White Nights (EasyRead Super Large 20pt Edition): A Sentimental Story from the Diary of a Dreamer

Mikhailovich Dostoyevsky, Fyodor

Literature & Fiction

ReadHowYouWant

Crime and Punishment is a novel by the Russian author Fyodor Dostoyevsky. It was first published in the literary journal The Russian Messenger in twelve monthly installments during 1866. It was later published in a single volume. It is the second of Dostoyevsky's full-length novels following his return from ten years of exile in Siberia. Crime and Punishment is considered the first great novel of his "mature" period of writing. Crime and Punishment focuses on the mental anguish and moral dilemmas of Rodion Raskolnikov, an impoverished ex-student in St. Petersburg who formulates and executes a plan to kill an unscrupulous pawnbroker for her cash. Raskolnikov argues that with the pawnbroker's money he can perform good deeds to counterbalance the crime, while ridding the world of a worthless vermin. He also commits this murder to test his own hypothesis that some people are naturally capable of such things, and even have the right to do them. Several times throughout the novel, Raskolnikov justifies his actions by comparing himself with Napoleon Bonaparte, believing that murder is permissible in pursuit of a higher purpose.

Crime and Punishment

Darrem, Franklin

Universal literature

Mikhailovich Dostoyevsky

Literary

CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform

The story opens with the narrator wandering the streets of St. Petersburg. He contemplates how he has always been a ridiculous person, and also, how recently, he has come to the realization that nothing much matters to him any more. It is this revelation that leads him to the idea of suicide. The narrator of the story reveals that he had bought a revolver months previous with the intent of shooting himself in the head. Despite a dismal night, the narrator looks up to the sky and views a solitary star. Shortly after seeing the star, a little girl comes running towards him. The narrator surmises that something is wrong with the girl's mother. He shakes the girl away and continues on to his apartment. Once in his apartment, the narrator sinks into a chair and places his gun on a table next to him. He hesitates to shoot himself because of a nagging feeling of guilt that has plagued him ever since he shunned the girl. The narrator grapples with internal questions for a few hours before falling asleep in the chair. As he sleeps, he descends into a very vivid dream. In the dream, he shoots himself in the heart. He dies but he is still aware of his surroundings. He gathers that there is a funeral and he is also buried. After an indeterminate amount of time in his cold grave, water begins to drip down onto his eyelids. The narrator begs for forgiveness. Suddenly his grave is opened by an unknown and shadowy figure. This figure pulls the narrator up from his grave, and then the two soar through the sky and into space. After flying through space for a long time, the narrator is deposited on a planet, one much like Earth, but not the Earth that he left through suicide. The narrator is then placed on what appears to be an idyllic Greek island, identified as the earth before the Fall. Soon the inhabitants of the island find him, and they are happy, blissful, sinless people. The narrator lives in this utopia for many years, all the while amazed at the goodness around him. One day the narrator accidentally teaches the inhabitants how to lie. This begins the corruption of the utopia. The lies engender pride, and pride engenders a deluge of other sins. Soon the first murder occurs. Factions are made, wars are waged. Science supplants emotion, and the members of the former utopia are incapable of remembering their former happiness. The narrator pleads with the people to return to their former state, or at least to kill him for his role in their Fall, but they will not allow it. The narrator then awakens. He is a changed man, thoroughly thankful for life and convinced of man's basic goodness and potential for incredible love. He dedicates his life to teaching the promise of a Golden Era, a time on earth where everyone loves his brother as he loves himself. At the conclusion of the story, the narrator states that he found the little girl, and that he will go on and on, presumably with the intent of atoning for his past lack of kindness.

The Dream of a Ridiculous Man

Notes From The Underground

Editorial International

The Possessed (The Devils)

A Raw Youth

Notes From The Underground Annotated

Independently published

Crimen y Castigo Edicion Clasica (Spanish Edition)

World Literature

The Idiot Illustrated

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Books by Mikhailovich Dostoyevsky, Fyodor