At the end of May 1837, fifteen-year-old Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky and sixteen-year-old Mikhail Mikhailovich Dostoevsky were brought to St. Petersburg by their father to enroll in the Main Engineering School. In the autumn, after preparation at Kostomarov’s boarding school, Fyodor managed to enter the third conductor class. Mikhail did not pass due to health reasons and went to the engineering cadets.

On January 16, 1838, Dostoevsky moved into the Engineering Castle. From that time, according to the writer, he studied “from early morning till evening,” after which he still had “lessons in fencing, dancing, singing” and guard duty. Already in February, in a letter to his father, Dostoevsky reported constant busyness, leaving no time even for frequent correspondence. He spoke very positively about the school, saying he was very satisfied and had wonderful teachers. According to his company officer A. I. Saveliev: “...at the school he behaved modestly, performed drill duties and academic tasks impeccably.” At the very beginning of his studies, he again encountered favoritism from the school administration: “Recently I learned that after the exam the general arranged for the admission of four new students at the state’s expense besides the candidate who was with Kostomarov and took my vacancy. What meanness! It completely shocked me. We, who struggle for every last ruble, have to pay, while others — children of wealthy fathers — are admitted free of charge.”

From the first days of study, Dostoevsky’s inclination toward “intellectual” subjects was clear — literature, languages, Divine Law, history, geography, geometry, physics. Military subjects such as artillery, fortification, and drawing plans of field fortifications, redoubts, and bastions were difficult for the future writer. Nevertheless, in April Fyodor Mikhailovich successfully passed intermediate exams, negatively noting the excessive importance of drawing: “I draw poorly, as you know, and this harmed me a lot... I became average in the class, whereas I could have been first... I have full marks in almost all intellectual subjects, so I have 5 points more than the first student in all subjects except drawing. And drawing is viewed more mathematically.” Besides drawing, the final grade was influenced by marks in the field service, in which Dostoevsky, for whom it was painful to “stand out before any officer,” scored no more than 3-4 out of 10. In mid-May, Fyodor was also exhausted and forced to spend seriously on preparations for the parade “where the entire royal family was present and 140,000 troops were stationed.”

In summer, conductors were sent for two months to Peterhof for practical exercises, which consisted of “surveying and leveling terrain, laying out and defiling field fortifications, and performing sapper and linear works.” In the first year, Dostoevsky had a double load — “battalion and sharpshooters.” At this time, a precise image of a possible future began to form for him. Financial difficulties were added to the field hardships. He wrote to his brother about the difficult financial situation: “During the march from the camps I had not a penny; I fell ill on the road from a cold (it rained all day, and we were exposed) and from hunger and had not a grosh to moisten my throat with a sip of tea.” In letters to his brother, Dostoevsky regularly complained about his miserable fate, hunger, and lack of money. From mid-August to October, classes continued at the school. On October 1, annual exams began. From October 3 to 26, Dostoevsky passed exams in Divine Law, algebra, German, geometry, geography, Russian language and literature, artillery, fortification, French, and history. He was not included in the lists of those promoted to the next classes, remaining in the third class for a second year. On October 30, in a letter to his father, he explained this failure by a quarrel with the algebra teacher during the year, because of which “some of the teachers were not favorable to me”: “Those who passed the exams a hundred times worse than me were promoted (through favoritism). What to do? Apparently, you cannot break through the road yourself. I distinguished myself in algebra and fortification, and they gave me inappropriate marks.” In summer, Dostoevsky wrote to his brother that he had read all of Ernst Hoffmann, almost all of Honoré de Balzac, Goethe’s “Faust,” Nikolai Polevoy, Victor Hugo, George Sand, Shakespeare.

On November 1, 1838, the new academic year began at the Main Engineering School. At first, Dostoevsky took the repetition of the year very negatively: “Oh horror! Another year, a whole extra year! I wouldn’t mind if the tears of my poor father did not burn my soul.” But later he noted a positive side in that he could “graduate first and receive a lieutenant’s commission directly.” The main thing for Dostoevsky was to prove to himself that the school required only rote learning from him. His letters regularly repeated the thought that it was “disgusting, but necessary,” “with aversion — but you cram.” In the end, the writer concluded that “field fortification is such nonsense that you can cram it in 3 days.” At the same time, his success in “field service” remained weak, because of which the writer even ended up in the group of laggards, who were prescribed daily drills.

At the beginning of the second year of study, Dostoevsky met Alexander Rizenkampf. Together with Grigorovich, Beketov, Vitkovsky, and Berezhetsky, the future writer organized a literary circle. Dostoevsky also worked as an editor of the lithographed newspaper at the school. In the winter of 1839, the writer became close to the Berezhetsky brothers and Beketov, with whom he “had long conversations and lengthy discussions on various issues.” According to the company officer’s recollections, Dostoevsky did not become close to anyone else: “Such an isolated position of Fyodor Mikhailovich caused good-natured mockery from his comrades, and for some reason he was given the nickname ‘Photios.’” In the first half of 1839, Dostoevsky planned to marry A. D. Lagvenova.

