Poor Folk by Fyodor Dostoevsky

Poor Folk (1846) is Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s first novel, written in the form of an epistolary exchange between two impoverished individuals living in St. Petersburg: Makar Devushkin, a humble and aging government copyist, and Varvara Dobroselova, a distant relative and young woman struggling to survive. Through their deeply emotional letters, the novel unveils the themes of poverty, dignity, social injustice, and the quiet suffering of the marginalized.

This work marks the beginning of Dostoyevsky’s exploration into the psychology of the downtrodden and the morally complex lives of ordinary people. It offers a tender yet harrowing glimpse into the lives of those living on the fringes of society in Tsarist Russia, while subtly criticizing the bureaucratic and class structures that perpetuate their misery.