Dostoevsky: The Years of Ordeal , 1850-1859 (Dostoevsky (Frank, Joseph))

Volume two of one of the greatest literary biographies of our timeJoseph Frank's award-winning, five-volume Dostoevsky is widely recognized as the best biography of the Russian novelist in any language and one of the greatest literary biographies ever written. In this monumental work, Frank blends biography, intellectual history, and literary criticism to illuminate Dostoevsky's works and set them in their personal, historical, and ideological context. More than a biography in the usual sense, this is a cultural history of nineteenth-century Russia, providing both a rich picture of the world in which Dostoevsky lived and a major reinterpretation of his life and work.This volume opens with the detention of the bookish young writer for membership in the radical Petrashevsky Circle and closes with his return to the capital ten years later as an ex-convict and former soldier who now proclaims himself an ardent supporter of the czar and the Russian imperial dynasty. This Present Volume Is The Second In A Series Dealing With The Life And Works Of Dostoevsky ... During The Ten Years [he] Spent First In Solitary Confinement, Then In A Prison Camp In Siberia, And Finally As A Soldier In One Of The Siberian Regiments Of The Russian Army. --preface. Part I : The Peter-and-paul Fortress. Introduction ; The Petrashevsky Affair ; A Wealth Of Life ; Clever, Independent, Cunning, Stubborn ; The Incident On Semenovsky Square -- Part Ii : Katorga. First Impressions ; A World Of Moral Horror ; A Russian Patriot ; The Peasant Marey ; A New Vision ; Monsters In Their Misery -- Part Iii : First Love. A Thirst For Knowledge ; Private Dostoevsky ; An Influential Friend ; A Knight In Female Clothing -- Part Iv : A Second Start. A Russian Heart ; Weak And Strong Types ; Literary Projects ; The Siberian Novellas : Uncle's Dream, The Village Of Stepanchikovo ; Homecoming. Joseph Frank. Continues: Dostoevsky : The Seeds Of Revolt, 1821-1849. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. This second volume of the life of Dostoevsky deals with the period between the time of his arrest as a conspirator in the Petrashevsky case and his return to St. Petersburg, ten years later, a changed man both physically and spiritually. The description for this book, Dostoevsky: The Years of Ordeal, 1850-1859, will be forthcoming.