Dmitry Dostoevsky: “I was healed and baptized in Staraya Russa. Dostoevsky's great-grandson spoke about the writer's bad habits

Dostoevsky is the whole world with all its real and imagined contradictions, possibilities, tendencies, past, present and future. His work aroused and still arouses great interest, both among readers and literary critics. A huge number of articles, monographs, and scientific papers have been written about Dostoevsky.

Against the background of this rich research material, it seems somewhat strange that the topic of children, childhood, childishness has not been studied so widely. This topic is still rather poorly developed, although literature on some aspects of the topic is still available.

In 1907, R. A. Yantareva published the work "Children's Types in the Works of Dostoevsky", in which the children's characters of the writer's novels are classified into three main types: nervous children (Liza Khokhlakov, Princess Katya), humiliated and insulted (Nelli, Ilyushechka), children -phenomena (Kolya Krasotkin, the hero of the story " little hero"). The work is of great interest, but the bias in it is still psychological and pedagogical. Subsequently, until the second half of the 20th century, the issue of children and childhood was not specifically studied in Dostoevsky's work.

Of the articles on this topic that appeared in the 70s, the most interesting is a small but informative article by E. Semyonov “The theme of children in the literary and philosophical concept of F.M. Dostoevsky”, an article by Yu. Karyakin “Everything is a child”, whole line publications by V. S. Pushkareva: “The theme of childhood suffering in the works of F. M. Dostoevsky” (1970), “Childhood in the concept of the “golden age” of F. M. Dostoevsky” (1971) and others. The leitmotif of all articles is the humiliated, suffering children who have become a mirror of social, class contradictions. For the first time, an attempt is made to correlate the theme of childhood with the idea of ​​the harmony of the world and the philosophical views of the writer.

B. Tarasov's work "The Future of Humanity...", published in the 1990s, deserves attention, where he deals with the problems of depicting childhood in the works of F. Dostoevsky. The author notes that Dostoevsky is characterized by a tendency to "make up" children's characters, noticeably change the originality of their perception through the introduction of adult consciousness and its problems into it, to make children full participants in dialogic novels.

Thus, the gap formed in the study of the theme of childhood and childishness is gradually being filled, although the available literature only outlines some aspects of the study of the theme of childhood in Dostoevsky's work, but does not exhaust it.

So, the "children" of Dostoevsky. There are many of them in the writer's works. They are different, but they are similar in one thing: there are practically no happy ones among them. “The modern Russian family is becoming more and more random,” writes Fyodor Mikhailovich. It is a random family that is the definition of a modern Russian family. She somehow suddenly lost her old appearance ... ". According to Dostoevsky, never in the previous periods of Russian history was the family "more shaken, decomposed, no longer sorted, no longer formalized, as it is now."

Children in "accidental families" do not retain spiritual and moral ties with their fathers and enter into life unconnected in any way with the past, with the family, with childhood. The situation of children in poor families is especially tragic: “the need, the care of their fathers are reflected in their hearts from childhood with gloomy pictures, memories, sometimes of the most toxic nature. A child from such a family takes with him into life "a hardened heart" and "only the dirt of memories."

The absence of a higher, unifying idea in the “random family” leads to the fact that parents do not know how to raise children, preferring to hire teachers, which means, according to Dostoevsky, to pay off the child (“lazy family”), or to educate in connection with some new, fashionable idea, not deeply assimilated by either the father, let alone the child, which leads to distortions in the development of the personality. Without supreme idea parents cannot be a living example for the child, which, according to the writer, is more important than abstract truths and concepts taught by parents.

"The Brothers Karamazov" is "a novel about present-day Russian children, and of course about their present-day fathers, in their present mutual relationship." Paradoxically, it is the mutual understanding, the "current mutual relationship" of "current Russian children" and "their current fathers" that becomes the basis of the conflict. Too well they see family vices in each other, too keenly feel the family dependence in evil. The “Karamazovism” that binds them together with their common sinfulness irritates and encourages them to protest. Sons rebel against their father as the evil principle that unites them.

Finally, a “simplified” upbringing often leads to exorbitant ambitions, to illegibility in accepting ideas (usually European ones), to a misunderstanding of one’s own national foundations (Dostoevsky also included revolutionary ideas in the category of poorly assimilated Western theories). Through initiation to them, people from random families realize their childhood hatred and "avenge" their "accident".

Such heroes, little sufferers, already appear in Poor Folk. These are the “thoughtful children” of the official Gorshkov, a beggar boy on the street. Barely outlined childhood images are not just a part of overall picture the lives of “poor people”, this is the perception of the world tragedy through the torment of innocent children, pure with angelic purity.

The misfortune that befell the Gorshkov family is conveyed through a special, eerie silence that enveloped the life of the entire family. Nobody hears about this family. Only at night, when silence reigns in the house, is sometimes a sob heard, then a whisper, sob again, as if they were crying, but so quietly, "so sorry." And the most painful for Makar Devushkin: “Even the children are not heard. And it doesn’t happen that children ever frolic, play, and this is a bad sign. This detail - the special sadness of the child, his inexorable suffering - is repeated in "Poor People" twice more and each time more and more subtle and painful.

Already in the first major work of Dostoevsky, several "children's" themes emerge at once, which will pass through the entire work of the writer: the theme of orphanhood, which later finds its highest embodiment in the story "The Boy at Christ's Christmas Tree"; the theme of the indifferent attitude of the majority of people to children's suffering and as a response - hardening of the heart; theme of innocent child suffering.

Beginning with Poor Folk, Dostoevsky's little beggars roam from work to work, the same children who "dream and imagine" and because of whom Ivan rebelled and Mitya wanted to suffer. The child in itself, his inner world, the peculiarities of his development are still outside the scope of Dostoevsky's first novel, although this special world has always attracted his attention.

This world of a dreamy, sickly, solitary and fantastically developing child is explored by Dostoevsky in Netochka Nezvanova. The story is told from the perspective of main character. Her confession (one might say so) is based not so much on the facts of the heroine's life, but on their emotional perception and completely unchildish analysis.

Features of the development of the heroine are primarily due to life circumstances. She grew up in a family where there were no toys, where they never laughed, where there was no sincerity, there was no happiness. This family finally falls apart with the death of the mother and flight, madness, and soon the death of the father. For Netochka, there comes a time of transition from the “first childhood” to the “birth of the right consciousness”, the loss of the “angelic rank”, given only by the thoughtlessness of existence.

Dostoevsky has an expression to denote this transition - "beaten by the truth": "children learn the truth at the age of nine," that is, "prose" and the fact of reality, and "this truth hurts them." The truth lies in the cruelty of life, in the impunity of evil, in the injustice of the social order.

After losing consciousness on the street, Netochka finds herself in the house of the old prince, sees his eyes full of compassion, and feels that she has awakened to a new life. The prince's family surrounded Netochka with care, but she had a new feeling: "I am an orphan." The fate of the heroine develops more or less safely, but this does not reduce the drama of her development, although Netochka is “meek”, there is no hatred for the world in her soul.

Another version of the "grown-up" child is Nelly from "Humiliated and Insulted". If Netochka is meekness itself, then Nelly is the embodiment of pride, she lives in hatred and rebellion. The heroine has a heavy, tormenting character, "strange, nervous and ardent, but suppressing her impulses, sympathetic, but closed in pride and inaccessibility." People have caused Nelly a lot of harm, and she involuntarily, subconsciously wants to take revenge on them, provoke them to irritation, piss her off. The old doctor's meekness is the only weapon she is not ready for, and this weapon defeats the girl.

"Premature" development was not given to Nelly in vain: it forever took away peace and tranquility from the heart, shattered the nervous system, and undermined her health. Nellie is dying. The image of Nelly evokes deep sympathy for all the unfortunate, offended and humiliated children.

For Dostoevsky, the theme of orphanhood is continued by the images of Marmeladov's children from the novel Crime and Punishment. We see them through the eyes of Raskolnikov, who brought home their drunken father. The Marmeladovs live in a narrow cramped room, lit by the stub of a penny candle. Passage room. A holey sheet is stretched through the back corner, behind it is a bed. There are two chairs in the room and a peeled oilcloth sofa, an old kitchen table, unpainted and uncovered. A six-year-old girl sleeps on the floor, "somehow crouching and burying her head in the sofa." The boy, a year older, is trembling all over in the corner and crying: he has just been “nailed”. older girl about nine years old, thin, in one thin and torn shirt, stands in the corner near her little brother, clasping his neck with her long hand, dried up like a match. And the mother, sick, consumptive, with her cheeks reddened to spots, walks up and down the room, clenching her hands on her chest, with parched lips, and breathing nervously and intermittently. A terrible impression is made by this picture "at the last illumination of the burning cinder." There is poverty and ruin here.

The tragedy of the position of the Marmeladov family is aggravated after the absurd death of the head of the family under the wheels of a dandy carriage. Katerina Ivanovna with the children is on the street. Saves children from the death of Svidrigailov. Such an ending is uncharacteristic of Dostoevsky's works.

