Dostoevsky's Childhood

Dostoevsky was an affectionate child who loved his family, but transformed throughout his youth due to his abusive and anxious relationship with his father. Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky was born in Moscow in 1821 (the exact date varies in literature), and spent his childhood in the countryside of Ukraine, mostly with his mother and siblings as his father worked in the city. His mother, Mariya Fyodorovna, was a woman who came from a family of merchants and died when he was 15. His father, Mikhail Andreyevich, a doctor who earned a middle class earning, did not have a fond impression on Fyodor and was maybe the reason he developed epilepsy in his childhood. Dostoevsky, a lighthearted and playful boy who was described as a ball of fire by his mother, changed into “an unsociable, contemplative youth.” He was an imminent prankster and was often warned by his older brother that one day he’ll get it from their father. The children were scared of their father and would show excellent manners in front of him. His father often got attacks of depression and was cruel towards his family members and servants. His childhood was “hardly serene… the conflicts with his father, his fear of him, and a latent ill-will borne toward him developed a reticence and lack of straightforwardness early in the boy’s life… the problem of fathers and children, of crime and punishment, of guilt and responsibility met Dostoevsky at the very threshold of his conscious life.”

Minihan, A. Michael. Dostoevsky; His Life and Work by Konstantin Mochulsky. Princeton Universty Press, 1967. Printed in United States of America.