German / Germany
FMD. Leben und Werk von Dostojewski
(FMD. The life and works of Dostoyevsky)
Konstantinov, Vitali
(text/illus.)
München: Knesebeck, [2016]. – 64 p.
ISBN 978-3-86873-850-6
Dostoyevsky, Fyodor | Biography | Graphic novel
Reading age: 16+
White Ravens issue: 2017
Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoyevsky is a prime example for the fact that genius and madness often sit side by side. The Russian author, who was a compulsive gambler and was imprisoned in a Siberian labour camp for criticizing the establishment, is considered a trailblazer for modernity. In an almost seismographic way, he sensed socio-critical conflicts and psychological shallowness and shaped them into literature. With this graphic novel, Vitali Konstantinov pays tribute to the author from St. Petersburg. He weaves together Dostoyevsky’s life and works, ranging from the cradle to the grave, and from his debut novel to his late works. The pictures in black-white-and-grey, the different fonts, and the often grotesquely distorted faces aptly mirror Dostoyevsky’s fears and neuroses. Small, revealing details show Konstantinov’s skill for writing concisely. In a masterful way, he makes readers experience Dostoyevsky’s genius and madness, exuberant creativeness and depressing abysses.