{{sfnp|Leatherbarrow|2002|p=83}}

Dostoevsky returned to Saint Petersburg in mid-September and promised his editor, [[Fyodor Stellovsky]], that he would complete ''[[The Gambler (novel)|The Gambler]]'', a short novel focused on gambling addiction, by November, although he had not yet begun writing it. One of Dostoevsky's friends, [[Aleksandr Milyukov]], advised him to hire a secretary. Dostoevsky contacted stenographer Pavel Olkhin from Saint Petersburg, who recommended his pupil, the twenty-year-old [[Anna Snitkina|Anna Grigoryevna Snitkina]]. Her shorthand helped Dostoevsky to complete ''The Gambler'' on 30 October, after 26 days' work.{{sfnp|Frank|1997|pp=42–183}}{{sfnp|Kjetsaa|1989|pp=162–96}} She remarked that Dostoevsky was of average height but always tried to carry himself erect. "He had light brown, slightly reddish hair, he used some hair conditioner, and he combed his hair in a diligent way&nbsp;... his eyes, they were different: one was dark brown; in the other, the pupil was so big that you could not see its color, [this was caused by an injury]. The strangeness of his eyes gave Dostoyevsky some mysterious appearance. His face was pale, and it looked unhealthy."{{sfnp|Sekirin|1997|p=178}}

[[File:Baden-Baden 10-2015 img19 Dostoevsky plaque.jpg|thumb|Memorial plaque to Dostoevsky in Baden-Baden]]On 15 February 1867 Dostoevsky married Snitkina in [[Trinity Cathedral, Saint Petersburg]]. The 7,000 rubles he had earned from ''Crime and Punishment'' did not cover their debts, forcing Anna to sell her valuables. On 14 April 1867, they began a delayed honeymoon in Germany with the money gained from the sale. They stayed in Berlin and visited the [[Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister]] in [[Dresden]], where he sought inspiration for his writing. They continued their trip through Germany, visiting [[Frankfurt am Main|Frankfurt]], [[Darmstadt]], [[Heidelberg]] and [[Karlsruhe]]. They spent five weeks in [[Baden-Baden]], where Dostoevsky had a quarrel with [[Ivan Turgenev]] and again lost much money at the roulette table.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Moss |first=Walter G. |date=2002 |title=Russia in the Age of Alexander II, Tolstoy and Dostoevsky |publisher=Anthem Press |isbn=978-0-85728-763-2 |pages=128–33 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PS3_6phMOS0C&pg=PA128 }}</ref> At one point, his wife was reportedly forced to pawn her underwear.<ref><!-- The Gambler Wife: A True Story of Love, Risk, and the Woman Who Saved Dostoyevsky -->{{cite Q|Q109057625}}</ref> The couple travelled on to [[Geneva]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Fiodor Dostojewski – biografia, wiersze, utwory |url=https://poezja.org/wz/Dostojewski_Fiodor/ |access-date=2022-06-18 |website=poezja.org |language=pl}}</ref>

In September 1867, Dostoevsky began work on ''[[The Idiot]]'', and after a prolonged planning process that bore little resemblance to the published novel, he eventually managed to write the first 100 pages in only 23 days; the serialisation began in ''The Russian Messenger ''in January 1868.
[[File:Plaque-SophieDostoievsky-CimetiereDesRois RomanDeckert01032022.jpg|thumb|Plaque for baby Sofya]]
Their first child, Sofya, had been conceived in [[Baden-Baden]], and was born in Geneva on 5 March 1868. The baby died of [[pneumonia]] three months later, and Anna recalled how Dostoevsky "wept and sobbed like a woman in despair".{{sfnp|Kjetsaa|1989|p=219}} Sofya was buried at the [[Cimetière des Rois]] (''Cemetery of Kings''), which is considered the Genevan [[Panthéon]]. The grave was later dissolved but in 1986 the International Dostoevsky Society donated a commemorative plaque.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Kathari |first1=Suzanne |title=Histoire et Guide des cimetières genevois |last2=Riliet |first2=Natalie |publisher=Éditions Slatkine |date=2009 |isbn=978-2-8321-0372-2 |location=Geneva |pages=110, 222, 227 |language=fr}}</ref>

The couple moved from Geneva to [[Vevey]] and then to Milan before continuing to Florence. ''The Idiot'' was completed there in January 1869, the final part appearing in ''The Russian Messenger ''in February 1869.{{sfn|Frank|1997|pp=151–363}}{{sfnp|Kjetsaa|1989|pp=201–37}} Anna gave birth to their second daughter, [[Lyubov Dostoevskaya|Lyubov]], on 26 September 1869 in Dresden. In April 1871, Dostoevsky made a final visit to a gambling hall in Wiesbaden. Anna claimed that he stopped gambling after the birth of their second daughter, but this is a subject of debate.{{efn|Another reason for his abstinence might have been the closure of casinos in Germany in 1872 and 1873 (it was not until the rise of Adolf Hitler that they were reopened){{sfnp|Kjetsaa|1989|p=245}} or his entering a synagogue that he confused with a gambling hall. According to biographer [[Joseph Frank (writer)|Joseph Frank]], Dostoevsky took that as a sign not to gamble any more.{{sfnp|Frank|2003|p=639}}}}

