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Crime and Punishment

by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Crime and Punishment is a novel by the Russian author Fyodor Dostoyevsky. It was first published in the literary journal The Russian Messenger in twelve monthly installments during 1866. It is the second of Dostoyevsky's full-length novels following his return from 5 years of exile in Siberia and is considered the first great novel of his "mature" period of writing. The novel is often cited as one of the supreme achievements in literature.

Read more about Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Crime and Punishment
Pole will escape abroad, but not here, especially as I am watching
and have taken measures. Will he escape into the depths of the country
perhaps? But you know, peasants live there, real rude Russian peasants.
A modern cultivated man would prefer prison to living with such
strangers as our peasants. He-he! But thats all nonsense, and on
the surface. Its not merely that he has nowhere to run to, he is
_psychologically_ unable to escape me, he-he! What an expression!
Through a law of nature he cant escape me if he had anywhere to go.
Have you seen a butterfly round a candle? Thats how he will keep
circling and circling round me. Freedom will lose its attractions. Hell
begin to brood, hell weave a tangle round himself, hell worry himself
to death! Whats more he will provide me with a mathematical proof--if I
only give him long enough interval.... And hell keep circling round
me, getting nearer and nearer and then--flop! Hell fly straight into my
mouth and Ill swallow him, and that will be very amusing, he-he-he! You
dont believe me?”

Raskolnikov made no reply; he sat pale and motionless, still gazing with
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Style is a very simple matter; it is all rhythm. Once you get that, you can't use the wrong words.

– Virginia Woolf

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Prose is like hair; it shines with combing.

– Gustave Flaubert

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"Imitate then innovate", an article by David Perell