The 1862 case of the writer F. M. Dostoevsky

Dostoevsky's first trip abroad in the summer of 1862 took place in the midst of an aggravated political situation in Russia, facilitated by radical revolutionary unrest in St. Petersburg, Moscow and other cities, fires that followed the proclamations and raised suspicions of arson. To combat radical propaganda, an Investigative Commission for the dissemination of revolutionary appeals was established under the chairmanship of Prince A. F. Golitsyn. F. M. Dostoevsky, who had met with Herzen in London in July 1862, came to its attention. The article examines materials from the investigation file of the III Department “On the writer Fyodor Dostoevsky,” which have not been previously published and which allow to clarify both the facts of the writer’s biography, and the significance of this historical and literary event. The register of books and papers seized from Dostoevsky at the border is of particular interest. An analysis allows to understand what concerned the writer, what he read and deliberated. The first issue of the magazine Russische Revue, published in May 1862, is of particular importance. Its editor V. Wolfson witnessed Dostoevsky's literary success in 1845. He witnessed Dostoevsky’s triumph at the salon of Prince Odoevsky, and was an admirer and translator of his works. The article establishes new facts of German-Russian literary contacts in 1840-1860 and Dostoevsky’s biography.