Fëdor Dostoevskij, “Due suicidi”

In 1873, Fyodor Dostoevskij (1821–1881) takes over the direction of the magazine Graždanin (The citizen) where he publishes “The diary of a writer”, a work that contains a series of articles, distributed weekly and then collected in volumes. His writings focus on issues of culture and current affairs, such as crime news, anti-Semitism, materialism.

“Two suicides”, is an extract written in October 1876. It takes its cue from two news events, the suicide deaths of two young women, one accompanied by a cynical note, the other by a prayer and an icon held in her hands. Two…