In the same novel, the image of a child appears three times - a girl who was abused (the theme of abuse of a child is a cross-cutting one in Dostoevsky's work). The first image is a drunken girl whom Raskolnikov meets by chance on the boulevard. “Here, look, she’s completely drunk ... Who knows from which ones, it doesn’t look like she’s a craft. Or rather, somewhere they got drunk and deceived ... for the first time ... understand? Yes, they let him out into the street, ”says Raskolnikov to the policeman. The second is a suicide girl from the life and dream of Svidrigailov. And the third is a five-year-old girl from a dream, with the face of a camellia, with a fiery shameless look, which made even Sidrigailov whisper in horror: “How! five-year-old! .. this, ... what is this?

The pages of the novel "Crime and Punishment", dedicated to children, are covered with warmth, love, sympathy, but still the images of children remain on the periphery of the plot, although they significantly enrich the picture of the "humiliated and offended".

Many plot moves connected with children were outlined by Dostoevsky in rough drafts for The Idiot, but in the final text of the novel the children remained only in Myshkin's memoirs. But, nevertheless, the children's line in the novel is pronounced: Dostoevsky endows Prince Myshkin with love and affection for children. “A child can be told - everything; I have always been struck by the thought of how little big children, fathers and mothers even know their own children. Nothing should be hidden from children under the pretext that they are small and that it is too early for them to know. What a sad and unfortunate thought! And how well the children themselves notice that their fathers consider them too small and do not understand anything, while they understand everything. Big ones do not know that a child, even in the most difficult task, can give extremely important advice”, - notes Prince Myshkin.

But the most important thing that Prince Myshkin revealed to his listeners is that children can be cruel and merciful at the same time; they were able to change anger, contempt for a fallen, unfortunate person into a feeling of love, friendship, affection; the children appreciated the sincerity of "Leon", trusted him, brightened up last days Marie. Myshkin not only loves children, their society, but he himself is somewhat of a child. Childishness and adulthood are equally inherent in him.

Dostoevsky's favorite childhood age is children under seven years old and children twelve or thirteen years old. He speaks about the former through the mouth of his hero Ivan Karamazov as follows: “Children, while children, up to seven years old, for example, are terribly separated from people: it’s like a different creature and with a different nature.” Twelve or thirteen years old is an age that has still retained the most infantile, touching innocence and immaturity on the one hand, and on the other hand, has already acquired the ability to quickly perceive and quickly familiarize itself with such ideas and ideas, which, according to the conviction of extremely many parents and teachers , this age can’t even imagine anything.” This age is depicted in Nelly, in Kolya Krasotkin and other Russian boys from the Karamazovs, in Kolya Ivolgin, with their impetuosity of passion and the most noble and false ideas, with the ability for disinterested, sincere love, with all heartfelt suffering, but without conscious sensuality. , that is, like Lisa Hohlakov. They are already able to understand the idea with the mind; and they are still able to accept it with all their pure, whole hearts.

The teenager is vulnerable, unstable. He has a sharper pride, self-conceit, suspicious scrupulousness, more sharply than an adult; they have already fully realized the mystery of sex. Such is Arkady Dolgoruky, main character novel "The Teenager". He belongs to the "random family". Almost from the very birth, Arkady was given into “foreign hands and early felt his “thrown out” from the family circle, from normal existence. Arkady almost does not take out bright memories from childhood, does not receive from his father a guiding life idea as an inheritance. He must independently find the answer to the question of what is good and what is evil. Through internal struggle, through victory over himself, through mastering himself, the hero comes to goodness. “I took a sinless soul, but already polluted by the possibility of debauchery, by early hatred for insignificance and“ my accident, and with the breadth with which a still chaste soul already consciously admits vice into its thoughts, already cherishes it in its heart, admiring it even in bashful , but already in their bold and stormy dreams - all this is left solely to their own strength and to their understanding, and even to God. All these are “miscarriages” of society, “random” members of “random families” - this is how Dostoevsky characterizes his young hero in the Diary of a Writer, 1876.

Dostoevsky's adolescent is mentally fragile and uneven, still retaining a connection with childhood innocence and at the same time more open to the temptations of evil. The way out of childhood is marked by Dostoevsky with the seal of tragedy. The shadow of the ugly, cruel side of life falls on the bright soul of a child. He recognizes what he is not yet able to cope with internally, and this hurts his soul. Children's nature, according to Dostoevsky, can be struck by evil, can respond to evil, and evil has the power of temptation for it even if, as in the novel The Teenager, good principles take over.

The theme of childhood suffering, which worried Dostoevsky all his life, was also reflected in the story "The Boy at Christ's Tree". The story was written in the last years of his life and is connected with a reflection on the "Russian children of today." The work is based on the principle of contrast: a magnificent Christmas tree in the room outside the window - and a small rag, freezing on the street just before Christmas. In his deathbed vision, it seems to the poor, unfortunate boy that he is being brought to the heavenly feast by Christ, the protector of the destitute, humiliated and offended. The story ends tragically: “And downstairs in the morning the janitors found a small corpse of a boy who had run in and froze for firewood; they also found his mother ... She died before him. The finale of the story is a sentence to a world in which children suffer and die. The suffering of children for Dostoevsky is one of the main signs of an unjustly arranged world. One tear of a child is not worth, according to the writer, the happiness of mankind.

All Dostoevsky's work is permeated with love for the child, attention to his fate, concern for his future. The writer puts children, as well as his adult heroes, in critical situations, exceptional circumstances - children often find themselves in such situations when some terrible event happens to them, a shock, and at the moment of which the child's soul is torn, broken. Children in Dostoevsky's works, obeying the general atmosphere of his works, are pulled up to adult heroes through an early collision with the imperfection of human life, through anguish and breakdown. It is the “adult” children who are aware of the “prose” and the “fact” of reality that become active participants in the plot conflicts of his works. “Pondering” children, forcing the stage of childhood and starting to talk about good and evil, love and hate - such are the children's characters in the writer's works.

Dmitry Dostoevsky, in an interview with Gordon Boulevard, spoke about how an ancestor saved his life, and he himself worked as a tram driver for twenty years, but one day he almost crushed Alice Freindlich's husband. And also - about the intimate life of Dostoevsky and his vicious letters, about how he slapped Putin on the shoulder and why he calls Akunin "a louse from the gateway."

Great-grandson of the writer Dmitry Dostoevsky. Photo: teleprogramma.net

Dmitry Dostoevsky is not a sonorous pseudonym, but real surname great-grandson famous writer from Saint-Petersburg. For his 70 years, this man changed more than twenty professions. Consciously did not receive a higher education - he wanted to know life from the inside: he drove trams, worked as a diamond man at a glass factory, traveled half the globe without a penny for the soul. After retiring, he again sat down at the steering wheel. When we called him with a request for an interview, we heard an unexpected response: “Oh, you know, I got a job here as a driver for the whole summer, I take grandmothers to the dacha,” Dostoevsky was taken aback. “So you will call me back in the evening.”

By the way, Dostoevsky Jr. outwardly is very similar to his ancestor: a high forehead, a beard, deep-set eyes ... But he does not make a cult from his relationship with the great writer - he does not live on money from the sale of his books, he does not wear busts around his neck, for copyright not suing. Criticizes, argues and scolds him quite often, but at the same time says: "Wake me up at night - and I will tell about Dostoevsky whatever you want."

And he also outlived his ancestor by ten years and believes that it was Fedor Mikhailovich who several times mystically brought him back from the other world.

Relationship with the writer does not give me anything - I rely only on my own strength...

70-year-old Dostoevsky worked as a tram driver. Photo: whhapsbild.clan.su

Dmitry Andreevich, many descendants of literary geniuses - Nikolai Gogol, Alexander Pushkin, Mikhail Lermontov - have sold the rights of their famous relatives to trademarks and book publishers and are swimming like cheese in butter, chic on dividends. You also have a place to turn around: your grandfather was the son of the writer Fyodor Dostoevsky. Does kinship with a celebrity bring "profit"?

F . M . Dostoevsky. Photo: beercenter.ru

What are you speaking about! I rely only on my own strength. Once in France I met with the great-grandson of Alexandre Dumas, so he told me: "The Lord gave good voice, and I sing in the opera - this is all that I receive in my own name materially.

In vain they think that there, in the West, they live differently.

In our countries, the peak of interest in Dostoevsky's novels came in 2002, when six complete collections essays in different cities.

Once, a company approached me with a request to sell the rights - they say, we all understand, let's agree on some percentage with you - you have a family. We arrived, looked that I have a refrigerator at home, washing machine no cockroaches and bedbugs. They decided that everything was fine, left and did not call again.

But I am pleased that I live only by what I can do myself. For example, all summer at the dacha near St. Petersburg I will carry grandmothers with strollers on my bus. I am very happy with this work. They are praying for me. “How can we be without you,” they say, “we are old. It used to run to our sites, but now the forces are not the same!” Everyone should open the door, accept and drop out of the cabin by the handle, help pull out the stroller ... I like it, I feel that I am needed. Plus, it's one of my favorite jobs. Still, I've been turning the wheel for forty-five years. Yes, and some money ... After all, the pension is small - 12 thousand rubles ( UAH 4634.40 - "Gordon Boulevard"). Periodically it is increased, but inflation eats everything. And I have four grandchildren - girls and grandson Fedor.

