Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky (1821-1881) was born in Moscow. After spending four years in a Siberian prison for alleged antigovernment activities linked to a radical intellectual circle—an experience that would inform his later novels and short stories—he began publishing a literary monthly. Thereafter, he and his wife lived abroad for several years before returning to Russia, where Dostoevsky went on to become one of the most beloved and celebrated Russian novelists, essayists, and journalists.
