Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ

Prison Life in Siberia. It is a phrase synonymous with misery and suffering. Below zero temperatures. Hard labor. Isolation. Physical punishment. It is everything that reminds me of how fortunate I am to be reading Dostoyevsky’s semi-autobiographical work instead of actually living it. It paints an image of prison life that is a hundred times more primitive than many of the lazy country club prisons of today’s western world. Just how bad was it in 19th century Siberia? My curiosity found this novel irresistible. I just had to find out what this lifestyle was in a bygone time in a country that has had a very troubled and complicated past. I was ready to enter the House of the Dead.



In 1849, Fyodor Dostoyevsky was accused of reading and distributing several banned works of literature and subsequently sentenced to prison by the Russian government to four years hard labor in Siberia followed by mandatory military service. During this time the writer experienced unendurable hardship. His experience of this period inspired him to write a work of fiction that brought this previously unknown world to light. After his release from prison he penned a work that would become the first work that would describe in vivid detail the horrors of his four excruciatingly long years in the awful Siberian prison.




Dostoyevsky portrays a very realistic and expressive account of his earliest impressions of entering prison life. He introduces the fictional narrator of Alexander Petrovitch, who classifies himself as a “gentleman of the noble class� of Russians much like Dostoyevsky himself. The author touches upon many different aspects of life in the prison. He describes the work schedule, the food, the living conditions, the punishment, the sick hospital all with distinct detail.

A very large focus of Fyodor’s narrative is his examination of the Russian character. It is unclear if any of the other prisoners described are based on actual convicts that Dostoyevsky knew during his incarceration. However, he provides a very interesting account of the attitudes and behaviors of several characters who have adapted to life of punishment and isolation.




Overall, Dostoyevsky has written one of his most personal and realistic works that is definitely worth reading. It is among some of his shorter works and gets passed up for his four elephants, Crime and Punishment, Brothers Karamazov, The Idiot, and Demons. However, this work should not be ignored. It has excellent writing and is recommended for anyone interested in this unusual and primitive world.