Feodor Dostoevsky

The 190th birthday of Russian writer
Feodor Dostoevsky (1821–1881)

Great writers remain great forever in spite of the fact that the last day of their terrestrial life has come long ago, the last page in their works is written, and the full stop is marked. Their heroes and works continue to live as they do not leave indifferent readers of new generations.

Feodor Dostoevsky stays perfectly great and universal in all the epochs coming after his life. The grandeur of his personality and heritage is marked first of all with the fact that his works touch upon eternal philosophical problems of human life, spirituality and belief. According to UNESCO, in the past century Dostoevsky was one of the most readable writers in the world. He remains the same in the beginning of new 21st century when traditions of classical Russian, Belarusian and world literature have given place to various style currents and new philosophical concepts.

The National Library of Belarus offers a book exhibition “The sufferer genius” dedicated to the 190th birthday of great Russian writer Feodor Dostoevsky. The anniversary exposition includes about 150 editions such as collected works, collections of selected works, separate works, articles and letters, graphic materials, literature about the writer’s life and career.

Of all his works, Dostoevsky most loved “Дневник писателя” (A Writer’s Diary). He was thinking of the content and the form of the "Diary" till the end of his life. The "Diary" was full of thoughts and ideas. This work is the encyclopedia of Dostoevsky’s creativity, his experimental laboratory and the stock of materials for other works. Three volumes of the "Diary" were published between 1873 and 1881. The offered exhibition presents “A Writer’s Diary for 1876” published in 1883 in St.-Petersburg.

There is a number of interesting literature devoted to the writer’s life and creativity. The book “Мысли, высказывания и афоризмы Достоевского” (Dostoevsky’s Thoughts, Quotes and Aphorisms) published in 1975 in Paris is the first attempt to edit F.M. Dostoevsky’s aphorisms and quotes. All the aphorisms are selected only from the works in which the writer speaks on his behalf. For the convenience of readers, all the quotes are classed in the following groups: “Russia and the Russians”, “Europe”, “Religion”, ”Literature and art”, “Various themes”.

There is the unique encyclopedic dictionary by S.V. Belova “Ф. М. Достоевский и его окружение” (F.M. Dostoevsky And His Associates) (2001) in two volumes. On the basis of printed and archival sources the author has reconstructed the portraits of all contemporaries with whom the ingenious Russian writer met and creatively cooperated. All the articles in the edition are divided into three groups depending on which trace one or another contemporary left in the writer’s life and creativity: brief, more detailed and, at last, fundamental articles tracing the long-term and controversial history of Dostoevsky’s relations.

The exposition includes an electronic book – the comprehensive encyclopedic collection of the writer’s works “Достоевский Ф.М.” (F.M. Dostoevsky) (2002). The CD comprises all fictions, articles, critical essays, Dostoevsky’s diary, commercial papers, correspondence, notebooks, works attributed to the writer, 98 works about his life and career, the chronicles of his life and creative activity, more than 500 illustrations, 3 hours of music by the writer’s contemporaries P. Tchaikovsky and N. Rimsky-Korsakov.

Modern editions about the writer’s creativity, world view and life are of significant interest. The book by S.V. Belov “Петербург Достоевского” (Dostoevsky’s Petersburg) (2002), is devoted to the 300th anniversary of St.-Petersburg and reconstructs Petersburg addresses of F.M. Dostoevsky and his characters and analyzes the art of Petersburg reading of “Crime and Punishment”. Andrzej de Lazari’s edition "В кругу Федора Достоевского. Почвенничество” (In The Circle Of Feodor Dostoevsky. The Concept Of The Soil) (2004) considers the concept of the soil as the world view of the thinkers and writers consolidated around the magazines "Время” (Time) (1861-1863) and "Эпоха” (Epoch) (1864-1865) which were published in Petersburg by brothers M. and F. Dostoevsky. The book by N.G. Goncharova "Достоевский в зеркалах графики и критики” (Dostoevsky In The Mirrors Of Graphics And Critics) (2005) is the first attempt to generalize the experience in illustration of F.M. Dostoevsky’s books. It is possible to regard this edition as the first step to creation of a catalogue of illustrative material for 150 years. The first collection of a series of publications of the International Dostoevsky Society “Достоевский и русское зарубежье ХХ века” (Dostoevsky And The Russians Abroad In The 20th Century) (2008) contains reports of XII International Symposium on Dostoevsky in Geneva which took place on 1-6 September, 2004.