Crime and Punishment

By: Dostoevsky, Fyodor Mikhailovich

For 50 years Classic Illustrated books have provided an introduction to the world's greatest works of literature. Brilliantly recolored and reprinted as lively study guides for high school and college... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1578400090
• ISBN13: 9781578400096
• Release Date: January 1997
• Publisher: Acclaim Books
• Length: 1 Pages
• Weight: 0.23 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.2" x 5.3" x 7.6"
• Age Range: 12 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 7 and higher

Customer Reviews

A great novel

This is, of course, one of the great novels of all time. Fyodor Dostoyevsky created a number of truly wonderful works over time, such as "The Brothers Karamazov," "The Gambler," and "The Devils" (or "The Possessed"). The "Translator's Introduction" to "Crime and Punishment" provides useful context. David Magarshack, the translator, observes that (page 11) ". . .the main theme. . .had occupied Dostoyevsky ever since he gave up his career in the army to devote himself to literature." Shortly thereafter, Magarshack quotes Dostoyevsky himself from an earlier work, "White Knights," with the author saying (page 11): "'It is said that the proximity of punishment gives rise to real repentance in the criminal and sometimes arouses remorse in the most hardened heart; it is said to be chiefly due to fear." Thus, there is a psychological element to this novel, whether is approximates reality or not (I have my doubts that a lot of criminals really repent and show remorse, but that is neither here nor there). The novel itself was important for Dostoyevsky since, as was not uncommon, he was in dire financial straits. He signed a contract to provide a serialization of the work to a literary publication. This is apparent at some points, when different parts of the novel may not fit together so well or when certain strands of discourse aren't fully developed. The protagonist, Raskolnikov, faces a series of problems. For one thing, he is a student who faces dire poverty and has a difficult time just making ends meet. At another level, he has a sense that special human beings can be above the law and so on to do great deeds. These two factors plus others are interlinked to lead him to murder a pawnbroker to help gain enough money to survive. On being "superman," Raskolnikov says at one point (page 276): "I simply hinted that the `extraordinary' man has a right--not an officially sanctioned right, of course--to permit his conscience to step over certain obstacles, but only if it is absolutely necessary for the fulfillment of his idea on which possibly the welfare of all mankind may depend." And, in a following commentary (page 277): ". . .I maintain that all men who are not only great but a little out of the common. . .must by their very nature be criminals. . . ." After committing the murder, he begins to come apart, as he suspects that people know of his deed. In another plot twist, after meeting a civil servant, Marmalodov, he comes to be attracted to his daughter, Sonya. He comes to confess to her of his deed. Later, he falls in love with her, but his imprisonment means that they would need to delay a life together. She follows him to Siberia, and the novel ends with hope for the future. This is one of the great novels, no doubt. There are problems, as noted above, with the development of the story and with its ending (almost deus ex machine). Nonetheless, an interesting psychological analysis of the human mind. Still worth reading long after he compl

This soldier's favorite book

If you read one murder novel in the rest of your life, read "Crime and Punishment" by Fyodor Dostoyevsky. It's only 500 pages but it speaks volumes. I discovered Dostoyevsky a few months ago while I was deployed to Iraq and my literary world will never been the same. I found a copy of "The Brothers Karamazov" in a pile of miscellenious books that had been dedicated to troops to boost morale and took it to a literary savvy Lt. Col. I knew. When I showed him my find, he insisted I read Crime and Punishment first. I'm certainly glad I decided to take his advice. Crime and Punishment tells the story of a brutal murder in pre- revolutionary Russa and the emotional torment of the eccentric murderer, Raskolnikov. The book is as dark and suspenseful as anything I've ever read, but it also manages to convey things on the opposite end of the emotional spectrum like redemption and love. My favorite passage of the book (a hard pick, for sure) is when Porfiry, a jovial but formitable detective, interrogates Raskolnikov. The deployment is over, but my infatuation with Dostoyevsky's books has just begun. I'm now reading "The Idiot" and enjoying it, though it's too early to see if it matches "Crime and Punishment." Whether you are deployed to the farthest reaches of the world or sitting comfortably at home, "Crime and Punishment" promises to be an exhilerating read.

