Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky Read Free Book Online

Fyodor Dostoyevsky , A Writer ' s Life (Viking, 1987). A good general and comprehensive overview of Dostoyevsky's life and work for the non-specialist reader.
    Lary, N. M., Dostoevsky and Dickens: A Study of Literary Influence (Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1973).
    Mochulsky, K., Dostoevsky: His Life and Work (Princeton University Press, 1967).
    Muchnic, Helen, Dostoevsky ' s English Reputation , 1881-1936 (Octagon Books, 1969). Dostoyevsky seen through the eyes of English writers and novelists, and a study of his effect on the development of English literature.
    Peace, Richard Arthur, Dostoyevsky; An Examination of the Major Novels (Cambridge University Press, 1971).
    Rozanov, V. V., Dostoevsky and the Legend of the Grand Inquisitor (Cornell University Press, [1972]).
    Shestov, Lev, Dostoevsky , Tolstoy , and Nietzsche (Ohio University Press, 1969).
    Solovyov, Vladimir, War , Progress and the End of History (Lindisfarne Books, 1990). A study by one of Russia's greatest philosophers of the problem of evil in the modern world, with many echoes, and a critique, of Raskolnikov's ideas.
    Wasiolek, Edward, Dostoevsky: The Major Fiction (MIT Press, 1964).
    Wellek, René, Dostoevsky : A Collection of Critical Essays (Prentice-Hall, 1962).

Note on the Translation
    The text used for the present translation is that contained in Volume 6 of F. M. Dostoyevsky, Polnoye sobranie sochineniy v tridtsati tomakh (Leningrad, 1973). Use has also been made of the draft material and notes contained in Volume 7.
    While the translation strives to retain as much of Dostoyevsky's style, syntax and sentence-structure as possible, it also tries to take account of the general literary context in which the author composed the novel. It is important for the reader of English to be aware, for example, that in certain passages and chapters Dostoyevsky wrote under the direct influence of Edgar Allan Poe and Charles Dickens, among other English-language authors, and at times the translation attempts to reflect their style, too. It also aims to provide as readable a text as possible, in keeping with the novel's background in the popular journalism of its time, and its engagement with topical issues.

A Note on Money
    In 1865, the year in which the action of Dostoyevsky's novel takes place, the most commonly used items of currency were as follows:
    the half-copeck piece ( grosh )
    the one-copeck piece ( kopeyka )
    the five-copeck piece ( pyatak )
    the ten-copeck piece ( grivennik )
    the twenty-copeck piece ( dvugrivennyy )
    the fifty-copeck piece ( poltinnik )
    the rouble, usually a yellow banknote ( zholtyy bilet )
    There is some play with this last expression in the novel – in Russian, it also means ‘the yellow card’ ( la carte jaune ) or ‘the yellow ticket’, which was a euphemism for the special passport carried by prostitutes. The old woman pawnbroker uses the term biletiki (literally, ‘little tickets’) as slang for ‘roubles’, something that serves to increase Raskolnikov's irritation.
    Mention is also made in the text of paper ‘credit bills’ ( kreditki ) or banknotes worth five roubles ( sinie bilety , or ‘bluebacks’) and ten roubles ( krasnye bilety , or ‘redbacks’).
    The hundred-rouble note was known as a raduzhnyy bilet , or ‘rainbow note’, from its rainbow colouring.
    IOU's (‘promissory notes’), Government bonds and lottery tickets were also in circulation, together with regular currency.
    Silver roubles had a fluctuating and inconstant value; following the recent devaluation of silver, they were actually worth less than paper roubles.

Crime and Punishment

PART ONE

CHAPTER I
    At the beginning of July, during a spell of exceptionally hot weather, 1 towards evening, a certain young man came down on to the street from the little room he rented from some tenants in S— Lane and slowly, almost hesitantly, set off towards K—n Bridge. 2
    He had succeeded in avoiding an encounter with his landlady on the stairs. His room