Crime and Punishment (Russian: Prestuplenie i nakazanie ) is a novel by Russian author Fyodor Dostoevsky that was first published in the literary journal The Russian Messenger in twelve monthly installments. It was later published in a single volume. It is the second of Dostoevsky's full-length novels after he returned from his exile in Siberia, and the first great novel of his mature period. Crime and Punishment focuses on the mental anguish and moral dilemmas of Rodion Romanovich ...
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Crime and Punishment (Russian: Prestuplenie i nakazanie ) is a novel by Russian author Fyodor Dostoevsky that was first published in the literary journal The Russian Messenger in twelve monthly installments. It was later published in a single volume. It is the second of Dostoevsky's full-length novels after he returned from his exile in Siberia, and the first great novel of his mature period. Crime and Punishment focuses on the mental anguish and moral dilemmas of Rodion Romanovich Raskolnikov, an impoverished St. Petersburg ex-student who formulates and executes a plan to kill a hated, unscrupulous pawnbroker for her money, thereby solving his financial problems and at the same time, he argues, ridding the world of an evil, worthless parasite. Several times throughout the novel, Raskolnikov justifies his actions by relating himself to Napoleon, believing that murder is permissible in pursuit of a higher purpose. About the author: Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky (11 November 1821 - 9 February 1881), sometimes transliterated as Dostoyevsky, was a Russian novelist, short story writer, essayist and journalist. Dostoevsky's literary works explore the human condition in the troubled political, social, and spiritual atmospheres of 19th-century Russia, and engage with a variety of philosophical and religious themes. His most acclaimed novels include Crime and Punishment (1866), The Idiot (1869), Demons (1872), and The Brothers Karamazov (1880). His 1864 novella, Notes from Underground, is considered to be one of the first works of existentialist literature. Numerous literary critics regard him as one of the greatest novelists in all of world literature, as many of his works are considered highly influential masterpieces. Born in Moscow in 1821, Dostoevsky was introduced to literature at an early age through fairy tales and legends, and through books by Russian and foreign authors. His mother died in 1837 when he was 15, and around the same time, he left school to enter the Nikolayev Military Engineering Institute. After graduating, he worked as an engineer and briefly enjoyed a lavish lifestyle, translating books to earn extra money. In the mid-1840s he wrote his first novel, Poor Folk, which gained him entry into Saint Petersburg's literary circles. However, he was arrested in 1849 for belonging to a literary group, the Petrashevsky Circle, that discussed banned books critical of Tsarist Russia. Dostoevsky was sentenced to death but the sentence was commuted at the last moment. He spent four years in a Siberian prison camp, followed by six years of compulsory military service in exile. In the following years, Dostoevsky worked as a journalist, publishing and editing several magazines of his own and later A Writer's Diary, a collection of his writings. He began to travel around western Europe and developed a gambling addiction, which led to financial hardship. For a time, he had to beg for money, but he eventually became one of the most widely read and highly regarded Russian writers. Dostoevsky's body of work consists of thirteen novels, three novellas, seventeen short stories, and numerous other works. His writings were widely read both within and beyond his native Russia and influenced an equally great number of later writers including Russians such as Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn and Anton Chekhov, poet Yegor Letov, philosophers Friedrich Nietzsche and Jean-Paul Sartre, and the emergence of Existentialism and Freudianism. His books have been translated into more than 170 languages, and served as the inspiration for many films. (wikipedia.org)
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This novel is at once honest and complex, disenchanting and sympathetic! It carries you away to Russia, St. Petersburg to meet a defunct college student who struggles with the thin line between natural morality and that imposed on human-kind through religion and society. The streets and man made structures of st. Petersburg are used to reflect the decisions and ideas put forth in the novel and by the charicture Raskolnikov. Excellent reading!
bevans605
Feb 21, 2009
Intriguing Classic
I, too, read this novel for my high school English class. While I did not enjoy it as much as some of my peers, it is definitely a book that I am glad to have read. Dostoevsky manages not only to delve into the mind of a criminal, he also provides an intriguing social commentary. I would not suggest this novel unless you are truly committed to reading it.
mallorysusan
May 22, 2007
I admit I only read this book because it was assigned to us in my high school English class. I was instantly put off by the length and language of the book. Slowly though, as I pushed on through this psychologically prodding book, I began to understand Dostoevsky's views on the human mind. I really can't say much that the book review hasn't already said without giving away the entire plot of the book, but if you are willing to swim through long narratives and complicated descriptions, you will find that this book has wonderful pictures of how the mind reacts to stress and exactly what the consequences of actions are.
