TEHRAN – Iran’s Book City Institute plans to celebrate the 200th birthday of Russian writer Fyodor Dostoevsky in collaboration with Russia’s Russkiy Mir Foundation.

Scholars from Iran and Russia have been invited to shares their latest studies on Dostoevsky during a program named “A Week with Dostoevsky”, Book City Institute deputy director Ali-Asghar Mohammadkhani.

The program will begin on November 6 and run for seven days until Dostoevsky’s birthday anniversary on November 11.

“Along with Pushkin, Chekhov and Tolstoy, Dostoevsky is undoubtedly among the great and renowned writers of the world,” Mohammadkhani said and added, “Different Iranian translators have rendered his works into Persian over the past century, and many films have been made based on his stories in the world.”

He said, “Dostoevsky’s works are among the masterpieces of world literature that perfectly capture the spirit of its readers.”

Mohammadkhani called Dostoevsky used modern psychology in story writing and noted “He not only paints a highly accurate picture of the Russian people of his time and their living conditions, but also exactly depicts the images of people one by one by giving a perfect psychological analysis of them, and he deems the penetration of the spirit and moral characteristics of those people were in some way isolated in society and is the only way to cure them of all mental and physical pains,” he added.

Born on November 11, 1821 in Moscow, Dostoyevsky is usually regarded as one of the finest novelists who ever lived. Literary modernism, existentialism and various schools of psychology, theology and literary criticism have been profoundly shaped by his ideas. His works are often called prophetic because he so accurately predicted how Russia’s revolutionaries would behave if they came to power.        

He is best known for his novella “Notes from the Underground” and for four long novels, “Crime and Punishment”, “The Idiot”, “The Possessed” (also and more accurately known as “The Demons and The Devils”) and “The Brothers Karamazov”. 

Each of these works is famous for its psychological profundity, and, indeed, Dostoyevsky is commonly regarded as one of the greatest psychologists in the history of literature.

He died on February 9, 1881, in St. Petersburg.

The Book City Institute and Russkiy Mir Foundation have previously organized joint meetings to commemorate Russian writers, including Anton Chekhov and Alexander Pushkin.

The Russkiy Mir Foundation (Russian World Foundation) was created by a decree by Vladimir Putin in 2007, as a government-sponsored organization aimed at promoting the Russian language worldwide.

Photo: A portrait of Russian writer Fyodor Dostoevsky by Vasily Perov.

MMS/YAW