Crime and Punishment - (Penguin Clothbound Classics) by Fyodor Dostoyevsky (Hardcover)

About the Book

Raskolnikov, a destitute and desperate former student, commits a random murder, imagining himself to be a great man far above moral law. But as he embarks on a cat-and-mouse game with police, his conscience begins to torment him and he seeks sympathy and redemption from Sonya, a downtrodden prostitute.

Book Synopsis

Fyodor Dostoyevsky's seminal classic, now in a beautiful clothbound edition designed by Coralie Bickford-Smith.

Nominated as one of America's best-loved novels by PBS's The Great American Read

Raskolnikov, a destitute and desperate former student, wanders through the slums of St Petersburg and commits a random murder without remorse or regret. He imagines himself to be a great man, a Napoleon: acting for a higher purpose beyond conventional moral law. But as he embarks on a dangerous game of cat and mouse with a suspicious police investigator, Raskolnikov is pursued by the growing voice of his conscience and finds the noose of his own guilt tightening around his neck. Only Sonya, a downtrodden prostitute, can offer the chance of redemption.

David McDuff's vivid translation has been acclaimed as the most accessible version of Dostoyevsky's great novel, rendering its dialogue with a unique force and naturalism. This edition of Crime and Punishment also includes a new chronology of Dostoyevsky's life and work.

Penguin Classics is the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world, representing a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

Review Quotes

"For the past decade, Penguin has been producing handsome hardcover versions of their classics (...) both elegant and quirky in shocks of bright color"
-The New York Times

About the Author

Fyodor Dostoyevsky (1821-1881), one of nineteenth-century Russia's greatest novelists, spent four years in a convict prison in Siberia, after which he was obliged to enlist in the army. In later years his penchant for gambling sent him deeply into debt. Most of his important works were written after 1864, including Notes from Underground, Crime and Punishment, The Idiot, and The Brothers Karamazov, all available from Penguin Classics.

David McDuff was educated at the University of Edinburgh and has translated a number of works for Penguin Classics, including Dostoyevsky's The Brothers Karamazov.