Dostoevsky and the little girl

[Anne Hruska]

Dear all,

I have a question I've been wondering about for a while, and I'm hoping some of you can shed some light on it.

In discussions of Dostoevsky's biography, I often find references to a playmate of the young Dostoevsky, a nine-year-old girl who was brutally raped and who died from loss of blood. Little Dostoevsky himself was sent to find his father to save her life, but it was too late. This incident helped to solidify Dostoevsky's conviction that the rape of a child was the most horrible possible crime.

This incident is often discussed as a solid fact -- by Joseph Frank for example, as well as others. The main reference, as far as I know, is a 1973 article in Russkaia literatura, by S. V. Belov. It involves the family memories of Zinaida Trubetskaia, whose grandmother A. P. Filosova was a friend of Dostoevsky's. According to Trubestkaia, her uncle (who apparently at the time was about 7) recalled being in the room when Filosova and her guests were discussing the question: what is the most terrible crime possible. Dostoevsky became agitated and told the story about the girl. Here I'm quoting Trubetskaia from p. 117 of Belov's article:


Достоевский говорил быстро, волнуясь и сбиваясь... Самый ужасный, самый страшный грех -- изнасиловать ребенка. Отнять жизнь -- это ужасно, но отнять веру в красоту любви -- еще более страшное преступление. И Достоевский рассказал эпизод из своего детства. Когда я в детстве жил в Москве я играл с девочкой (дочкой кучера или повора). Это был хрупкий, грациозный ребенок лет девяти. Когда она видела цветок, пробивающийся между камней, то всегда говорила: "Посмотри, какой красивый, какой добрый цветочек!" И вот какой-то мерзавец, в пьяном
 виде, изнасиловал эту девочку, и она умерла, истекая кровью. Помню, рассказывал Достоевский, меня послали за отцом в другой флигель больницы, прибежал отец, но было уже поздно. Всю жизнь это воспоминание меня преследует, как самое ужасное преступление, как самый страшный грех,  для которого прощения нет и быть не может, и этим самым страшным преступлением я казнил Ставрогина в "Бесах"...


Trubestkaia relates that her uncle used to tell the story frequently later in life -- in fact, it became a sort of family legend.

This story sets off some alarm bells for me -- if only because the story is told in such detail, and yet was apparently overheard by a young child and told decades later to his niece. I also wonder why Dostoevsky, such a private man about his most painful experiences, chose to tell this deeply personal story in a room filled with guests -- and yet apparently never again.


I'm wondering if anybody knows: is there any other evidence about the existence of this 9-year-old girl? 

Gratefully,

Anne Hruska


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