''The Village of Stepanchikovo and Its Inhabitants: From the Notes of an Unknown'' (russian: Село Степанчиково и его обитатели. Из записок неизвестного, ''Selo Stepanchikovo i ego obitateli. Iz zapisok neizvestnogo''), also known as ''The Friend of the Family'', is a novel written by
Fyodor Dostoevsky
Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky (, ; rus, Фёдор Михайлович Достоевский, Fyódor Mikháylovich Dostoyévskiy, p=ˈfʲɵdər mʲɪˈxajləvʲɪdʑ dəstɐˈjefskʲɪj, a=ru-Dostoevsky.ogg, links=yes; 11 November 18219 ...
and first published in 1859.
Summary
Sergey Alexandrovich (), the
narrator
Narration is the use of a written or spoken commentary to convey a story to an audience. Narration is conveyed by a narrator: a specific person, or unspecified literary voice, developed by the creator of the story to deliver information to the a ...
, is summoned from
St. Petersburg to the estate of his uncle,
Colonel
Colonel (abbreviated as Col., Col or COL) is a senior military officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations.
In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, a colonel was typically in charge of ...
Yegor Ilyich Rostanev (), and finds that a middle-aged
charlatan
A charlatan (also called a swindler or mountebank) is a person practicing quackery or a similar confidence trick in order to obtain money, power, fame, or other advantages through false pretenses, pretense or deception. Synonyms for ''charlatan ...
named Foma Fomich Opiskin () has swindled the nobles around him into believing that he is virtuous despite behavior that is passive-aggressive,
selfish
Selfishness is being concerned excessively or exclusively, for oneself or one's own advantage, pleasure, or welfare, regardless of others.
Selfishness is the opposite of altruism or selflessness; and has also been contrasted (as by C. S. Lewis) w ...
, and spiteful. Foma obliges the servants to learn French, and gets furious when they are caught dancing the ''
kamarinskaya
Kamarinskaya () is a Russian traditional folk dance, which is mostly known today as the Russian composer Mikhail Glinka's composition of the same name. Glinka's ''Kamarinskaya'', written in 1848, was the first orchestral work based entirely on Rus ...
''.
Uncle Yegor asks Sergey to marry the poor young girl Nastenka. It turns out Uncle Yegor is in love with her himself, but Foma wants him to marry the wealthy Tatyana Ivanova instead. Tatyana has several other suitors, including Mizinchikov, who confides in Sergey about his plans to
elope
Elopement is a term that is used in reference to a marriage which is conducted in a sudden and secretive fashion, usually involving a hurried flight away from one's place of residence together with one's beloved with the intention of getting ma ...
with her.
The next morning Tatyana has eloped, not with Mizinchikov but with Obnoskin, who acted under the influence of his mother. After a pursuit Tatyana returns voluntarily. At Stepanchikovo Foma Fomich is furious because Uncle Yegor has been caught red-handed during an assignation in the garden with Nastenka. Foma leaves, but falls into a ditch. The inhabitants beg him to come back. A general reconciliation follows after Foma, manipulating as ever, gives his blessing to a marriage between Uncle Yegor and Nastenka.
Characters
* ''Foma Fomich Opiskin'': fifty years old
* ''Sergey Alexandrovich - Seryozha'': the narrator, nephew of the colonel, twenty-two years old
* ''Yegor Ilyich Rostanev'': the colonel, forty years old, retired
* ''Ilyusha'': Rostanev's son, eight years old
* ''Sasha or Sashenka'': Rostanev's daughter, fifteen years old
* ''Nastasya Yevgrafovna - Nastenka'': the children's governess
* ''Yevgraf Larionych Yezhevikin'': a serf, Nastenka's father
* ''Krakhotkin the General's lady'': Rostanev's mother
* ''Miss Perepelitsyna'': confidante of the General's lady
* ''Praskovya Ilyinichna'': Rostanev's sister
* ''Stepan Alekseyich Bakhcheyev'': Rostanev's friend
* ''Ivan Ivanych Mizinchikov'': Rostanev's distant cousin, twenty-eight years old
* ''Pavel Semyonych Obnoskin'': a guest of Rostanev's, twenty-five years old
* ''Anfisa Petrovna'': Obnoskin's mother, fifty years old
* ''Tatyana Ivanovna'': an old maid, thirty-five years old
* ''Korovkin'': Rostanev's friend
* ''Gavrila Ignatych'': a valet
* ''Grigory Vidoplyasov'': a valet
* ''Falaley'': a house-boy, sixteen years old
Background
Foma Opiskin was based on
Nikolai Gogol
Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol; uk, link=no, Мико́ла Васи́льович Го́голь, translit=Mykola Vasyliovych Hohol; (russian: Яновский; uk, Яновський, translit=Yanovskyi) ( – ) was a Russian novelist, ...
in his last years. Foma's speeches are parodies of Gogol's ''Selected Passages from Correspondence with Friends'', Opiskin's mannerisms, appearance and even personality are also based on Gogol.
[A. V. Arkhipova]
"Commentary"
in F. M. Dostoevskii, ''Sobranie sochinenii v 15 tomakh'', Leningrad, 1988, vol. 3, pp. 511-12.
The story has the structure of a
comedy
Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term o ...
; it was originally intended as a play.
Dostoevsky wrote this novel for
Mikhail Katkov
Mikhail Nikiforovich Katkov (russian: Михаи́л Ники́форович Катко́в; 13 February 1818 – 1 August 1887) was a conservative Russian journalist influential during the reign of tsar Alexander III. He was a proponent of Rus ...
, main editor of ''
The Russian Messenger
The ''Russian Messenger'' or ''Russian Herald'' (russian: Ру́сский ве́стник ''Russkiy Vestnik'', Pre-reform Russian: Русскій Вѣстникъ ''Russkiy Vestnik'') has been the title of three notable magazines published in ...
''. In a letter to his brother
Mikhail, Dostoevsky wrote: "The long story that I am writing for Katkov displeases me very much and goes against the grain. But I have already written a great deal, it's impossible to throw it away in order to begin another, and I have to pay back a debt."
[Joseph Frank, ''Dostoevsky. The Years of Ordeal'' 1850-1859'', London, 1983, p. 263.]
In a later letter he sounded more optimistic: "I am convinced that there are many weak and bad things in my novel; but I am convinced - I stake my life on it! - that there are very fine things. They sprang from the heart. There are scenes of high comedy that Gogol would have signed without hesitation."
He submitted the novel to ''
The Russian Messenger
The ''Russian Messenger'' or ''Russian Herald'' (russian: Ру́сский ве́стник ''Russkiy Vestnik'', Pre-reform Russian: Русскій Вѣстникъ ''Russkiy Vestnik'') has been the title of three notable magazines published in ...
'', but Katkov rejected it. Next he submitted it to ''
The Contemporary'', which accepted the novel, but at what Dostoevsky considered a humiliatingly low price. The editor of ''The Contemporary'',
Nekrasov, was very negative: "Dostoevsky is finished. He will no longer write anything important."
[Joseph Frank, ''Dostoevsky. The Years of Ordeal'' 1850-1859'', London, 1983, p. 264.] The novel was ultimately published in
Krayevsky's ''
National Annals''.
Literary significance
References
External links
Full text of ''The Village of Stepanchikovo'' in the original Russian review at The Lectern, February 12, 2009
{{DEFAULTSORT:Village of Stepanchikovo, The
1859 Russian novels
Novels by Fyodor Dostoevsky
Works originally published in Otechestvennye Zapiski
Russian satirical novels