A literary fact emphasizes objective attributes, while a literary event often describes a process of occurrence. In Dostoevsky’s debut novel Poor Folk, literary creation and works are not only objects read and critiqued by the main characters but also an indispensable part of their real lives. Thus, it can be said that literature and reading are both significant life events for the novel’s protagonists and fundamental literary facts constituting the novel’s creative context. The creation and reception of the epistolary novel Poor Folk, both within and outside the text, Dostoevsky’s relationship with the author of the novel’s epigraph, Odoevsky, especially the style of the German writer Hoffmann manifested in the novel, along with the view of literature and related perceptions reflected in the novel, as well as the author's reflections on the function of literature and the prospects of the profession – all these together constitute the rich literary event inherent in Poor Folk.