House of the Dead

[Mogwai]

Are these stories all fiction or are they based on FMD's real life experiences with other convicts during his time as a prisoner in Siberia?

[ae]

  suposedy they were fiction but they very similar to his ife. just like in the gambler.

[Golyadkin]

I think, but I'm not positive, that The House of the Dead was based on Dostoevsky's experiences in his "execution" and his jail sentence.

[Mogwai]

I read some excerpts (a few chapters) of The House of the Dead in a Dostoevsky short stories compilation I have.  Pretty scary stuff - the title of the book matched the content.  

From what I can tell, it might've been the darkest Dostoevsky book.

[Worm]

The first dostojewski book that i've read, and i loved it a lot.  Very good stuff.  There is no real plot, just a description of jail life in a Siberian camp.  Characters, situations, how things work over there, thoughts, ..
I assume the characters are based on real life characters Dostojewski met when he himself was in the camp.  I think he would have found it unappropriate to just write about everybody he met, just as they were .. i wouldn't like someone writing about me.  Better to forge a fictional character.

The introduction was excellent.  The ex-campworker that is introduced in this introduction i found to be excellent.  There are great words in that introduction.

I'm open to discuss this work, by the way.

[Mitya]

I'm trying to get my hands on it. I've read some though. It is pretty chilling, but somehow just draws me in... You want to read more even though you're repulsed at times, saddened at times.

If it is fiction it's incredible... gets right down to the heart--or lack of it-- of people and situations. I think Dostoevsky couldn't help but be influenced by his harrowing experiences.

[Byron]

I have the Penguin version, translation by McDuff.  A little more than halfway through the chapter "First Impressions - 3" (p. 86 of this version), the narrator says of Akim Akimych "...he considered himself very clever. I took a dislike to him from my very first day in the prison..."

Given later events and statements by the narrator, the statement above makes no sense.  I'm thinking it is a translation error, but I have no other versions to compare.  If anyone has a different translation, and can find this passage, I'd be interested in how yours reads.

Thanks.

[Khozraschot]

Its factual with the names and a few minor details changed (in the book, he goes to prison a few weeks before Christmas; in real life, Dostoevski went to Omsk in January or February).

I remember reading that the narrator in House of the Dead was imprisoned for killing his wife, but later on he refers to himself as a "political prisoner," so evidently Dostoevski forgot the fictional pretext halfway though and started writing about himself.

The footnotes in my copy also said that one of the Poles described in House of the Dead was a real guy who also published his own memoirs, and he described the real-life Dostoevski as a pretentious jerk, which I found funny and very fitting.

[Mitya]

I remember reading that the narrator in House of the Dead was imprisoned for killing his wife, but later on he refers to himself as a "political prisoner," so evidently Dostoevski forgot the fictional pretext halfway though and started writing about himself.

Really? Now I really wish my library could get its hands on a full copy of it, instead of just "selections." That's pretty fascinating.

[Lise]

I remember my teach reading a letter dostoevsky wrote to his brother, in it he described the barrecks as absolutely disguisting.  He said there was about an inch deep of filth on the floor.  In the book he tries to almost give an homey feel. So I definitely think he manipulated for artistic purposes. Also I think he wrote the book something like 9 yrs after his inprisonment.

A funny note: the censors were worried that the publication of his book, would cause people to want to go to prison.

[crazyboutx]

everything in that book is real. They are his real life experiance.I'm sure about it becouse in a letter to his brother he says an unknown person will tell my own experiences

[crazyboutx]

By the way that's an amazing book

[Lise]

everything in that book is real. They are his real life experiance.I'm sure about it becouse in a letter to his brother he says an unknown person will tell my own experiences

Well the narrator may be expressing some of Dostoevsky’s actual experiences but i don't think that means everything is real.  If i remember correctly the book was all jumbled up chronologically.  I think if he simply trying to directly relate his experiences he might have choose a more  direct journal-like approach.  The book is very artistically arranged.  Plus there is lots of conflict within- it says in the prologue the man is in prison because he killed his wife but then later he talks about being excluded because he is a political prisoner.  Also, many of the scenes are formatted correspond to bible stories.  Like the scene in the bath house relating to hell with lots of specific symbols.  I don't think this could have all happened exactly in real life.  Also, he idealizes certain events. For example the play put on by the peasants portrays the peasants as russia's hope. He is making them seem so wonderful for a purpose. It gives the message: Russia return to your roots, look to the peasants.      
Also, note the Alkuka's Husband story.  Isn't it funny how it has so many elements found later in Dostoevsky's novels: innocent suffering, sacrifice, a hint of a metaphysical revolt?  I think this is a Dostoevsky original, not just some story  told to him by a random dude in a prison hospital. Also, note the ironic responses of the prisoners after he tells the story.  I think this once again has been arranged for artistic purposes.  Overall, I think Dostoevsky was using his base experience (with alterations) for the sake of making important points about the human condition, justice, and suffering.  The book is so artistically and deliberately arranged that I guess I will never buy that every detail actually happened to Dostoevsky.  But frankly I don't think it even matters: If this book was simply a description of prison conditions in 19th century Russia why would so many people still read it today?

[porto]

i think that house of the dead was his poorest novel if it was a novel at all. it seems to be an account of his time in a siberian prison.

we meet a lot of characters but they are never fully developed. The house of the dead doesn't portray the complex plots of his other novels. Having said that it is a very accurate portrait of 19th century siberian prison life. for that he must be applaused

[fyodor_pavlovitch]

I'm about to start reading HotD (ha ha- Hot D, D for Dostoyevsky).  After reading various descriptions of the book, I cannot think of any book that I ever anticipated more eagerly than HotD.