logo eng

 A.M.GORKY INSTITUTE OF WORLD LITERATURE
OF THE RUSSIAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCES

Povarskaya 25A, bld. 1, 121069 Moscow, Russia
fedor@dostmirkult.ru

ISSN 2619-0311 (Print)
ISSN 2712-8512 (Online)

The Case of the Inheritance of Fyodor and Anna Dostoevsky

JATS XML:

XML
BibTEX:

BIB
Research Information Systems Citation Format:

RIS
  • Download:

    PDF
  • Author: Petr A. Druzhinin
  • Information about the author:

    DSc in Philology, PhD in History, Leading Research Fellow, V.V. Vinogradov Institute of Russian Language of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Volkonka St., 18/2, 119019 Moscow, Russia.

    https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3097-3375

    E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
  • For citation:

    Druzhinin, P.A. "The Case of the Inheritance of Fyodor and Anna Dostoevsky." Dostoevsky and World Culture. Philological journal, no. 3 (35), 2026, pp. 247-272. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.22455/2619-0311-2026-3-247-272
  • Received: 06 Apr. 2026
  • Approved after reviewing: 21 June 2026
  • Published: 25 Sept. 2026
  • Issue: 2026 no. 3 (35)
  • Department: ARCHIVE
  • Pages: 247–272
  • DOI: Visit Website
  • EDN:

    https://elibrary.ru/CSLNRC
  • UDK: 821.161.1.0
  • BBK: 83.3(2Рос=Рус)
  • Publication Type: Research Article
  • Keywords: Fyodor Dostoevsky, Anna Dostoevskaya, Ekaterina Dostoevskaya, nationalization, manuscripts, copyright
  • Abstract: The article publishes previously unknown documents from the Central Archive (GARF), consisting primarily of petitions submitted by E.P. Dostoevskaya, the daughter-in-law of F.M. Dostoevsky, in her capacity as guardian of her son A.F. Dostoevsky, the grandson and direct heir of F.M. and A.G. Dostoevsky. With the support of A.V. Lunacharsky, People's Commissar for Education, in 1924 E.P. Dostoevskaya petitioned for the return to the heirs of a number of memorial objects belonging to F.M. Dostoevsky and A.G. Dostoevskaya, including F.M. Dostoevsky's manuscripts, his correspondence with his wife, and other materials. She also raised the issue of the heirs' copyright to the literary legacy of A.G. Dostoevskaya, which had not been nationalized and which, in her view, should have remained the property of the family. The subsequent Central Archive records published in the article shed light on a number of fundamental issues concerning Dostoevsky's manuscript legacy. More broadly, they reveal the procedural aspects of the case and illustrate the attitude of Soviet Russia toward copyright and the inheritance of the literary legacy of prominent figures of Russian literature.

References

1. Kopylova, O.N., editor. Arkhivy i vlast': pervoe poslerevoliutsionnoe desiatiletie. Protokoly i zhurnaly zasedanii rukovodiashchikh organov upravleniia arkhivnoi otrasliu za 1918-1928 gg.: sbornik dokumentov: v 2 tomakh [Archives and Power: The First Post-Revolutionary Decade. Minutes and Registers of Meetings of the Governing Bodies of Archival Administration, 1918-1928: Collection of Documents: in 2 vols], vol. 2: 1921-1928. Moscow, Kuchkovo pole Publ., 2018. 920 p. (In Russ.)

2. Bograd, G.L. "Tak gde zhe rukopis' 'Brat'ev Karamazovykh'?" ["So Where Is the Manuscript of The Brothers Karamazov?"]. Novoe russkoe slovo, no. 30331, 12-13 October 1996, p. 32. (In Russ.)

3. Druzhinin, P.A. Tekst Dostoevskogo: istoriko-filologicheskie razyskaniia [Dostoevsky's Text: Historical and Philological Studies]. Moscow, Novoe literaturnoe obozrenie Publ., 2025. 312 p. (In Russ.)

4. Krasovskii, Iu.A. "Arkhiv F.M. Dostoevskogo" ["The Archive of F.M. Dostoevsky"]. Vstrechi s proshlym: sbornik neopublikovannykh materialov Tsentral'nogo gosudarstvennogo arkhiva literatury і iskusstva SSSR [Encounters with the Past: A Collection of Unpublished Materials from the Central State Archive of Literature and Art of the USSR], issue 2. Moscow, Sovetskaia Rossiia Publ., 1976, pp. 337-346. (In Russ.)

5. Ornatskaia, T.I. "K istorii utraty rukopisei romana 'Brat'ia Karamazovy'" ["On the History of the Loss of the Manuscripts of the Novel The Brothers Karamazov"]. Dostoevskii: materialy i issledovaniia [Dostoevsky: Materials and Research], vol. 10. St. Petersburg, Nauka Publ., 1992, pp. 181-192. (In Russ.)

6. Pis'ma iz Maison Russe. Sestry Anna Fal'ts-Fein i Ekaterina Dostoevskaia v emigratsii [Letters from Maison Russe: The Sisters Anna Falz-Fein and Ekaterina Dostoevskaya in Emigration]. Translated from German by R.G. Gal'perina; introduction, compilation, and text preparation by V.G. Beznosov and B.N. Tikhomirov. St. Petersburg, Akropol' Publ., 1999. 350 p. (In Russ.)

7. Pol'skaia, E.B. "Vnuk pisatelia i ego mat': Dostoevskie v Simferopole v 1928-1932 gg." ["The Writer's Grandson and His Mother: The Dostoevskys in Simferopol in 1928-1932"]. Mera, no. 1, 1995, pp. 128-138. (In Russ.)

8. "Poslednie pis'ma Liubovi Fedorovny Dostoevskoi" ["The Last Letters of Liubov Fedorovna Dostoevskaia"]. Publication prepared by N.V. Panshev and B.N. Tikhomirov, notes by B.N. Tikhomirov. Dostoevskii i mirovaia kul'tura. Al'manakh, no. 13, 1999, pp. 259-267. (In Russ.)

9. Stepchenkova, V.N. "Likvidatsiia knizhnogo dela Dostoevskikh" ["The Liquidation of the Dostoevskys' Book Business"]. Neizvestnyi Dostoevskii, vol. 11, no. 4, 2024, pp. 315-343. (In Russ.)

10. Stepchenkova, V.N. "Problemy avtorskogo prava vizdatel'skoi deiatel'nosti Dostoevskikh" ["Copyright Issues in the Publishing Activities of the Dostoevskys"]. Neizvestnyi Dostoevskii, vol. 12, no. 2, 2025, pp. 138-168. (In Russ.)

11. Tikhomirov, B.N. "Zagadka ischeznuvshikh rukopisei 'Brat'ev Karamazovykh': (fakty i gipotezy)" ["The Riddle of the Missing Manuscripts of The Brothers Karamazov: (Facts and Hypotheses)"]. Kasatkina, T.A., editor. Roman F.M. Dostoevskogo "Brat'ia Karamazovy": sovremennoe sostoianie izucheniia [F.M. Dostoevsky's Novel The Brothers Karamazov: Current State of Research]. Moscow, Nauka Publ., 2007, pp. 765-796. (In Russ.)

12. Volgin, I.L. "Khronika roda Dostoevskikh" ["Chronicles of the Dostoevsky Family"]. Rodnye i blizkie: istoriko-bibliograficheskie ocherki [Kin and Close Ones: Historical and Bibliographical Essays]. Moscow, Fond Dostoevskogo Publ., 2012. 1232 p. (In Russ.)

Current issue