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Book Salon
Crime and Punishment

  • This month we're reading Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky. Our faculty host is Nancy Ruttenburg.

    Listen to an interview with our Book Salon host.

    "Chronicling a student's life-and-death struggle to put into practice his idea that powerful people are those able to disregard conventional morality and act according to their own will, this novel graphically explores the complexities of the individual mind and the social consequences of psychological experience."

    Nancy Ruttenburg, Director, Center for the Study of the Novel and The William Robertson Coe Professor of American Literature

How to Participate

Read the audio interview with Professor Nancy Ruttenburg

Participate in this month's online discussion and interact with Stanford alumni around the world

About this quarter's book selection

Originally written in Russian by Fyodor Dostoevsky, Crime and Punishment, was published in installments during 1866. Written by an individual who had experienced financial ruin and exile himself, this literary work follows Rodion Raskolnikov, a destitute ex-student, driven mad by the inequities and rampant crimes plaguing St. Petersburg.

This novel illustrates the mental torment that Raskolnikov experiences over his financial situation and the moral atrocities committed in the city. The story begins when Raskolnikov sets his sights on a corrupt pawnbroker and her wealth. Raskolnikov envisions the opportunities the stolen wealth may bring him, and he soon forms a plan to murder and steal the unscrupulous woman’s assets.

Join us as we delve into the mind of a murderer as he rationalizes his crimes as they benefit a higher purpose.  Follow Raskolnikov as he connects himself mentally with great men of his time, believing that some crimes are permissible when in pursuit of the greater good.

The Stanford Book Salon [Seriously Unstuffy]