The first novel by Fyodor Dostoevsky, it was written over a period of nine months between 1844 and 1845. Dostoevsky was in financial difficulty due to his extravagant lifestyle and his addiction Although he had translated several foreign novels, they had not achieved much success, and he decided to write a novel himself in an attempt to raise money. The story is inspired by the works of Gogol, Pushkin, and Karamazin, as well as English and French novels, and is written in the form of letters between the two main characters, Makar Devushkin and Varvara Dobroselova, who are poor cousins. The novel depicts the lives of the poor and their relationship with the rich, and poverty in general, all common themes in literary naturalism. A friendship develops between them until Dobroselova loses interest in literature, and then continues to correspond with Devushkin after a wealthy widower named Mr. Bykov proposes to her. Devushkin is the prototype of the writer found in many works of naturalist literature of the time, and retains his sentimental characteristics. While Dobroselova abandons art, Devushkin cannot live without literature.