Mikhail Dostoyevsky

Mikhail Dostoyevsky
Born	November 25, 1820(1820-11-25) Moscow
Died	July 22, 1864(1864-07-22) Saint Petersburg
Occupation	publisher, writer, translator, literary critic
Period	1848 to 1864
Literary movement	Sentimentalism, Pochvennichestvo

Mikhail Mikhailovich Dostoyevsky (Russian: Михаи́л Миха́йлович Достое́вский), (November 25, 1820—July 22, 1864), was a Russian short story writer, publisher, literary critic and an elder brother of Fyodor Dostoyevsky.^[1] The two of them were only a year apart in age and spent childhood and youth together.^[2] Mikhail was regarded by his family as an underachiever, particularly after his younger brother's achievements outshone his own.

Biography

Mikhail Dostoyevsky was born on November 25, 1820 in Moscow, where his father was a surgeon at the Mariinsky Hospital. Mikhail received a home education. He began to write poetry at the age of nine.^[2] In 1834 he was sent to a boarding school of L. Chermak,^[2] where he stayed until 1837. Then his father took him and his younger brother Fyodor to Saint Petersburg. Mikhail intended to enter the Petersburg's Academy of Engineering, but he was not accepted because he was considered consumptive after medical examinations.

In 1849 Mikhail was arrested because of his connections to Petrashevsky Circle.^[3]

In 1861 he started a magazine titled Vremya (Russian: Время, lit. Time). Dostoyevsky wanted to create a fresh independent publication, alien-standing, sustainable, not bowing to any authority and impartial.^[4] At the same time, it would appeal to common people and inspirit the study of their lives and life principles, as Mikhail Dostoyevsky was convinced that all flaws in Russian society had come from "apathetic" cosmopolitanism.^[4]

Vremya became one of the most popular magazines in the early 1860s with approximately 4000 subscribers.^[5] Officially Mikhail was publisher and editor, but the editorial work was mostly borne by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, who worked as columnist, critic, essayist and writer all at once.^[5] Vremya was banned in April 1863 for publishing one of Nikolay Strakhov's articles. In 1864 Dostoevsky established Epokha (Epoch) magazine. He died that year in Saint Petersburg, on July 22 from a bilious attack.^[4] He was 45 years old.^[6]

In 1842 he married Emily von Ditmar with whom he had two sons, Fyodor and Mikhail, and three daughters, Catherine, Maria and Varvara. Fyodor Dostoyevsky recalled his brother as a persistent, hard-working and energetic man, "a connoisseur of European languages and literature", and a harsh critic of his own writing. According to Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Mikhail did not consider himself an eligible writer, and for that reason reason he stopped writing fiction and concentrated on publishing activities.^[4] They were close friends.^[7]

Works

Mikhail Dostoyevsky.

In the 1840s Mikhail Dostoyevsky's short stories were published in Notes of the Fatherland:

• A Daughter (Дочка; 1848)
• Mr. Svetelkin (Господин Светелкин; 1848)
• Sparrow (Воробей; 1848)
• Two Old Men (Два старичка; 1849)
• Fifty Years (Пятьдесят лет; 1850)
• The Older and the Younger (Старшая и меньшая, 1851)

He translated many European literature classics, including Goethe's Reineke Fuchs and Schiller's Don Carlos.

References

1. ^ Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 3rd edition.
2. ^ ^{a b c} Lantz, K. A. (2004). The Dostoevsky Encyclopedia. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 110. ISBN 0313303843. http://books.google.ru/books?id=XfDOcmJisn0C&dq=inauthor:%22K.+A.+Lantz%22&hl=en&source=gbs_navlinks_s. 
3. ^ Potashev, I. "Ярославские зодчие. Андрей Михайлович Достоевский [Yaroslavl architects. Andrei Dostoyevsky]" (in Russian). http://emsu.ru/um/excurs/Yaroslavl/zodchie.htm. Retrieved 20 September 2010. 
4. ^ ^{a b c d} "A few words about Mikhail Mikhailovich Dostoyevsky". F. M. Dostoyevsky. Collection of works in 15 volumes. 11. Leningrad: Nauka. 1993. pp. 361–365. 
5. ^ ^{a b} "Dostoevsky as a professional writer: profession, occupation, ethics" (in Russian). Zhurnalnyj zal. 2002. http://magazines.russ.ru/nlo/2002/58/uil-pr.html. Retrieved 18 June 2010. 
6. ^ Sergeev, Pavel (2005). "New books" (in Russian). Zhurnalnyj zal. http://magazines.russ.ru/nlo/2005/76/kn33.html. Retrieved 18 June 2010. 
7. ^ Dostoyevsky, A. "Introductory article by A.A. Dostoevsky" (in Russian). Memoirs of Andrey Mikhailovich Dostoyevsky. http://smalt.karelia.ru/~filolog/dostoev/texts/vospomin/intr1-/htm/intr1-.htm. Retrieved 20 September 2010. 

Further reading

• De Lazari, Andrzej (2004) (in Russian). V krugu Fedora Dostoevskogo. Nauka. ISBN 5020333778. 
• Lobas, Vladimir (2000) (in Russian). Dostoevskij, Volume 1. Vsemirnaja istorija v licah. AST. ISBN 5170030894. 

Persondata
Name	Dostoevsky, Mikhail
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1820-11-25
Place of birth	Moscow
Date of death	1864-07-22
Place of death	Saint Petersburg