November 06, 2021

A Not-Comprehensive List of Dostoyevsky 200th Events


A Not-Comprehensive List of Dostoyevsky 200th Events
You can always just go to the Dostoyevsky Museum in St. Petersburg on November 11 – if you have your QR code! Amanda Shirnina

On the eve of the 200th anniversary of Fyodor Dostoyevsky's birth (November 11, 2021), here is a totally not-comprehensive (incomprehensible?) list of Dostoyevsky events. If you are in St. Petersburg, where the famous novelist died and is buried but was not born, you will ironically not be able to celebrate him anywhere unless you have a QR code.

Stuff in Russia

Russian President Vladimir Putin declared 2021 the Year of Dostoyevsky in Russia. Dostoyevsky Day has been celebrated in St. Petersburg every first Saturday in July for the past twelve years. You can even check it out online.

As for the upcoming birthday itself, the Theatre of the Nations in Moscow has a Dostoyevsky 200 page on which it proposes to "refresh the perception of classical works and the image of Fyodor Mikhailovich" and asks "which themes and plots of Dostoyevsky's are most relevant now, what stereotypes we encounter in the perception of a classic, what and how Fyodor Mikhailovich would write if he were our contemporary, and who would his heroes be today?" Dostoyevsky 200 events are taking place throughout November and December in Moscow. Check out the schedule, here.

The Dostoyevsky Museum in St. Petersburg, in the apartment where the writer died, opened a new permanent "literary exhibit" in September. From November 11–13, it will host the "International Conference 'Dostoyevsky and World Culture.' " The conference also celebrates the 50th anniversary of the opening of the museum. The museum sponsored a Dostoyevsky photo contest this summer whose winners will be revealed in November. Check out a dashing twenty-first-century Dostoyevsky, here.

Stuff in the United States

The North American Dostoyevsky Society's official blog is The Bloggers Karamazov. It hosts Digital Dostoevsky, a "computational text analysis project" of our hero's works. It has a list of bicentennial events, including a Virtual Birthday on the day (November 11). Check out the schedule, here. Anyone can watch videos of events that have already occurred.

The International Dostoevsky Society is running a five-minute video competition for Demons ahead of its 2022 conference; videos are due March 31, 2022.

An online reading of The Brothers Karamazov is happening with the "100 Days of The Brothers Karamazov" out of Iowa City, Iowa; they already started, but it's a doorstop of a book, and the fun will continue until December 10. If you live in the Iowa City/Cedar Rapids area, check out other Dostoyevsky events.

Wherever you find yourself on November 11, take a moment to remember the psychological master of literature, Fyodor Mikhailovich. (And just forget the knotty little fact that he was actually born on October 30; he deserves two birthdays anyway...) Here's to you, Dostoyevsky.

You Might Also Like

Is Dostoyevsky Still Alive?
  • November 01, 2021

Is Dostoyevsky Still Alive?

On the occasion of Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoyevsky’s 200th anniversary, we visit his adopted city to consider the imprint he left behind.
Happy 200th, Dostoyevsky!
  • October 30, 2021

Happy 200th, Dostoyevsky!

On this, the occasion of the great writer's 200th birthday, we offer some links to stories we have published about him over the years, as well as some cool videos. Happy reading and viewing!
Like this post? Get a weekly email digest + member-only deals

Some of Our Books

White Magic

White Magic

The thirteen tales in this volume – all written by Russian émigrés, writers who fled their native country in the early twentieth century – contain a fair dose of magic and mysticism, of terror and the supernatural. There are Petersburg revenants, grief-stricken avengers, Lithuanian vampires, flying skeletons, murders and duels, and even a ghostly Edgar Allen Poe.
Moscow and Muscovites

Moscow and Muscovites

Vladimir Gilyarovsky's classic portrait of the Russian capital is one of Russians’ most beloved books. Yet it has never before been translated into English. Until now! It is a spectactular verbal pastiche: conversation, from gutter gibberish to the drawing room; oratory, from illiterates to aristocrats; prose, from boilerplate to Tolstoy; poetry, from earthy humor to Pushkin. 
The Little Golden Calf