And he is obliged to help his son and daughter-in-law. We all live together, patriarchally. But nothing, and lived with that kind of money. I don't dream of wealth. The main thing is to match the name, so I try to build my life in such a way that I would not be ashamed of it. Although I have to live two - my own and the life of my ancestor. But if this is connected with Dostoevsky, then at night touch me on the shoulder and ask about Fyodor Mikhailovich - I will wake up, come to my senses and answer.

The widow of Alexander Solzhenitsyn, Natalya Dmitrievna, said that it was she and Alexander Isaevich who advised you to register Dostoevsky's brand for yourself. Has it changed anything in your relationship with the law?

Nothing! It's just that the museum of Fyodor Mikhailovich in St. Petersburg and I tried to inform the public about this, and after that everything began to close: no one wanted to pay money. As a result, either the enterprises were renamed or closed. Now we have nothing to discredit his name - no casinos, no hotels.

Dostoevsky's house in Petersburg. Photo: blog.spchat.ru

It is true that you live in a city on the Neva, almost in a slum, and recently you have completely become a recluse in the world. For what reason?

Well, not really! I am quite satisfied with my life: I live in St. Petersburg, in a normal Stalinist house, in a large apartment with large family. And for the summer I move to the dacha, which I dreamed about for a long time, collected money, and then bought it.

Reluctantly, I became a recluse: recently I was operated on - oncology. My legs began to hurt - arthritis, lymphadenitis (swelling of the legs) was added to it. I had to go to surgery.

Last December, when I was on the surgical table, I weighed 49 kg, and this is with my 70! But now I have regained my previous weight and feel fine.

I remember many decades ago, when I was 35 years old, doctors first diagnosed me with a terrible diagnosis. But thanks to this, I became a believer, I was baptized. Although my mother was not baptized - she was afraid because of loud surname. Now the second test ... But I am very optimistic about this and I assume that my ancestors give it to me.

You said that your dad wore a bust with the image of Fyodor Mikhailovich, who saved his life during the war. Do you believe that Dostoevsky is helping you from heaven?

Yes, I believe that he prays there for all his loved ones, and, in particular, for me. When I first got to the hospital with an oncological disease, Fedor Mikhailovich helped me in a mystical way.

I fell ill in the year of Dostoevsky. It was round date- 1981 The UN then declared this year the year of Dostoevsky, later UNESCO joined them. I thought that Fedor Mikhailovich gives me the opportunity to try everything in life. At that time, a Japanese translator of Dostoevsky appeared in Leningrad by a miracle. My mother met with him, and in a week they sent him the latest cancer drug from Japan. We had to order it through Moscow - for free, but we had to wait a very long time. When I brought this medicine to the doctor's office, the doctors were surprised. I rarely talk about my relationship with the writer, but then I could not resist, and when asked where and why, I said: "But I'm Dostoevsky!" And only then did they begin to understand something.

And then this translator (later he became a professor at the University of Tokyo) sent me an icon, said that he was praying for me. About five years ago we met with him in Japan, and I persuaded him to take me to the company where this medicine was made. And there, before the authorities, I bowed and thanked in Japanese for the fact that they saved my life.

Once Dostoevsky healed me of oncology and ulcers

A descendant of the writer is sure that Fedor Mikhailovich saved his life several times. Photo: portal-kultura.ru

- Just some kind of mystic ...

Yes. And there were many such stories. For example, thanks to Fyodor Mikhailovich, I was healed of an ulcer. When I was operated on for the first time, they did chemotherapy and radiation therapy, they warned me that they set fire to my stomach, and said: "Don't be surprised if you get an ulcer." As a result, it happened - three years later I got an ulcer and lived with it for twenty years. Every spring and autumn he ended up in the hospital with a severe attack. But one day (it happened about ten years ago) he was healed of this disease forever. And all thanks to the old Russian icon of the Mother of God. A rare occurrence for common man not a monk or a priest. It happened in St. George's Church in Staraya Russa, where he prayed and where he took his children, including my grandfather, Fyodor Mikhailovich. I remember that after that I experienced catharsis, tears flowed by themselves ...

- And when you learned from your relatives that Dostoevsky is your ancestor, did you feel proud?

In Soviet times, Dostoevsky was considered a counter-revolutionary writer. At the school where I studied, portraits of all writers, except for Dostoevsky, hung in the literary office. We didn't even go through the program. I started reading it on my own. I think it's even better.

Its depth in school age still don't get it. He himself will come to you when you wind up questions in life, the answers to which he will reveal in his works. Mom then asked me: "Speak less that you are Dostoevsky, rely on yourself and do not rise up." And I felt that I wanted to learn a lot, to communicate with many. It also seems to be genes. Started to try different professions. As a result, when in the early 90s employment history returned to my house, I found that I had twenty-one professions. Recently, I specially calculated when I formalized the disability of the second group.

Mom asked: "Speak less that you are Dostoevsky, rely on yourself and don't exalt yourself"

The great-grandson of the writer in his kitchen.

It turns out that you did not receive higher education. And which of the mastered professions is especially close to you? Where do you feel like fish in water

This is what is most often mentioned - the tram driver. I worked for eight years at the tram depot. By the way, our whole family is "tram" - the son and daughter-in-law also drove trams.

I could have worked there longer, but I fell ill and ended up in the hospital. I interrupted work, and when I returned, I realized that it was no longer safe, because I didn’t feel so good anymore, and decided to change the field of activity.

In addition, an unpleasant incident occurred - the brakes failed in my tram. It was only once, no one was hurt, although the car with tomatoes still turned over. Then they found a technical malfunction and explained everything, but the memory of this remained in the subconscious and interfered with me, so I left.

Alice Freindlich's husband ran out onto the avenue - and right under the wheels of my tram ...

Igor Vladimirov and Alisa Freindlich. Photo: liveinternet.ru

- But you had another story at the time of work as a driver, when you almost ran over to death Director of the Leningrad City Council Theater Igor Vladimirov, Husband of Alisa Freindlich. How did you get hurt?

These were old "tram times", in the 70s of the last century. I traveled along the 28th route, passing along Vladimirsky Prospekt past the Lensoviet Theater, which was opposite Dostoevsky's house, where Fyodor Mikhailovich wrote his first novel, Poor People. The house was old, at some point a crack went through it. And then people did not collect, as they do now, money for restoration. They lamented, they said, they say, it's a pity that the house is falling apart, but what can you do if the Communists have no money. It was at this time that the incident with Vladimirov happened.

He, as a creative person, apparently thought about new productions and ran from his "Zhiguli" near the theater across the entire avenue without looking and jumped right under the wheels of my tram. I had to brake hard to avoid crushing him. I look - a well-known person, and he often appeared in films then. As a sign of respect for such a handsome gray-haired man, he showed with his hand that, they say, I'm standing, come in. And he signals to me - drive through. In general, somehow they parted ways.

After a while, I heard a message on the radio that some shift of the Baltic Shipbuilding Plant gave the money they earned for the restoration of Dostoevsky's house. And then it dawned on me: why not ask the theater to play a performance for the benefit of the house, especially since at that moment they had a production based on Dostoevsky. I made my way into Vladimirov's office. He did not answer yes or no, he began to say that his heart also ached for this house, but people in the theater team are complex, it is not easy to persuade them ... In general, I feel that he does not dare. And just when I was about to leave, it was like someone hit me on the top of my head. "But you owe me your life!" - I threw from the threshold. "How why?" - surprised Vladimirov. Then he reminded me how he was running, and I was on the tram ... And everything changed in an instant. He took out a bottle of cognac and caviar from the box, we drank... And soon, indeed, a charity performance was played! So if it were not for that our meeting on the avenue, I would hardly have been able to persuade Vladimirov.

Vladimirov and Freindlich lived together for almost twenty years. Photo: altapress.ru

- From Alisa Brunovna, you probably got full program Why did you treat her husband like that?

Not! We only spoke to her once. I really like her both as a person and as an actress. We could tell each other a lot of interesting things. For example, she is a blockader, I think that she would answer many of my questions - I am very interested in this topic. In general, we would find mutual language. But so far it doesn’t work out, there is no person who would introduce me to her.

- Please tell us how, without connections and acquaintances, you decided to leave forborder for permanent residence?

I could never stay there forever. The last specialty that he mastered was rather unusual. In the 1990s, I went to Germany at the invitation to open the German Dostoevsky Society. I went with the money of the society, because I myself would not have enough resources, and I stayed. He was engaged in the repair of radio equipment in Hamburg. I liked working in Germany, especially since the pay was good. I even bought my first foreign car.

And when he decided to return, the owner let him go, but soon invited him again. And I went with the whole family. He survived for three months, and then such nostalgia for home, for his homeland began, that he could no longer be in a foreign country. I remember that the famous putsch happened in Russia then, and I left everything and returned, I was afraid that I would not get back.

- But this is not your only trip to the West - you are half the worldhave traveledwithout having a penny to spare.

I will say this: I did not go anywhere without an invitation. Scientists, institutes, schools interested in Slavic culture, invited me to perform as the grandson of Dostoevsky. Some called to pay me and earn money themselves. But even if I didn’t earn money, communication was the main thing for me.

