DOSTOEVSKY IN LOVE

Christofi, editorial director at Transworld Publishers and a Betty Trask Prize–winning novelist, is well-equipped for this biography of a “deeply moral writer” who was “fiercely devoted to raising up the downtrodden and giving them a voice.” Even as he advocated for “the outcasts, the prostitutes, the humiliated, the sick and the silenced of his day,” Dostoevsky’s own life was “a succession of curses.” He lost his mother during childhood, suffered from epilepsy, endured numerous failed relationships, faced hard labor in Siberia, struggled with a gambling habit, and lost his first child shortly after her birth, an event that led to “bottomless grief.” He felt his emotions deeply, absorbed the experiences of those suffering around him, and poured his passion into his writing. “Ever since he had been sent to Siberia,” writes Christofi, “storytelling had been his last refuge, the skin that kept the distance between his tender heart and the cruelties of the world.” After experiencing publication setbacks for years, Dostoevsky eventually became “one of the preeminent names in Russian literature”—and found deep love with his second wife, Anna, a stenographer and memoirist. Unfortunately, by the time he finished the last chapters of The Brothers Karamazov, he was “dreadfully sick and worn out,” surviving mostly on his dedication to his craft and abiding love for Anna. On his deathbed, he told his wife, “Remember, Anna, I always loved you passionately and was never unfaithful to you, even in my thoughts.” Drawing on Dostoevsky’s letters, journals, fiction, and other sources, Christofi successfully constructs a biographical portrait that is “both novelistic and true to life.” The narrative is both an illuminating literary biography and an evocative snapshot of the context in which the great writer created his enduring work.

Dostoevsky fans are certain to find this book insightful and captivating.