Rodion Raskolnikov

[musique] What drives someone to kill in cold blood? What goes through the murderer's mind and what kind of a society breeds such people? Over one hundred fifty years ago, Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky took these questions up in what would become one of the best-known works of Russian literature: Crime and Punishment.

First serialized in a literary magazine in 1866, the novel tells the story of Rodion Romanovich Raskolnikov, a young law student in Saint Petersburg.

Raskolnikov lives in abject poverty and at the start of the story, has run out of funds to continue his studies.

Letters from his rural home only add to his distress when he realizes how much his mother and sister have sacrificed for his success.

Increasingly desperate after selling the last of his valuables to an elderly pawnbroker, he resolves on a plan to murder and rob her.

But the impact of carrying out this unthinkable act proves to be more than he was prepared for.

Though the novel is sometimes cited as one of the first psychological thrillers, its scope reaches far beyond Raskolnikov's inner turmoil.

From dank taverns to dilapidated apartments and claustrophobic police stations, the underbelly of nineteenth century Saint Petersburg is brought to life by Dostoevsky's searing prose.

"Here you are," she began, faltering with joy.

"Don't be angry with me, Rodya, for welcoming you so foolishly with tears.

I am laughing, not crying.

Did you think I was crying? No, I am delighted, but I've got into such a stupid habit of shedding tears.

How could I understand your plans and expect you to give an account of them? God knows what concerns and plans you may have, or what ideas you are hatching.

So it's not for me to keep nudging your elbow, asking you what you are thinking about.

But my goodness, why am I running to and fro as though I were crazy? I am reading your article in the magazine for the third time, Rodya.

Dmitri Prokofich brought it to me.

Monaco.

Et si les gens cessent de croire à ce vent, que reste le timonier ? Raskolnikov, même, qui, ironiquement, est la plus grande source de peur pour ceux qui ne savent pas nager.

C'est tout pour le moment.

Depuis la rédaction de Paris, je suis Rachel Costa.

That is why today's three acts are extraordinary, and why Mystery Theater is proud to present a few scenes from this fascinating Russian novel.

You used to go out and teach children, Raskolnikov.

Now you just lie about.

I can't go out and give lessons without boots.

I shall return shortly.

Exceptionally dark eyes and dark brown hair.

His name is Raskolnikov.

He has embarked upon a visit, the purpose of which is known only to himself.

Chills down my spine.

I lived in this tiny studio apartment like, uh, Raskolnikov in Crime and Punishment.

[laughing]

And I'm pacing the apartment back and forth, back and forth.

This is the plot of Crime and Punishment.

Raskolnikov, a great book that my friend Andrew Klavan describes as an axe murderer falling in love with a prostitute.

You know, that's entertainment.

But the whole point of Crime and Punishment is that this guy, this very modern kind of guy, says that he is going to overcome the moral order to pursue his own interests, whether that be for moral reasons or whether that be just for the thrill of it.

I had a, I had a chapter that touched on Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment, and that's, a, like, in a sense there's something related to the Manson case, right? Because in both, in both of these stories we know the person who did it, so it's not a question of who done it, it's a why done it.

And Crime and Punishment, you know, it's hundreds of pages trying to figure out, it's Raskolnikov trying to figure out for himself why he did it, and the narrator along, uh, and the readers along with him.

And I think th- that's maybe more also what's, what's at play in, in my book, right? So there, there...

It, it's not a book that, that, um, gives a definitive answer to that.

So, so I think ...

So I'm in general, I'm, I'm I'm drawn to sometimes sort of, uh, strange parallels or coincidences, right? So I think, um, in my first book, I had a, I had a...

There's a weird coincidence between Karakov as a, you know, historical figure and Raskolnikov as, you know, Crime and Punishment already came up.

They, they coincide in 1866, and they kind of intersect, and there's a relationship between the novel and the, and the historical case.