Crime and Punishment, Modern Library 199

by Unknown Author

THE MODERN LIBRARY HARDBACK EDITION (Number 199). Translated by CONSTANCE GARNETT, with an Introduction by ERNEST J. SIMMONS. 532 pages. Dostoyevsky's psychological record of a crime' gives his dark masterpiece of murder and pursuit a vitality, expressing its jagged, staccato urgency and fevered atmosphere. Raskolnikov, a destitute and desperate former student, wanders alone through the slums of St. Petersburg, deliriously imagining himself above society's laws. But when he commits a random murder, only suffering ensues. Embarking on a dangerous game of cat and mouse with a suspicious police investigator, Raskolnikov finds the noose of his own guilt tightening around his neck. Only Sonya, a downtrodden prostitute, can offer the chance of redemption. Fyodor Dostoevsky (1821-1881) was born in Moscow and made his name in 1846 with the novella Poor Folk. He spent several years in prison in Siberia as a result of his political activities, an experience which formed the basis of The House of the Dead. In later life, he fell in love with a much younger woman and developed a ruinous passion for roulette. His subsequent great novels include Notes from Underground, Crime and Punishment, The Idiot, Demons and The Brothers Karamazov.

Hardcover

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Reviews

[Duchess of Snark · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh school library, you gave me no gift greater than the opportunity to destroy my mental health and my vision with your eye-punishingly (see what I did there?) small font. The gift of this ancient specimen of decrepit school library book, a testament to the poor funding given to school libraries, its spine crunching with cello tape and it’s worn pages, the lazy flip book some student of years past blessed its first eighty pages with (if you flip the pages fast enough a stick figure shoots another stick figure-revolutionary). But best of all is the horrifying cover art. There is a reason I read this copy of this edition of Crime and Punishment even though it is a readily available book, maybe even with a larger less painful font size, the reason is this: for the better part of a month whenever I read this book (I had to take quite a few breaks, there is only so much Russian peasant drudgery a young person can take) my peers, my teachers, my father, whoever was standing near me at the time, would be stared at by the deranged face of Rodion Romanovitch Raskolnikov. Not any generic Barnes and nobles copy of crime and punishment will give you that. I almost never looked at the front cover, it freaked me out a little, I mean, that cover art is atrocious, but everyone else had to look at it. Yes, a teenager reading crime and punishment is a little pretentious(not as pretentious as a teenager reading Down and Out in Paris and London, but guess what I did), yes, it made my vision worse, yes, now I will never think of St. Petersburg without thinking about its stench, but it was all worth it to carry around this wonderful little book for a few weeks (did I mention how gosh darn long this took to read!) so that my family and friends could enjoy the beautiful cover design. I also learned a wonderful and very useful insult: you Prussian hens leg in a crinoline! So lovely book, thank you for enduring one more greasy schoolchild to thumb through your pages, I hope you enjoyed your brief sojourn off the shelf, it was the first time anyone had checked you out for over a decade. You were have moved between three schools over many decades and have probably seen some things. You were less burdensome and a far more enjoyable book to read than Lolita.

[Eric · Rating 5 out of 5]

A book that deserves its reputation. Remarkably vivid & broadminded in its depiction of not only the famous main character & his anxieties, but also a well-drawn supporting cast. Dostoevsky (referred to here as "unknown author," putting goodreads' shortcomings on further display) doesn't limit himself myopically to the central story line, opening the book up to create a full portrait of a family, a neighborhood, & by extension a society, a world. Filled with suspense, emotion, the inevitable & the unexpected, Crime and Punishment continues to excite & inspire more than 150 years after its publication.