ABSTRACT
One of Dostoevsky's greatest infatuations goes back to the beginning of the sixties. The young girl Apollinaria Pankratievna Souslov left a profound trace on the creative activity of Dostoevsky's later period. Aime Dostoevskys book on her father we can gather only a few facts concerning Pauline. Souslovs Diary makes it possible to re-establish the history of their personal relations, and it also throws much light on Dostoevsky's method of transforming the raw material of experience into a work of art. A woman of extremes, ever disposed to unbounded sensations, to psychological polarities, she demanded a great deal from life. Rosanov compares Apollinaria to Dostoevskys heroines. Dounia, Raskolnikovs sister, he says, and Aglaia are like her. The latter furnished Dostoevsky with certain characteristics for his proud girls and infernal women. In almost all the novels of Dostoevskys mature period there appears a new type and character of woman, undoubtedly revealed to him by his captivating and unique travelling companion of 1863.
