Deborah A. Martinsen

Fyodor Dostoevsky

Often considered a prologue to Dostoevsky's brilliant novels, the story Notes from Underground" introduces one of the great anti-heroes in literature: the underground man, who lives on the fringes of society. In an impassioned, manic monologue this character--plagued by shame, guilt, and alienation--argues that reason is merely a flimsy construction built upon humanity's essentially irrational core. Internal conflict is also explored in The Double," a surreal tale of a government clerk who meets a more unpleasant version of himself and is changed as a result. In addition to these two existential classics, this collection also includes the psychologically probing stories The Meek One," The Dream of a Ridiculous Man," and White Nights."

Notes from Underground, The Double, and Other Stories

A chapter-by-chapter guide to Dostoevsky's most popular novel that reveals how Crime and Punishment works. Narrative strategy, why the novel is not a whodunit but whydunit, and clear explanations of the novel's ideological debates.

A Reader's Guide

Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment

Olga Maiorova

This volume explores the Russia where the great writer, Fyodor Dostoevsky (1821-81), was born and lived. It focuses not only on the Russia depicted in Dostoevsky's works, but also on the Russian life that he and his contemporaries experienced: on social practices and historical developments, political and cultural institutions, religious beliefs, ideological trends, artistic conventions and literary genres. Chapters by leading scholars illuminate this broad context, offer insights into Dostoevsky's reflections on his age, and examine the expression of those reflections in his writing. Each chapter investigates a specific context and suggests how we might understand Dostoevsky in relation to it. Since Russia took so much from Western Europe throughout the imperial period, the volume also locates the Russian experience within the context of Western thought and practices, thereby offering a multidimensional view of the unfolding drama of Russia versus the West in the nineteenth century.

Dostoevsky in Context

Crime and Punishment: A Reader’s Guide focuses on narrative strategy, psychology, and ideology. Martinsen demonstrates how Dostoevsky first plunges the reader into Raskolnikov’s fevered brain, creating sympathy for him, and she explains why most readers root for him to get away from the scene of the crime. Dostoevsky subsequently provides outsider perspectives on Raskolnikov’s thinking, effecting a conversion in reader sympathy. By examining the multiple justifications for murder Raskolnikov gives as he confesses to Sonya, Dostoevsky debunks rationality-based theories. Finally, the question of why Raskolnikov and others, including the reader, focus on the murder of the pawnbroker and forget the unintended murder of Lizaveta reveals a narrative strategy based on shame and guilt.

A Reader’s Guide

Dostoevsky’s "Crime and Punishment"

Originally published in 1998, this was the first volume to examine the extraordinary history of literary journals in imperial Russia.

Literary Journals in Imperial Russia

Dostoevsky's Liars and Narrative Exposure

Surprised by Shame

This volume explores the Russia where the great writer, Fyodor Dostoevsky (1821–81), was born and lived. It focuses not only on the Russia depicted in Dostoevsky's works, but also on the Russian life that he and his contemporaries experienced: on social practices and historical developments, political and cultural institutions, religious beliefs, ideological trends, artistic conventions and literary genres. Chapters by leading scholars illuminate this broad context, offer insights into Dostoevsky's reflections on his age, and examine the expression of those reflections in his writing. Each chapter investigates a specific context and suggests how we might understand Dostoevsky in relation to it. Since Russia took so much from Western Europe throughout the imperial period, the volume also locates the Russian experience within the context of Western thought and practices, thereby offering a multidimensional view of the unfolding drama of Russia versus the West in the nineteenth century.

Deborah A. Martinsen

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