At this time, Dostoevsky was constantly in debt and could get money only from his father, even understanding his financial situation. Thus, in March 1839, he wrote: “I have spent a lot of money (on buying books, things, etc.) and had to borrow everything. How much longer will I take your last? I know we are poor.” Already in May, along with gratitude for the 75 rubles sent, Fyodor Mikhailovich asked to send at least another 40 rubles for boots, a trunk for books, postal supplies, and courtesies for the servants for the summer camps near Peterhof. There he added: “Respecting your need, I will not drink tea.” Semenov-Tyan-Shansky had earlier studied at the military school for guards non-commissioned officers and cavalry cadets, “a richer, aristocratic institution.” According to his recollections, 10 rubles were enough for summer camps in Peterhof. Regarding Dostoevsky’s requests, he writes that this was “not an actual need but was done simply so as not to fall behind other comrades who had their own tea, boots, and trunk.”

In May 1839, Dostoevsky successfully passed exams for promotion to the second class. His father wrote about the complete ruin of the estates but found and sent the necessary money. The summer was spent near Peterhof on practical exercises. On July 11, an order was issued transferring Dostoevsky to the second conductor class. On June 6, Dostoevsky’s father died: officially from an apoplectic stroke, unofficially said to have been killed in the field by his serfs. There is information that news of his father’s death caused Dostoevsky to have an epileptic seizure.

Studying in the second conductor class, the writer again found himself in a difficult financial situation, not even having money for frequent letters. Fyodor Mikhailovich’s general mood was expressed in his letter to his brother: “My only goal is to be free. For it, I sacrifice everything. But often, often I think, what will freedom bring me? What will I be alone in a crowd of strangers? I will be able to untie all this; but, I confess, it takes strong faith in the future, a strong consciousness in oneself, to live by my present hopes. I am confident in myself. Man is a mystery. It must be solved, and if you spend your whole life solving it, do not say you wasted time; I am engaged in this mystery because I want to be a man.” Konstantin Trutovsky, who entered the school in October, later recalled that Dostoevsky at that time “was very thin, his complexion was some kind of pale, gray, his hair light and sparse, his eyes sunken, but his gaze was penetrating and deep. The uniform sat awkwardly on him, and the knapsack, shako, and rifle seemed like chains he was temporarily obliged to wear and which burdened him.”

In November, Mikhail Dostoevsky wrote in a letter to Moscow about Fyodor’s extreme poverty, who did not even have money for postage. At this time, the future writer was fascinated by the works of Friedrich Schiller, highly appreciated the works of Victor Hugo and Gavriil Romanovich Derzhavin. From January 2 to 12, 1840, Dostoevsky passed half-year exams in algebra, literature, fortification, history, German, artillery, French, and drawing. From April 30 to June 1, he successfully passed annual exams in the second conductor class. From June 23 to August 25, the company was on practical exercises near Peterhof.

In the autumn of 1840, Fyodor Mikhailovich continued his studies in the first conductor class, and on November 29, “for good behavior and knowledge of field service,” he was promoted to non-commissioned officer. On December 27, by the highest order, he was “renamed to portepee-junker.” From January 7 to 18, half-year exams were held in fortification, history, French, analytics, geodesy, Divine Law, descriptive geometry, physics, architecture, drawing, and Russian literature. Dostoevsky’s company officer A. I. Saveliev later recalled that “in 1841 Fyodor Mikhailovich was already graduating from the senior class. As before, thoughtful, rather gloomy, one might say reserved, he rarely associated with any of his comrades, although he did not isolate himself, often sharing his study notes with them, and often wrote essays on assigned topics in Russian literature for his comrades.” “His favorite place of study was the embrasure of the window in the corner bedroom of the company, overlooking the Fontanka.” At the same time, the officer noted Dostoevsky’s nighttime writing work, the content of which he did not tell anyone. Saveliev noticed that “it was impossible to assume that F. M. Dostoevsky lacked time during the day for studies; the writing work at night, when no one disturbed him, was literary.”

In January 1841, the writer became interested in theater and conceived the drama “Maria Stuart,” on which he continued to work until 1842 but ultimately did not finish. In mid-February, Dostoevsky read to his brother Mikhail “excerpts from two of his dramatic attempts” — “Maria Stuart” and “Boris Godunov,” after which he began preparing for final exams: “Such cramming, God forbid, has never happened before. They are pulling the sinews out of us. I sit even on holidays. Faster to the pier, faster to freedom!” From April 22 to June 3, Dostoevsky successfully passed exams in analytics, geodesy, descriptive geometry, fortification, artillery, physics, French, Russian, history, architecture, Divine Law, and three types of drawing: fortification, architectural, and situational. From June 20 to August 5, he was on practical exercises near Peterhof. On August 5, after exams in fourteen subjects, Fyodor Dostoevsky was promoted “to field engineer-ensign with retention in the Engineering School to continue the full course of studies in the junior officer class.”

Sources:

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dostoevsky_in_the_Main_Engineering_School

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