Crime and Punishment

Title: Crime and Punishment 

Author: Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Publisher: Dover Publications; Reprint edition

Publication Year: 2001

ISBN:  0486415872

Raskolnikov, an impoverished student tormented by his own nihilism, and the struggle between good and evil, believes he is above the law. Convinced that humanitarian ends justify vile means, he brutally murders an old woman—a pawnbroker whom he regards as "stupid, ailing, greedy…good for nothing." Overwhelmed afterward by feelings of guilt and terror, Raskolnikov confesses to the crime and goes to prison. There he realizes that happiness and redemption can only be achieved through suffering.

Drawing upon experiences from his own prison days, Dostoyevsky recounts in feverish, compelling tones a psychological thriller infused with forceful religious, social, and philosophical elements.