Fjodor Dostojewski

Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky (1821–1881) was a Russian writer. Born in Moscow to a physician, he studied at the engineering school of the St. Petersburg Military Academy from 1838 to 1843. After a brief period of military service, he devoted himself entirely to literature from 1845 onward. His debut novel, Poor Folk (1846), established his reputation. In 1849, Dostoevsky was arrested for his association with a socialist circle and sentenced to death; the sentence was commuted to several years of forced labor in Siberia followed by military service. His major works include Notes from a Dead House, Crime and Punishment, The Idiot, Demons, and The Brothers Karamazov.