Editor's Choice
Audience: Readers.
A selection of Dostoevsky's letters and essays, updated and reproduced more than 20 years after being out of print.
There is life everywhere, and life is in ourselves, not in the outside world. ......No matter what misfortune befalls you, don't be discouraged and languid. These letters record the author's shocking inner experience of regaining his life during his near-death experience, and show the spiritual journey of a young man who struggled with nothingness and grew into a literary giant.
A must-read to understand Dostoevsky**. The political essays and essays in the book contain important reflections on life, Russian culture and destiny, and embody the ideological power of Tuo as Lu Xun called "the great inquisitor of the human soul".
Edited by Liu Wenfei, a famous scholar, translator and professor at Capital Normal University, the White Nights Series is a broad translation of the literature of the Russian era, and the selection criteria are to focus on the modernity of the works, the artistic spirit in them, and the intellectual and cultural historical values contained in the works.
Introduction
In April 1849, Dostoevsky was arrested, and in December of the same year he was sentenced to death, which was commuted to four years of hard labor before being consummated. The letters he wrote to his brother and brother in prison depict his life in prison, especially the last one, which describes his state of mind when he was on the verge of death. These letters record his initial exploration of the limits of the human psyche. Even in the harshest of desperate situations, he did not lose his strong will to write, and almost relied on writing to support all his survival.
Dostoevsky also published many articles in the newspaper. As with him, in his prose, Dostoevsky is presented as an irreplaceable spiritual phenomenon. They are not only essential texts for us to understand this literary giant, but they also profoundly reveal many fundamental features of modern life and consciousness.
About the Author
Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky (1821-1881), a famous writer of the 19th century, whose main works include "The Insulted and the Damaged", "Crime and Punishment", "The Idiot", "The Demons", "The Brothers Karamazov", etc. He is good at portraying the morbid psychology of characters, especially the fierce ideological struggle in the inner hearts of the characters in the inextricable contradictions, showing the characteristics of "polyphony", and is regarded as the originator of modernism.
Diao Shaohua (1934-2001) was the director of the Department of Chinese at Heilongjiang University, the director of the Institute of Foreign Literature at Heilongjiang University, and the director of the Chinese Society of Foreign Literature. He has edited the "Great Dictionary of Foreign Literature" and translated Merezhkovsky's long trilogy "** and Anti**", "Three Days in the Village: Leo Tolstoy's Essays" and "Letters from Prison: Dostoevsky's Essays".
Wonderful book review
This is indeed a "cruel genius", a great interrogator of the human soul.
Lu Xun. His character as a person, as a writer, as a ** person, as a politician, as a prophet, radiates the brilliance of eternal meaning everywhere.
Zweig. I admired Dostoevsky at first because he revealed to me something about humanity. ......He continues to help us live and hope today.
Camus. There is no great *** house more peculiar and more bewildering than Dostoevsky.
Woolf. Reading a book by Dostoevsky is like walking into a city you've never been to or being in the shadow of a struggle.
Borges. Few writers have been as good as Dostoevsky in personifying or dramatizing beliefs, abstract ideas, and philosophical contradictions.
Pamuk. Table of Contents
Translator's Preface: "All the Painful Memories of Man" ....1
Petersburg Chronicle ......9
Letters from Prison ......58
Contemporary, soliciting subscriber notices for 1861 ......99
Farmer Marlei ......110
Centenarian woman ......119
The Death of George Sand ......129
A few words about George Sand ......134
A utopian understanding of history ......146
What is most useful in the spa area: mineral water or grace? …150
A figure favored by contemporary women ......159
The secret of having a baby ......167
Land & Children ......175
Outstanding people ......183
Pushkin (Introduction) ....188
Wonderful book excerpts
To M. M. Dostoevsky.
22 December 1849, Peter and Paul Fortress in Petersburg.
Brother, my dear friend!Everything was decided. I was sentenced to four years of labor in the fortress (as if in Orenburg) and then to serve as a private. Today is December 22, and we were taken to the Semenov campus. There we were all given a verdict of death, we were told to kiss the cross, our sabers were broken above our heads, and we were given a ceremony to wear the garments (white) before we died. They were then divided into groups of three and tied to the execution stakes for execution. I was number six, calling out three people at a time, which means that I was in the second group, and I had less than a minute left to live. I thought of you, brother, of your whole family: in these last minutes, all I thought of you, I thought only of you, and it was only at this time that I realized how much I loved you, my dear brother!I also had time to hug Pleseyev and Durov, who were standing beside me, and say goodbye to them. Finally, a signal was given to stop the execution, and the person tied to the stake was untied and announced to us that His Majesty the Emperor had given us life. The real verdict was then read. Parim was the only one who was pardoned and punished. He still returned to the army, retaining his old rank.
