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Fyodor Dostoyevsky - Quiz
Contributed by: Guy
  • 1. In which city was Fyodor Dostoyevsky born?
A) Kiev
B) Moscow
C) Minsk
D) St. Petersburg
  • 2. Which novel is considered one of Dostoyevsky's masterpieces?
A) Anna Karenina
B) Pride and Prejudice
C) Crime and Punishment
D) War and Peace
  • 3. Which literary movement is Dostoyevsky often associated with?
A) Naturalism
B) Symbolism
C) Russian Realism
D) Romanticism
  • 4. What philosophical ideology did Dostoyevsky criticize in his novel 'Demons'?
A) Utilitarianism
B) Existentialism
C) Nihilism
D) Hedonism
  • 5. Which publication marks the beginning of Dostoyevsky's career as a writer?
A) Crime and Punishment
B) Poor Folk
C) Madame Bovary
D) War and Peace
  • 6. In what year did Dostoyevsky pass away?
A) 1895
B) 1903
C) 1870
D) 1881
  • 7. Which character from Dostoyevsky's novels commits a murder to test his theory of extraordinary individuals?
A) Alyosha Karamazov
B) Stavrogin
C) Raskolnikov
D) Rodion Romanovich
  • 8. What was the title of Dostoyevsky's last novel?
A) Crime and Punishment
B) Anna Karenina
C) The Brothers Karamazov
D) The Idiot
  • 9. In which year was Fyodor Dostoevsky born?
A) 1821
B) 1831
C) 1841
D) 1801
  • 10. What is the name of the Russian military institute that Dostoevsky attended after leaving school?
A) Imperial Moscow University
B) Saint Petersburg Naval Academy
C) Nikolayev Military Engineering Institute
D) Russian State Pedagogical University
  • 11. Which of Dostoevsky's novels is considered one of the first works of existentialist literature?
A) Notes from Underground
B) Demons
C) Crime and Punishment
D) The Idiot
  • 12. What was Dostoevsky's sentence for his involvement with the Petrashevsky Circle?
A) Life imprisonment without parole
B) Execution
C) Exile to Siberia without labor
D) Death, commuted to four years in a Siberian hard labour camp
  • 13. Which novel was inspired by Dostoevsky's time in the Siberian hard labour camp?
A) Demons
B) Crime and Punishment
C) The House of the Dead
D) The Idiot
  • 14. Which philosopher referred to Dostoevsky as 'the only psychologist from whom I had something to learn'?
A) Jean-Paul Sartre
B) Sigmund Freud
C) Albert Camus
D) Friedrich Nietzsche
  • 15. In which year was Dostoevsky's novel 'The Brothers Karamazov' published?
A) 1872
B) 1866
C) 1875
D) 1880
  • 16. What addiction did Dostoevsky develop that led to financial hardship?
A) Drug abuse
B) Smoking
C) Gambling
D) Alcoholism
  • 17. How many novels did Fyodor Dostoevsky write?
A) Ten
B) Thirteen
C) Eighteen
D) Fifteen
  • 18. Which of the following authors was influenced by Dostoevsky's work?
A) Anton Chekhov
B) Leo Tolstoy
C) Ivan Turgenev
D) Mikhail Bulgakov
  • 19. What was the original religion of Dostoevsky's paternal ancestor Aslan Chelebi-Murza before converting to Christianity?
A) Orthodox Christianity
B) Judaism
C) Islam
D) Buddhism
  • 20. In which year did Dostoevsky's ancestor Danilo Irtishch receive lands in the Pinsk region?
A) 1509
B) 1809
C) 1389
D) 1828
  • 21. What was the profession of Dostoevsky's immediate ancestors on his mother's side?
A) Priests
B) Nobles
C) Merchants
D) Military doctors
  • 22. Which institution did Mikhail Dostoevsky enroll in 1809?
A) Moscow University
B) St. Petersburg Conservatory
C) Moscow's Imperial Medical-Surgical Academy
D) Imperial Russian Army Academy
  • 23. In what year was Mikhail Dostoevsky appointed a senior physician?
A) 1818
B) 1828
C) 1819
D) 1809
  • 24. How far was the family's summer estate, Darovoye, from Moscow?
A) 50 km (30 miles)
B) About 150 km (100 miles)
C) 500 km (310 miles)
D) 300 km (190 miles)
  • 25. Who among Dostoevsky's siblings wrote memoirs about the family history?
A) Nikolai
B) Vera
C) Andrei
D) Varvara
  • 26. What was a notable struggle in Nikolai Dostoevsky's life?
A) He had financial difficulties.
