Crime and Punishment

Crime and Punishment is a novel by Russian author Fyodor Dostoevsky, first published in serial form in 1866. It is considered one of the greatest and most influential novels in world literature, and one of the supreme achievements of psychological fiction.

The story follows Raskolnikov, a destitute former student in St. Petersburg who murders a pawnbroker, convinced that extraordinary people are above moral law. But the crime does not liberate him — instead, it plunges him into a torment of guilt, paranoia, and self-destruction. As the dogged detective Porfiry closes in and the compassionate Sonya offers a path to redemption, Raskolnikov must confront the true nature of his act.

A relentless exploration of conscience, suffering, and the possibility of moral renewal, Crime and Punishment established Dostoevsky as one of the great novelists of the nineteenth century and laid the groundwork for modern existentialist and psychological fiction.