Poor People and A Little Hero by Fyodor Dostoevsky..Bednye lyudi (Бедные люди) [English: Poor People a.k.a. Poor Folk] Published in 1846, Dostoevsky's first novel was written when the author was 24 years old, and it made him famous immediately. Although it shows the influence of Gogol's The Overcoat, this novel is written with a sympathy and understanding that enable it to stand on its own as an original work.
So great was its impact upon the critics of its time that it became responsible for the literary term, 'the natural school', which was applied to an entire group of Russian novels.
Malen'kij geroj (Маленький герой) [English: A Little Hero]
Written in 1849 while he was imprisoned in the Peter and Paul Fortress in Petersburg, A Little Hero reflects Dostoevsky's involvement with the Petrashevsky circle, a group of radicals headed by the young and rich political dilettante Mikhail Butashevich Petrashevsky. Dostoevsky was arrested with other members of the group.
A Little Hero is not only an amazingly frank portrait of Petrashevsky, but also a fine analysis of the mentality of an 11-year-old boy who falls in love with a young married woman.