B) He struggled with alcoholism.
C) He faced legal issues.
D) He dealt with health problems.
  • 27. Which sibling of Dostoevsky married a doctor?
A) Yelizaveta
B) Lyubov
C) Aleksandra
D) Vera
  • 28. Who introduced Dostoevsky to literature at an early age?
A) His mother Maria
B) His father Mikhail
C) His nanny, Alena Frolovna
D) A French tutor
  • 29. Which Russian writer influenced Dostoevsky significantly?
A) Gavrila Derzhavin
B) Mikhail Lermontov
C) Nikolai Gogol
D) Alexander Pushkin
  • 30. Which boarding school did Dostoevsky attend after his father sent him to a French school?
A) Tula Governorate School
B) Chermak boarding school
C) St. Petersburg Academy
D) Moscow State University
  • 31. Which work reflects Dostoevsky's experience at the Moscow school?
A) Crime and Punishment
B) The Adolescent
C) The Brothers Karamazov
D) Notes from Underground
  • 32. What was Dostoevsky's mother's cause of death?
A) apoplectic stroke
B) heart attack
C) murder
D) tuberculosis
  • 33. What nickname did Dostoevsky earn due to his reclusiveness and interest in religion?
A) Saint Fyodor
B) The Recluse
C) Brother of the Church
D) Monk Photius
  • 34. What was the official cause of Dostoevsky's father's death?
A) tuberculosis
B) murder
C) apoplectic stroke
D) heart attack
  • 35. Who accused the serfs of murdering Dostoevsky's father?
A) Pavel Khotiaintsev
B) Adolph Totleben
C) Dr. Rizenkampf
D) Mikhail Dostoevsky
  • 36. What rank did Dostoevsky obtain after passing his exams?
A) lieutenant engineer
B) general
C) engineer cadet
D) captain
  • 37. Who characterized Dostoevsky as good-natured but sometimes abusively moody?
A) Konstantin Trutovsky
B) Mikhail Dostoevsky
C) Dr. Rizenkampf
D) Adolph Totleben
  • 38. Which novel did Dostoevsky translate that was published in 1843?
A) Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert
B) Eugénie Grandet by Honoré de Balzac
C) Les Misérables by Victor Hugo
D) The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
  • 39. Who introduced Dostoevsky's first novel to Vissarion Belinsky?
A) Nikolay Nekrasov
B) Aleksey Pleshcheyev
C) Mikhail Petrashevsky
D) Dmitry Grigorovich
  • 40. Which novel did Dostoevsky plan since 1846 but never complete?
A) The Double
B) Notes of the Fatherland
C) Netochka Nezvanova
D) Poor Folk
  • 41. Who denounced the members of the Petrashevsky Circle to the Ministry of Internal Affairs?
A) Mikhail Bakunin
B) Nikolay Speshnev
C) Ivan Liprandi
D) Count Alexey Fyodorovich Orlov
  • 42. Who commuted the death sentence of Dostoevsky and his fellow prisoners?
A) Tsar Nicholas I
B) Count Alexey Fyodorovich Orlov
C) Ivan Nabokov
D) Prince Pavel Gagarin
  • 43. On what date was Fyodor Dostoevsky released from prison?
A) 14 February 1854
B) 7 June 1862
C) 1 January 1855
D) 15 March 1856
  • 44. Who did Dostoevsky ask to help him financially after his release?
A) Mikhail
B) Pyotr Semyonov
C) Alexander Egorovich Wrangel
D) Maria Dmitrievna Isaeva
  • 45. In which journal was 'The House of the Dead' first published?
A) Epoch
B) Russky Mir
C) Sovremennik
D) Vremya
  • 46. Where did Dostoevsky move to serve in the Siberian Army Corps?
A) Tver
B) Kuznetsk
C) Barnaul
D) Semipalatinsk
  • 47. Who was the admirer of Dostoevsky's books that he met around November 1854?
A) General Eduard Totleben
B) Baron Alexander Egorovich Wrangel
C) Lieutenant-Colonel Belikhov
D) Nikolay Strakhov
  • 48. When did Dostoevsky and Maria Dmitrievna Isaeva get married?
A) 14 February 1854
B) 7 February 1857
C) 15 March 1858
D) 1 January 1856
  • 49. Where did Dostoevsky and Isaeva first get married?
A) Barnaul
B) Kuznetsk
C) Semipalatinsk
D) Saint Petersburg
  • 50. What was the title of Dostoevsky's only work completed in prison?
A) A Little Hero
B) Uncle's Dream
C) The Village of Stepanchikovo
D) Notes from Underground
  • 51. In which city did Dostoevsky first meet Alexander Herzen?
