prostitute Sonya Marmeladov

prostitute Sonya Marmeladov 

It feels odd settling down to 'introduce' the most accessible novel in the world. And also, I think, the most exciting. It even seems impossible to make a dull play or film or television series out of CRIME AND PUNISHMENT.

I called CRIME AND PUNISHMENT the most accessible and most exciting novel in the world. It is the king of murder stories. And of detective stories. And of thrillers. The words suspense and atmosphere take on a new meaning when we read it for the first time.

And when we reread it! One of the differences between Tolstoy and Dostoevsky is that the former's greatness is with us all the time whereas the latter's comes back like a revelation, even a surprise, each time we pick one of his books up. Critics tend to dwell on the big set scenes, for example when Raskolnikov and Sonya Marmeladov read the Gospel story of the raising of Lazurus [Lazarus] together. But however firmly and clearly we think we have 'got' it, there's always some half-forgotten detail when we return to it which sends the mind reeling and tears leaping to the eyes. Last time round for me this happened when Raskolnikov asks Sonya probingly, not quite tauntingly, 'And what does God do for you?'

The girl with the ruined home and prostituted body and wonderful blue eyes is silent for a long time. Then :

'He does everything,' she said in a rapid whisper, her eyes again downcast.

- from the Introduction by John Jones (Professor of Poetry at Oxford) to Fyodor Dostoyevsky: "CRIME AND PUNISHMENT", English translation, Oxford University Press. 

DOSTOEVSKY

I suspect that the great Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoevsky is himself a fictional character based on Me - a very whimsical parody of Me, actually.

Kishalay Sinha [G]