Dostoevsky as Performer Essay

Dostoevsky as Performer Essay

Dostoevsky as Performer



Storytelling and reading aloud played a valuable part in young Fyodor's life, influencing his own later successful writing endeavors as well as his performance of literature. His nanny and wet nurse introduced the Dostoevsky children to folklore and lives of the saints through the stories they told. Nanny Alyona Frolovna "told the children stories of ancient Russia, of Saint Sergey of Moscow subduing a bear by the power of his holiness, of heroes and legends and folk tales, Christianity and Russian myth intertwined"; the stories were so vivid and frightening that the children had trouble sleeping (Gunn 10). During the winter their former wet nurses would make a ceremonial visit to the Dostoevsky family, staying ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...The Gothic novels of Ann Radcliffe were favorites of the Dostoevskys. Frank contends that Dostoevsky, influenced by Radcliffe, would later incorporate Gothic techniques of plot, character, and atmosphere "and carry them to a peak of perfection that has never been surpassed" (1976, 55). Among the literature read and discussed by the Dostoevsky fireside were the Bible, writings of Nikolai Karamzin, including History of the Russian State, Letters of a Russian Traveller, and Poor Liza; the poets Vasily Zhukovsky, Mikhail Y. Lermontov, Gavriil R. Derzhavin, and, of course, Alexander Pushkin; and the novelist Sir Walter Scott. Frank believes that "the readings in the family circle were designed to stimulate and benefit the children and to turn them into Godfearing and loyal citizens of the Tsar" (1976, 5960). Geir Kjetsaa reports that the Dostoevsky parents were fine readers "and the two oldest boys [Mikhail and Fyodor] did not lag far behind them" and is convinced that for Fyodor "these reading sessions served as a literary foundation for his entire life" (10).



The influence of Fyodor's mother, his first teacher, was no doubt strong as she conveyed her love of poetry and novels as well as music. Fyodor began to read for himself "at the age of four from an antique volume containing a hundred and four Bible tales" and "conceived a passion for the book of Job"

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