FYODOR MIKAILOVICH DOSTOEVSKY's life was as dark and dramatic as
the great novels he wrote. He was born in Moscow in 1821. A short
first novel, Poor Folk (1846) brought him instant success, but his
writing career was cut short by his arrest for alleged subversion
against Tsar Nicholas I in 1849. In prison he was given the “silent
treatment” for eight months (guards even wore velvet soled boots)
before he was led in front a firing squad. Dressed in a death
shroud, he faced an open grave and awaited execution, when
suddenly, an order arrived commuting his sentence. He then spent
four years at hard labor in a Siberian prison, where he began to
suffer from epilepsy, and he returned to St. Petersburg only a full
ten years after he had left in chains.
His prison experiences coupled with his conversion to a profoundly
religious philosophy formed the basis for his great novels. But it
was his fortuitous marriage to Anna Snitkina, following a period of
utter destitution brought about by his compulsive gambling, that
gave Dostoevsky the emotional stability to complete Crime and
Punishment (1866), The Idiot (1868-69), The Possessed (1871-72),and
The Brothers Karamazov (1879-80). When Dostoevsky died in 1881, he
left a legacy of masterworks that influenced the great thinkers and
writers of the Western world and immortalized him as a giant among
writers of world literature.
“The best [translation of Crime and Punishment] currently
available…. An especially faithful re-creation … with a
coiled-spring kinetic energy…. Don’t miss it.” —The Washington Post
Book World
“This fresh, new translation … provides a more exact, idiomatic,
and contemporary rendition of the novel that brings Fyodor
Dostoevsky’s tale achingly alive…. It succeeds beautifully.” —San
Francisco Chronicle
“Reaches as close to Dostoevsky’ s Russian as is possible in
English…. The original’s force and frightening immediacy is
captured…. The Pevear and Volokhonsky translation will become the
standard English version.” —Chicago Tribune
"The best [translation of Crime and Punishment] currently
available.... An especially faithful re-creation ... with a
coiled-spring kinetic energy.... Don't miss it." -The Washington
Post Book World
"This fresh, new translation ... provides a more exact, idiomatic,
and contemporary rendition of the novel that brings Fyodor
Dostoevsky's tale achingly alive.... It succeeds beautifully."
-San Francisco Chronicle
"Reaches as close to Dostoevsky' s Russian as is possible in
English.... The original's force and frightening immediacy is
captured.... The Pevear and Volokhonsky translation will become the
standard English version." -Chicago Tribune
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