After hearing news that the socialist revolutionary group "People's Vengeance" had murdered one of its own members, Ivan Ivanov, on 21 November 1869, Dostoevsky began writing ''[[Demons (Dostoevsky novel)|Demons]]''.{{sfnp|Kjetsaa|1989|pp=240–61}} In 1871, Dostoevsky and Anna travelled by train to Berlin. During the trip, he burnt several manuscripts, including those of ''The Idiot'', because he was concerned about potential problems with customs. The family arrived in Saint Petersburg on 8 July, marking the end of a honeymoon (originally planned for three months) that had lasted over four years.{{sfnp|Frank|1997|pp=241–363}}{{sfnp|Kjetsaa|1989|p=265}}

=== Back in Russia (1871–1875) ===
[[File:Dostoyevsky in prison.jpg|thumb|right|Dostoevsky (left) in the Haymarket, 21/22 March 1874]]

Back in Russia in July 1871, the family was again in financial trouble and had to sell their remaining possessions. Their son Fyodor was born on 16 July, and they moved to an apartment near the [[Saint Petersburg State Institute of Technology|Institute of Technology]] soon after. They hoped to cancel their large debts by selling their rental house in Peski, but difficulties with the tenant resulted in a relatively low selling price, and disputes with their creditors continued. Anna proposed that they raise money on her husband's copyrights and negotiate with the creditors to pay off their debts in installments.{{sfnp|Frank|2003|pp=14–63}}{{sfnp|Kjetsaa|1989|pp=265–67}}

Dostoevsky revived his friendships with Maykov and Strakhov and made new acquaintances, including church politician Terty Filipov and the brothers [[Vsevolod Solovyov|Vsevolod]] and [[Vladimir Solovyov (philosopher)|Vladimir Solovyov]]. [[Konstantin Pobedonostsev]], future Imperial High Commissioner of the [[Most Holy Synod]], influenced Dostoevsky's political progression to conservatism. Around early 1872 the family spent several months in [[Staraya Russa]], a town known for its [[mineral spa]]. Dostoevsky's work was delayed when Anna's sister Maria Svatkovskaya died on 1 May 1872, from either [[typhus]] or [[malaria]],<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |url=http://www.niknas.narod.ru/4dost/1dost_enz/dost_enz3-10.htm |script-title=ru:Вокруг Достоевского |language=ru |trans-title=Around Dostoyevsky |last=Nasedkin |first=Nikolay |encyclopedia=The Dostoyevsky Encyclopedia |access-date=5 November 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130502232436/http://www.niknas.narod.ru/4dost/1dost_enz/dost_enz3-10.htm |archive-date=2 May 2013 |url-status=dead }}</ref> and Anna developed an abscess on her throat.{{sfnp|Frank|2003|pp=14–63}}{{sfnp|Kjetsaa|1989|pp=268–71}}

The family returned to St Petersburg in September. ''Demons'' was finished on 26 November and released in January 1873 by the "Dostoevsky Publishing Company", which was founded by Dostoevsky and his wife. Although they accepted only cash payments and the bookshop was in their own apartment, the business was successful, and they sold around 3,000 copies of ''Demons''. Anna managed the finances. Dostoevsky proposed that they establish a new periodical, which would be called ''A Writer's Diary'' and would include a collection of essays, but funds were lacking, and the ''Diary'' was published in [[Vladimir Meshchersky]]'s ''The Citizen'', beginning on 1 January, in return for a salary of 3,000 rubles per year. In the summer of 1873, Anna returned to Staraya Russa with the children, while Dostoevsky stayed in St Petersburg to continue with his ''Diary''.{{sfnp|Frank|2003|pp=38–118}}{{sfnp|Kjetsaa|1989|pp=269–89}}

In March 1874, Dostoevsky left ''The Citizen'' because of the stressful work and interference from the Russian bureaucracy. In his fifteen months with ''The Citizen'', he had been taken to court twice: on 11 June 1873 for citing the words of Prince Meshchersky without permission, and again on 23 March 1874. Dostoevsky offered to sell a new novel he had not yet begun to write to ''The Russian Messenger'', but the magazine refused. Nikolay Nekrasov suggested that he publish ''A Writer's Diary'' in ''Notes of the Fatherland''; he would receive 250 rubles for each printer's sheet&nbsp;– 100 more than the text's publication in ''The Russian Messenger'' would have earned. Dostoevsky accepted. As his health began to decline, he consulted several doctors in St Petersburg and was advised to take a cure outside Russia. Around July, he reached Ems and consulted a physician, who diagnosed him with acute [[catarrh]]. During his stay he began ''The Adolescent''. He returned to Saint Petersburg in late July.{{sfnp|Frank|2003|pp=120–47}}{{sfnp|Kjetsaa|1989|pp=273–95}}

