Page:Crime and Punishment - Garnett - Neilson - 1917.djvu/13

Rh as a consequence of his long association with criminals, he had an intense interest in abnormal and perverted types, the psychology of which he analysed with an uncanny subtlety. His books form a striking contrast to those of Turgenev in point of art, for they are diffuse, often poorly constructed and incoherent, and without charm of style. But in spite of these limitations, his power of rousing emotion, the grim intensity of his conceptions, and his command of the sources of fear and pity make him a very great writer.

"Crime and Punishment" is his acknowledged masterpiece, and it displays some of his most characteristic ideas. Chief among them is that of expiation. The crime of Raskolnikov is not so much repented of as it is regarded as being canceled by voluntary submission to Siberian exile. Sonia, the pathetic girl of the streets through whom the hero learns the lesson of purification, represents the humility and devotion which are to Dostoevsky the saving virtues which are one day to save Russia. The most striking feature of the book to the Western reader, to whom the spiritual teaching is apt to seem strange and at times even perverse, is to be found in the analytical account of the states of mind of the half-crazed criminal, who cannot keep away from the very officials who were trying to get on his track, and who cannot refrain from discussing the crime he is trying to hide. As a study in morbid psychology, "Crime and Punishment" is one of the most amazingly convincing and terrifying books in all literature.

W. A. N.