"IN THE BEGINNING OF JULY, DURING AN EXTREMELY HOT SPELL, TOWARD EVENING, A YOUNG MAN LEFT HIS TINY ROOM, . . . STEPPED OUT ONTO THE STREET, AND SLOWLY, AS IF INDECISIVELY, SET OFF TOWARDS THE KOKUSHKIN BRIDGE,"
Thus begins the haunting tale of Raskolnikov, an impoverished student in nineteenth-century St. Petersburg, who sees himself as extraordinary and therefore free to commit crimes—including murder—in a work that, even today, best embodies the existential dilemmas of man's instinctual will to power.
Published to great acclaim and fierce controversy in 1866, Fyodor Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment has left an indelible mark on global literature and our modern world, and is still known worldwide as the quintessential Russian novel. Readers of all backgrounds have debated its historical, cultural, and spiritual dimensions, probing the moral and ethical dilemmas that Dostoevsky so brilliantly stages throughout his narrative. Yet, as its heart, this masterpiece of literary realism is ultimately an immersive tale of passion and redemption—indeed, "the best of all murder stories" (Harold Bloom), "most perfect in pacing and structure. There is no more gripping novel in the world" (Michael Dirda).
Now, acclaimed translator Michael R. Katz breathes fresh life into this ageless classic in a sparkling new translation, with novel insights into the linguistic richness, subtle tones, and cunning humor of Dostoevsky's magnum opus. Embracing the complex linguistic blend inherent in modern literary Russian that has provided an exceptionally fertile source of images and diction for Russian writers since the time of Pushkin, Katz recaptures the richness of tone and register of the novel's most poignant and significant passages. Sensitive to this linguistic mosaic, Katz ably re-creates the feeling of the original Russian for the English reader, allowing the text to evoke the same stirring emotional responses as the author intended.
With its searing and unique portrayal of the labyrithine universe of nineteenth-century Russia, this masterful rendering of Crime and Punishment will be the translation of choice for years to come.
