Dostoevsky’s Account of the Past, Present, and Future of the Revolution in The Devils Anonymous College

Fyodor Dostoevsky published his novel The Devils from 1871 to 1872 in installments in the joural The Messengerat a time when there was political unrest in Russia, although not yet enough for a real revolution. Inspiration for the novel came from current revolutionary events and the characters involved in them, material which he supplemented with his own experience in a group of young radicals. Each of the characters in The Devils as well as many of the situations and beliefs mentioned are drawn from these two sources, but he also includes ideologies which arguably predict the political circumstances during the Russian Revolution and under the Soviet government which followed. In some cases, Dostoevsky not so discreetly copied personages from his past or present, even leaving first names the same, and other times he incorporates various ideas and actions into the makeup of several scenes or characters.

Dostoevsky’s involvement in Mikhail Petrashevsky’s conversation circle starting in the late 1840s as nothing more than a social activity, although the organization became more formal with the revolutions of 1848 in Europe which spread a rebellious mood among the intelligentsia.When Nikolay Speshnev arrived on the scene Dostoevsky...