Marya Dmitrievna Dostoevskaya
Marya Dimitrievna Dostoevskaya
In comparison to Fyodor Dostoevsky’s second marriage, to Anna Grigoryevna Dostoyevskaya, relatively little is known about Marya Dimitrievna or her marriage to Dostoevsky.
Background
Marya Dimitrievna Dostoevskaya’s grandfather was a french refugee who had left France at the height of the French Revolution[1]. Additionally, Marya Dimitrievna’s father was involved in quarantining travellers arriving from the Caspian Sea, and this position afforded Marya Dimitrievna and her siblings a higher quality of education than was usual in home and birthplace of Semipalatinsk[2].
At some point prior to the birth of her son, Pavel Alexandrovich Isaev, in 1848, Marya Dimitrievna was married to Alexander Ivanovich Isaev, a civil servant. By all accounts, Alexander Ivanovich was a chronic drunkard, and this habit caused himself, Marya Dimitrievna, and their son, Pasha, to live in abject poverty[3].
Meeting
Marya Dimitrievna first met Dostoevsky when he was serving as a tutor in Semipalatinsk. Dostoevsky thought highly of Alexander Ivanovich, writing to his brother that he “was, despite all the dirt, exceptionally noble.”[4] However, from very early in their acquaintance, Dostoevsky’s feelings towards Marya Dimitrievna were deeply romantic, and she is widely considered his first great love.
Dostoevsky became a frequent visitor at the home of the Isaevs and in a letter dated 1855 expressed a deep love and gratitude for the family[5]. However, the romance between Marya Dimitrievna and Dostoevsky was cut short when her husband took a job in Kuznetsk, a small wilderness town in Siberia. This period of separation was punctuated by weekly letters between the two, in which Marya detailed her familial struggles in Kuznetsk[6].
Marriage
When Marya Dimitrievna’s husband died in the summer of 1855, Dostoevsky immediately sent money to support her, and redoubled his efforts to increase in rank in order to be able to marry her properly. However, once Dostoevsky arrived in Kuznetsk, he found Marya Dimitrievna involved with a young school teacher. Despite this obstacle, Dostoevsky ultimately emerged with her affections, and the couple was married in February of 1857[7].
Marya Dimitrievna and Dostoevsky did not have a blissful marriage. Shortly after their marriage, Marya discovered the severity of Dostoevsky’s epilepsy, which she found upsetting and difficult to deal with[8]. Furthermore, shortly after their marriage, Dostoevsky began to realize the fragile state of Marya Dmitrievna’s physical health and emotional state. As a result of this tumultuous relationship references to Marya Dmitrievna became increasingly rare in Dostoevsky’s personal writings and letters following their marriage[9].
Illness and Death
Marya Dimitrievna suffered from tuberculosis, and spent her final months in Moscow, very ill with a fever. Although she denied the extent of her illness, still making plans for the summer weeks before her death, she eventually succumbed to her disease in March of 1864[10].
References
- ↑ Lantz, K. A. The Dostoevsky encyclopedia. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2004. Web.
- ↑ Frank, Joseph. Dostoevsky: a writer in his time. Princeton, NJ: Princeton U Press, 2010. Print.
- ↑ Frank, Joseph. Dostoevsky: a writer in his time. Princeton, NJ: Princeton U Press, 2010. Print.
- ↑ Frank, Joseph. Dostoevsky: a writer in his time. Princeton, NJ: Princeton U Press, 2010. Print.
- ↑ http://theamericanreader.com/4-june-1855-fyodor-dostoevsky-to-maria-dmitrievna-isaeva/
- ↑ Frank, Joseph. Dostoevsky: a writer in his time. Princeton, NJ: Princeton U Press, 2010. Print.
- ↑ Frank, Joseph. Dostoevsky: a writer in his time. Princeton, NJ: Princeton U Press, 2010. Print.
- ↑ Carr, Edward Hallett. Dostoevsky 1821-1881. London: Routledge, 2016. Web.
- ↑ Frank, Joseph. Dostoevsky: a writer in his time. Princeton, NJ: Princeton U Press, 2010. Print.
- ↑ Frank, Joseph. Dostoevsky: a writer in his time. Princeton, NJ: Princeton U Press, 2010. Print.