Bobok: From Somebody’s Diary

By Fyodor Dostoevsky

"Bobok" is a 1873 short story by Russian author Fyodor Dostoyevsky. It is presented as the diary of Ivan Ivanovitch, a writer who goes to a funeral where he falls into deep contemplation. After a while, he begins to hear the voices of the recently dead, listening to their conversations about card games and political scandals. Our eavesdropper also learns that it is the “inertia" of consciousness that enables them to communicate in the grave, which they can do for up to a year. However, what he goes on to hear leaves him with a great sense of sadness and disappointment. Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky (1821 – 1881) was a Russian novelist, essayist, short story writer, journalist, and philosopher. His literature examines human psychology during the turbulent social, spiritual and political atmosphere of 19th-century Russia, and he is considered one of the greatest psychologists in world literature. A prolific writer, Dostoevsky produced 11 novels, three novellas, 17 short stories and numerous other works. This volume is not to be missed by fans of Russian literature and lovers of Dostoevsky's seminal work. Other notable works by this author include: “Crime and Punishment” (1866), “Notes from the Underground” (1864), and “The Idiot” (1869). Many vintage books such as this are increasingly scarce and expensive. We are republishing this volume now in an affordable, modern, high-quality edition complete with a specially-commissioned new biography of the author.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Read Books Ltd.
• Release date: Feb 8, 2019
• ISBN: 9781528786249

Fyodor Dostoevsky

Fyodor Dostoevsky was born in Moscow in 1821. Between 1838 and 1843 he studied at the St Petersburg Engineering Academy. His first work of fiction was the epistolary novel Poor Folk (1846), which met with a generally favourable response. However, his immediately subsequent works were less enthusiastically received. In 1849 Dostoevsky was arrested as a member of the socialist Petrashevsky circle, and subjected to a mock execution. He suffered four years in a Siberian penal settlement and then another four years of enforced military service. He returned to writing in the late 1850s and travelled abroad in the 1860s. It was during the last twenty years of his life that he wrote the iconic works, such as Notes from the Underground (1864), Crime and Punishment (1866), The Idiot (1868) and The Brothers Karamazov (1880), which were to form the basis of his formidable reputation. He died in 1881.

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BOBOK

FROM SOMEBODY’S DIARY

BY

FYODOR DOSTOEVSKY

First Published in 1873

This edition published by Read Books Ltd.

Copyright © 2018 Read Books Ltd.

This book is copyright and may not be

reproduced or copied in any way without

the express permission of the publisher in writing

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available

from the British Library

Contents

FYODOR DOSTOEVSKY

BOBOK

Fyodor Dostoevsky

Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky was born in Moscow, as the second son of a former army doctor. Raised within the grounds of the Mariinsky hospital, at an early age he was introduced to English, French, German and Russian literature, as well as to fairy-tales and legends. He was educated at home and at a private school, but shortly after the death of his mother in 1837, he was sent to St. Petersburg, where he entered the Army Engineering College.

In 1839 Dostoevsky's father died. A year later, Dostoevsky graduated as a military engineer, but resigned in 1844 to devote himself to writing. While earning money from translations, he wrote his first novel, Poor Folk, which appeared in 1846. It was followed by The Double (1846), which depicted a man who was haunted by a look-alike who eventually usurps his position.

In 1846, Dostoevsky joined a group of utopian socialists. He was arrested in 1849 and sentenced to death. After a mock execution, his sentence was reduced to imprisonment in Siberia. Dostoevsky spent four years in hard labour – ten years later, he would turn these experiences into The House of the Dead (1860). Upon his release, he joined the army in Semipalatinsk (North-East Kazakhstan), where he remained for a further four years.

Dostoevsky returned to St. Petersburg in 1854. Three years later, he married Maria Isaev, a 29-year old widow. He resigned from the army in 1859, and focussed once more on writing. Between the years