En 1849 Fiódor Dostoievski fue sometido a una condena de ocho años de trabajos forzados en Siberia acusado de «crímenes contra la seguridad del Estado». En 1862 aparecería en forma de libro Memorias de la casa muerta, el recuento de sus experiencias en presidio. De su sentimiento de desubicación, de la convivencia forzosa, del progresivo conocimiento de su condición y de cuanto le une o le distancia de los demás, surge este estudio «emocionado y conmovido» sobre la mentalidad carcelaria y la psicología criminal.

El 23 de abril de 1849 Dostoyevski fue detenido por «crímenes contra la seguridad del Estado» y condenado a muerte. El motivo era su vinculación con el Círculo Petrashevski, un grupo donde se debatía acerca de las ideas utópicas socialistas y liberales surgidas en Francia. Finalmente, su pena será condonada por trabajos forzados en una prisión de Omsk, Siberia, donde permanecerá cinco años, hasta que una amnistía decretada por Alejandro II le permita volver a San Petersburgo. De este tiempo de prisión contaría a su hermano que se sentía «silenciado en un ataúd», y dejó escrito: «Desde la mañana a la noche, era imposible no comportarse como cerdos». Esta experiencia, que cambiará para siempre la visión del autor sobre el ser humano y la sociedad, es la materia de estas memorias. En ellas, Dostoyevski —«el mejor conocedor del alma humana de todos los tiempos», según Stefan Zweig, y «el único psicólogo del que tengo algo que aprender», según Friedrich Nietzsche— adopta la piel de su personaje Alexandr Petrovich para relatarnos las anécdotas, conversaciones y experiencias vividas en el interior de la casa de los muertos.

There is a sentence from Memoirs From The House Of The Dead, which summarizes this entire book neatly: "Here I am, however, trying to classify the whole prison into types: but is this possible?"

Even though this book has been described as the "least Dostoevskian of his works", the mind-numbing precision of Dostoevsky's human psyche analysis still pervades this book strongly, through Alexander Petrovich's observations of the prisoners going about their daily lives in penal servitude. Not all is gloomy and dry though - Dostoevsky's a great narrator as well and he easily breathes personalities and humanity into his characters, some of who also possess a roguish, riotous wit. I'd recommend this to anyone starting out with his books. ( )

Fascinating semi-autobiographical novel of Dostoyevsky and his years as a political prisoner in Siberia. He writes as "Alexander Petrovich" and these are "Alexander"'s thoughts and impressions of prison life under Nicholas I. Each chapter is a separate vignette, complete in itself. The convicts are given sharp psychological portraits. We see their interaction with each other and the prison authorities. We get a taste of the daily routine, Christmas and Easter celebrations, such as they are, the prison animals, an escape, protesting with a complaint, and finally, after years as a convict, freedom at last for the narrator.
Highly recommended. ( )

So I finally got through, more or less, after dropping it once around halfway through. Woof. Given how much I loved Karamazov, C&P, and Notes from Underground, I didn't expect to feel how I felt about this one. I knew it was a prison memoir of sorts, but what I didn't account for was that it takes the form of a series of rambling impressions with the system with little or no plot between episodes. But given that the individual stories are not isolated enough, the book doesn't have even the strength of a good book of short stories. It really does show that this was one of Dostoevsky's first works, that's for sure. It's really a two star book, but i'll add an extra star for some choice quotes, which i'll type up here:

"Tyranny is a habit; it is endowed with development, and develops finally into an illness. I stand upon this, that the best of men can, from habit, become coarse and stupified to the point of brutality. Blood and power intoxicate: coarseness and depravity develop; the most abnormal phenomena become accessible and finally, sweet to the mind and feelings... Power is seductive. A society that looks indifferently upon such a phenomenon is itself infected at its foundation."

and,

"To acknowledge one's guilt and ancestral sin is little, very little; it is necessary to break with them completely. And that cannot be done so quickly." (p. 197)

Although he meant the above in the context of executioners and corporal punishment, the second quote speaks to me especially regarding the perception and acknowledgement of white privilege as well as decolonization. Interesting that a book from 1862 about the Siberian forced labour system can speak to me so powerfully about that.

There's also a delightfully delightful sequence about his dogs. So there's that.

Old hiatus review:
Putting this on hiatus for a moment. The first ~150 pages are good - it's very interesting to learn about the russian/siberian prison system, but there is virtually no plot to keep me engaged. I'll come back to it later because Dostoevsky is a good writer but there are more interesting things right now. ( )