Dostoevsky's Relationship with Mikhail Mikhailovich Dostoevsky
Background
Mikhail Mikhailovich Dostoevsky was Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky’s older brother by one year and was born in 1820 (Carr 11). Growing up in their father’s hospital, the brothers shared a windowless partitioned section of a hall (Frank 7; Carr 12).
Engineering school
In 1833 Mikhail and Fyodor were sent to study at Souchard’s day school and in 1834 went to Chermak’s boarding school (Frank 17; Carr 15). Both brothers had great love for literature and dreamed of literary careers, but their father had previously decided they would ultimately be military engineers (Frank 19, 33; Martinsen 118). To prepare for entrance exams for engineering school they were placed in a boarding school in St. Petersburg in 1837 (Carr 16; Bowers 6). After which they both applied for the Academy of Military Engineers located in Petersburg, however Mikhail was rejected admission and instead attended the Engineering Academy in Reval (Frank 29; Carr 16; Bowers 6).
Letters
As the brothers were admitted to schools in different cities it caused a physical separation between them, but they continued to correspond through letters that are used today as the main source of information documenting this time and others in their lives (Carr 16). Although they were attending engineering schools, being in service to the state was not in their will and so they both continued their literary pursuits (Frank 51; Bowers 1). Within their letters they would discuss literature, writers, what they had or were reading, their written work and their personal lives (Frank 51-60). In 1843 Fyodor proposed that he and Mikhail translate Eugene Sue’s Mathilde in a letter, but due to lack of money this translation project did not come to fruition, but they did translate other works together (Frank 70-72).
Later on, in 1849 when Fyodor stands in a mock execution and is imprisoned for his involvement in the Petrashevsky circle, a group of writers and artists who would discuss social-political topics, which Mikhail was also a member of, he would continue to exchange letters with Mikhail (Carr 42; Bowers 3; Frank 145-160). In these letters Fyodor asks Mikhail for financial support on several occasions to support his literary career and his livelihood (Frank 64, 274, 352, 406; Marullo 17; Bowers 51; Carr 84, 92). Mikhail also acted as a literary agent for Fyodor while he was in prison as he organized for his works to be published and communicated with journals on his behalf (Frank 257-258).
Business partners
In 1859 Fyodor was released from Siberia and was aiming to rejoin the literary scene (Bowers 323; Martinsen 280-281). Fyodor and Mikhail had been corresponding about starting a literary journal of their own, and they received permission in 1858, but due to financial circumstances it wasn’t until 1861 that their first literary journal called Time (Vremya) began (Martinsen 272, 280-281; Frank 399). Time was later shut down by censors in 1863, but the brothers, through Mikhail’s petitions to the relevant authorities, were able to start a second journal called Epoch in 1864 (Martinsen 272). Mikhail was at first managing Epoch himself and after hearing an article he was hoping to get financial support was not approved by the censors he died in July 1864 (Frank 441-442). Upon his death Fyodor felt a responsibility towards Mikhail to keep the journal going (though is also closed in 1865), to support his remaining family financially as he had supported him, and because of his love for his beloved older brother (Martinsen 4; Carr 96; Frank 441-442; Bowers 6).
Further Reading
Dostoevsky's letters and reminiscences from 1821-1881
Letters of Fyodor Michailovitch Dostoyevsky to his family and friends from 1821-1881
References
Frank, Joseph. Dostoevsky: A Writer in His Time, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2009. https://doi.org/10.1515/9781400833412
Carr, Edward Hallett. Dostoevsky 1821-1881. 1st ed., Routledge, 1962. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315761350
Martinsen, Deborah A., and Maĭorova Olga, editors. Dostoevsky in Context. Cambridge University Press, 2016. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139236867
Bowers, Katherine, et al., editors. A Dostoevskii Companion: Texts and Contexts. Academic Studies Press, 2018. https://doi.org/10.1515/9781618117281
Marullo, Thomas Gaiton. Fyodor Dostoevsky - The Gathering Storm (1846-1847): A Life in Letters, Memoirs, and Criticism. Cornell University Press, 2020. https://doi.org/10.1515/9781501751875