The neighbors of Dostoevsky in Staraya Russa

While spending summer time in 1872-1880 in Staraya Russa F. M. Dostoevsky used to meet and to be on friendly terms with various people. Among his acquaintances in Staraya Russa there were priest Ioann Rumyantsev, lieutenant-colonel A. K. Gribbe and his niece A. G. Eliseeva, general E. I. Leontiev, actress of a resort theatre A. P. Orlova, bourgeois A. I. Menshova (the archetype of Grushenka in the novel “The Brothers Karamazov”), journalist P. A. Gaideburov from Saint Petersburg, a married couple Jaclar. Moreover, his circle of acquaintances included the people hardly mentioned in the letters to his wife and those he could know by hearsay only. So, his relations with those people need further investigation. The present article shows the variety of Dostoevsky’s entourage. The contact with his neighbors could largely have an impact on the writer’s creative work.