“Crime and Punishment,” the creation of which lasted almost 7 years, is one of the most famous novels Fyodor Dostoevsky both in Russia and abroad. In this creation of a classic of Russian literature, his talent as a psychologist and connoisseur of human souls was revealed as never before. What gave Dostoevsky the idea to write a work about a murderer, and this topic was not typical of the literature of that time?

Fyodor Dostoevsky - master of the psychological novel

The writer was born on November 11, 1821 in the city of Moscow. His father, Mikhail Andreevich, was a nobleman, a court councilor, and his mother, Maria Fedorovna, came from a merchant family.

The life of Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky had it all: great fame and poverty, dark days in Peter and Paul Fortress and many years of hard labor, addiction to gambling and conversion to the Christian faith. Even during the writer’s lifetime, the epithet “brilliant” was applied to his work.

Dostoevsky died at the age of 59 from emphysema. He left behind a huge legacy - novels, poems, diaries, letters, etc. In Russian literature, Fyodor Mikhailovich is given the place of the main psychologist and expert on human souls. Some literary critics(for example, Maxim Gorky), especially during the Soviet period, called Dostoevsky an “evil genius,” because they believed that the writer in his works defended “wrong” political views - conservative and at some point in his life even monarchical. However, one can argue with this: Dostoevsky’s novels are not political, but they are always deeply psychological, their goal is to show human soul and life itself as it is. And the work “Crime and Punishment” is the most striking confirmation of this.

The history of the creation of the novel “Crime and Punishment”

Fyodor Dostoevsky was sent to hard labor in Omsk in 1850. “Crime and Punishment,” the story of which began there, was first published in 1866, and before that the writer had to go through difficult times. better days In my life.

In 1854 the writer received freedom. In 1859, Dostoevsky wrote in a letter to his brother that the idea of ​​a certain confessional novel came to him when, back in the 50s, he was lying on dirty bunks and experiencing the most difficult moments in his life. But he was in no hurry to start this work, because he was not even sure that he would survive.

And so, in 1865, Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky, in dire need of money, signed an agreement with one publisher, according to which he undertakes to provide by November 1866. new novel. Having received the fee, the writer improved his affairs, but his addiction to roulette played against him cruel joke: he lost all the remaining money in Wiesbaden, the hotel owners did not evict him, but they stopped feeding him and even turned off the light in the room. It was under such conditions that Dostoevsky began Crime and Punishment.

The story of the creation of the novel was nearing completion: deadlines were running out - the author was working in a hotel, on a ship, on the way home to St. Petersburg. He practically finished the novel, and then... he took and burned the manuscript.

Dostoevsky began work anew, and while the first two parts of the work were being published and the whole of St. Petersburg was reading them, he was rapidly creating the remaining three, including the epilogue.

“Crime and Punishment” - the theme of the novel is clearly visible in the very title of the work.

The main character, Rodion Raskolnikov, decides to kill and rob an old moneylender. On the one hand, the young man justifies his action by the fact that he and his family are in need. Rodion feels responsible for the fate of his loved ones, but in order to help his sister and mother in any way, he needs a large amount of money. On the other hand, murder remains an immoral and sinful act.

Rodion successfully commits his planned crime. But in the second part of the novel, he is faced with a problem more serious than poverty - his conscience begins to torment him. He becomes nervous, it seems to him that everyone around him knows about his action. As a result, Rodion begins to get seriously ill. After recovery, the young man seriously thinks about turning himself in to the authorities. But his acquaintance with Sonya Marmeladova, as well as the arrival of his mother and sister in the city, temporarily force him to abandon this idea.

Three suitors are vying for the hand of Rodion's sister Dunya: court councilor Pyotr Luzhin, landowner Svidrigailov and Rodion's friend Razumikhin. Rodion and Razumikhin manage to upset the planned wedding of Dunya and Luzhin, but the latter leaves angry and thinks about

Rodion Raskolnikov becomes increasingly attached to Sonya Marmeladova, the daughter of his late friend. They talk with the girl about life, spend time together.

But a black cloud hangs over Rodion - there were witnesses who confirmed at the police station that in Lately Raskolnikov often visited the murdered moneylender. The young man has so far been released from the police station, but he remains the main suspect.

