Though always sickly and delicate Dostoevsky cameout third in the final examination of the Petersburg schoolof Engineering. There he had already begun his first work,‘Poor Folk.’This story was published by the poet Nekrassov in hisreview and was received with acclamations. The shy,unknown youth found himself instantly something of acelebrity. A brilliant and successful career seemed to openbefore him, but those hopes were soon dashed. In 1849 hewas arrested.