A Little Hero

This work, written by Dostoevsky in the Peter and Paul Fortress while awaiting trial (summer–autumn 1849), astonishes with its life-affirming, almost Renaissance vitality. What interests Dostoevsky most in this story is the formation or definition of the main substantial property of the human being, the problem of the formation of personality, the shaping of a moral stance, and the awakening of feelings.
The original title was "A Children's Fairy Tale." "A Little Hero" was conceived by Dostoevsky on a broader scale, as a novel (see his letter to his brother Mikhail of July 18, 1849). The very title "A Little Hero," beyond indicating the age (stature) of the character, introduces the theme of "deed" and "accomplishment." The oxymoronic quality of the title is palpable — a feat as such was not performed; the "hero" did not grow up to "heroism."
It was first published in 1857 by Dostoevsky's brother Mikhail without the author's name, under the anagram M-iy. Dostoevsky regretted that he could not rework the story and make changes to the text: "throw out the entirely worthless beginning" (letter to his brother, March 1, 1858). In subsequent editions of 1860 and 1866, the opening — the address to Mashenka — was omitted. However, in this prefatory address some important aesthetic principles of the early Dostoevsky were formulated: the story was written "to please" a capricious girl and was required to meet several criteria: entertainment ("so that it would be terribly interesting to listen to"), non-sentimentality ("because Mashenka does not want to cry at all [...] she does not want to laugh either"), non-frightfulness ("she had already suffered all last night: she had some terrible dream"), conciseness ("so that it would not be long"), clarity of plot ("so that there would be no confusion"). At the center of Dostoevsky's attention is the theme of "the awakening of spring": an unusual situation in which an eleven-year-old boy falls in love with a "grown-up lady." As L.P. Grossman notes, this theme was hypocritically hushed up by official pedagogy.