Николаи Спешнев. Несбывшаяся судьба. (К 150-летию «Дела петрашевцев (1849—1999))

Nikolai Speshnev (1821-1882) was in close relationship with F. Dostoevskii in 1848 when they were both members of the political group later called "Petrashevtsy". This short acquaintance made such a big impression on Dostoevskii that Speshnev supposedly became the prototype for the main character of the novel "Demons", Nikolai Stavrogin. Speshnev like the other Petrashevtsy experienced the hardships of a life of an "enemy of the state" for the rest of his days: arrest, civil prosecution, exile, life in the provinces. This book, a literary biography of a talented nobleman, is about his literary and social work in the provinces. L. Saraskina is a well known specialist in Dostoevskii and his epoch.