Crime and Punishment

Poverty-stricken and cut off from society, former law student Rodion Romanovich Raskolnikov leads a desolate life in a dreary little room in St Petersburg. Having abandoned all hopes of sustaining himself through work, he now obsesses over the idea of changing his fortunes through an act of extreme violence: the killing of an elderly pawnbroker. His mind baulks at the horror of his plan, but when he hears that his sister Dunya is about to agree to a loveless marriage in order to escape the advances of her employer, his disgust for the world becomes unbounded, and his feelings of rebellion and revenge push him closer and closer to the edge of the precipice.

A masterpiece of psychological insight, Dostoevsky’s 1866 novel features some of its author’s most memorable characters – from the temperamental protagonist Raskolnikov to the amoral sensualist Svidrigailov and the immoral lawyer Luzhin. Presented here in a sparkling new translation by Roger Cockerell, Crime and Punishment is a towering work in nineteenth-century Russian fiction and a landmark of world literature.

Part of Alma Classics Fyodor Dostoevsky Collection to include Devils, Humiliated and Insulted, Notes from Underground, Poor People, The Adolescent, The Double, The Eternal Husband, The Gambler, The House of the Dead, The Idiot, Uncle’s Dream, Winter Notes on Summer Impressions.

Alma Classics Evergreens is a series of popular classics. We now have almost 100 titles in this series, which is constantly growing. Most of the titles are provided with an extensive critical apparatus and extra reading material, including a section of photographs and notes. The texts are based on the most authoritative edition (or collated from the most authoritative editions or manuscripts) and edited using a fresh, intelligent editorial approach. With an emphasis on the production, editorial and typographical values of a book, Alma Classics aspires to revitalize the whole experience of reading the classics.

About the Author

Fyodor Dostoevsky (1821–81) is considered one of the greatest writers of all time. His works include such seminal novels as Crime and Punishment, The Idiot and The Karamazov Brothers.