Crime and Punishment
(Fyodor Dostoevsky)

Parentage and childhood influences—A quick review of Dostoevsky’s biography reveals many of the seeds of the traits, actions, and situations of his characters in Crime and Punishment and other novels. Born in 1821 in Moscow to parents of noble descent, Dostoevsky’s life was nevertheless not an easy one. His father’s profession as a military doctor enabled him to provide for his large family, which included buying a summer home outside of Moscow. But his job at a hospital for the poor also put the young Dostoevsky in contact with the less fortunate members of society. Dostoevsky was further shaped by the education his parents gave him at home by exposing him to the Bible and various literary works.

Youth and schooling—When Dostoevsky was in his teens, both his parents died within two years, leaving him orphaned. Prior to that, his father had sent him to the military engineering academy in St. Petersburg, but with his sensitive, imaginative, and temperamental nature, Dostoevsky’s real interests included a deeper sense of the Christian religion, social philosophy and justice, and literature and culture. It was at this time, too, that he acquired his gambling habit.

Early adulthood and career—In spite of his lack of interest in the sciences, Dostoevsky eventually passed his exams, landed an engineering job, and was promoted to second lieutenant; but financial problems led him to try his hand at literary translation. When that proved unsuccessful, he finally turned to novel writing, producing Poor Folk in 1846. With the success of Poor Folk, he decided to resign from the military and focus on his literary career, even though his second novel, The Double, was not successful.

Socialism and Siberia—Around the same time, Dostoevsky became interested in socialist ideas and was involved with several utopian socialist groups, the last of which was the Petrashevsky Circle, a non-revolutionary literary discussion group with a Christian ethic and an interest in social reform. In 1849, its members were sentenced to be executed, only to have the sentence waived by Tsar Nicholas I at the last minute as they stood before the firing squad. Dostoevsky was then sent to prison in Siberia for four years, followed by enforced military service in Semipalatinsk.

Marriage, discharge, and other ventures—In 1857, Dostoevsky married Maria Dmitrievna Isaeva. A few years later, he received permission to quit the military for health reasons and move to St. Petersburg, where he continued his writing and founded several magazines at different times with the help of his brother Mikhail; but these were shut down because of either suppression or poor finances. In the summer of 1862, Dostoevsky made his first tour of Western Europe. This was followed by a second visit in 1863. In 1864, both his wife and Mikhail died.

Initial publication of Crime and Punishment—In 1866, the magazine The Russian Messenger featured the first two sections of Crime and Punishment, which gained it a large number of new readers, though this success was still not enough to pay Dostoevsky’s gambling debts. The idea for the novel had begun simply, as the story of a student who seeks a way out of his distressed circumstances but whose inadequate philosophy leads him astray; but the novel evolved into much more. Following his release from prison and the death of his wife and brother, Dostoevsky found himself in a distressed and depressing situation similar to Raskolnikov’s at the beginning of the novel, giving him much material to draw on.

Second marriage—By this time, Dostoevsky had met Anna Grigoryevna Snitkina, the stenographer who helped him finish his novel The Gamblers the year before. He married her in 1867, and the couple then left for Western Europe and ended up staying for over four years, during which time Anna gave birth to two girls, though the first one died within a few months.

Final years—In 1871, Dostoevsky and his family finally returned to St. Petersburg, where continued financial issues forced them to move to an apartment and deal proactively with Dostoevsky’s creditors. By now the couple had a baby son, the third of what would be four births, although the fourth child inherited his father’s epilepsy and died in early childhood. In 1873, Dostoevsky and his wife founded their own publishing company, beginning with the publication of the highly successful novel The Possessed. With Anna now managing practical issues, the family’s financial situation improved, though it never became comfortable in spite of Dostoevsky’s relinquishment of his gambling habit and continued successes with his work. Among these was his collection of writings called A Writer’s Diary, which gained him more attention and success than ever before and from a wider variety of people, including the Tsar, thus furthering Dostoevsky’s connections with elite members of society. In subsequent years, Dostoevsky would receive multiple honors. But it was also around this time, starting in the mid-1870s, that his health worsened, and in January of 1881, he died following a third pulmonary hemorrhage. His final thoughts revealed a profound Christianity, no doubt strengthened by the intense mystical nature of his experiences immediately preceding his seizures.