Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Fyodor Dostoevsky was born in Moscow, Russia to a family of seven. His father was a surgeon and alcoholic who worked in a hospital in one of the worst parts of the city, and as a youth he was exposed to many criminals and peasants who came in the hospital which later would influence his work. Both of his parents died when he was in his late teens, leaving him to grow up on his own. It is rumored that his father was killed by angry peasants due to his treatment of his patients. He was drafted into the Russian military for a short period of time. He was taught engineering and mathematics, which he grew to despise. Literature definitely became his forte. Later in life Dostoyevsky grew very liberal in his politics and convictions and was a part of a literary club with a few colleagues. He was arrested for this activity as the Tsar saw it as underground activity prone to revolution, which occurred often in 19^th century Russian. Dostoyevsky was exiled in Siberia to a
“gulag”, a hellish work camp with unbearable cold and backbreaking work. This changed his whole philosophy on life and influenced his writings more than anything. He became detached from Western ideas and developed his own theories on suffering and submission.