Crime and Punishment

By Fyodor Dostoevsky

Book Overview

&&LDIV&&R&&LDIV&&R&&LDIV&&R&&LI&&RCrime and Punishment&&L/I&&R, by &&LB&&RFyodor Dostoevsky&&L/B&&R, is part of the &&LI&&RBarnes & Noble Classics&&L/I&&R&&LI&&R &&L/I&&Rseries, which offers quality editions at affordable prices to the student and the general reader, including new scholarship, thoughtful design, and pages of carefully crafted extras. Here are some of the remarkable features of &&LI&&RBarnes & Noble Classics&&L/I&&R:

&&LDIV&&RNew introductions commissioned from todays top writers and scholars Biographies of the authors Chronologies of contemporary historical, biographical, and cultural events Footnotes and endnotes Selective discussions of imitations, parodies, poems, books, plays, paintings, operas, statuary, and films inspired by the work Comments by other famous authors Study questions to challenge the readers viewpoints and expectations Bibliographies for further reading Indices & Glossaries, when appropriateAll editions are beautifully designed and are printed to superior specifications; some include illustrations of historical interest. &&LI&&RBarnes & Noble Classics &&L/I&&Rpulls together a constellation of influences--biographical, historical, and literary--to enrich each readers understanding of these enduring works.&&L/DIV&&R&&L/DIV&&R&&L/DIV&&R&&LDIV&&R &&L/DIV&&R&&LDIV&&RFew authors have been as personally familiar with desperation as &&LSTRONG&&RFyodor Dostoevsky&&L/B&&R, and none have been so adept at describing it. &&LI&&RCrime and Punishment&&L/I&&R--the novel that heralded the author's period of masterworks--tells the story of the poor and talented student Raskolnikov, a character of unparalleled psychological depth and complexity. Raskolnikov reasons that men like himself, by virtue of their intellectual superiority, can and must transcend societal law. To test his theory, he devises the perfect crime--the murder of a spiteful pawnbroker living in St. Petersburg. &&LBR&&R &&LBR&&RIn one of the most gripping crime stories of all time, Raskolnikov soon realizes the folly of his abstractions. Haunted by vivid hallucinations and the torments of his conscience, he seeks relief from his terror and moral isolation--first from Sonia, the pious streetwalker who urges him to confess, then in a tense game of cat and mouse with Porfiry, the brilliant magistrate assigned to the murder investigation. A &&LI&&Rtour de force&&L/I&&R of suspense, &&LI&&RCrime and Punishment&&L/I&&R delineates the theories and motivations that underlie a bankrupt morality.&&L/DIV&&R&&LDIV&&R &&L/DIV&&R&&LDIV&&R&&LDIV&&R&&LB&&RPriscilla Meyer &&L/B&&Ris Professor of Russian Language and Literature at Wesleyan University, in Middletown, Connecticut. She published &&LI&&RFind What the Sailor Has Hidden&&L/I&&R, the first monograph on Vladimir Nabokov's &&LI&&RPale Fire&&L/I&&R, and edited the first English translation of Andrei Bitov's collection of short stories, &&LI&&RLife in Windy Weather&&L/I&&R. &&L/DIV&&R&&L/DIV&&R&&L/DIV&&R

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1593080816
• ISBN13: 9781593080815
• Release Date: February 2007
• Publisher: Barnes & Noble Classics
• Length: 576 Pages
• Weight: 1.09 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.8" x 5.2" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

This is not the edition I ordered.

I did not order this edition. I puposefully ordered a book with larger print. I cant read this. I already had a copy that was larger print than this but was difficult to read due to size print. Thats why I ordered another copy. Ive ordered many books form you but this is the first time this has happened. Disappointed.

Super small print, impossible to read!

Looks like an unfortunate attempt to squeeze Dostoyevsky into a pocket book. I wish I read the reviews first before buying it 😭😭. Dissapointed. Please, make it clearer for customers to distinguish between NORMAL book vs Pocket book lol. I gave 1 star for the format ! Book is obviously 5

Small print

I have been unable to read this copy as the print is extremely small. I will have to purchase an alternate copy.

Preferred Brothers over this

Required reading for anyone interested in Dostoevsky but not his best work.

Book condition

As described

Detective Novel? Not quite.

This is the first Dostoevsky book I have read, and I liked it immensely. I decided to read it because of the intriguing plot, as well as Dostoevsky's reputation. Something interesting about this novel is that Dostoevsky used a very "backwards" sort of character development. He had Raskolnikov commit a murder- with no apparent motive- and then spent the rest of the book exploring the character, rather than the other way around. So first we watch this character commit a horrible, terrible crime, one that we should denounce him for, and then we begin to get to know him, and he is revealed to have an astoundingly good character after all. I found myself liking Raskolnikov greatly, and I was able to identify with him as well. However, this book does not seem to fall under the guidelines of a "crime novel" nor a "psychological thriller". Yes, there is a crime, as well as a study of the protoganist's psyche, but it is not exactly thrilling. This is not the sort of story where you have to keep reading and reading to find out who committed the crime. You already know. Therefore, there is no mystery to keep you interested. Despite all these obstacles, Dostoevsky does what might be impossible for most writers. He makes you care about what happens to Raskolnikov. I was not thrilled, but engrossed. What kept me reading here was the desire to see if Raskolnikov would defeat his inner demons and turn himself in, or be arrested. I'd rather not reveal the ending but I would like to say that I found it extremely satisfying. The subplot, that of Luzhin trying to gain control over Dounia, might have only gotten in the way of another writer, but Dostoevsky was able to inspire such hate in me for Luzhin that I wanted to keep reading just to see him get what he deserved in the end. After reading this, I have decided to read Dostoevky's other works as well, and hopefully they will all be of the same high quality.