The most important events The chapters of the novel “Crime and Punishment” fall on the 5th part of the work and the epilogue.

The offended Luzhin tries to frame Sonya Marmeladova by passing her off as a thief and thereby quarreling with Raskolnikov. However, his plan fails, but Rodion cannot stand it and confesses to Sonya that he committed the murder.

An outsider takes the blame for Raskolnikov’s crime, but the investigator is confident that it was Rodion who committed the crime, so he visits young man and tries once again to convince him to confess.

At this time, Svidrigailov tries to woo Dunya by force, the frightened girl shoots him with a revolver. When the weapon misfires and Dunya convinces the landowner that she does not love him, Svidrigailov lets the girl go. Having donated 15 thousand to Sonya Marmeladova and 3 thousand to Raskolnikov’s family, the landowner commits suicide.

Rodion confesses to the murder of a moneylender and receives 8 years of hard labor in Siberia. Sonya goes into exile after him. The former student's former life is over, but thanks to the girl's love, he feels it beginning new stage in his destiny.

Image of Rodion Raskolnikov

In the novel “Crime and Punishment,” the characterization of Rodion Raskolnikov and the assessment of his actions by the author himself is ambiguous.

The young man is good-looking, quite smart, one might say, ambitious. But the life situation in which he finds himself, or rather the social situation, does not allow him not only to realize his talents, but even to complete his studies at the university or find a decent job. His sister is about to “sell herself” to an unloved person (marry Luzhin for the sake of his fortune). Raskolnikov's mother is in poverty, and his beloved girl is forced into prostitution. And Rodion doesn’t see a single way to help them and himself other than to get a large amount money. But the idea of ​​instant enrichment can only be realized through robbery (in this case it also entailed murder).

According to morality, Raskolnikov did not have the right to take the life of another person, and reasoning that the old woman did not have long to live anyway, or that she did not have the right to “live” on the grief of other people, was not an excuse or a reason for murder. But Raskolnikov, although he is tormented by his action, considers himself innocent to the last: he explains his actions by saying that at that moment he was only thinking about how to help his loved ones.

Sonya Marmeladova

In the novel Crime and Punishment, the description of the image of Sonya is as contradictory as that of Raskolnikov: the reader immediately recognizes them as

Sonya is kind and in a sense selfless, this can be seen from her actions towards other people. The girl reads the “Gospel”, but at the same time is a prostitute. A pious prostitute - what could be more paradoxical?

However, Sonya is engaged in this trade not because she has a craving for debauchery - this is the only way for an uneducated, attractive girl to earn a living, not only for herself, but also for her big family: stepmother Katerina Ivanovna and three stepbrothers and sisters. As a result, Sonya is the only one who went to Siberia after Rodion to support him in difficult times.

Such paradoxical images are the basis of Dostoevsky's realism, because in the real world things cannot be only black or only white, just like people. Therefore, a girl with a pure soul in certain life circumstances can engage in such a dirty craft, and a young man with a noble spirit can decide to kill.

Arkady Svidrigailov

Arkady Svidrigailov is another character in the novel (a 50-year-old landowner), who in many aspects literally duplicates Raskolnikov. This is not an accident, but a technique chosen by the author. What is its essence?

"Crime and Punishment" is filled with dual images, perhaps in order to show that many people have equally positive and negative traits, can walk along the same paths in life, but they always choose the outcome of their lives themselves.

Arkady Svidrigailov is a widower. While his wife was still alive, he harassed Raskolnikov’s sister, who was in their service. When his wife, Marfa Petrovna, died, the landowner came to ask for Avdotya Raskolnikova’s hand in marriage.

Svidrigailov has many sins behind him: he is suspected of murder, violence and debauchery. But this does not prevent the man from becoming the only person who took care of the family of the late Marmeladov not only in a financial sense, but even placed the children in an orphanage after the death of their mother. Svidrigailov tries to win Dunya over in a barbaric way, but at the same time he is deeply wounded by the girl’s dislike and commits suicide, leaving Raskolnikov’s sister an impressive amount as an inheritance. Nobility and cruelty in this man are combined in their own bizarre patterns, as in Raskolnikov.

