What was the name of the literary circle Dostoevsky attended before his 1849 arrest?

The literary circle Dostoevsky attended before his 1849 arrest was the Petrashevsky Circle.

The group gathered in Saint Petersburg around Mikhail Petrashevsky, whose meetings discussed literature, philosophy, social reform, and political ideas. Dostoevsky was among the participants who read and debated works associated with European socialist and reformist thought.

The authorities arrested members of the circle in April 1849. Dostoevsky and others were sentenced to death, but the sentence was commuted during a staged execution on 22 December 1849. He was then sent to Siberia for penal labor.

Participation in the circle did not make Dostoevsky a simple political revolutionary. The group contained people with varied views, and the experience profoundly changed his religious, political, and literary outlook. The episode is also distinct from his later association with conservative journalism and monarchist ideas.