Stepan Yanovsky
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Stepan Dmitrievich Yanovsky (Russian: Степа́н Дми́триевич Яно́вский; 1815 – 13 July 1897,[1] Switzerland) was a family doctor of Fyodor Dostoyevsky. He watched after the writer's health from 1846 to 1849. He was also an author of memoirs about Dostoevsky ("The Russian Messenger" magazine, 1885, №176). Some features of Yanovsky and some family events from his life were reflected in the image of Dostoevsky's character Pavel Pavlovich Trusotsky ("The Eternal Husband").
Stepan Yanovsky graduated from Moscow department (Russian: Московская медико-хирургическая академия) of S. M. Kirov Military Medical Academy. In the beginning of his career, he served as a doctor in Preobrazhensky Regiment (enlisted in 1837) and as a doctor and a lecturer of Natural history in Saint Petersburg State Forest Technical University (Russian: Санкт-Петербургский государственный лесотехнический университет). In the middle of 1840th, having received a position in the department of state-owned medical warehouses of The Ministry of Internal Affairs (Russian: Министерство внутренних дел), Yanovsky opened a private medical practice that gave him access to the world of St. Petersburg's contemporary writers.[1] In 1855, Stepan Dmitrievich married Alexandra Ivanovna Shubert (Russian: Алекса́ндра Ива́новна Шу́берт-Яно́вская), an actress of the Alexandrinsky Theatre. The marriage lasted 8 years.[2] Yanovsky retired in 1871, immigrated to Switzerland 6 years after, where he died in 1897.[1]
Relationship with Dostoevsky
In the spring of 1846, Yanovsky was contacted by a student, Vladimir Maikov (Russian: Влади́мир Ма́йков) who asked him to provide a consultation for his close friend, then 24 year old Fyodor Dostoevsky, who had complaints about dizziness and insomnia. The first meeting of the doctor and the author of the just-released "Poor Folk" and "The Double" occurred at the end of May. Their relationship became friendly, and they met weekly (at times daily) over the next 3 years, until Dostoevsky's arrest and exile for his part in the Petrashevsky Circle. The treatment that Yanovsky provided was intended to eliminate Dostoevsky's periodical hallucinations and symptoms of "head dizziness". The doctor argued that Dostoevsky, though he was afraid of paralysis, must have felt himself to be a healthy man. The treatment included a special diet and a decoction made from the roots of Smilax ornata.[3]
Dostoevsky and Yanovsky's discussions were not limited to medical matters: they discussed literature, music, and daily events. Stepan Dmitrievich knew about the family and financial problems of his patient.[4] The doctor was one of the first people to hear about Dostoevsky's arrest, from Michail Michailovich Dostoevsky who visited him in the early morning of 23 April 1849. He informed Yanovsky that Fyodor Mikhailovich was detained in the Third Section of His Imperial Majesty's Own Chancellery. Later, in 1859, when Dostoevsky was allowed to live in Tver, Yanovsky (according to his memoirs) was one of the first friends who visited him in that town.[1]
Some letters that Yanovsky and Dostoevsky sent to each other are preserved to this day. In the spring of 1868, after The Idiot had been published, Yanovsky wrote to the author about its reception. "In the club, in small saloons, in railway carriages... everywhere I can hear only 'Have you read Dostoevsky's last novel?'"[4] In 1872, Dostoevsky wrote to Yanovsky a letter in which he expressed his gratitude to the doctor, the friend of his youth: "You are one of the unforgettable people, one of those who echoed sharply in my life... Because you are a benefactor, you loved me and spent your time with me, with the one who had a soul illness (now I realize this), before my trip to Siberia, where I was cured... Sincerely yours till death..."[5]
