I am listening to Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky, via Audible. Here are the details:
My next book is another classic, widely considered to be one of the greatest and most important novels ever written. If you want to join me in mispronouncing the author’s name as Dusty-evsky, I will not be unpleased.
- By: Fyodor Dostoevsky, Constance Garnett – translator
- Narrated by: Anthony Heald
- Length: 20 hrs and 28 mins
The Audible Publisher’s Summary of this book is as follows:
Publisher’s summary
In this intense detective thriller instilled with philosophical, religious, and social commentary, Dostoevsky studies the psychological impact upon a desperate and impoverished student when he murders a despicable pawnbroker, transgressing moral law to ultimately “benefit humanity”.
©1866 Public Domain (P)2007 Blackstone Audio, Inc.
- Unabridged Audiobook
Here is the Wikipedia summary and I will warn that it includes some spoilers:
Crime and Punishment (pre-reform Russian: Преступленіе и наказаніе; post-reform Russian: Преступление и наказание, tr. Prestupleniye i nakazaniye, IPA: [prʲɪstʊˈplʲenʲɪje ɪ nəkɐˈzanʲɪje]) is a novel by the Russian author Fyodor Dostoevsky. It was first published in the literary journal The Russian Messenger in twelve monthly installments during 1866. It was later published in a single volume. It is the second of Dostoevsky’s full-length novels following his return from ten years of exile in Siberia. Crime and Punishment is considered the first great novel of his mature period of writing and is often cited as one of the greatest works of world literature.
Crime and Punishment follows the mental anguish and moral dilemmas of Rodion Raskolnikov, an impoverished ex-student in Saint Petersburg who plans to kill an unscrupulous pawnbroker, an old woman who stores money and valuable objects in her flat. He theorises that with the money he could liberate himself from poverty and go on to perform great deeds, and seeks to convince himself that certain crimes are justifiable if they are committed in order to remove obstacles to the higher goals of ‘extraordinary’ men. Once the deed is done, however, he finds himself wracked with confusion, paranoia, and disgust. His theoretical justifications lose all their power as he struggles with guilt and horror and is confronted with both internal and external consequences of his deed.