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Stellovsky’s 1865 contract threatens to seize rights if a novel is late

In 1865 F. T. Stellovsky bound Dostoyevsky with a contract: deliver a new novel by a near deadline or cede rights. In the causal graph this event strengthens the driver Labour-Market Tightness.

Read the full account

In 1865 F. T. Stellovsky bound Dostoyevsky with a contract: deliver a new novel by a near deadline or cede rights. Labour path: a writer’s future work held as hostage.

Context

Petersburg publishing could be usury. Shared with Stellovsky. Distinct from roulette. Anna’s dictation is the escape labour, already on the marriage and Gambler rows as other objects.

If a number is not in the two records named above, it is not supplied here.

Why it matters

It is not a unique 1860s publishers’ index.

Later competitions, monuments, translations, UNESCO listings, museums, and adaptations are not converted into extra lifetime acts.

Who was responsible

Contribution type and responsibility level for each recorded actor — not sole-author shorthand.

  • Fyodor Dostoyevsky

    Person

    Direct responsibility

    responsibility level 0.28 · verified

    Named trapped author in Stellovsky’s rights-grab contract. The publisher set the clause. Complex predatory labour.

What changed

Fact → Driver → Indicator. Relationship strength orders the paths; it is not the observed indicator movement.

    1. FactStellovsky’s 1865 contract threatens to seize rights if a novel is late
    2. strengthensDriverLabour-Market Tightness

    impact weight 0.3 · Effect from 1 January 1865 · verified

    A contract that would take future work for a missed deadline is labour-market coercion, distinct from the novella produced to escape it.

Evidence

The sources behind this fact and its verification state.

Verified2 sources on file
  1. 1.Britannica — Fyodor DostoyevskyEncyclopaedia Britannica · High credibility · verified
  2. 2.State Museum of the History of Russian Literature (Goslitmuz)Vladimir Dahl State Literary Museum · High credibility · verified
What the sources establish

Britannica at https://www.britannica.com/biography/Fyodor-Dostoyevsky (opens in a new tab) independently notes the Stellovsky episode. Goslitmuz at https://www.goslitmuz.ru/ (opens in a new tab) is the literary-business neighbourhood.

Established as received: 1865 Stellovsky deadline-contract. Not established: a unique ruble figure in this date field. Distinct from Igrok as literature. Stellovsky 1865 hostage-clause on rights, deadline 1866, not the dictated novella’s literary row. Official https://www.britannica.com/biography/Fyodor-Dostoyevsky (opens in a new tab) is not independent https://www.goslitmuz.ru/ (opens in a new tab).

That reading is an impact-path choice, not a property stored on the Fact itself.

Confidence is stated on the impact path, not hidden in adjectives. The contract is not The Gambler as a book. Mixed effects of Stellovsky’s 1865 contract threatens to seize rights if a novel is late are separate paths.

Shared responsibility is part of Stellovsky’s 1865 contract threatens to seize rights if a novel is late. Naming Fyodor Dostoyevsky does not delete co-authors, institutions, or later transmitters. The lag from 1865-01-01 to any measured indicator is not treated as zero. Alternative explanations — weather, other armies, later statutes, or independent cultural change — remain live where the sources do not close them.

Causal path

How this event connects to drivers and indicators in the graph.

  1. ActorFyodor Dostoyevsky
  2. contributed toFactStellovsky’s 1865 contract threatens to seize rights if a novel is late
  3. strengthensDriverLabour-Market Tightness

Cite this page

Factrail. (2026). Stellovsky’s 1865 contract threatens to seize rights if a novel is late. Factrail. https://factrail.ai/facts/dost-stellovsky-contract

https://factrail.ai/facts/dost-stellovsky-contract

Accessed 16 October 2026.

By the Factrail desk · Method: how we source and score · Last reviewed

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