ellauri042.html on line 705: In Katorga, Dostoevsky spent four years in hard labour and wearing fetters, hating immigrants. During that time, Dostoevsky´s health dramatically deteriorated and he suffered from his first generalized epileptic attacks.
ellauri042.html on line 706: The doctor wrote: “1850, he had his first epileptic attack with crying, amnesia, cloniform movements, foam around his mouth, and dyspnoea with weak and rapid pulsation of the heart. This first attack lasted for 15 min. The attack was followed by common exhaustion and reachievment of consciousness. 1853, he had another attack, and meanwhile, the attacks return at every end of the month”. During his Siberian years, Dostoevsky became a devout follower of the Russian Orthodox Church and a persuaded monarchist.
ellauri042.html on line 710: Furthermore, his first wife, who was something of an impulse purchase, suffered from tuberculosis, so he had an impassionate affair with a young woman called Apollinaria Suslova on the side. It ended tragically due to his obsession with gambling. Beside of these blows he suffered from frequent epileptic seizures. At the bedside of his sick wife he wrote “Notes from Underground” (1864), a psychological study of an outsider. The work starts with a confession by the writer: “I am a sick man … I am a wicked man …” Fair enough.
ellauri042.html on line 715: On the 15th of February, 1867, Dostoevsky married Anna Grigoryevna Snitkina, his stenographer who seemed to have understood her husband´s manias and rages. Ten days later, Dostoevsky had an epileptic attack which was described in Anna Grigoryevna´s memories. Shouting, grinding teeth, kicking on the floor, saliva on the chin, the works.
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