“A Novel in Nine Letters” is a humorous short story by Fyodor Dostoevsky, published in 1847 in the first issue of the updated magazine Sovremennik by Nikolai Nekrasov and Ivan Panaev.

History of creation

In October 1845, Nikolai Nekrasov conceived the idea of ​​publishing a humorous almanac, Zuboskal, whose editorial board, in addition to him, was to include Dmitry Grigorovich and Fyodor Dostoevsky. From Dostoevsky’s letters to his brother Mikhail, it follows that in October-November 1845, the writer was carried away by the idea of ​​publishing an almanac. In the eleventh issue of the magazine Otechestvennye Zapiski, an announcement of his authorship about the publication of a new magazine was even published.

At first, Dostoevsky planned to write “A Footman’s Notes about His Master” for the new almanac. But in a letter dated November 16, Dostoevsky tells his brother that the idea for “A Novel in Nine Letters” occurred to him in the first half of November. The idea for the story came to him during a visit to Nikolai Nekrasov, after which, upon returning home, Dostoevsky wrote a “novel” half the size of a printed sheet overnight.

Already in the morning of the next day, the writer received 125 rubles in banknotes for it from Nekrasov, and in the evening of the same day the work was successfully read at Turgenev’s. It follows from the same letter that the first issue of “Zuboskal”, in which the story was planned to be published, was to come out before December 1. For censorship reasons, the planned almanac did not take place, so the publication of the story was moved to “Sovremennik”.

The choice of the form of the story was predetermined by the success of the writer’s first novel, “Poor People”, written shortly before. The controversy surrounding “Poor Folk” among the public and critics explains the writer’s desire to use a new humorous work to show the diametrically opposed artistic possibilities of the genre of the novel in letters. The title of the story contains allusions to literary works of the 1830s and 1840s: “A Novel in Letters” by Nikolai Nekrasov, “A Novel in Seven Letters” by Alexander Bestuzhev-Marlinsky. The story continues the study of the “physiology of St. Petersburg” as part of the attempts of the natural school to present the reader with socially important reading.

The censorship approved the story on December 30, 1846. It was first published in 1847 in the first issue of Nikolai Nekrasov and Ivan Panaev’s magazine “Sovremennik”. It first appeared in the collected works in the second volume of the 1882 edition.

Plot

Pyotr Ivanovich and Ivan Petrovich exchange letters in which they agree to meet and discuss some important matter, but the meeting never takes place. Despite the formal observance of etiquette in correspondence, they mercilessly scold each other. Pyotr Ivanovich writes that he has been looking for Ivan Petrovich at balls, theaters, and friends for three days. He says that they need to explain themselves and invites him to his place in the evening. He also reproaches Ivan Petrovich for recommending Evgeny Nikolaevich to him. In response, Ivan Petrovich writes that he was at home, arrives in the evening and the next morning to Pyotr Ivanovich, but does not find him at home.

He suggests refusing Evgeny Nikolaevich himself. Pyotr Ivanovich justifies himself by saying that he was at his aunt’s, who was very ill. He says that after this he tried to find Ivan Petrovich at his home, but found only Evgeny Nikolaevich there. He promises to wait for Ivan Petrovich in the evening at mutual friends. Ivan Petrovich replies that he waited in vain at his friends’ place and writes his letter from Pyotr Ivanovich’s house, where he tried to find him. Accuses Pyotr Ivanovich of deliberately avoiding the meeting, since he took money from Ivan Petrovich without a receipt, and Ivan Petrovich was going to leave for Simbirsk.

Pyotr Ivanovich justifies himself by saying that his aunt died, and he was forced to be the manager of the funeral. At the same time, he notes that he did not borrow the money, but on certain conditions. Ivan Petrovich writes that he waited three days after this, during which, however, he made inquiries and became convinced that Pyotr Ivanovich deceived him regarding the time when his aunt was ill and died. Ivan Petrovich decisively accuses Pyotr Ivanovich of idle talk, deception, theft of a letter in which the terms of their agreement were mentioned, avoiding a personal meeting and slandering Yevgeny Nikolayevich. In response, Pyotr Ivanovich demands that he no longer come to him. Ivan Petrovich reports that he is leaving for Simbirsk and will not set foot in Pyotr Ivanovich’s house.

In addition, Pyotr Ivanovich finds a letter from his wife to Evgeny Nikolaevich, in which she invited him to her home while Pyotr Ivanovich was away. Ivan Petrovich also finds a letter from his wife to Evgeny Nikolaevich, in which she says goodbye and asks him not to forget her. Pyotr Ivanovich writes to Ivan Petrovich that Evgeny Nikolaevich is also going to Simbirsk, and offers him as a traveling companion. At the end of the story, it turns out that the man, because of whom, in particular, Pyotr Ivanovich and Ivan Petrovich quarreled, is the lover of the wives of both of these gentlemen.

Characters

The main characters of the story are two gentlemen with “mirror” names – Pyotr Ivanovich and Ivan Petrovich. Dostoevsky took as his starting point the images of Gogol’s “The Litigation” and “The Gamblers”: the story centers on the vicissitudes of two card sharpers, whose similarity is emphasized by the similarity of their names, which goes back to Gogol’s names Ivan Ivanovich and Ivan Nikiforovich, Kifa Mokievich and Mokiy Kifovich.

At the end of the story, the image of a pure, deceived girl appears – Ivan Petrovich’s wife, Tatyana Petrovna, sharply contrasted with the other characters. The final tragic image brings a certain mournful note to the humorous story, thereby indicating its connection with the author’s previous works.

Reviews and Criticisms

On November 16, 1845, long before the publication, Dostoevsky described the reaction to the story he had read in a letter to his brother Mikhail: “In the evening at Turgenev’s, my novel was read in our entire circle, that is, between 20 people. at least it made a splash… Belinsky said that he now has complete confidence in me, because I can take on completely different elements… Belinsky says that I am profaning myself by publishing articles in Zuboskal.”

After the publication of the story in early 1847, the opinion of Belinsky and other members of his circle changed dramatically. The critic wrote to Turgenev with disappointment: “To my surprise, I simply did not like Dostoevsky’s correspondence of swindlers – I barely finished reading it. This is the general impression.” The only printed review of the published story was the opinion of Apollon Grigoriev in the “Review of Magazine Phenomena”: “Of the works of this school (Gogol), Dostoevsky’s wonderful story “A Novel in Nine Letters” draws attention.”

Dostoevsky researcher Kennosuke Nakamura noted that it was this short work that best testifies to the fact that Dostoevsky knew how to laugh.