Fyodor Dostoevsky, Prestuplenie i nakazanie [Crime and Punishment]

Richard Peace (University of Bristol)

Ed. by Neil Cornwell, University of Bristol
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 2.2.1.00: Slavic and Russian Writing and Culture: Old, Medieval and Tsarist, 700-1917.
Vol. editors: Neil Cornwell (University of Bristol), Roman Koropeckyj (University of California, Los Angeles), Andrei Rogatchevski (UiT - The Arctic University of Norway)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1866

Places

Russia (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Novel

Resources

Prestuplenie i nakazanie [Crime and Punishment] is a novel with many sub-plots and minor characters, but all are related to its central plot. Raskolnikov, a student dropout, lives half-starving in a tiny room in St Petersburg. He refuses help from his friend Razumikhin; for he has a plan to murder an old woman moneylender, Alëna [Alena; Alyona], and gain her wealth. At the same time this act also has a philosophical underpinning, as is later revealed by an article he has written. The minor characters Lebeziatnikov and Luzhin act as a commentary on the background of these ideas.

At the opening of the novel he manages to avoid his landlady, to whom he owes rent, and make a foray into the city. Here he meets the …

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1952 words

Citation: Peace, Richard. "Prestuplenie i nakazanie". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 17 August 2004 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=5800, accessed 21 November 2024.]

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