I have just been told, my dear brother, that we are going on a long journey today or tomorrow. I ask to meet with you. But they told me noI can only write you this letter, and you will reply as soon as you receive it. I'm afraid that you already know our sentence (death penalty). When we were escorted to the Semenov campus, I saw a sea of people through the car windowMaybe the news has reached you, and you grieve for me. Now you'll feel a little lighter for me. Brother!I didn't get discouraged, I didn't languish. There is life everywhere, and life is in ourselves, not in the outside world. ......There are people around me, and I should be a person among people, always be a person, no matter what misfortune becomes, don't be discouraged and languished - this is life, this is the mission of life. I realized that. This thought has entered my flesh and blood. It's true!The head that I used to create, which had been born by the noble life of art, which was aware of and fused with the sublime needs of the spirit, has now been cut off from my shoulder. All that's left are memories and images that I haven't been able to embody. They're going to scarre me, it's true!But I still have my heart and flesh left in my body, it will also love, it will suffer, it will hope, it will remember, this is life after all!You'll see the sun!
Well, don't go, brother!Don't grieve for me!Now about the disposal of the items: the books (I left the Bible) and some of my manuscripts (a draft of the outline of a play and a long story and a completed novella, Children's Fairy Tales) have been taken and most likely given to you. I also have my coat and an old underwear left, and you can send someone to get them. Now, brother, I'm probably going to have to walk a long way from one transfer station to another. Money is needed. My dear brother, if you receive this letter, if it is possible to get money, send it to me immediately. I need money more than air right now (due to the special circumstances). You can write me a few sentences too. In the future, if you receive that money from Moscow - you care about me, don't forget about me......Okay, that's all for it!I'm in debt, but what to do?!
Kiss goodbye to my sister-in-law and children on my behalf. Mention me to them often, try to keep them from forgetting me. Maybe we'll meet one day, right?Brother, you and the whole family should take care of themselves, live quietly, and take a long-term view. Think more about your children's future ......Let's live a good life.
I have never had such a rich and intense accumulation of spiritual life as I do now. But I don't know if my body can stand it. I was about to go, but I got sick and got lymph node tuberculosis. But maybe it can hold on!I've been through so many trials in my life, and few things can scare me these days. Leave it to fate!I'll tell you about myself as soon as I can.
I would like to convey my final parting greetings to the Mayikov family. Tell them that I am grateful to their family for their constant concern for my fate. Say a few words to Evgenia Petrovna on my behalf, be as enthusiastic as you can, and your heart will prompt you to say something. I wish her happiness and will always remember her with gratitude and respect. Shake the hands of Nikolai Apollonovich and Apollon Mayikov for me, and then hold everyone's hands.
You look for Yanovsky. Shake his hand on my behalf and thank him. Finally, shake hands with all those who haven't forgotten me. If anyone forgets, remind him. Kiss Brother Coria on my behalf. Write a letter to Andrei's brother and tell him about my situation. Write letters to your uncle-in-law and aunt. I beg you to do so, to greet them on my behalf. When I wrote to my sisters, I told them: I wish them happiness!
Maybe we'll meet again, brother. Take care of yourself, for God's sake, live well, and you will definitely be able to meet me. One day we will hug each other, reminiscing about the ** era of our former youth, recalling our youth and our hopes, I pulled all this out of my heart with blood in an instant and buried it.
Am I never going to be able to pick up a pen?I think in four years, it will be possible. If I can write anything, I will send you everything that is written. Oh my God!How many images have survived after being badly wounded, and then recreated by me before they have to die, disappear in my mind, or become poisoned juice and melt into the blood!But if I wasn't allowed to write, I'd rather die. Even if you sit in prison for fifteen years, as long as you can hold a pen in your hand, that's good.
Please write to me often, in detail, more and more comprehensively. Don't forget that in every letter, write more details about your family life. It will give me hope and life. I wish you could know how inspiring your letter is to me in prison here. For two and a half months (most recently), communication has been banned, and I am very distressed. I'm sick. You didn't send me money on time, and it makes me feel sorry for you: I know, you're struggling to make ends meet!Kissing the children again, their lovely faces have been haunting my mind. Ahem!May they be happy!I wish you happiness, brother, I wish you happiness!
But don't be sad, for God's sake, and don't grieve for me. You know, I'm not discouraged, and you have to remember that I've not lost hope. In four years' time, fortunes will change for the better. I'm going to be a private—I'll be a prisoner again, remember, I'll hug you one day. I had already reached the door of death today, and I had spent three quarters of an hour with this thought, and I had only one last moment left, but now I was alive again!
