Crime and Punishment

6W Fyodor Dostoevsky. London: Heinemann, 1967.

Notes

Fyodor Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment, originally published in serial installments in The Russian Messenger in 1866, is a psychological masterpiece of literature that delieves a shearing exploration of guild, redemption, and the human soul. Set against the squalid, stifling backdrop of mid-nineteenth-century St. Petersburg, the narrative follows Rodion Raskolnikov, an impoverished and fiercely brilliant former law student who constructs a dangerous nihilistic theory asserting that extraordinary individuals possess the moral right to transgress societal laws. Acting on this ideology, Raskolnikov brutally murders an unscrupulous, predatory old pawnbroker, only to immediately plunge into an agonizing psychological purgatory defined by intense paranoia, existential isolation, and a feverish, fracturing psyche. The multi-layered plot unfolds as a high-stakes psychological chess match between Raskolnikov and the fiercely perceptive investigator Porfiry Petrovich, while tracking Raskolnikov’s path toward spiritual resurrection through his relationship with Sonya Marmeladova, a deeply self-sacrificing, pious young prostitute. Through this gripping, internal crime saga, Dostoevsky masterfully dismantles the radical utilitarian and rationalist philosophies of the 1860s Russian intelligentsia, forging a profound, permanent allegory about the absolute necessity of suffering, empathy, and divine grace in the reclamation of human dignity.

Description

Red boards with gilt lettering to spine and upper board. Original jacket. Tape residue to top and bottom of upper board. Very good condition.