I remember that in a German town a lot of people came to meet me, there was a terrible downpour. At least they brought me by car, and those who got there on their own got soaked to the skin. In general, the meeting began. Suddenly - a knock on the door. Some German comes in, a young guy of twenty-two - twenty-three years old, all wet, dragging a bicycle from behind. It turned out that he rode 120 kilometers on a bicycle in the pouring rain just to meet with me and ask for advice. And do you know what he asked? "I haven't read anything from Dostoevsky. Tell me, where should I start, what should I read first?" I was so amazed that I rushed to hug and kiss him. A man broke through the storm to me to ask such a question! It costs a lot.

At the casino in Baden-Baden I played on "Gambler" and won a large sum

Dmitry Dostoevsky as Emperor Nicholas II. Photo: aboutru.com

They say that Dostoevsky's passion was passed on to you: you are also drawn to roulette, and once you won a serious amount ...

Yes, while in Germany, I ended up in Baden-Baden and could not resist - I played in a casino for real, with players. And he played according to the "Player" by Fedor Mikhailovich. It was also mystical. At night, I became nervous and opened his novel to the page where the game was described. I made a cheat sheet for myself. And then he could not resist, he told some guys, and together we sat down at the gambling table. I won, and not only me, but also those who were with me.

I remember we played German marks. I invested 36 marks, and in forty minutes of playing I got 138 - a decent percentage. The director of the casino said that this rarely happens. Then there was an opportunity to go there again, but I refused. Fyodor Mikhailovich, after all, abandoned this and bequeathed the same to his descendants. So I'm protected from drinking and games.

- You said that today there are three descendants of the writer - you, your son and grandson. But Dostoevsky's father was from from Vinnitsa. They say that in Ukraine, he showed up another relative - Arkady Dostoevsky, he is in charge of a clinic in Makeevka. Do you know anything about his Ukrainian relatives?

The fact is that at one time, in the 1920s, Lenin signed a decree stating that you can change surnames in the name of freedom and revolution to anyone and however you like. In one provincial town in the Tver province, a clerk who was fond of literature began to hand out the names of famous people right and left. And all the peasants suddenly became Turgenevs, Dostoevskys and Tolstoys. Naturally, they bred. Therefore, there are a lot of Dostoevskys now. For example, in St. Petersburg, opposite the Dostoevsky Museum, on the street that bears his last name, three Dostoevskys live with their families. But everyone knows perfectly well that these are the Dostoevskys, but not the same ones.

Portrait of a writer. Photo: peoples.ru

We have Nikolai Bogdanov in St. Petersburg, he is interested in the Dostoevsky tree, traveled a lot to different places and complained that he had not found the real Dostoevsky. Although it was known that the Dostoevskys were born on the lands of present-day Belarus (until that time, five hundred years ago, they were Irtishchevs, and one of them received a surname from the village of Dostoevs). A hundred years later, when Poland returned these lands, the Dostoevskys went to Ukraine, to Volhynia, because they were Orthodox. But when I began to study the tree of my father, I came across eighteen Dostoevsky called up from the Rivne, Odessa military registration and enlistment office. It is hard to imagine that they all died there or took other names. However, Bogdanov did not find Dostoevsky in you.

I read that Dostoevsky had his own dacha near Novgorod, in Starye Russy, which he bought to take his children to recuperation. You, as a consanguineous descendant, have all rights to it. Why haven't they reclaimed the property yet?

Yes, I no longer apply. What for? I have a dacha - and enough. May God help her deal with it. I am happy to spin and do something there.

There was a moment when something could be done. But at one of the last congresses of the CPSU, they announced that restitution was not expected in the near future. On that, everything calmed down, and I was persuaded to abandon this idea. Well, okay. I'm not offended.

Memorial apartment of Dostoevsky in Kuznechny Lane. Photo: md.spb.ru/museum

- It turns out that you have no things from Dostoevsky. And his gospel was also not given away?

it complicated story because it is necessary to fight for the gospel with the state. And our state is strong. I can't find anyone to take it on. Although I do not mind that it remains in their custody, but it is important to me that it is officially recognized that it belongs to us. After all, Fyodor Mikhailovich, who gave the Gospel to his son, bequeathed that it be inherited. Since the male line continues, they should have recognized it. But I would still give it to storage in a place specially designed for this. In addition, the restoration of the Gospel was done unprofessionally: they smoothed out the notes that Fyodor Mikhailovich, working with the Gospel, left with his fingernail. He underlined somewhere with a pencil, somewhere with ink, and in some places with a fingernail. I would not allow this if I controlled everything that is done with this gospel.

Once at a meeting, I slapped Putin on the shoulder and said: "We need to talk!"

Dostoevsky at a meeting with Putin. Photo: farpost.arsvest.ru

- But you even met with Putin ... Why didn't you resolve this issue with him?

- We met on a different occasion. It was two years ago, on literary meeting, which was organized in Moscow by a descendant of Leo Tolstoy.

I needed to talk to Putin. I went up and patted him on the shoulder, because even with people of very high rank I behave simply. So he addressed Putin in the same way: "I would like a little time to talk with you." He's good!" We parted. And during the break, he remembered, came up to me and also patted me on the shoulder with the words: "Let's go, I have time." We talked with him right under the stairs in front of his bodyguards, who all the time made sure that I did not make unnecessary movements during the conversation. (laughs).

And I asked Putin about this. Since the Dostoevskys were moving from Belarus to Ukraine and then to Russia, I proposed to organize general meeting three nations, so that our Slavic union does not fall apart. This was before all political events. And Putin supported the idea. But I set a condition that not officials, but simply famous people, writers. "But I," he said, "is an official myself." To which I replied that he would be my personal guest (laughs). As a result, Putin gave instructions to Tolstoy. But the conflict between our countries prevented, so the dream remained unrealizable. But I think that we still should not be separated.

Dostoevsky had many prophecies, including those concerning Ukraine. What do you think he would say about today's war between our countries?

It's hard for me to answer for him. But he supported the Slavic unification during the Russo-Turkish war and opposed the Serbian conflict. I think he would have been worried and tried so that we would not quarrel. We can't just leave and go like that. I think if we had met not in a dream, but in life, he would have supported my point of view.

- And what, you talk to him in a dream?

Yes, but not often, twice a year. And not by my will. There is also some mysticism in this, because these conversations happen at such moments when I need to make important decisions.

- Turgenev called Dostoevsky the Russian Marquis de Sade. Do you justify the polygamous descendant?

It's all nonsense! Since childhood, he retained in himself the feeling of a believer and a baptized person. The fact that many stupid things were attributed to him later ... The problem is that he was so high in his talent that even during his lifetime some writers were jealous of him. And a person, as you know, is weak, so fables were spread in order to only harm his reputation.

Fyodor Mikhailovich called his wife the nickname of the servant from Don Quixote.

Writer's wife Anna Snitkina. Photo: ter-pak.ru

- But after all, his second wife openly wrote about his sophisticated sexual pleasures ...

I met in the Pushkin House dirty lines in the letters of Anna Grigoryevna, where things of a personal nature were described, but this is normal. She was present in his works in many female images. He called her "my Sancho Panza". It was positive characteristic, because "Don Quixote" Dostoevsky considered the best work all times and peoples. As he later wrote, only with her did he know happiness. family life, was free from many worries. Although no one wrote anything special about Anna Grigoryevna and did not stage productions about her on stage. Because Dostoevsky always overshadowed his wife.

What about polygamy? Yes, he was interested in women, and he had normal sex. Nevertheless, before his death, he told his wife: "Anya, I never cheated on you!"

- What do you think, which of the living famous women could be next to Dostoevsky

Hard to say. Anna Grigorievna organically entered his life, being a nineteen-year-old, unknown girl, capable, having a profession at that time. This was the main thing for him. For example, Apollinaria Suslova did not interest him at first as a woman. When she came to the magazine where he worked as an editor to submit her stories, she dressed in a man's dress and blue glasses. And he thought: she just dressed like that, there is something feminine in her. But initially he did not have a sexual desire - he wanted to open it, figure out why and why. Not so simple.

- Unlike your great-grandfather, did you find happiness with one wife?

Yes. For me it happened quite organically. I was 30 years old, my wife was 28. We were adults, and late marriage is always stronger. It took me a long time to find my soul mate. When I got married and felt that now I was not only limited in my decisions, but also responsible for them, it was not a burden to me. Until now, this understanding has not only been preserved for me, but, on the contrary, has been strengthened even more. We have been together for forty years, and I cannot imagine myself without a wife. Despite the fact that I get sick more often, sometimes I think: "What if something happens to her - how will I continue to live?"

- The late priest Dmitry Dudko wanted to canonize Dostoevsky, but none of this didn't work out. There were those who were outraged that from a worldly sinner they want make a saint. If this happened, what would change in the attitude towards the writer?

It was a letter called "Letter 26". It was signed by twenty-six priests. I talked to members of the canonical commission, and one of them said that he understood them perfectly. And as a witness, I can confirm that not only here, but also abroad, priests of various denominations, Catholics, Protestants, said that it was Dostoevsky who brought them to church.