P.P. Luzhin in the system of images of the novel

Pyotr Petrovich Luzhin (“Crime and Punishment”) is another “double” of Raskolnikov. Raskolnikov, before committing a crime, compares himself to Napoleon, so Luzhin is the Napoleon of his time in its purest form: unprincipled, caring only about himself, striving to make capital at any cost. Perhaps this is why Raskolnikov hates the successful young man: after all, Rodion himself believed that for the sake of his own prosperity he had the right to kill a person whose fate seemed less important to him.

Luzhin (“Crime and Punishment”) is very straightforward as a character, caricatured and devoid of the inconsistency inherent in Dostoevsky’s heroes. It can be assumed that the writer deliberately made Peter this way, so that he would become a clear personification of that bourgeois permissiveness that played such a cruel joke on Raskolnikov himself.

Publication of the novel abroad

“Crime and Punishment,” the creation of which took more than 6 years, was highly appreciated by foreign publications. In 1866, several chapters from the novel were translated into French and published in Courrier russe.

In Germany, the work was published under the title “Raskolnikov” and by 1895 its published circulation was 2 times larger than that of any other work by Dostoevsky.

At the beginning of the 20th century. the novel “Crime and Punishment” was translated into Polish, Czech, Italian, Serbian, Catalan, Lithuanian, etc.

Film adaptations of the novel

The heroes of the novel “Crime and Punishment” are so colorful and interesting that the film adaptation of the novel has been taken up more than once both in Russia and abroad. The first film - “Crime and Punishment” - appeared in Russia back in 1909 (dir. Vasily Goncharov). This was followed by film adaptations in 1911, 1913, 1915.

In 1917, the world saw the film by American director Lawrence McGill; in 1923, the film “Raskolnikov” was released by German director Robert Wiene.

After this, about 14 more film adaptations were made in different countries. Of the Russian works, the most recent was the serial film “Crime and Punishment” in 2007 (dir. Dmitry Svetozarov).

Novel in popular culture

In films, Dostoevsky’s novel often flashes in the hands of characters serving prison terms: in the film “ Incredible adventures Wallace and Gromit: Haircut "to the zero", t/c "She Wolf", "Desperate Housewives", etc.

In the computer game “Sherlock Holmes: Crimes & Punishments,” in one of the episodes, a book with the title of Dostoevsky’s novel is clearly visible in Sherlock Holmes’s hands, and in the game GTA IV “Crime and Punishment” is the name of one of the missions.

Raskolnikov's house in St. Petersburg

There is an assumption that Dostoevsky Fyodor Mikhailovich settled his hero in a house that actually exists in St. Petersburg. The researchers made such conclusions because Dostoevsky mentions in the novel: it is located in the “S-m” lane, next to the “K-m” bridge. At the address Stolyarny Lane 5 there really is a house that could well serve as a prototype for the novel. Today this building is one of the most visited tourist spots in St. Petersburg.

The full text of this work is available on Wikisource

"Crime and Punishment"- a novel by Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky, first published in 1866 in the magazine “Russian Messenger” (No. 1, 2, 4, 6-8, 11-12). The novel was published as a separate edition (with a change in the division into parts, some abbreviations and stylistic corrections) in 1867.

History of creation

The first parts of “Crime and Punishment” first appeared in 1866 in eight issues of the magazine “Russian Messenger”. The novel is published in parts in January-December. Dostoevsky has been working on the novel all year, rushing to add written chapters to the next book of the magazine.

Soon after the publication of the novel in the magazine was completed, Dostoevsky published it in a separate edition: “A novel in six parts with an epilogue by F. M. Dostoevsky. Corrected edition." For this edition, Dostoevsky made significant cuts and changes in the text: three parts of the magazine edition were transformed into six, and the division into chapters was partially changed.

