Legends and facts about the life of M. A. Dostoevsky in Darovoe (1837-1839)

The history of the Dostoevsky estate Darovoe, which is an important period in the life of Fyodor Dostoevsky, still contains unresolved issues. The most ambiguous is the fate of the writer's father, who ended his days in Darovoe. The cause of the tragic death of M. A. Dostoevsky and the place of his burial are still controversial. The document from the State Archive of the Tula region, published for the first time, allows to dispel all doubts about the location of the grave of M. A. Dostoevsky. The article examines the history of the issue, including oral tradition, analyzes well-known documentary sources, and the entry in the metric book of the Holy Spirit Church of the village Monogarovо in 1839 confirms the testimony of A. M. Dostoevsky about the burial of his father in the churchyard. The fact of M. A. Dostoevsky's affair with the house serf Ekaterina Alexandrova is questioned, since it was based on rumors and undocumented. The author analyzes the oral tradition phenomenon and its influence on the formation of the image of M. A. Dostoevsky as a cruel landowner killed by peasants out of revenge. New archival documents allow us to revise the stereotypes that have become entrenched in Dostoevsky studies.