And what would change ... They would treat him with great reverence, they would not try to trample into the dirt so much, as sometimes happens. As I was told in the commission, there is an article according to which he can be canonized - these are actions equal to the apostles. In his life he went from complete disbelief to absolute faith, he called people and preached. The way is open, but not the time. Someday this will happen, and if not, then we will not suffer much from this. Dostoevsky will reveal himself to everyone when necessary.

Being brought up in a communist spirit, I did not perceive Dostoevsky in my gut, so I sometimes argued with him

Dostoevsky's relative at the opening of the writer's plate. Photo: darovoe.ru

- What do you think is the most relevant work of Dostoevsky today?

- The Brothers Karamazov! Although he did not finish this novel. I was going to write the second part, but I did not have time, I died. Recently I re-read this novel and once again I was convinced of how modern his thoughts are. I was so hooked on it that I again discovered in it a lot of things that I had missed before.

- Do you constantly re-read some Dostoevsky novels?

No, I take it like ordinary people. I open a book, start reading - and that's it, I'm an ordinary reader. I am not affected in any way by the fact that I am a descendant of a great writer and read the works of my great-grandfather. In my youth, being brought up in the communist spirit, I didn’t perceive it in my gut, after all, I was a Soviet person, so I sometimes argued with him. And now, on the contrary, he helps me.

As soon as I open Dostoevsky's book, I start to read it - and that's it, I'm an ordinary reader. I am not affected in any way by the fact that I am a descendant of a great writer and read the works of my great-grandfather

Dmitry next to the monument to Fyodor Mikhailovich. Photo from personal archive D. Dostoevsky

- Today at the era of interactive, when the World Wide Web rules everything, won’t it turn out that Dostoevsky will they forget?

I don't know... His wife Anna Grigorievna wrote that at the beginning of the 20th century there was a wave of interest in him, all the youth clung to Dostoevsky. Apparently, the troubles of life coincided, but then the Bolsheviks came and banned it, although people read it anyway. Time has passed, and Dostoevsky is again relevant. He wrote about a person, and people are the same at all times. Yes, we have other things to do, a different world surrounds us, but nothing fundamentally has changed. Therefore, Dostoevsky will be needed for a very long time, perhaps he will be enough for the entire 21st century.

- There were many versions of films based on Dostoevsky. Which on-screen Fedor Mikhailovich do you prefer?

Yevgeny Mironov perfectly played him in "The Idiot". In general, I really like this actor, and the shards they have with Fyodor Mikhailovich are similar. There was a recent film on "Crime and Punishment", but I didn't really like it. Usually I feel my great-grandfather in my gut, but here I didn’t feel it. There was also some series "Dostoevsky", but I watched it for about five minutes and turned it off when the historical untruth began.

Akunin is a louse from the gateway that barks at an elephant

Cover of Akunin's scandalous book "F.M." Photo: hostland.ru

In one of your interviews, you said that from the book "F.M." Boris Akunin was not delighted. Did you express your fe to him personally for such "variations on the theme of Dostoevsky"?

I had no desire. Akunin is a louse from the gateway that barks at an elephant. And now I have ceased to respect him even more when he went to the West.

Boris Akunin. A photo: news.rambler.ru

Any person is free to perceive Dostoevsky regardless of Akunin. But if he comes to Dostoevsky through a writer like Akunin, then he will not understand him.

- Whole stories have been written about Dostoevsky's illness. scientific works. Epileptics are still in your family No?

Norwegians worked on the problem of this disease. When they came to us, they officially declared in their reports that there is a special disease - "Dostoevsky's epilepsy". It does not fit the fundamental features of physiological epilepsy. Yes, no one in our family suffered from this disease, and this is one of the main signs of the disease: someone in two, three generations should have manifested it. But so far neither I, nor my son, nor my grandchildren have a hint. I think his illness was associated with the characteristics of the organism of Fedor Mikhailovich, and therefore it was not genetically transmitted. In a real epileptic, seizures occur suddenly, and Fyodor Mikhailovich very often foresaw them.

I love the simplest food - herring with potatoes, beer. But, like Fedor Mikhailovich, I prefer vodka

- They say you have the same sweet tooth as Fedor Mikhailovich. Do you have any other similarities in gastronomy?

A well-known restaurateur once approached me, he wanted to make a "Dostoevsky menu". But I couldn't say anything except that he liked beer. No other evidence of his gastronomic tastes is known. A letter has been preserved in which he scolds the children for being as sweet-toothed as he is. Actually, this exhausts the evidence of his "sweetness". Yes, he liked to go to restaurants, in Moscow he had a favorite place - " Slavic Marketplace". And there, most likely, dishes of Russian cuisine were prepared. Although both Ukrainian and French cuisine were common, I have the impression that he loved Russian cuisine. Staraya Russa, where he and his wife lived in the summer, there was hardly something French, because a local cook worked there, who could cook only local dishes.

I also like very simple food - herring with potatoes, beer. Although, like Fedor Mikhailovich, I prefer vodka. He went to Starye Russy on a steamboat, which did not reach the village itself - it stopped on a platoon. There is evidence that the local tavern keeper brought him a glass of vodka on a silver tray, and he drank it with pleasure.

The most interesting thing is that neither my wife nor the wife of my son knew the names of their chosen ones until the last

Dmitry Andreevich with his grandson Fyodor. Photo from the personal archive of D. Dostoevsky

Outwardly, you are also very similar to Dostoevsky. When people find out that you are also connected by family relationships, how do they react?

This rarely happens. When traffic cops stop and ask to see my documents, and then they see that I am Dostoevsky, some will raise an eyebrow, but refrain from clarifying, while others ask if I have anything to do with Fyodor Mikhailovich. When I say that I am his direct descendant, immediately the attitude is different, they may not be fined!

But the most interesting thing is that neither my wife nor the wife of my son knew the names of their chosen ones until the last. Natalia, my daughter-in-law, later even admitted that she would not have known how she would have reacted if Leshka, my son, had told her that he was related to Fyodor Mikhailovich. Although later, when she was already used to our family, she said that Fyodor Mikhailovich pulled her out of life from not very pleasant things.

And my wife is half Lithuanian, from the same lands where the Dostoevsky family came from. When she found out about the relationship, she didn’t say: “Oh, how you look like Fyodor Mikhailovich ...” But sometimes I get it: they say, you read a lot about him, well, at least I look like him in character? She calmly replies: "Looks like ..." And that's enough for me.

I myself believe that, like Fyodor Mikhailovich, I am not vindictive, I have no resentment against anyone. This typical feature Dostoevsky!

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He said: "Stop at some bright points in your life, hold on to them, and then everything will be fine in your life." The great-grandson of the writer Dmitry Dostoevsky shared stories about such “bright points” in his life, and also about representatives of a famous family, the power of motherly prayer and the miracle of his healing at the Old Russian Icon Mother of God.

On Coming to Faith and Conquering Cancer

I was driven to faith by illness. When I was 25, I was diagnosed with cancer. There was an operation, then for six months I was in the Cancer Center on Tchaikovsky Street in Leningrad, where I underwent a course of chemotherapy. I did my best to fight this disease.

I was taken to the operation without any preliminary preparation, and I told the doctors: “Why is that? I'm afraid". In response to me: “In your direction it is written:“ Cito ”. Do you know what "cito" is? It is Latin for "immediately", "urgently". We want to save you." I say: "Well, well, save." That is, at that moment it was a matter of life and death.

Mysteriously, at that moment, a translator from Japan appeared in St. Petersburg, working on the translation of Dostoevsky. Japan was then one of the most advanced countries in the production of cancer drugs. My mother, now deceased, turned to him with a letter asking him to save a descendant of Dostoevsky (later I gave her letters to the museum). When literally a week later (in Soviet times!) I brought a box of medicine to the head of our department, she did not believe that this was possible: “We order this medicine through Moscow by name! You weren't on the list. And in a week you bring this medicine!” And I said with great pride: “Well, I'm Dostoevsky, a descendant of Fyodor Mikhailovich, who is known all over the world. Therefore, it is natural that the whole world is ready to help me continue to live.

Through the prayer of my mother, I did not die of cancer, I survived

This is on the one hand. And the other is connected with my mother, who, 50 years after her baptism, went to church to beg for the life of her son. I believe that the second reason that I stayed alive is the prayer of my mother. She forgot everything that was supposed to be done in the temple, and just like a mother turned to God: “Lord! Save my son! Leave him alive!" For the Lord to help you, you need faith and soul, a direct appeal to God. He helped me, and more than once.

Personally, I was able to defeat cancer twice. Believe me, the devil is not as scary as he is painted. You just have to not give up and not be afraid, but believe that you can win. In this case, one should not wait for symptoms - poor health and pain (after all, the tumor itself does not hurt), but be checked at least once a year. My victories are based on the fact that I discovered my sores in time.

It is also important not to leave a person alone with this formidable disease, to support in his faith that he will cope. But it is equally important for the patient himself to be in a positive tone and it is during this period to do what he likes. My experience tells me that the forces of the body itself in these conditions work for a cure. Therefore, I always wish everyone good health!

“God healed me of a peptic ulcer at the Old Russian Icon”

The Dostoevsky Readings are regularly held in Staraya Russa, and for many years they have been spiritually nourished by Metropolitan Lev of Novgorod and Starorussky. According to a long-established tradition, Old Russian readings begin with Divine Liturgy in the temple, one of the most ancient old Russian churches. Fyodor Mikhailovich was a parishioner of this church.

