The Peasant Marey
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David Magarshack
Roger Cockrell
et al.
| "The Peasant Marey" | |
|---|---|
| Short story by Fyodor Dostoyevsky | |
| Original title | Мужик Марей (Muzhik Marey) |
| Translator | Constance Garnett David Magarshack Roger Cockrell et al. |
| Language | Russian |
| Genre | Short story |
| Publication | |
| Publication date | 1876 |
"The Peasant Marey" (Russian: Мужик Марей Muzhik Marey), written in 1876, is both the "best-known autobiographical account"[1] from the Writer's Diary of Fyodor Dostoevsky, and a frequently anthologized work of fiction. This "double encoding" arises from its framing as both short story, narrated by the fictional prisoner Goryanchikov from The House of the Dead, and as reminiscences of Dostoevsky himself, as a way to evade censorship.[2]
"The Peasant Marey" is preoccupied mainly with a childhood memory, when the speaker was nine and living with his father in Tula province. The boy is frightened by rumors of a wolf prowling the countryside, and finds refuge with one of his father's serfs, Marey. Recollected 20 years later, the incident takes on the significance of an allegory or myth.[3]
