Аннотация: Crimea and Baron Wrangel, Semipalatinsk and Fyodor Dostoevsky. Historical and biographic comment
Crimea and Baron Wrangel, Semipalatinsk and Fyodor Dostoevsky. Historical and biographic comment
The reading the biography of Fyodor Dostoevsky is useful, in some cases, to complement with the reading of Eugene Tarle.
For example, we open the book by Eugene Tarle 'Crimean War' and read:
'In the very last days of September (N.S.), ... news started to spread about the battle of Alma. On September 20, 1854 - about the retreat of Menshikov, about the beginning of the siege of Sevastopol. And in the first week October, they started talking about the extraordinary efforts of the Allies to strengthen the assault and to put an end, very quickly [of the resistance of Sevastopol]. After this achievement the French and English armies would move to the Perekop, would firmly occupy it, and the Crimea would be lost for Russia. '
Now we can look the book by Henri Troyat 'Fyodor Dostoevsky' ...
Dostoevsky has already served four years in hard labor and is serving as a soldier in Semipalatinsk.
'On November 20, 1854, the young Baron Wrangel arrived in Semipalatinsk and assumed the post of prosecutor of Western Siberia. He is twenty two years old ....
Fyodor Mikhailovich met the envoy with suspicion. Who is this Baron Wrangel? What does he want? The title of prosecutor did not inspire confidence. Nevertheless, he accepted the invitation to a cup of tea ....
A young prosecutor and a state criminal stood in front of each other in the Siberian wilderness, far from those whom they loved, from those who could understand them, both forgotten by fate, lonely, lost ...
Forgetting the dignity of the prosecutor of His Majesty, Baron Wrangel burst into tears and rushed onto the neck of the soldier Dostoevsky standing in front of him. At that moment their friendship was born. '
At such a touching moment, there is no place for logical reasoning.
Still, someone, skeptical enough, might start to think, to reason.
1. What would happen if Fyodor Dostoevsky, convicted of reading aloud some works and talking [you feel any analogies?], died in hard labor or during his service as a soldier?
Firstly, there would have been an unpleasant impression from all those events - ... a conversations with Petrashevsky, the conviction for words and thoughts about the progress and benefits for the Fatherland, ... from the death of an innocent man - writer - somewhere in Siberia.
Secondly, there would be no benefit from Dostoevsky's activity.
2. What would happen if Baron Wrangel did not come to Semipalatinsk, did not make friends with Dostoevsky, would not introduce, would not invite Dostoevsky to the high society of Semipalatinsk? If Dostoevsky was released and, after punishment, would continue his writing activities? (It can be assumed that information reached the metropolitan authorities that Dostoevsky did not fell down during hard labor, did not collapse as a personality, as a human ...).
There were risks and inconveniences in such a situation.
3. But everything went well. On November 20, 1954, Baron Wrangel arrived in Semipalatinsk. The prosecutor of Western Siberia and the state criminal become friends. The writer is gradually reintegrating into the elite ...
All that remains is to rediscover the book by Eugene Tarle 'Crimean War':
'The tsar, in admiration of Nakhimov's marvelous activity and heroic courage, sent his aide-adjutant Albedinsky to Sevastopol and ordered him to convey a 'kiss and a bow' to Nakhimov. A week after that, Nakhimov, with a bloodied face, returned to his home after going around the battery - and suddenly he met a new adjutant with a new bow from Emperor Nicholas. 'Gracious sovereign!' - Nakhimov exclaimed - 'Are you with a bow, again, sir? Thank you ..., sir! I've been sick all day after the first bow!' ...adjutant hardly came to senses ... from the further words of Nakhimov, who had long been irritated by the disorder in the entire organization of the rear, on which the fate of Sevastopol depended: "A bows are not necessary to us! .."
Let us turn to the book by Henri Troyat 'Leo Tolstoy':
"'Sevastopol' was more successful than 'Childhood' and 'Boyhood'. Magazines noted that this was the work of a master, severely calibrated and calculated, energetic and concise. Emperor [Alexander the Second] liked the story so much that he ordered it to be translated into French and published in the French magazine Le Nord, which was published in Brussels in French. The young empress wept over this report, full of sincerity, about the misfortunes of her people. Those tears meant a lot to the fame of the one who signed the story as L.N.T. 'I seem to be starting to gain a reputation in Petersburg,' - Tolstoy written down, in a diary. "...".
Times have changed ... Any big mechanism has its own little secrets ...
There is a time to evade hugs. And there is a time - for a hugs ...
And whether all this is so bad? All people want to live humanly, to live well and to respect each other ...
November 7, 2019 13:32
Translation from Russian into English: November 7, 2019 20:12.
Владимир Владимирович Залесский 'Крым и барон Врангель, Семипалатинск и Фёдор Достоевский. Историко-биографический комментарий'.