Dostoevsky and Women

As a young man, shy and self-conscious, Dostoevsky only met his first wife when he was in his early thirties: Maria Isaeva. »Despite the fact that we were rather unhappy together,« remembers the writer after her death, »we still could not stop loving one another.« Even while Maria was still alive, he began a passionate affair with Polina Suslova, who became the model for his »infernal« female characters.

But the probably most important woman in Dostoevsky’s life was his second wife Anna, who met the famous author as a young stenographer and quickly became an indispensable assistant, his publisher and later his biographer.

Fyodor Dostoevsky maintained close friendships with other extraordinary and strong women such as the women’s rights activist Anna Filossofovna and Sophia Andreyevna Tolstaya, who hosted one of the leading salons in Saint Petersburg.

Based on memoirs, letters, diaries and new biographical research, this biography is the first to examine how these women influenced Dostoevsky’s life, his views on the role of women in society and the female characters in his works.

»This new and remarkable biography [illuminates] a wealth of compelling insights. An asset to any library of books on literature and biographies of writers!« Bücherrundschau