Poor Folk

Poor Folk, Fyodor Dostoyevsky's first novella, was published in 1846 and immediately hailed as a masterpiece by critic Vissarion Belinsky. The story is told through letters exchanged between Makar Devushkin, a poor copying clerk, and Varvara Dobrosyolova, a young woman. It delves into the psychological impact of poverty, a theme Dostoyevsky developed by transforming techniques used by Nikolay Gogol in The Overcoat. Unlike Gogol's hero, Dostoyevsky's protagonist is acutely self-aware and suffers from humiliation. The novella's appeal lies in its exploration of the emotional toll of destitution, marking Dostoyevsky as a significant new voice in Russian literature.1