The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1912-08-10

What Shakespeare was for England.
Goethe for Germany. Crevantes for
Spain, Dante for Italy and Victor for
France that was Feodor Mihailo-
witch Dostoyevsky for Sussia. If you
ask an average educated Russian, But
how about Turgenieff and Tolstoy >"
he would reply "Oh, well, the one
was too much a cosmopolitan, artist
and aristocrat. the other too much OF
a moralist. But Dostoyevesky's pen
IL the true mirror of all the Slavic
racial character, passion. gloom,
struggle. despair and agony.
| 'Notx in Gotthe's Faust. or Shake
spores Hamlet but In Dostoyev-
sky Crime and Punishment does all
the woe of mankind take hold Of US 80
exclaimed George Barndes the fore
1nost literary critic Of this century
| Not only is DostoyevsRy one Of the
greatest novelists OF all the ages, but
MS own life Is terrible and I'M
| equalled drama in itself Having
fathomed the agony Of Gethscmane
ne also had felt the other agony OF
| Hamlet. Not in vain had he wait
- So ipbtu MS SHlTti IN the SeHtnn-
sky square In Fl. PetersBurg, on that
cold and bleak 22nd Of December,
Tor seventy minutes. trembling and
| half unconscious. the moment Of exc
cution. Not in vain had he suffered
the imprisonment, chains ba nishment
TO Siberia, hard la Dor. and all the
/ humiliation which he had undergone
Tor his ideals Of freedom. Dostove y
SKY as man and writer stands
unique. There is no literary genius
equal to him
| hovers the mysterious, silent menace
Of St. Petersburg
The horrible secrets of that city,
oozing out Of fetid cellars. esca ping
through gratirgs, permeating the very
arr and shadows of the luxurious and
miseraole structures-these are what
poison the minds and bodies Of most
or Dostoyeysky's eccentric and senti-
mental characters. These are what
MAKE Raskolnikoff. the STUDENT dream
or, a murderer; Sonia, the poor girl.
street womsn--one the hero, the
other the heroine, In his Crime and
Punish ment," The glimpse of his
Hecollections Of Dead House" is
sufncfent to give an idea OF the hor-
ribie experiences OF the author Here
are ryw paragraphs Of the Siberian
convictH bathroom:
Few of the convicts really washed
themselves. as the common people
care but little for soap their idea OF
a bath consisting Of getting up to
the highest shelf so as to stand the
almost Boiling heat of steam bath.
whippf&s themselves violently with a
bundle Of birch twigs and then pour
ing cola water on their backs
me Shelves are covered with CON
vlcts- About fifty birch rods were
in constant movement. Water was
being continually thrown at the red
hot STOKES of the stove unite the heat
became unbearable. All this mass of
numah bodies was swaying backward
and forward. shouting and yelling and
clankinE their chains on the foor.
Some in trying to cross the floor were
caught in The chains OF those who
were sitting down. cursing and swear
ing.
from time to time the moustached
face Of soldier would peer in at the
door or window to see il there were
any disorders going on. The closely
cropped pates and hot cropped bodies
OF the convtcts appeared TO me more
hideous than ever. Their backs were
covered with scars from the ash of
The sticks which stood out wildly on
the red surface. and looked Ike SO
many resh stripes. / could not help
shuddering with horror at the sight Of
them, More water was thrown over
the hot stones and thick cl3ud OF
vapor rose from them filing the whole
bath room to the floor. while madden
ing shrieks and sounds continued"
The writings or Dostoyevskv are
nothing but inverted pictures OF his
own experience and soul L was
MOSCOW "a
second son OF retired military sur
geon. and educated in the military en-
Eineering academy In ST. Petersburg.
which he left in 1914 with the grade
of suhlieutenant. Next year his father
died and he resigned his commission
in order to devote himself to literature
thus commencing struggle with bad
health and poverty. Balzac, George
sand. Gosol. poushkin and Dickens
supplied him with literary ideals. He
wrote as his first novel Poor People
in which the influence of Dickens is /
noticeable in the manner of !
the treatment OF his plot. The story !
was frst published In The Annals uf /
the Country" edited by Kravsky Be /
ing wretchedly underpaid he began to !
feel the grip OF misery more and more. /
During ls47 he Joined the revolutionary
group OF petrachevsky, which advo- I
&C tea II ttEbFNUS FQQFA1atfk OF 'FaSaf1AS &
and the abolition Of autocrICy. /
ON the Esd of April. ls4s, u, toyve- .
sky with thirty other suspected per
sonages. was arrested and confined Ia /
he fortress Of SITS. Peter and Pau in /
st. Petersburg. Here he wrote he |
ssory "A little Here on the I'D of
December. of the same year. the ac-
FUSED were all condemned 10 death ana |
conveyed in vans to large seaffold /
erected on tha S.fueHyky
Square As the soldiers were prcpar-
ng 10 carry out the sentence. the /
prisoners were informed that t4tlr /
penalty was committed to hard labor
our years at hard labor. and there
after an enforced military service in
he ranks for life.
His release and enlistment to the
irmv subjected him only 20 fresh in
'ignities as common soldier at
In 1858. through the
ntercession OF an old school senrade,
General Todlhen, he was made an IN
'ession OF Alexander H. to the throne,
lie was finally pardoned ard permitted
o return TO European Russia. In
SIS he had married the widow o, a
onvict, Nine. Isaeff. with whom. he did /
lot live very happily, she being a wom-
In with little education.
Arrived in st, Petersburg he took
lp writing But the publishers and
nagazines paid him SO little that he
vas always on the verge OF starvation.
or journey abroad. on which oe
ID. .t.~44 - -fxai