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Wednesday, October 9, 2019

Nobel Prize predictions, and the further suffering of Raskolnikov in Crime and Punishment

First, my Nobel Prize for Literature predictions, 2018 & 2019 (2 prizes to be awarded tomorrow: Margaret Atwood and Louise Erdrich; you heard it here first!

Back to Fyodor Dostoyevsky: The 2nd chapter in Part 2 of Crime and Punishment (reading the Pevear-Volokhansky translation, Everyman edition) has Raskolnikov in a frantic state as he tries to stash the loot - a purse and some jewelry - that he stole after he murdered the pawnbroker and he daughter. He starts off thinking he should just get rid of this evidence, toss it in waters of a canal, but then panics as he realizes he's in a public place where many might see him throwing items into the water; besides, some of the boxes might float. So he goes on walking, aimlessly, and eventually sees a nearly hidden worksite where there's a large stone toward the back; he moves the stone and stashes the loot behind it (or in a hole beneath? not too clear) and rolls the stone back into place. (A note in the edition I'm reading says that there really was such a place in St. Petersberg, and FD showed it to his wife one time while they were walking.) Then R makes his way to the dwelling of his best (only?) friend, Razumikov (sp?), who he hadn't seen in 4 months. Raz immediately sees that R is in acute distress and in dire poverty; he offers R some work doing translations, which R refuses, as he quickly departs, leaving Raz in utter confusion. Obviously, over the course of these chapters in Part 2,R oscillates in his moods: Feeling guilt for committing this horrendous crime (taking no consolation from the philosophical and abstract idea of "the greatest good for the greatest #" as he does nothing to put the goods to use for himself or others), trying to evade the police officers, yet not willing (or able) to dispose of the stolen goods, tormented by dreams and hallucinations, and at times thinking of turning himself in and ending his suffering. We still await the arrival of his mother and sister; how will he possibly accommodate them and take on the task of rescuing his sister from what looks to be a dreadful marriage?

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