Plot

The plot revolves around the main character, Rodion Raskolnikov, in whose head a theory of the crime is ripening. According to his idea, humanity is divided into “chosen ones” and “material”. The “chosen ones” (Napoleon is a classic example) have the right to commit a murder or several murders for the sake of future great achievements. Raskolnikov himself is very poor; he cannot pay not only for his studies at the university, but also for his own living expenses. His mother and sister are very poor, he soon finds out that his sister (Avdotya Romanovna) is ready to marry a man she does not love, for the sake of money, for the sake of her brother. This was the last straw, and Raskolnikov commits the deliberate murder of an old money-lender (“louse” by his definition) and the forced murder of her sister, a witness. But Raskolnikov cannot use the stolen goods, he hides them. From this time begins the terrible life of the criminal, a restless, feverish consciousness, his attempts to find support and meaning in life, justification of the act and its evaluation. Subtle psychologism, existential comprehension of Raskolnikov’s act and further existence are colorfully conveyed by Dostoevsky. More and more new faces are involved in the action of the novel. Fate pits him against a lonely, frightened, poor girl, in whom he finds a kindred spirit and support, Sonya Marmeladova, who has taken the path of self-sale due to poverty. Sonya, a believer in God, is trying to somehow hold on in life after losing her parents. Raskolnikov also finds support in his university friend Razumikhin, who is in love with his sister Avdotya Romanovna. Such characters appear as investigator Porfiry Petrovich, who understood Raskolnikov’s soul and wittily led him to clean water, Svidrigailov, a libertine and a scoundrel - a vivid example of a “chosen” person (according to Raskolnikov’s theory), Luzhin, a lawyer and a cunning egoist, etc. The novel reveals the social causes of crimes and disasters, moral contradictions, oppressive circumstances of the fall, describes the life of the St. Petersburg poor, drunkenness and prostitution, dozens of peculiar characters and characters. Throughout the novel, Raskolnikov tries to understand whether he is a worthy person, whether he has the right to judge other people. Unable to bear the burden of his crime, main character confesses to the murder, writing a sincere confession. However, he sees the guilt not in the fact that he committed the murder, but in the fact that he committed it without appreciating his inner weakness and pitiful cowardice. He renounces the claim to being chosen. Raskolnikov ends up in hard labor, but Sonya remains next to him. These two lonely people found each other at a very difficult time in their lives. In the end, the hero finds support in love and religious consciousness.

Scene

The novel takes place in the summer in St. Petersburg.