Anna proposed that they spend the winter in Staraya Russa to allow Dostoevsky to rest, although doctors had suggested a second visit to Ems because his health had previously improved there. On 10 August 1875 his son Alexey was born in Staraya Russa, and in mid-September the family returned to Saint Petersburg. Dostoevsky finished ''The Adolescent'' at the end of 1875, although passages of it had been serialised in ''Notes of the Fatherland'' since January. ''The Adolescent'' chronicles the life of Arkady Dolgoruky, the illegitimate child of the landowner Versilov and a peasant mother. It deals primarily with the relationship between father and son, which became a frequent theme in Dostoevsky's subsequent works.{{sfnp|Frank|2003|pp=149–97}}{{sfnp|Kjetsaa|1989|pp=273–302}}

=== Last years (1876–1881) ===
[[File:Dostoevsky.jpg|left|thumb|226x226px|Dostoevsky, 1879]]
In early 1876, Dostoevsky continued work on his ''Diary''. The book includes numerous essays and a few short stories about society, religion, politics and ethics. The collection sold more than twice as many copies as his previous books. Dostoevsky received more letters from readers than ever before, and people of all ages and occupations visited him. With assistance from Anna's brother, the family bought a [[dacha]] in Staraya Russa. In the summer of 1876, Dostoevsky began experiencing shortness of breath again. He visited Ems for the third time and was told that he might live for another 15 years if he moved to a healthier climate. When he returned to Russia, Tsar [[Alexander II of Russia|Alexander II]] ordered Dostoevsky to visit his palace to present the ''Diary'' to him, and he asked him to educate his sons, Sergey and Paul. This visit further increased Dosteyevsky's circle of acquaintances. He was a frequent guest in several salons in Saint Petersburg and met many famous people, including Countess [[Sophia Tolstaya]], [[Yakov Polonsky]], [[Sergei Witte]], [[Alexey Suvorin]], [[Anton Rubinstein]] and [[Ilya Repin]].{{sfnp|Frank|2003|pp=199–280}}{{sfnp|Kjetsaa|1989|pp=303–06}}

Dostoevsky's health declined further, and in March 1877 he had four epileptic seizures. Rather than returning to Ems, he visited Maly Prikol, a manor near [[Kursk]]. While returning to St Petersburg to finalise his ''Diary'', he visited Darovoye, where he had spent much of his childhood. In December he attended Nekrasov's funeral and gave a speech. He was appointed an honorary member of the [[Russian Academy of Sciences]], from which he received an honorary certificate in February 1879. He declined an invitation to an international congress on copyright in Paris after his son Alyosha had a severe epileptic seizure and died on 16 May. The family later moved to the apartment where Dostoevsky had written his first works. Around this time, he was elected to the board of directors of the Slavic Benevolent Society in Saint Petersburg. That summer, he was elected to the honorary committee of the [[Association Littéraire et Artistique Internationale]], whose members included [[Victor Hugo]], [[Ivan Turgenev]], [[Paul Heyse]], [[Alfred Tennyson]], [[Anthony Trollope]], [[Henry Longfellow]], [[Ralph Waldo Emerson]] and [[Leo Tolstoy]]. Dostoevsky made his fourth and final visit to Ems in early August 1879. He was diagnosed with early-stage [[pulmonary emphysema]], which his doctor believed could be successfully managed, but not cured.{{sfnp|Frank|2003|pp=320–75}}{{sfnp|Kjetsaa|1989|pp=307–49}}

[[File:Dostoyevsky's funeral.jpg|thumb|right|235x235px|Dostoevsky's funeral]]

On 3 February 1880 Dostoevsky was elected vice-president of the Slavic Benevolent Society, and he was invited to speak at the unveiling of the Pushkin memorial in Moscow. On 8 June he delivered [[Dostoevsky's Pushkin Speech|his speech]], giving an impressive performance that had a significant emotional impact on his audience. His speech was met with thunderous applause, and even his long-time rival Turgenev embraced him. [[Konstantin Staniukovich]] praised the speech in his essay "The Pushkin Anniversary and Dostoevsky's Speech" in ''[[:ru:Дело (журнал XIX века)|The Business]]'', writing that "the language of Dostoevsky's [Pushkin Speech] really looks like a sermon. He speaks with the tone of a prophet. He makes a sermon like a pastor; it is very deep, sincere, and we understand that he wants to impress the emotions of his listeners."{{sfnp|Sekirin|1997|p=255}} The speech was criticised later by liberal political scientist Alexander Gradovsky, who thought that Dostoevsky idolised "the people",{{sfnp|Lantz|2004|p=170}} and by the conservative thinker [[Konstantin Leontiev]], who, in his essay "On Universal Love", compared the speech to French utopian socialism.{{sfnp|Lantz|2004|pp=230–31}} The attacks led to a further deterioration in his health.{{sfnp|Frank|2003|pp=475–531}}{{sfnp|Kjetsaa|1989|pp=353–63}}