His marriages really were disastrous, and his second wife really did say that. She (and he) even really might have felt that way, despite the immense problems in their relationship.
Just to give you a sense of the problems in their famous relationship, Dostoevsky was once lost all of her belongings while gambling.
If you're interested further, Joseph Frank's five volume biography of Dostoevsky is a masterpiece in itself, and would give you a sense of how difficult, but also how strongly emotional their relationship was.
That does give a bit more merit to the Guardian's take, although I'm still not convinced that 'disastrous' is the right word to describe their marriage.
Thanks for the recommendation! 2500 pages for the five volumes is quite the read, but it seems well worth it.
Re:Dostoevsky in Love
by ceilingcorner on Sunday January 17, 2021 @10:42AM
(#25811565)
The Guardian seems one level above a tabloid at this point, so I’d be highly skeptical of their commentary.
How many tabloids do Dostoevsky?
“One level above a tabloid”
I understand the skepticism ... but if that's your view, you must not have read a tabloid in a very, very long time. To your credit.
This part seems to be a direct contradiction of the Guardian intro:
> [...] It was these mutual attitudes which enabled both of us to live in the fourteen years of our married life in the greatest happiness possible for human beings on earth.
vs the Guardian:
> His marriages were disastrous [...]