A) Berlin
B) Cologne
C) London
D) Paris
  • 52. Who was Dostoevsky's second love that he met in Paris?
A) Apollinaria Prokofievna Suslova
B) Maria Dmitrievna Isaeva
C) Polina Suslova
D) Anna Snitkina
  • 53. In which year did Dostoevsky's wife Maria die?
A) 1857
B) 1863
C) 1865
D) 1864
  • 54. What was the name of Dostoevsky's stepson?
A) Nikolay
B) Mikhail
C) Alexander
D) Pasha
  • 55. How long did it take Dostoevsky to complete The Gambler?
A) 30 days
B) 15 days
C) 45 days
D) 26 days
  • 56. What was notable about one of Dostoevsky's eyes?
A) It was smaller than the other eye
B) It was always closed due to an injury
C) It had a green tint from illness
D) The pupil was so big that you could not see its color
  • 57. Where did Dostoevsky and Snitkina marry?
A) Trinity Cathedral, Saint Petersburg
B) Frankfurt
C) Berlin
D) Dresden
  • 58. Which city did Dostoevsky and his wife visit where he sought inspiration for writing?
A) Berlin
B) Karlsruhe
C) Dresden, at the Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister
D) Frankfurt
  • 59. Where did Dostoevsky lose much money at the roulette table?
A) Vevey
B) Baden-Baden
C) Geneva
D) Milan
  • 60. What illness caused the death of Dostoevsky's first child?
A) Diphtheria
B) Pneumonia
C) Typhoid fever
D) Cholera
  • 61. In which city did Dostoevsky complete The Idiot?
A) Dresden
B) Geneva
C) Florence
D) Vienna
  • 62. Where did Dostoevsky make a final visit to a gambling hall?
A) Geneva
B) Berlin
C) Florence
D) Wiesbaden
  • 63. When did Fyodor Dostoevsky return to Russia?
A) March 1873
B) January 1872
C) July 1871
D) September 1874
  • 64. What was the name of Dostoevsky's son born on 16 July?
A) Fyodor
B) Alexey
C) Vladimir
D) Arkady
  • 65. Who influenced Dostoevsky's political progression to conservatism?
A) Konstantin Pobedonostsev
B) Terty Filipov
C) Vladimir Solovyov
D) Maykov
  • 66. What mineral spa town did the Dostoevsky family spend time in early 1872?
A) Saint Petersburg
B) Bad Ems
C) Staraya Russa
D) Moscow
  • 67. What was Anna's sister's name who died on 1 May 1872?
A) Terty Filipov
B) Vsevolod Solovyov
C) Anna Dostoevsky
D) Maria Svatkovskaya
  • 68. Which novel did Dostoevsky finish on 26 November 1872?
A) Crime and Punishment
B) Notes from Underground
C) Demons
D) The Adolescent
  • 69. What was the name of the publishing company established by Dostoevsky?
A) Russian Messenger Publishing
B) Citizen Press
C) Dostoevsky Publishing Company
D) Notes of the Fatherland
  • 70. In which magazine was A Writer's Diary published beginning on 1 January 1873?
A) Russian Messenger
B) Notes of the Fatherland
C) A Writer's Diary
D) The Citizen
  • 71. What illness was Dostoevsky diagnosed with in Bad Ems?
A) Typhus
B) Malaria
C) Acute catarrh
D) Tuberculosis
  • 72. Who is the illegitimate child of Versilov featured in The Adolescent?
A) Fyodor Dostoevsky
B) Arkady Dolgoruky
C) Raskolnikov
D) Alexey Karamazov
  • 73. When was Dostoevsky's son Alexey born?
A) 16 July 1871
B) 26 November 1872
C) 10 August 1875
D) 1 May 1872
  • 74. What is the title of Dostoevsky's book compiled from pieces of his periodical work?
A) A Writer's Diary
B) Society, Religion, Politics, and Ethics
C) The Diary of a Writer
D) Dostoevsky's Essays and Stories
  • 75. What position was Dostoevsky elected to within the Slavic Benevolent Society?
A) President
B) Treasurer
C) Secretary
D) Vice-president
  • 76. What was Dostoevsky diagnosed with during his fourth visit to Ems?
A) Epilepsy
B) Early-stage pulmonary emphysema
C) Lung cancer
D) Heart disease
  • 77. Which famous writer did Dostoevsky meet in several salons in Saint Petersburg?
