kafka had spanish flu and tuberculosis at the same time in 1918
carl jung was a double agent working for the americans spying on nazis and curating psych profiles
sylvia plath's dad was a beekeeping scholar which inspired her and her husband to become amateur beekeepers

>>25548040
This is probably not true. The neighbor started a rumor that Dostoevskys father was murdered in his bed by his own serfs for being a cruel master. Joseph Frank says this was most likely a bargaining ploy to drive down the price of the land and the serfs that came with it by scaring off other buyers. In all likelihood, his father died from booze and epilepsy.

Here are some actual cool trivia items about Dostoevsky:

He went through a mock execution

Late in his life, he lived in the same building as the young man who later assassinated the Tzar. Dostoevsky loved talking to the young men in his area and hearing their wild political opinions. In all likelihood, Dosto had befriended the man who would kill his hero Tsar-liberator, though Dosto did not live to see the assassination.

He was interrogated at the Peter and Paul fortress by a great great uncle (I think) of Nabokov.

His epilepsy was almost certainly hereditary. He had it, his father had it, and his son Alexy had it. Dosto wrote The Brothers Karamazov after Alexy died during a seizure at age three. The narrator's hero is named after Dosto's real son.

He bet his whole writing future on delivering a book on time to an unscrupulous publisher. The book he first intended to deliver to satisfy the contract became Crime and Punishment, after starting as a book about "the drunks." As the Raskolnikov plot came into view, he knew he couldn't sell the book to the loser publisher and began serializing it instead. He also need the money right away, since he was abroad and losing at the roulette tables constantly. In order to save his career, he hired an assistant who knew shorthand through a friend. He dictated The Gambler to her over a two weeks (and it's pretty good!). She (Anna) was half his age and found him entertaining during the hardscrabble writing process. They submitted the book hours before the due date. The publisher had left town in order to prevent Dosto from delivering the book, since failure to deliver meant he would take all profits from all of Dosto's future works. Dosto and Anna found a notary public to certify the delivery. They married soon after.

Anna was Dostoevsky's second wife. He fell in love with his first wife while serving the military portion of his exile. She was married to an old alcoholic. To meet, she would get her husband drunk and then ask to go on a carriage ride. She'd meet Dosto in the woods while her husband was passed out in the car. After he drank himself to death, the young lovers married.

While fulfilling the military service portion of his exile, Dosto cultivated a garden with his friend Wrangel in semipalansk. All the society ladies in the provincial town visited regularly to admire their work.

While on the way to his Siberian prison, a little girl gave him a two-cent coin. Dostoevsky held it with him for over a decade. It was his most cherished possession, and he was distraught when he lost it.

I could probably go on.