I felt that I needed to approach this particular icon. I come up - and suddenly burst into tears ...

For me, this is a special temple. In Staraya Russa, I began to experience terrible pains due to the fact that the local water is completely different from the Leningrad one. Because of my illness, I suffered terribly. And suddenly, one day, something led me to St. George's Church. Grandmothers scrubbed the floor, there was no service. In my mind, I understood that I had come here at the wrong time, that none of the worshipers were here now, only I was alone. And the heart at that moment was directed to the miraculous Old Russian Icon of the Mother of God. I felt that I needed to approach her. I'm coming. There is a kind of catharsis. I, an adult man, and suddenly burst into tears ... I leave the church, not understanding at all what happened to me.

A day passes. And suddenly I discovered that there was no pain, that I was completely healthy and even felt a surge of strength in myself. I stay for the day, listening to the reports. The next day after the reports, the readings are closed and a banquet is held, at which the entire administration of Staraya Russa is present. Everyone is in some bewilderment: “Dmitry Andreevich, you finally visited our farewell banquet. It is so pleasant!" Since then, I have not had this disease.

At the age of 45, that is, at a fairly mature age, I was baptized in Staraya Russa, where I also celebrated my 60th birthday. So it was in Staraya Russa that my healing took place, and one of the most important events my life is baptism. With the blessing of the priests of St. George's Church, I tell about the miracle of my healing from peptic ulcer everywhere and everywhere. And I am very happy when people come up to me and say: “You know, the same thing happened to me as to you.” Not only were they healed of illnesses, but other life problems were resolved after praying at the Old Russian Icon of the Mother of God. All believers who happen to visit Staraya Russa try to come to this icon.

It was brought by the Greeks from Olviopol in the first centuries of Christianity in Russia and was in Staraya Russa until the 17th century. During the pestilence of 1655, a resident of the city of Tikhvin had a revelation that the pestilence would stop if the miraculous Old Russian icon was brought there, and Tikhvin icon will be sent to Staraya Russa. After the transfer of the icons, the pestilence stopped, but the people of Tikhvin did not return the image, and only in the 18th century they were allowed to make a copy of the Old Russian icon. On May 4, 1768, a copy was brought to Staraya Russa, in honor of which a festival was established. Second holiday date It is celebrated on September 18, 1888, when the original was returned to Staraya Russa. This year marks the 130th anniversary of this historical event.

Children and grandchildren of Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky

My mother, who was born before 1917, like all Russian people then, was baptized. But she perceived the Soviet reality already as a kind of reality in which she had to live, and therefore she tried to protect her life and ours as much as possible. And due to the fact that she married Andrei Fedorovich, a descendant of “the archaic Dostoevsky,” as Lenin called the writer, she was afraid to baptize us, her children.

In general, my mother did not expect that she would give birth to twins. This was in 1945. According to her, my sister Ira and I had one blanket for two. Like all "military children", we were weakened and about three months after our birth we fell ill with pneumonia. It so happened that the Lord left me as the successor of the male line, and took Ira away. Once my mother brought me to the grave where Ira was buried, and said: “This is your sister.” I don’t remember her at all, we were only three months old. And then my mother was buried there - in St. Petersburg, at the Skhodnensky cemetery. Now there are more Dostoevskys, because the whole family of Andrei Fyodorovich is there. Six graves of Dostoevsky. I hope that someday I will return there.

Fyodor Mikhailovich had three sisters and three brothers. And all the branches stopped, only our little branch remained. When my father's birthday was being celebrated, I took the liberty of making a report on his life. This, of course, is a very difficult task, because a person bearing the surname Dostoevsky must live his life. own life and at the same time always remember that he is a descendant of Fyodor Mikhailovich, who said very important words to the whole world.

After graduating from the Engineering School at the age of 19, Fedor Mikhailovich immediately declared: "I will not be engaged in this profession, but I will be a writer." His son Fyodor also quickly found himself - all his life he was engaged in horse breeding, he was a fairly well-known specialist in this field, he published many articles in the imperial horse breeding magazine.

When Fyodor Mikhailovich left for Moscow for the opening of the monument to Pushkin, where he delivered his famous “Pushkin speech”, Anna Grigoryevna wrote to him: “I can’t get along with Fedya, he runs away all the time, I find him with boys on the street, he is interested in horses ". And he answered her: “Buy him a foal, he will have something to do, and he will stop running away from home.” Which is what was done. And in the next letter, hoping that a foal has already been bought for his son, Fyodor Mikhailovich asks to kiss him on an equal basis with everyone else. It was almost a prophetic prediction that Fedor Fedorovich would be engaged in horses all his life. At such a young age, the father accurately identified the main interest of his son's life.

When you know Yu t that there was also a third Fedor - the grandson of the writer, who, unfortunately, died early, the question is often asked: “Why are there so many Fedorovs?” In Russia, according to tradition, the eldest son was often called the name of his father, counting on having many children. But Fyodor Mikhailovich started a family late, and he could not have many children, although three of his four children lived a full life.

True, the children of Fyodor Mikhailovich left this world very sadly. Dostoyevsky's daughter Lyuba died in 1926 in Italy. A few days before her death, she was visited by the consul of Czechoslovakia, who then helped Lyuba a lot. A letter was found in which he wrote: "I must admit that the daughter of a world famous writer is dying in poverty." Son Fedor under the same circumstances died in Moscow. He was 60 years old and she was 62 or 63 years old.

Anna Grigorievna begged her son: "Look at the world." And Fedya answered: “Russia is enough for me”

Fedya was born in St. Petersburg and, remaining a Russian, did not want to go abroad at all, although his mother begged him: “Go, you have money, see how others live.” And he: “No, Russia is enough for me, I’d rather go to the bathhouse.” And Lyuba, who was born in the West, took it and left Russia forever, telling her mother that she was going to be treated for a short time. She traveled all over Europe, then fell ill and died in Italy, in Bolzano, on the border with Austria.

Fedor Fedorovich died and was buried in Moscow. Unfortunately, his grave has been lost, and now we are trying to find it. Like these ones different fates two children of Fyodor Mikhailovich ...

In general, Fedor Mikhailovich was very worried because his children were late, that he would not be able to raise them. At the end of his life, he again settled in St. Petersburg, where his brother Andrei also lived, whose children were already quite old. “How I would like my little children to be like your independent children,” Fyodor Mikhailovich wrote to his brother. But he understood that due to age he might not see his children as adults. This, of course, was a great tragedy for him.

The education system of F.M. Dostoevsky

In letters about children, Dostoevsky never used the word "educate", but: "observe", "lead"

This is a completely unique system. Few have taken advantage of it. Unfortunately, pedagogical science did not follow in the footsteps of Dostoevsky. First of all, he never used the word “educate” in his letters to Anna Grigorievna, but used completely different words: “observe”, “lead”.

His principle was to understand the child, and not to pull him up to his adult level, facilitating his own existence. And it brought great results. Anna Grigorievna recalled that he could not pass by any child, so as not to start talking to him, translating into children's language quite serious thoughts. One day, Anna Grigorievna recalled, they were either traveling from Staraya Russa or to Staraya Russa, and as soon as they entered the car, they heard the cry of a child, and Fyodor Mikhailovich immediately disappeared. Soon the child calmed down, and Anna Grigorievna saw him talking about something with Fyodor Mikhailovich. True, she was somewhat unhappy that her husband forgot about her and immediately flew to someone else's child, and took him back to her compartment.

Let me tell you one more case. I found notes about a trip on a steamer to Ryazan. There was land, part of which was to be inherited by Fyodor Mikhailovich. They then took care of their inheritance. On deck, someone's child was arguing, crying and not at ease. Although four-year-old Fedya and six-year-old Lyuba were with them, Fyodor Mikhailovich ran to help someone else's child and took care of him for quite a long time, leaving his children.

Great-grandfather Grigory Gomerovich and great-great-grandfather Gomer Karlovich

At the Dostoevsky readings and symposiums dedicated to the life and work of Fyodor Mikhailovich, we heard a lot about different interesting finds associated with the history of the family and biography of the writer. Even I, his descendant, previously had little knowledge of Dostoevsky's ancestors such as his grandmother Anastasia, the wife of a Uniate priest, great-grandfather Grigory Gomerovich and great-great-grandfather Homer Karlovich. Their names and patronymics sound somewhat unexpected to the Russian ear.

The secret of the sudden departure of Dostoevsky's father Mikhail Andreevich from his father's house and his break with his parental family, the circumstances of his participation in the war of 1812, is also ajar. True, recently discovered new investigative documents relating to his mysterious death in 1839, believed to have been at the hands of serfs, still do not allow an unambiguous solution to this issue.

Documents about the descendants of Dostoevsky, who were repressed in the 1930s, have also been declassified today.

Great-great-grandchildren and great-great-granddaughters Dostoevsky

I have one son, and I always dreamed of a girl. And now we have three very pretty granddaughters who once came with me to Staraya Russa for the Dostoevsky readings. Even as a child, I prepared them to understand that they were not just girls, but girls with Dostoevsky genes - Masha, Vera and Anya. The youngest Mashenka was born on November 23, 2006.

