Prior to the publication of this, Dostoevsky’s first novel, the only other literary work he had completed was a translation of Balzac’s Eugenie Grandet. The shade of Balzac hovers over this tale of love and life in the very lowest rung of the middle classes, especially in its foregrounding of money, the problems of obtaining it, and the effect of grinding poverty on character and behaviour. Another Balzacian influence is the city itself, and we are plunged into the artifice of St Petersburg with its overcast skies, ice clogged canals, mouldy icing and bursting tenements, with their noise, overheated rooms and fetid, soupy air...

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http://thelectern.blogspot.com/2008/12/poor-folk-dostoevsky.html ( )