Crime and Punishment

Book excerpt: CRIME AND PUNISHMENT, Raskolnikov, a helpless and desperate alumnus, wanders through the suburbs of St. Petersburg and commits a random murder with no regrets or regrets. He imagines himself as a great man, a Napoleon: acting with a higher purpose beyond conventional moral law. But as he embarks on a dangerous game of cat and mouse with a suspicious police investigator, Raskolnikov is haunted by the rising voice of his conscience and finds the noose of his own guilt tightening around his neck. Only Sonya, an oppressed prostitute, can offer the chance for redemption.