Crime and Punishment begins in St. Petersburg during the hot summer of 1865. Raskolnikov, a failed student, is tormented by feelings of superiority -- how can he convince the world of his greatness? He decides to commit a justifiable murder, one that will both rid the world of a parasite (a moneylender)and prove that higher beings like himself need not be bound by conventional morality. All goes as planned until the moneylender's simple-minded sister...
Fyodor Dostoyevsky's successful first book, Poor Folk, came out 175 years ago today when the author was only 24 years old. But in a life beset by drama worthy of, say, a Russian novel, it would be many years before he produced a notable follow-up. Here we explore the literary giant’s best books and how they mirror his extraordinary life.