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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
Its a lesson,” he thought, turning cold. “This is beyond the cat
playing with a mouse, like yesterday. He cant be showing off his power
with no motive... prompting me; he is far too clever for that... he must
have another object. What is it? Its all nonsense, my friend, you are
pretending, to scare me! Youve no proofs and the man I saw had no
real existence. You simply want to make me lose my head, to work me up
beforehand and so to crush me. But you are wrong, you wont do it! But
why give me such a hint? Is he reckoning on my shattered nerves? No, my
friend, you are wrong, you wont do it even though you have some trap
for me... let us see what you have in store for me.”

And he braced himself to face a terrible and unknown ordeal. At times
he longed to fall on Porfiry and strangle him. This anger was what he
dreaded from the beginning. He felt that his parched lips were flecked
with foam, his heart was throbbing. But he was still determined not to
speak till the right moment. He realised that this was the best
policy in his position, because instead of saying too much he would be
irritating his enemy by his silence and provoking him into speaking too
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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.

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– Gustave Flaubert

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More on this topic:

"Imitate then innovate", an article by David Perell