If anyone remembers my badness, if I've had an argument with someone, if I've made an unpleasant impression on someone—if you can meet them, let them forget about it. There is no resentment and anger in my heart, and at this moment, how I wish to love and embrace former acquaintances. It is a pleasure that I experienced today as I bid farewell to my loved ones in the face of death. At that time, I thought to myself, the news about the death penalty will make you grief-stricken. But now you can rest assured that I am alive and will live in the future, with only one thought: I will hug you one day. That's all I have on my mind now.
What are you doing?What are you thinking about today?Do you know about us?How cold it is today!
Oh, I wish my letter would be delivered to you soon. Otherwise, I won't hear from you for four months. I saw some paper packets that you used to send me money for the last two months;The address above is written by your own hand, you are in good health, I am very happy.
As soon as I look back, I wonder how much time I have wasted, lost in mistakes because I am not good at life, in mistakes, in idleness;I don't know how much time I cherish, how many times I have gone against my heart and done evil—the thought of this makes my heart ache excruciously. Life is a gift, life is a blessing, and every minute can be a happy time. If only I could know when I was young!Now, my life has changed, and I want to be reborn in another form. Brother!I swear to you that I will never lose hope and that I will keep my heart and spirit pure. I'm going to be reborn in the good, that's all I hope, that is.
My full comfort. Prison life had destroyed my impure physical needs, and I had little love for myself. Hardship is nothing to me right now, so don't worry, don't think that material hardship will bring me down. It's impossible. Ah, I hope good health!
Farewell, farewell, brother!I'm going to write to you again!You will receive my letter, and I will give you as much detail as possible about your journey. As long as you can keep your body healthy, everything will be safe there!
Okay, don't, don't, brother!Hug you tightly and kiss you. Remember me, and let not grief in your heart. Don't be sad, please don't feel sorry for me!I will tell you about my life in the next letter. Remember what I said to you: cherish your life, don't waste it, arrange your destiny, and care more about your children. - Ahem, I hope to see you someday, someday!Don't!Whatever I thought was cute, now I'm leaving;It's painful to throw it away!It is painful to break oneself in half and to cut one's heart in two. Don't be, don't!But I will definitely see you, I am convinced, I hope, you will not change, you will love me, you will not let your memories be indifferent, thinking of your love, will be a beautiful part of my life. Farewell, goodbye to you again!Farewell to all!
Your younger brother Fyodor Dostoevsky.
December 22, 1849.
Preface Preamble
Translator's Preface: "All the Painful Memories of Man" ....
Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky (1821-1881) was called a "cruel genius", and Gorky considered his creations to embody "the memory of all human suffering" and to rival Shakespeare and other masters in terms of talent and artistic expression.
Born in Moscow to a family of doctors, he entered the Petersburg Engineering School in 1838 and published the novel The Poor in 1846, becoming the backbone of the "Naturalists". In 1849, he was arrested by the Russian authorities for his participation in the Petroshevsky group, and in the same year he was sentenced to death, which was commuted to four years of hard labor before being conscripted into the army. After ten years in prison and barracks, he returned to Petersburg in December 1859 and published Notes from the House of the Dead (1860-1861) and The Insulted and Damaged (1861). In the mid-60s, he began to enter the ranks of the world's leading novels, writing five novels: Crime and Punishment (1866), The Idiot (1868), The Ghosts (1871-1872), The Young Man (1875), and The Brothers Karamazov (1879-1880).
Dostoevsky went down in the annals of world literature as a master of world literature, and he was also an outstanding master of prose. His long reportage "Notes on the Dead House" (1860-1861) and his travelogue "Summer Impressions of Winter" (1863) have long been translated into Chinese and are well known to Chinese readers. Dostoevsky also wrote a large number of short prose works, rich in content and diverse in genres, which are also an important part of his literary legacy, which not only directly reflects the writer's own life path and the trajectory of ideological development and change, but also has a wider range of ideological and artistic value.
Dostoevsky's life was full of ups and downs, with great differences in his thinking between the early and late periods, full of sharp contradictions, but he always had a strong humanitarian spirit and a passionate pursuit of a better future for mankind. The selected passages in this book, no matter what specific events they relate to, no matter what specific opinions they express, are all permeated with the author's bitterness for the ugly reality of the time and his anxiety about the future fate of the motherland, the people, and all mankind, proving that Gorky's expounded works embody the characteristics of "the memory of all human suffering."
The Petersburg Chronicle is an early work of Dostoevsky, first published in the St. Petersburg News on April 27, May 11, June 1 and June 15, 1847**. This is a group of essays, but it integrates the genre characteristics of "style close-up" and political ** commonly used by the "naturalists" of the year, and describes the colorful life scenes of Petersburg at that time with humorous and witty brushwork, satirizes many social ugliness, and also criticizes a series of harmful ideological tendencies. The image of the "visionary" depicted in the fourth part of the book became the central character of the author's "Double Personality" (1846), "The Landlady" (1847), and "White Night" (1848) written by the author during the same period.
