Dostoevsky had a propensity for publicism from the first period of his creative work, when in 1847 his feuilletons "Petersburg Chronicle" were published. After a long forced interruption of hard labor and exile, the writer's attraction to the coverage of topical problems was embodied in the publication of the magazines "Time" and "Epoch". In the first January issue of the weekly magazine "Grazhdanin" for 1873, published by V. P. Meshchersky, a section "Diary of a Writer" appeared, in which Dostoevsky explained his desire to reflect his own attitude to the current events with the words "I and I will speak to ourselves ... in form of this diary. [...] What to talk about? About everything that will hit me or make me think, "when chaos, lack of convictions and" points of emphasis, "cynicism prevailed in post-reform Russia. Innovative in form and content, the publication of one author consisted of a series of feuilletons, essays, polemical notes on the anger of the day, literary criticism, memories. The "Diary of the Writer" first published answers to letters from readers from all over Russia, and small works of art were printed. "Diary of the writer" was very popular, due to which the author's influence on public opinion increased.