Crime and Punishment: A Review

It was in 1866 that Fyodor Dostoevsky published Crime & Punishment, in Russian no less! However, this fine book was translated into English and has become one of the great literary classics. It is among the few Russian books by one of the few Russian authors who has crossed over to popular success in the West. Indeed, Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Chekhov, and Solzhenitsyn are members of a very thin club, which is more or less a testament to their greatness. Interestingly, with the exception of Chekhov, all these men were devout Eastern Orthodox Christians and it is without any doubt that Crime & Punishment is an explicitly Christian novel.

Fyodor Dostoevsky was born in 1821, the son of a fanatically religious alcoholic doctor. Dostoevsky's mother died at an early age, about the same time that his father was granted a few villages and some serfs. Dostoevsky went to military school at age sixteen, the same year his father was murdered by his own serfs. He began his literary career in his early twenties, by this time an ardent atheist and socialist. Dostoevsky's first works brought him some success but his success eventually fell apart and he began spending more and more of his time on politics. Eventually his socialistic tendencies led to his arrest and imprisonment. Dostoevsky and his comrades were led out to their execution one day, but this turned out to be a ploy and he was released right at the last minute. He was sent to Siberian exile, where his only reading material was the New Testament. Dostoevsky abandoned atheism and socialism and became an ardent Christian and conservative.

Eventually Dostoevsky remade his literary career, this time writing works with an explicitly Christian theme. Dostoevsky's characters tend to represent certain ideals, and his message is always the rejection of non-Christian ideals in favor of traditional Orthodox Christianity. In Crime & Punishment Dostoevsky concentrates on his constant boogeymen of atheism, socialism, and above all, utilitarianism. Without giving away too much, the basic gist of the book is that Rodion Raskolnikov, a poor former student living in 1860s St. Petersburg commits a horrible crime and spends the rest of the book trying to justify it, often on utlitarian grounds with a strong socialistic tinge. It reveals the inner struggle that Raskolnikov has in regards to his criminal actions and also follows the search for the perpetrator. There are many somewhat surreal scenes in the work and it is often hard to determine whether or not the event is actually happening to Raskolnikov or if he is dreaming. In the end Raskolnikov is led to redemption by a pious streetwalker named Sonia (a stock character borrowed from French literature) and his crime is found out. How things turn out is for the reader to find out at a later point but, as you can guess, the overall goal is to show the dominance of Christianity over the horrors of utilitarianism.

Many of the statements within the book are found inside the Gospel of John. Some could even go so far as to interpret Crime & Punishment as an allegory for John. John is unlike the synoptic Gospels in that it does not emphasize the ethics and actions of Jesus but instead focuses on his status as Christ and the Savior of All Men. The focus of Jesus' message is shown to be the choice that one must make in order to believe in him, and how refusal to make such a choice essentially means that you have chosen AGAINST Christ rather than simply not in favor of him. John is very existentialist book in this sense, because it focuses on how man is condemned to be free and must choose. Crime & Punishment is also read as an existentialist work since it focuses less on rationalistic "proofs" for Christianity represented in the Western/Aristotlean/Thomist tradition of Christianity dominant in the West in favor of the leap of faith. Certainly Dostoevsky saw the West as evil and represented the ideas that he criticized as being inherently Western. The great irony in all of this is that Dostoevsky's novel became popular in the civilization he hated.

I'd say that this book is a must-read for anyone. Certainly if you are into classical literature anything by Dostoevsky is considered a must-read. Of course, I would say that Christians such as myself understand many of the themes contained within this work moreso than others. Indeed, if you don't have a Christian background or understanding of things many of the points of the novel might go over your head. In this sense I'd say it is a nine out of ten for the non-Christian reader and an undoubted ten out of ten for the Christian reader. I'd certainly recommend Crime & Punishment to anybody who is looking for a serious literary experience. Although be forewarned; sometimes the book is hard to understand and is anything but "light reading." I love Stephen King, but Stephen King this is not. Certainly it isn't for the person reading a casual novel, and is instead for the person seeking to absorb "great" literature. However, if you can find your way through the text (which, being a translation, contains certain instances of grammar we are not used to) Crime & Punishment is a truly rewarding experience.

Personally, I'd recommend going to Barnes & Noble and getting their B&N Classics edition. It contains some background on everything that is in this book. Since Crime & Punishment is sometimes hard to understand, it is important to have background. This is one of those books that it would be worthwhile to do research on. I did not read the introduction before I read it because I was afraid of spoilers, but once I did so much made sense. This is certainly one of those books that makes you do your homework, which is in my opinion a good thing since it forces you to digest it more thoroughly. Certainly I am not alone in being enamored with this work, and few who read it will not come away being moved in some sense. A clear recommendation.