Siberian routes of Dostoevsky

The article examines the routes Dostoevsky had followed from St. Petersburg to Siberia and back, and his travels through Siberia in 1850—1859. This task required a historically accurate reconstruction of Dostoevsky’s Siberian routes: Semipalatinsk—Zmiev, Semipalatinsk—Barnaul, Semipalatinsk—Zmiev—Barnaul—Kuznetsk, Semipalatinsk—Loktev plant. The article also describes the condition of the roads, indicates their length and intermediate stations, which allows to identify the writer’s Siberian routes, clarify the details of his travels, their duration and dates. The length of the routes is revealed by the Postal Road Atlas of the Russian Empire dated 1829, 1852 and 1875, topographic maps of Tomsk province, reference works, memoirs of contemporaries and the author’s collection of letters. The study revealed that the length of the road from Semipalatinsk to Zmeinogorsk is 182.5 versts (Postal Road Atlas, 1829) or 201 versts (1875); Zmeinogorsk—Barnaul — 280 (1825) or 268.75 (1875) versts. Thus, the total length of the Semipalatinsk—Zmiev—Barnaul route is equal to 462.5 versts (1825) or 469.75 versts (1875). There were two roads between Barnaul and Kuznetsk: the first one, the north road, passed through Kisluha—Beloyarsk—Golubtsovo—Kopylovo, Sorokino, Yanovskoe, Monoskino, Khmelevsky, Salairsky Pereval, Gavrilovsky Silver Smelter Plant, Gurievsk, Bachata, Karagayly, Bangur; and the second one, the south road, shorter and more direct, passed through Togul and the Tomsk plant. Only the second road is mentioned in the Postal Road Atlas. The article provides the calculation of the span of each road, and substantiates the hypothesis that Dostoevsky’s BarnaulKuznetsk route passed through Gobina, Zilina, Kosikha, Losishikha (Losisha), Togul’skoye village, Togul’skoye Zimov’ye, Tomsk iron plant, Berezovka and spanned 282–282.5 versts. Indirect evidence of the fact that the writer took this road are the memoirs of A. E. Vrangel and Dostoevsky’s letters. For instance, in the letters to V. M. Karepina and the writer’s elder brother (both dated 22 December 1856), Dostoevsky mentions 700–750 versts between Semipalatinsk and Kuznetsk. A comparison between topographic maps of the ХIХ century and the author’s letters allows us to revise the viewpoint of E. R. Vesterman, who insisted on the distance of 1,000 verst-route between Semipalatinsk and Kuznetsk through Salair, Guryevsk, Bachata, Karagayly, Kiselevsk, Kalachevo and Bungur. The Siberian period of Dostoevsky’s biography requires further research with support from archival sources.