Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoevsky

One death in exchange for thousands of lives - it s simple arithmetic A new translation of Dostoevsky s epic masterpiece Crime and Punishment 1866 . The impoverished student Raskolnikov decides to free himself from debt by killing an old moneylender an act he sees as elevating himself above conventional morality. Like Napoleon he will assert his will and his crime will be justified by its elimination of vermin for the sake of the greater good. But Raskolnikov is torn apart by fear guilt and a growing conscience under the influence of his love for Sonya. Meanwhile the police detective Porfiry is on his trail. It is a powerfully psychological novel in which the St Petersburg setting Dostoevsky s own circumstances and contemporary social problems all play their part.