Spring Elective: Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment

“In the beginning of July, during an extremely hot spell, toward evening, a young man left his tiny room…” Spend your Spring with the world’s most widely read Russian Novel, Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment (and, look, you already read the first line!). A tale of murder and madness, suffering and redemption, Dostoevsky’s takes on big questions about morality and human nature: Can a terrible crime ever be justified? If a terrible crime is committed, can the perpetrator ever be redeemed? Dostoevsky addresses these philosophical questions in a novelistic way, wrapping a powerful portrait, a moving drama, and a crime thriller all into one. Be warned: there might be a murder in the first hundred pages.