A) Anton Chekhov
B) Ivan Turgenev
C) Fyodor Tyutchev
D) Leo Tolstoy
  • 78. What was the name of Dostoevsky's son who died after a severe epileptic seizure?
A) Ivan
B) Paul
C) Alyosha
D) Sergey
  • 79. Which society elected Dostoevsky to its honorary committee, alongside Victor Hugo and Leo Tolstoy?
A) Russian Academy of Sciences
B) Association Littéraire et Artistique Internationale
C) Slavic Benevolent Society
D) Saint Petersburg Literary Circle
  • 80. What parable did Dostoevsky request to be read to his children before he died?
A) The Lost Sheep
B) The Prodigal Son
C) The Good Samaritan
D) The Sower
  • 81. Which of Dostoevsky's pre-marriage romantic interests was described as a 'femme fatale'?
A) Polina Suslova
B) Aleksandra Ivanovna Schubert
C) Anna Korvin-Krukovskaya
D) Avdotya Panaeva
  • 82. Which movement did Dostoevsky discover in the 1860s that aimed to establish an open state modeled on Peter the Great's Russia?
A) Nihilism
B) Slavophilism
C) Pochvennichestvo
D) Westernization
  • 83. Which ideology did Dostoevsky support that was influenced by the Ottoman occupations of Eastern Europe?
A) Catholicism
B) Pan-Slavic
C) Atheistic socialism
D) Pro-Western
  • 84. What book did Dostoevsky read that emphasized a sentimental version of Christianity?
A) Die Stunden der Andacht
B) The Book of Job
C) The Bible
D) One Hundred and Four Sacred Stories from the Old and New Testaments
  • 85. What did Dostoevsky claim he would choose over truth, according to a letter from January 1854?
A) Christ
B) Russian literature
C) The New Testament
D) Orthodox Christianity
  • 86. What did Dostoevsky revive his faith by looking at frequently in Semipalatinsk?
A) Catholic relics
B) Orthodox icons
C) The Bible
D) The stars
  • 87. Which archbishop's works strengthened Dostoevsky's beliefs?
A) Dmitri Rostovsky
B) Grigoriev
C) Johannes Hübner
D) Herzen
  • 88. Which literary form did Dostoevsky NOT write in?
A) Novels
B) Short stories
C) Essays
D) Plays
  • 89. Which theme is NOT prominently explored in Dostoevsky's works?
A) Morality
B) Suicide
C) Poverty
D) Space exploration
  • 90. In which work did the psychological theme of dreaming first appear?
A) "Crime and Punishment"
B) "White Nights"
C) "Notes from Underground"
D) "The Brothers Karamazov"
  • 91. Which autobiographical element is frequently used in Dostoevsky's works?
A) Fictionalized accounts of other authors' lives
B) Purely imaginative fantasy worlds
C) Autobiographical or semi-autobiographical details
D) Detailed historical events unrelated to his life
  • 92. Which author called Dostoevsky his 'blood-relative'?
A) Franz Kafka
B) James Joyce
C) Virginia Woolf
D) Ernest Hemingway
  • 93. Who wrote the novel Oru Sankeerthanam Pole, which deals with Dostoevsky's life and his love affair with Anna?
A) Fyodor Dostoevsky
B) J. M. Coetzee
C) Perumbadavam Sreedharan
D) Knut Hamsun
  • 94. Which literary movement does Dostoevsky influence, known for its focus on individual existence and freedom?
A) Naturalism
B) Existentialism
C) Romanticism
D) Realism
  • 95. Which author praised Dostoevsky's prose for shattering the Victorian novel with its lack of imagination and violence?
A) James Joyce
B) Ernest Hemingway
C) Virginia Woolf
D) Franz Kafka
  • 96. Who said that reading Dostoevsky is like a 'glimpse into the havoc'?
A) Sigmund Freud
B) Albert Einstein
C) Knut Hamsun
D) Hermann Hesse
  • 97. Which Norwegian novelist wrote about Dostoevsky's overwhelming psychological sense?
A) Sigrid Undset
B) Jo Nesbø
C) Henrik Ibsen
D) Knut Hamsun
  • 98. Which author stated in A Moveable Feast that Dostoevsky's work contained things so true they changed the reader?
A) Ernest Hemingway
B) Franz Kafka
C) Virginia Woolf
D) James Joyce
  • 99. Who called Dostoevsky a 'great religious writer'?
A) Friedrich Nietzsche
B) Sigmund Freud
C) Albert Einstein
D) Leo Tolstoy
  • 100. In what year was an olive-green postage stamp dedicated to Dostoevsky released in the Soviet Union?
A) 1997
B) 1981
C) 1971
D) 1956
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