In June 1862, Dostoevsky left Petersburg on his first excursion to Western Europe. Ostensibly making the trip to consult Western specialists about his epilepsy, he also wished to see first-hand the source of the Western ideas he believed were corrupting Russia. Over the course of his journey he visited a number of major cities, including Berlin, Paris, London, Florence, Milan and Vienna.

His record of the trip, Winter Notes on Summer Impressions – first published in the February 1863 issue of Vremya, the periodical he edited – is the chrysalis out of which many elements of his later masterpieces developed.