When I brought Anya to the famous 30-volume academic collected works of Fyodor Mikhailovich, she looked appraisingly and said: “No, I can’t write so much.” A couple of days later, she folded the leaf in half and wrote her own work in neat scrawl, alas, unreadable. Now this "book" is in the fund of the Museum of F.M. Dostoevsky in Petersburg.

Of course, we also dreamed of a grandson, and when he was born, we named him Fedor. So now we have another Fyodor Dostoevsky growing up.

About the Museum of Childhood in Darovoye

The writer spent his childhood in the Dostoevsky Darovoye estate near Moscow. In general, for the formation of a person's personality, it is very important in what conditions and in what environment his childhood passes. Therefore, I think people are interested in seeing the place where the future genius writer lived and grew up from 10 to 17 years old.

It is necessary to create a Museum of Dostoevsky's childhood in the Darovoye estate. This is a unique place

Brother writer Andrei recalled that little Fedya was cheerful, loved to play, walk through the linden grove and forest. His first prayers were heard by the walls of the Holy Spirit Church, which has survived to this day. It is located in the neighboring village of Monogarovo. The future writer was taken here by his mother. Dostoevsky mentions a dove that flew from one window to another during the Liturgy. If we keep these bright points associated with the childhood of the writer, it will greatly help in the perception of his worldview. Near the temple there is a small churchyard, where, it is believed, the father of Fyodor Mikhailovich is buried. Now the main task is to establish the exact location of his grave.

At international scientific conferences devoted to Dostoevsky, there are reports on the significance of childhood memories in the writer's work. It is necessary to create a museum of the writer's childhood in the Darovoye estate. This is a unique place where the historical landscape is almost completely preserved, a grove with 200-year-old lime trees, a ravine, settlements that are mentioned in the works of Dostoevsky.

"From a diamond to a tram driver"

There are 18 professions in my work book. Usually I say: "I have professions - from a diamond cutter to a tram driver." Now I am a consultant at the St. Petersburg Museum of Dostoevsky. True, I do not have a higher education. Sometimes I think that I didn’t go to university in vain, because I had enough knowledge to calmly pass the exams and go where I want to. But after graduating from school, it seemed to me that it was more interesting to plunge into the thick of life and try myself in different areas and I didn't go anywhere. And when one day during perestroika, a work book fell into my hands (usually it is in the personnel department), it turned out that I had 18 professions. This has helped me a lot in my life sometimes.

About a German who would like to be born in Russia

In 1990, it was very hard, the shops were empty. And suddenly I was invited to Germany to the opening of the Dostoevsky Society. Opening - just one day, and then what? And then I think: “Yeah, I can do a lot. I'll find a job here." And I worked in Germany, helping my family with parcels from there. It was such a "parcel period". The Germans kept asking: “What is missing in Russia, what should we send?” I helped by suggesting what products are needed in Russia.

The Germans really wanted to help someone in particular, it was important for them not only to help, but also to become friends, to exchange letters. When I returned from vacation in Hamburg, one elderly married couple asked me to give the German who helped them a letter and " thank you very much».

It struck me then. I thought: “You came to us as a conqueror, with a gun. What is it in Russia that made you say such a phrase in your declining years?” As a patriot of my country, I was, of course, very pleased with his words.

In Moscow.

He was the second child of six in the family of a doctor at the Moscow Mariinsky Hospital for the Poor, the son of the Uniate priest Mikhail Dostoevsky, who in 1828 received the title of hereditary nobleman. The mother of the future writer came from a merchant family.

Since 1832, Fedor and his older brother Mikhail began to study with teachers who came to the house, from 1833 they studied at the boarding school of Nikolai Drashusov (Sushara), then at the boarding school of Leonty Chermak. After the death of their mother in 1837, their father took them with their brother to St. Petersburg to continue their education. In 1839 he died of apoplexy (according to family legend, he was killed by serfs).

In 1838, Fyodor Dostoevsky entered the Engineering School in St. Petersburg, from which he graduated in 1843.

After graduating from college, he served in the St. Petersburg engineering team, was seconded to the drawing room of the Engineering Department.

In 1844 he retired to devote himself to literature. In 1846 he published his first work - the story "Poor People", enthusiastically received by the critic Vissarion Belinsky.
In the years 1847-1849, Dostoevsky wrote the novels "The Mistress" (1847), "Weak Heart" and "White Nights" (both - 1848), "Netochka Nezvanova" (1849, not finished).

During this period, the writer became close to the circle of the Beketov brothers (among the participants were Alexei Pleshcheev, Apollon and Valerian Maikov, Dmitry Grigorovich), in which not only literary, but also social problems. In the spring of 1847, Dostoevsky began attending the "Fridays" of Mikhail Petrashevsky, in the winter of 1848-1849 - the circle of the poet Sergei Durov, which also consisted mainly of Petrashevites. At the meetings, the problems of the liberation of the peasants, reforms of the court and censorship were discussed, treatises of the French socialists, articles by Alexander Herzen were read. In 1848, Dostoevsky joined a special secret society organized by the most radical Petrashovist Nikolai Speshnev, which aimed to "make a revolution in Russia."

In the spring of 1849, along with other Petrashevites, the writer was arrested and imprisoned in the Alekseevsky ravelin of the Peter and Paul Fortress. After eight months of imprisonment, where Dostoevsky behaved courageously and even wrote the story "The Little Hero" (published in 1857), he was found guilty "of intent to overthrow ... the state order" and initially sentenced to death. Already on the scaffold, he was told that the execution was replaced by four years of hard labor with the deprivation of "all rights of the state" and subsequent surrender to the soldiers. Dostoevsky served penal servitude in the Omsk fortress, among criminals.

From January 1854 he served as a private in Semipalatinsk, in 1855 he was promoted to non-commissioned officer, in 1856 - to ensign. In 1857 he was returned to the nobility and the right to publish. Then he married the widow Maria Isaeva, who took part in his fate even before marriage.

In Siberia, Dostoevsky wrote the novels " Uncle's dream"and" The village of Stepanchikovo and its inhabitants "(both - 1859).

In 1859 he retired and received permission to live in Tver. At the end of the year, the writer moved to St. Petersburg and, together with his brother Mikhail, began to publish the magazines Vremya and Epoch. On the pages of Vremya, in an effort to strengthen his reputation, Dostoevsky published his novel The Humiliated and Insulted (1861).

In 1863, during his second trip abroad, the writer met Apollinaria Suslova, their complicated relationship, as well as gambling at roulette in Baden-Baden, provided material for the future novel "The Gambler".

After the death of his first wife in 1864, and then the death of his brother Mikhail, Dostoevsky assumed all the debts for the publication of the Epoch magazine, but soon stopped it due to a drop in the subscription. After traveling abroad, the writer spent the summer of 1866 in Moscow and at a dacha near Moscow, working on the novel Crime and Punishment. In parallel, Dostoevsky worked on the novel The Gambler, which he dictated to the stenographer Anna Snitkina, who became the writer's wife in the winter of 1867.

In 1867-1868, Dostoevsky wrote the novel The Idiot, the task of which he saw in "the portrayal of a positively beautiful person."

The next novel "Demons" (1871-1872) was created by him under the impression of the terrorist activities of Sergei Nechaev and organized by him secret society"People's massacre". In 1875, the novel "Teenager" was published, written in the form of a confession of a young man, whose consciousness is being formed in an environment of "general decay". The theme of the disintegration of family ties was continued in Dostoevsky's final novel The Brothers Karamazov (1879-1880), conceived as an image of "our intellectual Russia" and at the same time as a novel-life of the protagonist Alyosha Karamazov.

In 1873, Dostoevsky began editing the newspaper-magazine Grazhdanin. In 1874, he gave up editing the magazine due to disagreements with the publisher and deteriorating health, and at the end of 1875 he resumed work on The Writer's Diary, begun in 1873, which he continued intermittently until the end of his life.

On February 7 (January 26, old style), 1881, the writer began bleeding from his throat, doctors diagnosed a ruptured pulmonary artery.

On February 9 (January 28, old style), 1881, Fyodor Dostoevsky died in St. Petersburg. The writer was buried at the Tikhvin cemetery of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra.

On November 11, 1928, on the writer's birthday, the world's first museum of Dostoevsky was opened in Moscow in the northern wing of the former Mariinsky Hospital for the Poor.

On November 12, 1971, in St. Petersburg, in the house where the writer spent the last years of his life, the Literary and Memorial Museum of F.M. Dostoevsky.

In the same year, on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the birth of the writer, the Semipalatinsk Literary and Memorial Museum of F. M. Dostoevsky was opened in the house where he lived in 1857-1859 while serving in the line battalion.

Since 1974, the estate of Dostoevsky Darovoye, Zaraisk district, has acquired the status of a museum of republican significance. Tula region, in which the writer rested in the 1830s.

In May 1980, in Novokuznetsk, in the house rented by the first wife of the writer Maria Isaeva in 1855-1857, the Literary and Memorial Museum of F.M. Dostoevsky.

In May 1981, the House Museum of the writer was opened in Staraya Russa, where the Dostoevsky family spent their summers.