The Little Golden Calf

Our edition of The Little Golden Calf, one of the greatest Russian satires ever, is the first new translation of this classic novel in nearly fifty years. It is also the first unabridged, uncensored English translation ever, and is 100% true to the original 1931 serial publication in the Russian journal 30 Dnei. Anne O. Fisher’s translation is copiously annotated, and includes an introduction by Alexandra Ilf, the daughter of one of the book’s two co-authors.
93 Untranslatable Russian Words

93 Untranslatable Russian Words

Every language has concepts, ideas, words and idioms that are nearly impossible to translate into another language. This book looks at nearly 100 such Russian words and offers paths to their understanding and translation by way of examples from literature and everyday life. Difficult to translate words and concepts are introduced with dictionary definitions, then elucidated with citations from literature, speech and prose, helping the student of Russian comprehend the word/concept in context.
Marooned in Moscow

Marooned in Moscow

This gripping autobiography plays out against the backdrop of Russia's bloody Civil War, and was one of the first Western eyewitness accounts of life in post-revolutionary Russia. Marooned in Moscow provides a fascinating account of one woman's entry into war-torn Russia in early 1920, first-person impressions of many in the top Soviet leadership, and accounts of the author's increasingly dangerous work as a journalist and spy, to say nothing of her work on behalf of prisoners, her two arrests, and her eventual ten-month-long imprisonment, including in the infamous Lubyanka prison. It is a veritable encyclopedia of life in Russia in the early 1920s.
The Pet Hawk of the House of Abbas

The Pet Hawk of the House of Abbas

This exciting new trilogy by a Russian author – who has been compared to Orhan Pamuk and Umberto Eco – vividly recreates a lost world, yet its passions and characters are entirely relevant to the present day. Full of mystery, memorable characters, and non-stop adventure, The Pet Hawk of the House of Abbas is a must read for lovers of historical fiction and international thrillers.  
Driving Down Russia's Spine

Driving Down Russia's Spine

The story of the epic Spine of Russia trip, intertwining fascinating subject profiles with digressions into historical and cultural themes relevant to understanding modern Russia. 
Faith & Humor: Notes from Muscovy

Faith & Humor: Notes from Muscovy

A book that dares to explore the humanity of priests and pilgrims, saints and sinners, Faith & Humor has been both a runaway bestseller in Russia and the focus of heated controversy – as often happens when a thoughtful writer takes on sacred cows. The stories, aphorisms, anecdotes, dialogues and adventures in this volume comprise an encyclopedia of modern Russian Orthodoxy, and thereby of Russian life.
Bears in the Caviar

Bears in the Caviar

Bears in the Caviar is a hilarious and insightful memoir by a diplomat who was “present at the creation” of US-Soviet relations. Charles Thayer headed off to Russia in 1933, calculating that if he could just learn Russian and be on the spot when the US and USSR established relations, he could make himself indispensable and start a career in the foreign service. Remarkably, he pulled it of.
Fish: A History of One Migration

Fish: A History of One Migration

This mesmerizing novel from one of Russia’s most important modern authors traces the life journey of a selfless Russian everywoman. In the wake of the Soviet breakup, inexorable forces drag Vera across the breadth of the Russian empire. Facing a relentless onslaught of human and social trials, she swims against the current of life, countering adversity and pain with compassion and hope, in many ways personifying Mother Russia’s torment and resilience amid the Soviet disintegration.
Fearful Majesty

Fearful Majesty

This acclaimed biography of one of Russia’s most important and tyrannical rulers is not only a rich, readable biography, it is also surprisingly timely, revealing how many of the issues Russia faces today have their roots in Ivan’s reign.

About Us

Russian Life is a publication of a 30-year-young, award-winning publishing house that creates a bimonthly magazine, books, maps, and other products for Russophiles the world over.

Latest Posts

Our Contacts

Russian Life
73 Main Street, Suite 402
Montpelier VT 05602

802-223-4955