In his youth, Dostoevsky believed in utopian socialism and participated in the activities of the Petroshevsky group. He was arrested by the Russian authorities in the early hours of April 23, 1849, imprisoned in the Peter and Paul Fortress in Petersburg until the end of the year, sentenced to death on December 22, and taken to the Semenov campus for execution. Five letters he wrote to his brother and brother while in prison have survived. These letters reflect to some extent his life in prison, especially the last one, written after he was taken back from the execution ground on December 22, 1849, and reflects his state of mind when he was on the verge of death, as powerful as his later description of the horror of death row prisoners in the long story "The Idiot" (1868). From January 23, 1850 to January 23, 1854, Dostoevsky spent four years of hardship in the Omsk prison of hard labor, and immediately after his release he wrote a long letter to his brother describing the appalling conditions of life in prison. This letter became the ideological basis for his Notes on the House of the Dead. We have selected and translated the above six letters, with a unified title because of their consistent content: "Letters from the Prison Family."
In the first half of the 60s of the 19th century, social thought was extremely active, and various political forces engaged in fierce debates around the question of the future development path. Dostoevsky and his brother M. M. Dostoevsky founded two magazines, Contemporary (1861-1863) and Epoch (1864-1865), and participated directly in this controversy, publishing many political and literary reviews. He was opposed to both aristocratic liberals and revolutionary democrats, taking a very unique position. At this time, he gave up the utopian socialism he believed in in his youth and put forward the so-called "soil theory", believing that the intellectual circles were detached from the "foundation" of the people, and in order to fill the gap between them and the people, they must move their foothold to the "soil" of the people, that is, accept the people's religious beliefs and the spirit of patience and tameness, and advocate reconciliation with reality. The Contemporary Magazine Solicitation of Subscribers for 1861 was in fact the magazine's program, which succinctly embodied the "soil theory" ideas propagated by the author.
In 1873-early 1874, Dostoevsky edited the magazine Citizen and opened a column for himself called "Writer's Diary". Later, the Writer's Diary became an independent magazine, published separately on a monthly basis by the author himself in 1876 and 1877, and a second issue in 1880 and 1881. As a magazine, "Writer's Diary" was edited and written by Dostoevsky, and occupies a special position in his creation, not only publishing short and medium stories, but also publishing political theories, literary theories, features and memoirs, etc., responding in a timely manner to major events, ideological trends, and literary issues in social life at that time, and directly expressing his own views and opinions. We have translated eleven articles from the Writer's Diary of 1876.
"Farmer Marie" is a memoir, divided into two levels, in fact, a memory within a memory: the author recalls his life in the Omsk prison, and in this memory he adds a memory of a small incident in his childhood, which shows the author's new understanding of the people in sharp contrast.
"Centenarian Old Woman" is a close-up, which outlines the daily life and spiritual world of the people at the bottom of the big city through only two life scenes, echoing the common "little people" theme in the author's **.
Dostoevsky's politics are generally short and concise, with a variety of themes, often starting from a small matter, using the topic to play and digging out major issues related to the development of the country and the destiny of human history. Two short essays on George Sand take the opportunity of mourning the death of the French female writer to analyze the socio-historical conditions under which utopian socialist ideas arose and their influence on the world.
What is most useful in the spa area: mineral water or grace?"A Character Favored by Contemporary Women", "The Secret of Giving Birth" and "The Land and Children" have one thing in common in their writing, all of which use a "dialogue style" and run through the image of a "strange talker";His various "bizarre theories" sometimes reveal the essence of many life phenomena in the form of exaggeration and grotesqueness, and this image is sometimes the author's "spokesperson", exposing the corruption and degeneration of the European bourgeoisie, and at the same time exposing the utopian fantasies of the ** populists.
On June 6, 1880, the inauguration of the Pushkin Monument was held in Moscow, followed by a number of other events in memory of the poet. In the evening of the same day, Dostoevsky read aloud a fragment of Pushkin's historical tragedy "Boris Godunov" at a literary evening. On June 8, he gave a lecture entitled "Pushkin (Introduction)" at a meeting of the ** Association of Literature Lovers, which was first published in the Moscow News on June 13 and in the August issue of the Writer's Diary in the same year. This lecture is not entirely literary, but also raises many important questions of social development, and is seen as Dostoevsky's intellectual testament. When analyzing the significance of Pushkin's creation, the author associates Onegin's image with the state of affairs and the historical fate of the aristocratic intelligentsia, believing that the root of his tragedy lies in his separation from the people. In his discussion of the image of Dagiana, he propagated his personal idea of "patience and obedience."
The chapters in this book are arranged in chronological order, and the notes in the main text are added by the translator unless otherwise noted.
Harbin, January 1996.