Characters

• Rodion Romanovich Raskolnikov, a mendicant former student, the protagonist of the story. He believes that he has the moral right to commit crimes and murder is only the first step on an uncompromising road that will lead him to the top. Unconsciously chooses as a victim the weakest and most defenseless member of society, justifying this by the insignificance of the life of an old money-lender, after whose murder he is faced with a severe psychological shock: murder does not make a person “the chosen one.”
• Pulcheria Alexandrovna Raskolnikova, the mother of Rodion Romanovich Raskolnikov, comes to him in St. Petersburg in the hope of marrying her daughter to Luzhin and establishing family life. Disappointment in Luzhin, fear for life and peace of mind Rodion, her daughter’s misfortune leads her to illness and death.
• Avdotya Romanovna Raskolnikova, sister of Rodion Romanovich Raskolnikov. A smart, beautiful, chaste girl, in love with her brother to the point of self-sacrifice. Has the habit of walking from corner to corner around the room in moments of thoughtfulness. In the struggle for his happiness, she was ready to agree to a marriage of convenience, but she could not make contact with Luzhin for the sake of his salvation. Marries Razumikhin, finding in him sincere and loving person, his brother's true comrade.
• Pyotr Petrovich Luzhin, fiancé of Avdotya Romanovna Raskolnikova, lawyer, enterprising and selfish businessman. Avdotya Romanovna's fiancé, who wanted to make her his slave, owing her position and well-being to him. Hostility towards Raskolnikov and the desire to quarrel between him and his family underpin an attempt to dishonor Marmeladova and falsify the theft allegedly committed against her.
• Dmitry Prokofievich Razumikhin, former student, friend of Raskolnikov. Strong, cheerful, smart guy, sincere and spontaneous. deep love and affection for Raskolnikov explain his concern for him. He falls in love with Dunechka and proves his love with his help and support. Marries Duna.
• Semyon Zakharovich Marmeladov, former titular councilor, degenerate drunkard, alcoholic. It reflects the features of the heroes of Dostoevsky’s unwritten novel “The Drunken Ones,” to which the writing of the novel genetically dates back. Sonya Marmeladova's father, himself burdened by his addiction to alcohol, is a weak, weak-willed man who, however, loves his children. Crushed by a horse.
• Katerina Ivanovna Marmeladova, wife of Semyon Zakharovich Marmeladov, staff officer’s daughter. A sick woman, forced to raise three children alone, is not entirely healthy mentally. After her husband’s difficult funeral, undermined by constant work, worries and illness, she goes crazy and dies.
• Sonya Semyonovna Marmeladova, daughter of Semyon Zakharovich Marmeladov from his first marriage, a girl desperate for self-sale. Despite this type of occupation, she is a sensitive, timid and shy girl, forced to earn money in such an unsightly way. She understands Rodion’s suffering, finds in him support in life, and the strength to make him a man again. She follows him to Siberia and becomes his lifelong girlfriend.
• Arkady Ivanovich Svidrigailov, nobleman, former officer, landowner. Libertine, scoundrel, cheater. It is introduced in contrast to Raskolnikov as an example of a person who stops at nothing to achieve his goals and does not think for a second about methods and “his right” (Rodion talks about such people in his theory). Avdotya Romanovna became the object of Svidrigailov’s passion. An attempt to gain her favor through the help of Rodion was unsuccessful. Sliding into madness and the abyss of depravity, despite his terrible fear of death, he shoots himself in the temple.
• Marfa Petrovna Svidrigailova, his late wife, of whose murder Arkady Ivanovich is suspected, according to whom she appeared to him as a ghost. She donated three thousand rubles to Dunya, which allowed Dunya to reject Luzhin as a groom.
• Andrey Semyonovich Lebezyatnikov, a young man serving in the ministry. A “progressive”, a utopian socialist, but a stupid person who does not fully understand and exaggerates many of the ideas of building communes. Luzhin's neighbor.
• Porfiry Petrovich, bailiff of investigative cases. A seasoned master of his craft, a subtle psychologist who saw through Raskolnikov and invited him to confess to the murder himself. But he was unable to prove Rodion’s guilt due to lack of evidence.
• Amalia Ludvigovna (Ivanovna) Lippevehzel, I rented out an apartment to Lebezyatnikov, Luzhin, and Marmeladov. A stupid and quarrelsome woman, proud of her father, whose origins are generally unknown.
• Alena Ivanovna, collegiate secretary, pawnbroker. A dry and evil old woman, killed by Raskolnikov.
• Lizaveta Ivanovna, Alena Ivanovna's half-sister, an accidental witness to the murder, was killed by Raskolnikov.
• Zosimov, doctor, friend of Razumikhin

Film adaptations

Based on the novel, films and films have been repeatedly filmed. cartoons. The most famous of them:

• Crime and Punishment(English) Crime and Punishment) (1935, USA featuring Peter Lorre, Edward Arnold and Marian Marsh);
• Crime and Punishment(fr. Crime et Châtiment) (1956, France directed by Georges Lampin, with the participation of Jean Gabin, Marina Vlady and Robert Hossein);
• Crime and Punishment(1969, USSR, with the participation of Georgy Taratorkin, Innokenty Smoktunovsky, Tatyana Bedova, Victoria Fedorova);
• Crime and Punishment(English) Crime and Punishment) (1979, short film starring Timothy West, Vanessa Redgrave and John Hurt);
• Shock(English) Astonished) (1988, USA with Lilian Komorowska, Tommy Hollis and Ken Ryan);
• Crime and Punishment of Dostoevsky(English) Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment ) (1998, USA, TV movie starring Patrick Dempsey, Ben Kingsley and Julie Delpy);
• Crime and Punishment(English) Crime and Punishment) (2002, USA-Russia-Poland)
• Crime and Punishment(2007, Russia, with the participation of Vladimir Koshevoy, Andrey Panin, Alexander Baluev and Elena Yakovleva).

Theater productions

The novel has been dramatized many times in Russia and abroad. The first attempt to dramatize the novel by A. S. Ushakov in 1867 did not take place due to the ban on censorship. The first production that took place in Russia dates back to 1899. First known foreign production took place at the Odeon Theater in Paris ().

Translations

The first Polish translation (Zbrodnia i kara) was published in 1887-88.

