Crime and Punishment (World Classics Library)

Author: Dostoevsky
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2000-12-01
Features: Crime and Punishment is one of Dostoevsky's greatest representative works, a psychological novel that reveals the moral conflicts within characters and the alternation of good and evil. It marks the maturation of the author's completely original and imaginative style. After its publication, it attracted widespread social attention and earned the author international acclaim, being hailed as the "Russian-style new novel."
Book Number: 91658
The novel tells the story of a poor law student, Raskolnikov, who kills an old usurer. Initially, he believes that "killing this useless old woman like a louse" is no crime, but later he is tormented by his conscience and falls into a semi-acute state of madness. He encounters the daughter of a drunken man, Marmeladov, named Sonia, and learns that she resort to prostitution on the streets to support her family. Her philosophy of self-sacrifice to alleviate human suffering deeply moves Raskolnikov. As a result, he surrender to the authorities and embarks on a "new life."