A poverty-stricken student murders a pawnbroker in St Petersburg, then finds guilt harder to escape than the law. TRANSLATED BY RICHARD PEVEAR AND LARISSA VOLOKHONSKY A troubled young man commits what he believes is the perfect crime: the murder of a vile pawnbroker whom no one will miss. Raskolnikov is desperate for money, but convinces himself that his motive is not merely personal gain, but the benefit of mankind. So begins one of the defining works of psychological fiction: a journey into the criminal mind, a police thriller and a philosophical meditation on morality and redemption. As guilt, fear and pride consume him, Raskolnikov is forced to confront the consequences of an idea taken to its most terrible conclusion. Around him move poverty, suspicion, spiritual longing and the possibility of grace. Crime and Punishment is a classic Russian novel about murder, conscience, poverty and moral struggle. For readers of literary crime fiction and philosophical classics, Dostoevsky’s masterpiece remains one of the most searching studies of guilt ever written.
