Why should you read crime and punishment?
Borges describes Crime and Punishment as “a novel whose protagonists are a murderer and a whore,” and adds: “It struck me as more devastating and fascinating than the war around us.”
Classics… “How can I read the 700-page book, do I have time?” “I watch the movie Go.” “E summary is everywhere.” It is not unusual to make these sentences in the age of the internet, where information is now presented to us like a pill. However, patience, understanding, art and literature are needed most in this period. We need to take refuge in literature in order to get rid of the loneliness of modern people and to hold a mirror up to the world and most of all to ourselves. Most of the books that people lie about when they say, "I've read it," are what we call classic novels. But the classics are such powerful books, says Italo Calvino, that anyone who says they've read it without reading it immediately makes them blush. There are thousands of adaptations, abbreviations, movies, TV series, theater and manga versions of the classics. Maybe even clichés. So, how are these works that have been manipulated, worked on, filmed, trimmed, cut? Why? Everyone who has a hand in art knows something. We have compiled the reasons why it is worth getting your hands on this novel, which you will find it difficult to carry, like Crime and Punishment, which is widely seen as Dostoyevsky's most important novel, in these days when everyone is everyone.
For His Philosophy
Crime and Punishment is not just a fictional story. Aside from its subject and writing style, its philosophy is also very valuable. What shapes both of these factors is that the book not only has an important story, but also a solid idea. It is also formed thanks to Dostoevsky's life and experience. During his exile in Siberia, Dostoevsky met Hegel's idea of the "Extraordinary Man": According to Hegel, people are divided into two: ordinary people based on morality and "heroes" who are groundbreaking with their deeds and above the law. Adhering to this idea, Hegel says about Napoleon, whom he admires: “I saw the emperor – the spirit of the world – who came out of the city to reign; It is a wonderful feeling to see such an individual sitting on a horse, concentrating on only one point, reaching out and dominating the world.” In addition, in his Philosophy of History, Hegel argues that only one's conscience can determine the rightness or wrongness of an action. For example, it is wrong for someone to commit murder for the sake of self-interest or sadistic pleasure, because the conscience is aware that the motivation behind such behavior is to inflict pain. But on the other hand, conscience can also see murder as saving the innocent or preventing the innocent from suffering – so it is for the benefit of nature – in which case it is commendable because the motivation behind it is well-intentioned. Although Raskolnikov is not a "hero", he is the embodiment of Hegel's concept of the "Extraordinary Man". The philosophy of the novel is entirely based on this idea and it pushes you to question it. Should crimes committed for genuinely good ends be considered crimes? Or is there such a thing as a "fair" crime? If these questions could be answered, a moral murderer would not feel guilty like an immoral one. Dostoevsky actually revolves around this throughout the novel and makes you spin around, because without this philosophy, that is, if Raskolnikov was a "depraved" murderer, he would not have suffered at all. And Crime and Punishment would never have been written.