An imperfect Lithuanian translation by Juozas Balciunas was published in 1929. Its reissue in

When was Crime and Punishment written? Few people remember, although everyone remembers its plot.

"Crime and Punishment" year of writing

The novel “Crime and Punishment” was written in 1866 writer F. M. Dostoevsky.

Dostoevsky wrote the novel from 1865-1866. “Crime and Punishment” reproduces the life of the urban poor, reflects the growth of social inequality and crime.

The novel was published in parts from January to December 1866. Dostoevsky worked a lot on the novel, rushing to add fresh chapters to each new book in the magazine. Soon after the publication of the novel in the magazine was completed, Dostoevsky published it in a separate edition: “A novel in six parts with an epilogue by F. M. Dostoevsky. Corrected edition." For this edition, Dostoevsky made significant cuts and changes in the text: three parts of the magazine edition were transformed into six, and the division into chapters was partially changed.

The main motive of the novel “Crime and Punishment”- this is a decline in morality. In his work, F. M. Dostoevsky talks about people living an intense spiritual life, who painfully and persistently search for the truth.
The writer shows the lives of different social groups: disadvantaged urban people, oppressed by poverty and humiliation, educated poor people rebelling against evil and violence, successful businessmen. Dostoevsky deeply explores not only inner world an individual, but also his psychology. It poses complex social, moral and philosophical questions. The search for answers to these questions, the struggle of ideas - this is what forms the basis of the novel.

F. M. Dostoevsky nurtured the idea of ​​the novel “Crime and Punishment” for six years: in October 1859 he wrote to his brother: “In December I will begin the novel...

Do you remember, I told you about one confession - a novel that I wanted to write after everyone else, saying that I still had to experience it myself. The other day I completely decided to write it immediately...

My whole heart and blood will pour into this novel. I conceived it in hard labor, lying on a bunk, in a difficult moment..." - judging by the writer’s letters and notebooks, we're talking about It is precisely about the ideas of “Crime and Punishment” - the novel initially existed in the form of Raskolnikov’s confession. In Dostoevsky’s rough notebooks there is the following entry: “He killed Aleko. The consciousness that he himself is unworthy of his ideal, which torments his soul.

This is crime and punishment" (we are talking about Pushkin's "Gypsies"). The final plan is formed as a result of the great upheavals that Dostoevsky experienced, and this plan united two initially different creative ideas. After the death of his brother, Dostoevsky finds himself in dire material need.

The threat of debtor's prison hangs over him. Throughout the year, Fyodor Mikhailovich was forced to turn to St. Petersburg moneylenders, interest-bearers and other creditors.

In July 1865, he proposed a new work to the editor of Otechestvennye Zapiski, A.A. Kraevsky: “My novel is called “Drunken” and will be in connection with the current issue of drunkenness. Not only the issue is examined, but all its ramifications are presented, mainly paintings families, raising children in this environment, etc...

and so on." Due to financial difficulties, Kraevsky did not accept the proposed novel, and Dostoevsky went abroad to concentrate on creative work, but history repeats itself there: in Wiesbaden, Dostoevsky loses everything at roulette, even his pocket watch. In September 1865, addressing the publisher M. N. Katkov in the magazine “Russian Messenger,” Dostoevsky outlined the idea of ​​the novel as follows: “This is a psychological report of a crime. The action is contemporary, this year.

A young man, expelled from the university students, a tradesman by birth and living in extreme poverty, due to frivolity, due to unsteadiness in concepts, succumbing to some strange, “unfinished” ideas that were floating in the air, he decided to get out of his bad situation at once. He decided to kill one old woman, a titular councilor who gave money for interest... in order to make his mother, who lived in the district, happy, and to save his sister, who lived as a companion with some landowners, from the voluptuous claims of the head of this landowner family - claims that threatened her death, finish the course, go abroad and then spend your whole life being honest, firm, unswerving in the fulfillment of your “humane duty to humanity,” which, of course, will “make up for the crime,” if you can call this act against a deaf, stupid old woman a crime, angry and sick, who herself does not know why she lives in the world and who in a month, perhaps, would have died of her own accord... He spends almost a month before the final catastrophe. There is not and cannot be any suspicion against him. This is where the entire psychological process of the crime unfolds.

