(1866)
One of the greatest pyschological crime novels, this book has probably never been surpassed in its field.
Raskolnikov, a student, is suffering severly from poverty and ill-health. His life seems thwarted and crushed. As a last straw comes word that his sister is contemplating an obviously distateful marriage in the hope of bringing some financial benefit to her mother and brother. In a morbid state approaching delirium, he plans the murder of a repellent, aged woman
pawnbroker who preys, harpy-like, upon such poor students as he. He rationalizes himself into believing that it is his right to kill the old woman on the ground that she is a parasite, in fact a positive evil in society, and that she hoards means which could be used to further his own progress in some constructive career. After elaborate prepartations he commits the crime. Utter panic overwhelms him, and the neat structure of his plans crumbles. The pawnbroker''s sister returns unexpectedly and he kills her as well. He fails to find the money chest and at last flees with merely a purse and a handful of trinkets, almost being detected in his escape. He hides his trifling haul under a stone and never touches it again.
The book follows the
course of his slow breakdown under the pressure of remorse. He begins to indulge in cryptic, suspicion-arousing eccentricities. In the course of time he enters into a prolonged intellectual game of cat-and-mouse with Inspector Porfiry Petrovitch, with whom he is first throw into contact socially. No account can do credit to the suspense and terror of his subtle conflict, known only to the two men involved. Inevitably Raskolnikov is tracked down. He confesses to Sonya, an unfortunate girl whose family he has aided. She urges him to give himself up. At last Porfiry extracts a tacit acknowledgment from him, but withholds arrest, advising voluntary surrender. Raskolnikov accepts this course and purges his soul. He is sentenced to eight years in Siberia where, with Sonya''s love and loyalty, he struggles to remake himself spiritually.