Title: The House of the Dead
First published: 1886
Description: The House of the Dead (Russian: Записки из Мёртвого дома, Zapiski iz Myortvovo doma) is a semi-autobiographical novel published in 1860–2 in the journal Vremya by Russian author Fyodor Dostoevsky, which portrays the life of convicts in a Siberian prison camp. The novel has also been published under the titles Memoirs from the House of The Dead, Notes from the Dead House (or Notes from a Dead House), and Notes from the House of the Dead. The book is, essentially, a disguised memoir; a loosely-knit collection of facts, events and philosophical discussion organised by "theme" rather than as a continuous story. Dostoevsky himself spent four years in exile in such a prison following his conviction for involvement in the Petrashevsky Circle. This experience allowed him to describe with great authenticity the conditions of prison life and the characters of the convicts.
Subjects: Poor, Exiles, Classic Literature, Fiction, Social conditions, Russian Short stories, Russia, Fiction, general, Continental european fiction (fictional works by one author), Slavic philology, Social life and customs, Translations into English, Prisons, Long Now Manual for Civilization, Russian fiction
Places: Siberia (Russia), Siberia, Russia (Federation), Russia, Siberia (R.S.F.S.R.)
Time periods: 1801-1917