Welcome

Welcome to my classic novel study! This blog is dedicated to Fyodor Dostoevsky's classic horror story: Crime and Punishment. Over the next few months, I will be using this blog as a place to record my thoughts while I examine, in detail, a piece of classic literature. It will also give me a chance to share my thoughts and opinions of the novel, and the author, with others. This blog is meant to push me to read something I wouldn't normally pick up (in other words, a classic novel) and to allow me to reflect on what it is that I'm reading.

The story of Crime and Punishment follows an impoverished former student, Rodion Raskolnikov, who is living in St. Petersburg, Russia, in the 1860s. Although the story revolves around the double murder of a rich pawnbroker and her sister, Dostoevsky has chosen not to linger on the details of the crime. Instead, he decided to take me into the mind of the killer. The novel has taken me on a journey to 19th century Russia, where I witnessed a story of unspeakable horror, and experienced the suffering of Raskolnikov as he attempted to rationalize his actions. I watched his eventual acceptance of the evil in what he had done, and finally, his redemption through this acceptance.

At the end of this study - once I have thoroughly explored the plot, characters and themes of the novel, and I feel that I have have a complete understanding of each - I will decide whether I believe the label of 'classic' truly applies to this novel, or if it simply doesn't live up to the standards of a true classic novel.