Readings on Crime and Punishment

by Derek C. Maus

Briefly traces the life of Dostoyevsky, summarizes the plot and characters of "Crime and Punishment," and offers articles on the novel's critical reception, composition, and philosophical perspective.

Genres: Nonfiction

202 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2000

Reviews

[Edward · Rating 2 out of 5]

This collection of criticism suffers from inclusion of pieces that are not self-contained essays but excerpts from other works. Disjointedness along with a tendency of some literary types to flaunt their academic wherewithal by being arcane in their presentation; at least I was introduced to Mikhail Bakhtin.

[Grace Magee · Rating 2 out of 5]

Kinda boring reading a book about a book…
Pretty excited to read Crime and Punishment now.
This book gave me great background and context.

[Catherine Mustread · Rating 3 out of 5]

Finished Crime and Punishment and then skimmed through the rest of this book. Some interesting essays, my favorite being the one on narration, Dostoyevsky's Choice of Narrative Voice by Joseph Frank about why he changed from first person to third person and the advantages.

Evidently one could spend a lifetime studying Fyodor Dostoyevsky but instead I'm moving on next week to another Dostoyevsky title, The Idiot.