F.M. Dostoevsky's debut novel "Poor People" became a milestone in the development of Russian literature, causing a flurry of responses from both critics and readers at the time of publication. This edition was prepared in the best traditions of the Literary Monuments series, since it aims to reconstruct the atmosphere in which the novel was created and read. Letters from Dostoevsky himself, memoirs of his contemporaries, responses to the novel - reviews, poetic and prose parodies - this is what will allow the reader to penetrate the writer's creative laboratory and feel the spirit of that time. Exhaustive commentary surpasses even the latest academic and introduces into scientific circulation a set of materials that will allow you to take a fresh look at the seemingly well-known essay.