Update: Dostoevsky and the little girl

[Anne Hruska]

Dear all,

Last week I sent out a question to the list, asking about an episode from Dostoevsky's childhood in which his playmate, a nine-year-old girl, was raped and died from loss of blood. I'm attaching my original email below, in case anyone is interested.

My question was whether there is any more convincing evidence for this episode than one article, written by S. V. Belov in 1973, containing the family reminiscences of Zinaida Trubestskaia. As far as I can tell, the answer is no -- there is no other evidence.

To be clear: in order to believe in this incident as an established fact, we must believe the following:

- Dostoevsky's playmate was raped and murdered. 

- Dostoevsky's siblings never wrote about this incident, nor did Dostoevsky himself ever write or speak directly about it, *except*
- in a salon, with a number of guests, including
- a seven-year old boy, who was hiding so that no one would notice him.
- This seven-year-old boy remembered  Dostoevsky's words in elaborate (even flowery!) detail.

- When this seven-year-old boy grew up, he told the story to his niece, who also remembered it in great detail. She later grew up and wrote it down for Belov, who published it.

If anyone knows of the existence of more convincing evidence for the incident than this, I'd love to hear about it. Until then, I don't see how anyone can read Belov's article and come away convinced of anything, other than that Trubestskaia's family told some really interesting stories.


I'm reminded of the discussion on this list a few months ago of Dostoevsky's supposed meeting with Dickens -- a meeting that, as the list quickly established, didn't happen.  As Eric Naiman pointed out at the time, part of the problem was that Dickens scholars really wanted that meeting to have occurred in the way that it did, because it fell in line so nicely with current thinking on Dickens' work. 


In a similar way, I myself feel the temptation to believe in this 9-year-old girl, because I think there must be some explanation for how Dostoevsky could have understood rape from such a -- for lack of a better word -- female perspective. He really got it, and I feel convinced that he must have personally known one or more victims of rape. There is no other explanation I can think of for the depth of his understanding. 


But as for this specific 9-year-old girl, it is my current conviction that there is no evidence to support her existence. Again, if anyone has reason to think otherwise, I'd love to hear about it.

All the best,

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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