Author Archives: jkmcsparran

Letters between Poor Folk and The Double (1846) Shortly before publishing his second novel, Dostoevsky wrote the following to his brother: Some [critics] find a new and original streak in me in the fact that I proceed by Analysis rather than by Synthesis, i.e., that I go deep down and, digging it up, atom byContinue reading

Poor Folk (1846) Fascination—the reader’s holy bliss, thus the writer’s holy grail.  Fascination often starts when I find myself wanting something on behalf of a character.  When this character’s desire meets resistance, my urge to see the character fulfilled increases.  This could be part of why the two narrators of Poor Folk can fascinate meContinue reading

Letters Leading up to Poor Folk (1838-1846) I just reread Poor Folk, published when Dostoevsky was twenty-four.  Twenty-four? How did he have such a deep sense of psychology at twenty-four?  I found a clue in his letters.  He writes this to his brother, Mikhail, in 1839: “I am learning a good deal about ‘what is man and what isContinue reading