Unsolvable questions arise before the killer, unsuspected and unexpected feelings torment his heart. God's truth, earthly law takes its toll, and he ends up being forced to denounce himself.

Forced to die in hard labor, but to join people again, the feeling of isolation and disconnection from humanity, which he felt immediately after committing the crime, tormented him. The law of truth and human nature took their toll. The criminal himself decides to accept torment in order to atone for his deed...” Katkov immediately sends the author an advance.

F. M. Dostoevsky works on the novel all autumn, but at the end of November he burns all the drafts: “...

much was written and ready; I burned everything... the new form, the new plan captivated me, and I started again."

In February 1866, Dostoevsky informed his friend A.E. Wrangel: “Two weeks ago, the first part of my novel was published in the January book of the Russian Messenger. It’s called Crime and Punishment.” I have already heard many enthusiastic reviews.

There are bold and new things there." In the fall of 1866, when "Crime and Punishment" was almost ready, Dostoevsky began again: according to the contract with the publisher Stellovsky, he was supposed to present a new novel by November 1 (we are talking about "The Gambler"), and in the event of failure to fulfill the contract, the publisher will have the right for 9 years “for free and as he pleases” to print everything that will be written by Dostoevsky. By the beginning of October, Dostoevsky had not yet begun to write “The Gambler,” and his friends advised him to turn to the help of shorthand, which is available. At that time, she was just beginning to enter into life. The young stenographer Anna Grigorievna Snitkina, invited by Dostoevsky, was the best student of the St. Petersburg stenography courses, she was distinguished by her extraordinary intelligence, strong character and deep interest in literature. The Player was completed on time and handed over to the publisher, and Snitkina soon became his wife. and assistant writer.

“, like all the works of Dostoevsky, is full of ideas “floating in the air”, facts drawn from reality itself. The author wanted to “search through all the questions in this novel.”

But the theme of the future work did not immediately become clear, and the writer did not immediately settle on a specific plot. On June 8, 1865, Dostoevsky wrote to the editor of the magazine “ Domestic notes"To A.A. Kraevsky: "My novel is called “Drunk People” and will be in connection with the current issue of drunkenness. Not only the question is examined, but all its ramifications are presented, mainly pictures of families, raising children in this environment, etc. and so on. There will be at least twenty sheets, but maybe more.”

Fedor Dostoevsky. Portrait by V. Perov, 1872

However, after some time, the idea of ​​​​the work, the central character of which was obviously supposed to be Marmeladov, began to occupy the writer less, as he had the idea of ​​writing a story about the representative younger generation. Dostoevsky sought to portray in his new work modern youth with its broad social interests, noisy debates on pressing ethical and political issues, with its materialistic and atheistic views, which he characterizes as “moral instability.” In the first half of September 1865, Dostoevsky informed the editor of the Russian Messenger, M. N. Katkov, that he had been working for two months on a story of five to six pages, which he expected to finish in two weeks or a month. This letter sets out not only the main story line, but also the ideological concept of the work. The draft of this letter is in one of those notebooks that contain rough drafts of Crime and Punishment.

“The idea of ​​the story cannot... contradict your magazine in any way; On the contrary, Dostoevsky tells Katkov. – This is a psychological report of one crime. The action is modern, this year. A young man, expelled from the university students, a philistine by birth and living in extreme poverty, due to frivolity, due to unsteadiness in concepts, succumbing to some strange “unfinished” ideas that were floating in the air, he decided to get out of his bad situation at once. He decided to kill one old woman, a titular councilor who gave money for interest. The old woman is stupid, deaf, sick, greedy, takes Jewish interest, is evil and eats up someone else's life, torturing her younger sister as a worker. “She’s no good”, “what does she live for?”, “Is she useful to anyone?” etc. – These questions confuse the young man. He decides to kill her, rob her, in order to make his mother, who lives in the district, happy, to save his sister, who lives as a companion with some landowners, from the voluptuous claims of the head of this landowner family - claims that threaten her with death, to finish the course, go abroad and then throughout your life be honest, firm, unswerving in the fulfillment of your “humane duty to humanity,” which, of course, will “make up for the crime.”

