Why did Fyodor Dostoyevsky dictate The Gambler to a stenographer?

Fyodor Dostoyevsky dictated The Gambler to a stenographer because he was under a strict deadline imposed by an unscrupulous publisher. The publisher had provided a desperately needed financial advance with the condition that Dostoyevsky deliver a new novel by a specific date. The publisher intended to exploit forfeit provisions in their contract, which would have granted him the rights to publish all of Dostoyevsky’s works for free for nine years if the deadline were missed.

With less than a month remaining, Dostoyevsky hired a stenographer, Anna Grigoryevna Snitkina, to help him complete the manuscript in time. He successfully finished the novel, which was based on his own experiences with compulsive gambling and his relationship with Appolinariya Suslova, just before the deadline. Shortly after this collaboration, Dostoyevsky and Snitkina married, and she eventually helped him stabilize his finances and personal life.1