poor people
Poor People ( Russian : Бедные люди ) is the first novel by the Russian writer Fyodor Dostoyevsky . The epistolary novel was written between 1844 and 1845 and established Dostoyevsky's fame. It reached an unusually broad readership and was also received with euphoria by influential contemporary critics such as Vissarion Grigoryevich Belinsky . It was first published in the Peterburgski Sbornik magazine in 1846 .
action
The novel describes the love of the copyist Makar Alexejewitsch Dewuschkin for the much younger seamstress Varvara Alexejewna Dobrosjolowa. It is told exclusively through an exchange of letters between the two. The main characters live on the same street in a poor district of Petersburg. Varvara sublet lives with an elderly relative who - with reference to previous beneficiaries - exerts a strong influence on her. No further details about the past of the two are known. Dewuschkin, who wears worn and dirty clothes and lives in miserable housing conditions, sees himself as a rat in society. There was an exchange of letters with Varvara, as well as occasional visits, which were never detailed. The two books also exchange. Dewuschkin is offended when Varvara hands him a copy of Gogol's cloak , because he thinks the protagonist's life is like his. Finally, Varwara decides to marry a wealthy widower (and acquaintances of her relatives) named Bykov, who should restore her honor and free her from her fate.
In the correspondence, which lasts over six months, Dewuschkin takes the more prominent role. He falls in love with Varvara and is unhappy when she decides to actually marry Bykov in order to escape her poor circumstances. His delicate attempts to dissuade her from this endeavor, however, are unsuccessful; she will leave Petersburg. Dewuschkin even receives orders from her concerning the preparation of the wedding, which hits him hard. The novel ends with a letter from Dewuschkin, which is no longer answered.
literature
expenditure
- Fjodor Dostojewski: poor people (German by Hermann Röhl ), Frankfurt: Insel (2007) ISBN 978-3458338468
- Fjodor Dostojewski: poor people (German by Hermann Röhl ), Cologne: Anaconda (2013) ISBN 978-3-86647-960-9
Secondary literature
- Rudolf Neuhäuser: Dostoyevsky's early work , Heidelberg: Carl Winter (1979) ISBN 3-533-02711-2
- John Jones: Poor People , in ders .: Dostoevsky , New York: Oxford University Press (1983) ISBN 0-19-812645-X