In January 1983, the Literary Museum named after A.I. F.M. Dostoevsky in Omsk.

Among the monuments to the writer, the most famous sculpture of Dostoevsky at State Library named after V.I. Lenin on the corner of Mokhovaya and Vozdvizhenka in Moscow, a monument to Dostoevsky in the square of the Mariinsky hospital near memorial museum writer in the capital, a monument to Dostoevsky in St. Petersburg on Bolshaya Moskovskaya Street.

In October 2006, a monument to Fyodor Dostoevsky in Dresden, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Federal Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel.

In the name of the writer in Moscow and St. Petersburg, as well as in other Russian cities streets are named. In December 1991, the metro station "Dostoevskaya" was opened in St. Petersburg, in 2010 - in Moscow.

The writer's widow, Anna Dostoevskaya (1846-1918), after his death, devoted herself to republishing her husband's books and perpetuating his memory. She died in 1918 in Yalta, in 1968 her ashes, according to her last wish, were reburied in Dostoevsky's grave.

From his first marriage to Maria Isaeva, the writer had no children. In the second marriage, the Dostoevskys had four children, two of them - the eldest Sophia and the younger Alexei died in infancy. Daughter Lyubov Dostoevskaya (1869-1926) became a writer, author of the book "Dostoevsky in the image of his daughter"; died in northern Italy. The writer's son, Fyodor Dostoevsky (1871-1921), having graduated from the law and natural faculties of Dorpat University, became a major specialist in horse breeding. In the last years of his life, following the will of his mother, he continued to collect and store Dostoevsky's archive.

The material was prepared on the basis of information from RIA Novosti and open sources

As is known, the author of The Brothers Karamazov had four children, two of whom, Sonya and Alyosha, died in infancy. Daughter Lyuba was childless, so all the heirs now living are descendants along the line of the son of Fedor. Fyodor Fyodorovich Dostoevsky had two sons, one of whom - also Fyodor - passed away quite young, died of starvation already in the 20s. Until recently, there were five heirs of the great writer in a straight line: great-grandson Dmitry Andreevich, his son Alexei and three granddaughters - Anna, Vera and Maria. All of them live in St. Petersburg.

Russian researchers of Dostoevsky's work and life were worried that the name of the great writer might eventually disappear. Therefore, when the long-awaited heir was born in St. Petersburg in the family of the writer's only great-great-grandson, this was regarded as an event of great significance. Moreover, they named the boy Fedor. It is curious that initially the parents intended to name the boy Ivan. And this would also be symbolic - the grandfather, father and son would have names, like the main characters of the novel "The Brothers Karamazov". However, providence decided everything. The boy was born on September 5, and according to the calendar, the name Fedor falls out at this time.

The writer's wife, Anna Grigorievna, lived until 1918. In April 1917, she decided to leave for her small estate near Adler to wait until the unrest subsided. But the revolutionary storm also reached the Black Sea coast. A former gardener on the Dostoevskaya estate, who deserted from the front, declared that he, the proletarian, should be the real owner of the estate. Anna Grigoryevna fled to Yalta. In the Yalta hell of 1918, when the city changed hands, she spent recent months of her life and died of starvation in complete solitude and terrible torment in a Yalta hotel. There was even no one to bury her, until six months later, her son Fyodor Fyodorovich Dostoevsky arrived from Moscow. By some miracle, at the height of the Civil War, he made his way to the Crimea, but he no longer found his mother alive. She asked in her will to be buried in the grave of her husband, but there was a civil war, and it was impossible to do this, they buried her in the crypt of Autskaya church. In 1928, the temple was blown up, and her grandson Andrei learns from a letter that "her bones are lying on the ground." He goes to Yalta and, in the presence of a policeman, reburies them in a corner of the cemetery. Only in 1968, with the help of the Writers' Union, did he manage to bury Anna Grigoryevna's ashes in her husband's grave.

According to the memoirs of the writer's grandson, Andrei Fedorovich Dostoevsky, when Fedor Fedorovich was taking Dostoevsky's archive from the Crimea to Moscow, which remained after the death of Anna Grigorievna, he was almost shot by the Chekists on suspicion of speculation - they considered that he was transporting smuggling in baskets.

Anna Snitkina with daughter Lyubov and son Fedor

Dostoevsky's son, Fyodor (1871-1921), graduated from two faculties of Derpt University - law and science, became a specialist in horse breeding, a well-known horse breeder, passionately devoted himself to his beloved business and reached the same dizzying heights in it, like his father in the field of literature. He was proud and conceited, strove to be the first everywhere. He tried to prove himself in the literary field, but was disappointed in his abilities. He lived and died in Simferopol. Buried with money Historical Museum on the Vagankovsky cemetery. “I tried to find his grave in the eighties according to the descriptions, but it turned out that it was dug up in the thirties,” says the great-grandson of the writer.

Dostoevsky's favorite daughter Lyubov, Lyubochka (1868-1926), according to the memoirs of her contemporaries, “was arrogant, arrogant, and simply unaccommodating. She did not help her mother perpetuate the glory of Dostoevsky, creating her image as a daughter famous writer, subsequently parted ways with Anna Grigorievna. In 1913, after another trip abroad for treatment, she stayed there forever (she became "Emma" abroad). “I thought that I could become a writer, I wrote stories and novels, but no one read it ...” She wrote an unsuccessful book “Dostoevsky in the Memoirs of Her Daughter”. Her personal life did not work out. She died in 1926 from leukemia in the Italian city of Bolzano. They buried her solemnly, but according to the Catholic rite, for lack of Orthodox priest. When the old cemetery in Bolzano was closed, the ashes of Lyubov Dostoevskaya were transferred to a new one and a huge porphyry vase was placed over the grave, the Italians collected money for it. Once I met the actor Oleg Borisov, and, having learned that he was going to those parts, I asked him to sprinkle her grave with soil from Optina Pustyn, which I took from Dostoevsky's house there.

The writer's nephew, Andrei Andreevich Dostoevsky (1863-1933), his son younger brother, was a surprisingly modest and devoted to the memory of Fyodor Mikhailovich man. Following the example of his father, he became a historiographer of the family. Andrei Andreevich was 66 years old when he was sent to the White Sea Canal ... Six months after his release, he died.

Dmitry Andreevich Dostoevsky.

The great-grandson of Dostoevsky, Dmitry Andreevich, born in 1945, lives in St. Petersburg. By profession, he is a tram driver, he worked all his life on route No. 34. In one of his interviews, he says: “In my youth, I hid that I was the only direct descendant of Dostoevsky in the male line. Now I'm proud to say it." Grandson Andrei Fyodorovich Dostoevsky, engineer, front-line soldier, creator of the F.M. Dostoevsky Museum in Leningrad. Here is what his son has to say about him.

"He was dominated famous saying Lenin about the "arch-bad Dostoevsky". When Dostoevsky was thrown off the "ship of modernity" at the first Congress Soviet writers, the father exclaimed: “Well, I’m no longer the grandson of a Russian classic!” He was born in Simferopol. After high school, already in Soviet time, entered the Novocherkassk Polytechnic Institute. He was drawn to all sorts of pieces of iron, I know that he was almost the first in the south to take a great interest in radio. But he was expelled from the institute, according to him, for refusing to take off his student cap. Then they fought with any class affiliation. In fact, the reason was different, I managed to find it out in the archives of the FSB. He visited the house of the professor, who was later arrested.

Alexei Dmitrievich Dostoevsky

Andrei Fyodorovich Dostoevsky

After being expelled, he goes to Leningrad to his uncle Andrei Andreevich.

Here he graduated from the Polytechnic Institute and became a specialist in timber processing. Uncle was soon arrested in the "Academic Case". This case was invented by the Chekists themselves. Seven academicians were arrested and 128 more people were added to them, forty of which were employees of the Pushkin House, where Andrei Andreevich also worked.

He was given five years in prison and sent to build the White Sea-Baltic Canal. He was 64 years old, and maybe his age influenced him, maybe Lunacharsky's intercession, but he was released. He died two years later, having managed to release a book of his father's memoirs. Dostoevedy appreciate this book, it describes the childhood years of Fyodor Mikhailovich, and this is very important in understanding a person.

Shortly after his death, my father was arrested again, again accused of "counter-revolutionary" conversations with a professor from Novocherkassk. He was kept for a month big house and released for lack of evidence. Mom said that since then he was very afraid ... "

I must say that both the grandson and great-grandson of Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky did for the opening of the writer's museum in St. Petersburg. Our family gave the museum furniture that belonged to the writer's nephew Andrey. I must say that the townspeople very actively responded to the museum's call to donate furniture from that era. But! Let's listen to the great-grandson of F. M., Dostoevsky: “The museum opened in 1971, after the death of my father, I began to take part in its work. Many years have passed and, of course, much has changed in the museum. Not everything that has changed, I support. Came to nothing scientific work museum, it has become an ordinary collection of exhibits. The exposition itself has also changed, the last change upset me. The memorial part, the writer’s apartment itself, never acquired the spirit of the family that lived in it, and yet, according to the writer himself, it was the most happy time his life."

And again, Fyodor Dostoevsky is the successor of a great family.