ABSTRACT
Social awkwardness, fantasized superiority, and feelings of inferiority were all active when Dostoevsky began school at age thirteen. He was divided into an outwardly compliant persona and an inner self, protectively secreted away, where his most cherished fantasies and ideals were kept alive. This inner self was nourished on literature; from early on he was most alive when reading, imagining, and discussing books. The most consistent image of the outer boy through the school years is of a misfit, an isolate, someone who kept largely to himself.
