four o'clock in the morning
Dostoevski 's first book , `` Poor Folk , '' appeared when he was only twenty-five years old : it made an instant success , and gave the young author an enviable reputation . The manuscript was given by a friend to the poet Nekrassov . Kropotkin says that Dostoevski `` had inwardly doubted whether the novel would even be read by the editor . He was living then in a poor , miserable room , and was fast asleep when at four o'clock in the morning Nekrassov and Grigorovich knocked at his door . They threw themselves on Dostoevski 's neck , congratulating him with tears in their eyes . Nekrassov and his friend had begun to read the novel late in the evening ; they could not stop reading till they came to the end , and they were both so deeply impressed by it that they could not help going on this nocturnal expedition to see the author and tell him what they felt . A few days later , Dostoevski was introduced to the great critic of the time , Bielinski , and from him he received the same warm reception .