Crime and Punishment, Sin and Redemption

Many of the 'classic novels' I have read were originally written in English, and therefore forego translation in modern bindings. Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment, although written in the latter half of the 19th century, holds up well to the conversion from the original Russian to English.Rodion Raskolikov is a student, an author, an intellectual. Like countless others in Russia at the time, he is also very poor. His empassioned mind imagines that a local woman, a pawnbroker is evil, a parasite, for taking the valued trinkets of her neighbors and paying them a pittance in return, and for holding promisary notes over their heads. His rage turns to murder, justifying his actions later on as doing a greater good for many by taking the life of this one person. However, his crime is two-fold, as he is discovered by the woman's sister, still with the murder weapon in his hands, and in a moment of terrified frenzy, murders her as well.The bulk of this novel, exquisitly written, is the slow realization of Raskolnikov that his crime was just that, a crime, no matter how good his intent. Raskolnikov struggles with the guilt of his actions, even as he time and again proves his worthiness as a person in his actions regarding others, giving up his last bit of money to help another less fortunate than himself, attending to a dying man in the streets, trying to secure a good future for his sister, with a worthy man. Raskolnikov, as the reader discovers, is a good and decent man.The underlying message of this book seems to be that even a man of conscience cannot commit an unconscienable act without repurcussion, without 'punishment', and that no matter how justified you think you may be in your actions, no matter how many good deeds you may do, with conscience there is always a higher authority to answer to, that of your own mind, and what you can or cannot live with.Dostoevsky had been described to me as dry, turgid reading. I found it to be nothing of the sort. The story never drags on or belabours a point without logic and qualification. The characters, although the focus of the story is Raskolnikov, are all well realized, and developed.The story itself remains interesting and engaging throughout every page, with a well crafted conundrum once you reach the epilogue, and leaves the reader, at least this one, with a desire to read more about this man, beyond the final words of the book.

Heart of Darkness

Set in Russia in the midst of its troubled transition to the modern age, this classic novel is the profound human drama of Raskolnikov, a sensitive intellectual driven by poverty and the belief of his exemption from moral law. Through his unforgettable gallery of characters, Dostoyevsky provides a provocative look at the human motivations of obsession and possession with unflinching philosophical and moral insight. A masterpiece of dramatic literature by one of the greatest novelist of all time. Crime and Punishment is the story of a murder committed on principle, of a killer who wishes by his action to set himself outside and above society. A novel of great physical and psychological tension, pervaded by Dostoevsky's sinister evocation of St Petersburg, it also has moments of wild humour. Dostoevsky's own harrowing experiences mark the novel. He had himself undergone interrogation and trial, and was condemned to death, a sentence commuted at the last moment to penal servitude. In prison he was particularly impressed by one hardened murderer who seemed to have attained a spiritual equilibrium beyond good and evil: yet witnessing the misery of other convicts also engendered in Dostoevsky a belief in the Christian idea of salvation through suffering. END

The mind of a killer

Dostoevsky, with his book Crime and Punishment, unknowingly influenced every great writer since. There are many books that stay with a person, days or weeks after reading them, but Crime and Punishment is one of the few that live on forever. After reading the book, my eyes have been opened to the light of the human soul. Raskolnikov, the central character, is an unmotivated, destitute man. He is symbolic of the so called "dirt", that the world tries so desperately to rid. The novels plot is tight as they come, but it is Dostoevsky's supreme insight and reality into the mind of a killer, Raskolnikov, that makes this novel a testament to genius. Some may read this novel to be "well-read", I say read this novel to gain the foothold to the bottom of your own soul. It will help you gain the realization of self, with a better understanding of the society that can bring men down and subsequently lift them up. I will not give away the ending, but read the book not for the ending, but for the journey that it takes you through, the journey into hell.