Fedor Dostoevsky
The Russian writer Dostoevsky (1821 – 1881) is regarded as one of the world's great novelists. Fedor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky was born on November 11, 1821, in a Moscow hospital where his father was a physician. At the age of 13 Fedor was sent to a Moscow boarding school, and then to a military engineering school in St. Petersburg. After graduating he resigned his commission in order to devote his time to writing. His works "The Crime and a Punishment", "The Idiot", "The Brothers Karamazov" and others are famous for their psychological depth.
In April 1849 a lot of people, among which was Dostoevsky, were imprisoned for their revolutionary ideas. Dostoevsky and several others were sentenced to be shot, but at the last minute their sentence was changed to four years of hard labour in a prison in Omsk, Siberia.
He read and reread the New Testament, the only book he had, and built a mystical creed, identifying Christ with the common people of Russia. He had great sympathy for the criminals. As a child Dostoevsky suffered from mild epilepsy, and it grew worse in prison.
After four years in prison, he was sent as a private to a military station in Siberia. There in 1857 he met and married a widow named Marie Isaeva.
In 1860 Dostoevsky was back in St. Petersburg. The next year he began to publish a literary journal that was soon suppressed. In 1862 he visited Western Europe and saw the difference between Russia and European countries. Dostoevsky had been separated from his wife but visited her in Moscow before her death in 1864. In 1867 he married his young stenographer, Anna Snitkina.
Dostoevsky died on February 9, 1881, in St. Petersburg.
Vocabulary:
boarding school – школа-интернат
commission – зд.: звание офицера
common people – обычные люди, народ
difference – разница, отличие
graduating [,drædju`eitiŋ] – выпуск, окончание учебного заведения
in order to – для того, чтобы
labour [`leibə] – труд, работа, чрезмерное усилие
literary journal [`d3ə:nəl] – литературный журнал
mild epilepsy [,maild `epilepsi] – лёгкая форма эпилепсии
military engineering [,end3iniəriŋ] school – военное инженерное училище
military station – военная база
mystical [`misticəl] creed – мистическое кредо, убеждение
novelist – писатель-романист
physician [fi`zi∫ən] – врач, медик; терапевт
psychological depth [,saikə`lod3ik(ə)l `depθ] – психологическая глубина
private – сущ.: рядовой
revolutionary [,revə`lu:∫nəri] ideas – революционные идеи
stenographer [sti`nogrəfə] – стенографист (стенографистка)
to be regarded as smth. – рассматриваться в качестве чего-л.
to resign – зд.: уходить в отставку, оставлять занимаемый пост, должность
to devote – посвящать
to be famous for smth. – быть знаменитым за что-л.
to be imprisoned for smth. – быть заключённым в тюрьму, лишённым свободы за что-л.
to sentence – зд.: выносить приговор, приговаривать, to be sentenced – быть приговорённым
to shoot – зд.: стрелять, расстреливать, to be shot – быть расстрелянным
to have sympathy [`simpəθi] for smb. / smth. – симпатизировать кому / чему-л.
to suffered from smth. – страдать от чего-л.
to grow worse – ухудшиться
to marry smb. – жениться на ком-л. (выйти замуж)
to publish – публиковать
to suppress – зд.: запрещать, изымать из продажи, be suppressed – быть запрещённым
to be separated from smb. – быть разлучённым с кем-л.
widow – вдова
Questions:
1. When and where was Dostoevsky born?
2. Where did he study?
3. What was Dostoevsky imprisoned for?
4. What was his life after four years in prison?
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