Crime and Punishment. Feature Film 1969 1 episode

But after the murder, writes Dostoevsky, “the entire psychological process of the crime unfolds. Unsolvable questions arise before the killer, unsuspected and unexpected feelings torment his heart. God's truth, earthly law takes its toll, and it ends up forced bring it on yourself. Forced to die in hard labor, but to join the people again; the feeling of isolation and disconnection from humanity, which he felt immediately after committing the crime, tormented him. The law of truth and human nature have taken their toll... The criminal himself decides to accept torment in order to atone for his deed...

In my story there is, in addition, a hint of the idea that the imposed legal punishment for a crime frightens the criminal much less than legislators think, partly because he himself his morally demands».

Dostoevsky in this letter emphasizes that under the influence of materialistic and atheistic views (this is what he meant when he spoke of “strange “unfinished” ideas that float in the air”) Raskolnikov reached the point of crime. But at the same time, the author points out here the extreme poverty and hopelessness of the hero’s situation. In the early draft notes there is also the idea that Raskolnikov was pushed to commit a crime by the difficult living conditions of NB. Let's see why I did this, how I decided, there is an evil spirit here. NB (and this is where the analysis of the whole matter begins, anger, poverty) the way out is necessary, and it turns out that I did it logically.”

Crime and Punishment. Feature film 1969 Episode 2

Dostoevsky is working on the story with enthusiasm, hoping that it will be “better than everything” that he wrote. By the end of November 1865, when much had already been written, Dostoevsky felt that the work needed to be structured differently, and he destroyed the manuscript. “I burned everything... I didn’t like it myself,” he wrote on February 18, 1866 to Baron A.E. Wrangel. – The new form, the new plan captivated me, and I started again. I work day and night, and yet I work little” (ibid., p. 430). " New plan“- this is obviously the final plan of the novel, in which not only the theme of Marmeladov (the supposed novel “Drunk”) and the theme of Raskolnikov (the story of the “theoretical crime”) are intertwined, but also Svidrigailov and especially Porfiry Petrovich, which is not mentioned at all in the earliest notebooks.

Dostoevsky at first intended to tell the story on behalf of the hero, to give Raskolnikov’s diary, confession or memories of the murder he committed. In the notebooks there are fragments in which the narration is told in the first person - either in the form of a confession or in the form of a diary. The drafts of Crime and Punishment also contain passages written in the first person, with corrections from the first person to the third. The writer was embarrassed that “confession at other points would be unchaste and difficult to imagine why it was written,” and he abandoned this form. “The story is from myself, not from him. If confession is too much to the last extreme, we need to clarify everything. So that every moment of the story is clear.” “One must assume the author is a being omniscient And infallible, exposing to everyone one of the members of the new generation.”

The novel “Crime and Punishment” was first published in the magazine “Russian Messenger” for 1866 (January, February, April, June, July, August, November and December).

In 1867, the first separate publication was published: “Crime and Punishment. A novel in six parts with an epilogue by F. M. Dostoevsky. Corrected edition." Numerous stylistic corrections and cuts were made in it (for example, Luzhin’s monologue at the wake was significantly shortened, an entire page of Raskolnikov’s arguments about the reasons that prompted Luzhin to slander Sonya was thrown out). But this edit did not change either the ideological content of the novel or the main content of the images.

In 1870, the novel, without additional corrections, was included in Volume IV of Dostoevsky's Collected Works. In 1877, the last lifetime edition of the novel was published with minor stylistic corrections and abbreviations.

The manuscript of the novel has not reached us in its entirety. In Russian State Library small fragments of the manuscript “Crimes and Punishments” are stored, among them there are both early and later versions, the text of which is approaching the final edition.

Dostoevsky's notebooks are kept at TsGALI. Three of them contain notes about the idea and construction of Crime and Punishment, sketches of individual scenes, monologues and remarks of the characters. These materials were partially published by I. I. Glivenko in the magazine “Red Archive”, 1924, volume VII, and then completely in 1931 in a separate book: “From the archive of F. M. Dostoevsky. "Crime and Punishment". Unreleased materials." The earliest entries date back to the second half of 1865, the latest, including a self-commentary to the novel, to the beginning of 1866, that is, by the time the novel was printed.