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Fyodor Dostoyevsky (1821-1881) trained as an engineer and began his literary career with translations. As punishment for reading books banned by the Tsar, he was subjected to a mock execution and sent into exile in Siberia in his twenties. Subsequently he worked exclusively as a writer, touring Europe and publishing novels and journalism. Addicted to gambling, he was often near starvation. A second, very happy marriage to typist Anna Snitkina helped to stabilize his manner of living, and with her practical assistance he went on to write some of his greatest works, and to earn his lasting reputation as one of the dominant figures of world literature.

Ignat Avsey (1938-2013) was born in Latvia but later moved to the United Kingdom. He was Senior Lecturer in Russian Language and Literature at the University of Westminster, and translated many major works into English, including Dostoevsky's The Karamazov Brothers and The Idiot.