“I am a great, great sinner”: The Theology of Sin in Crime and Punishment and The Idiot

Abstract

The understanding of Dostoevsky’s views about sin defines the basic understanding of Dostoevsky’s texts by readers and researchers. In case the reader does not understand sin the way the author did, the meaning of key moments in the texts can be distorted beyond recognition. In Crime and Punishment Dostoevsky tried to write down his views plainly, thus arousing sharp rejection from the editor of the Russian Messenger of the chapter about the reading of the Gospel. The author was obliged to rewrite it significantly, trying to maintain his intent now indirectly and to conceal it from direct criticism and censorship. At once this episode served as an additional impulse to create the “stepping aside” way of expressing philosophical and theological ideas that can be found in other Dostoevsky’s artistic texts. The article is dedicated to Dostoevsky’s understanding of sin and how it was translated in Crime and Punishment and The Idiot.

Keywords

• dostoevsky
• napoleon
• rothschild
• the idiot
• the myth of napoleon
• herzen
• heine
• the adolescent