Turgenev: A Nest of Gentlefolk. Goncharov: Oblomov. Tolstoy: Family Happiness. Darwin: The Origin of Species.
1860
Starts publication of House of the Dead.
Turgenev: On the Eve.
George Eliot: The Mill on the Floss.
Birth of Chekhov.
1861
Time commences publication. The Insulted and Injured.
Dickens: Great Expectations.
1862
Travels in Europe. Affair with Polina Suslova.
Turgenev: Fathers and Children. Hugo: Les Misérables. Chernyshevsky arrested.
1863
Further travel abroad. Time closed. Winter Motes on Summer Impressions.
Tolstoy: The Cossacks. Chernyshevsky: What is to be Done?
1864
Launch of The Epoch. Death of wife and brother. Motes from Underground.
1865
The Epoch closes. Severe financial difficulties.
Dickens: Our Mutual Friend.
1865-9
Tolstoy: War and Peace.
1866
Crime and Punishment. The Gambler.
1867
Marries Anna Grigoryevna Snitkina. Flees abroad to escape creditors.
Turgenev: Smoke.
1868
The Idiot. Birth and death of daughter, Sonya. Visits Switzerland and Italy.
1869
Birth of daughter Liubov.
Flaubert: L'Education sentimentale.
1870
The Eternal Husband.
Death of Dickens and Herzen.
1871
Returns to St Petersburg. Birth of son, Fyodor.
1871-2
Demons {The Devils/The Possessed).
1872
Summer in Staraia Russa -becomes normal summer residence. Becomes editor of The Citizen.
Marx's Das Kapital published in Russia.
George Eliot: Middlemarch.
1873
Starts Diary of a Writer.
1874
Resigns from The Citizen. Seeks treatment for emphysema in Bad Ems.
1875
A Raw Youth.
1875-8
Tolstoy: Anna Karenina.
1876
1877
Turgenev: Virgin Soil.
1878
Birth and death of son, Alexey. Visits Optina monastery with Vladimir Solovyov.
1879
1879-80
The Brothers Karamazov.
Tolstoy's religious crisis, during which he writes A Confession.
1880
Speech at Pushkin celebrations in Moscow.
Death of Flaubert and George Eliot.
1881
Dies of lung haemorrhage. Buried at Alexander Nevsky Monastery, St Petersburg.
Translators' Note
Russian names are composed of first name, patronymic (from the father's first name), and family name. Formal address requires the use of first name and patronymic; diminutives are commonly used among family and intimate friends; a shortened form of the patronymic (e.g., Yegorych instead of Yegorovich), used only in speech, also suggests a certain familiarity. Among the aristocracy, who spoke French at least as readily as Russian, the French forms of names were frequently used, such as Julie in place of Yulia. The following list gives the names of the novel's main characters, with their variants. Accented syllables of Russian names are italicized.
Alexei Yegorovich, or Yegorych (no family name) Drozdov, Mavriky Nikolaevich (Maurice)
_______, Praskovya Ivanovna. (Drozdikha)
Erkel (no first name or patronymic)
Fyodor Fyodorovich, called 'Fedka the Convict' (no family name) Gaganov, Artemy Pavlovich
______, Pavel Pavlovich
G___v, Anton Lavrentievich
Karmazinov, Semyon Yegorovich
Kirillov, Alexei Nilych
Lebyadkin, Ignat (patronymic 'Timofeevich' never used)
_______, Marya Timofeeevna, or Timofevna
Liputin, Sergei Yegorovich (or Vasilyich)
Lyamshin (no first name or patronymic) Matryosha (no patronymic or family name) Semyon Yakovlevich (no family name) Shatov, Darya Pavlovna (Dasha)
______, Ivan Pavlovich (Shatushka)
______, Marya Ignatievna (Marie)
Shigalyov (no first name or patronymic) Stavrogin, Nikolai Vsevolodovich (Nicolas) _______, Varvara Petrovna
Tikhon
Tolkachenko (no first name or patronymic) Tushin, Lizaveta Nikolaevna (Liza, Lise) Ulitin, Sofya Matveevna Verkhovensky, Pyotr Stepanovich (Petrusha, Pierre)
_______, Stepan Trofimovich
Virginsky (no first name or patronymic)
_______, Arina Prokhorovna von Blum, Andrei Antonovich von Lembke, Andrei Antonovich (also called 'Lembka')
_______, Yulia Mikhailovna (Julie)
The name 'Stavrogin' comes from the Greek word stavros, meaning 'cross'. 'Shatov' comes from the Russian verb shatat'sya, 'to loosen, become unsteady, wobble', and, by extension, 'to waver, vacillate'. The name 'Verkhovensky' is rich in suggestions for the Russian ear: verkh means 'top, head, height'; verkhovny means 'chief, supreme'; verkhovenstvo means 'command, leadership'.