Product Description Raskolnikov, a destitute and desperate former student, wanders through the slums of St Petersburg and commits a random murder without remorse or regret. He imagines himself to be a great man, a Napoleon: acting for 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 pursued by the growing voice of his conscience and finds the noose of his own guilt tightening around his neck. Only Sonya, a downtrodden prostitute, can offer the chance of redemption.This vivid translation by David McDuff has been acclaimed as the most accessible version of Dostoyevsky s great novel, rendering its dialogue with a unique force and naturalism. This edition also includes a new chronology of Dostoyevsky s life and work." Review ""A truly great translation . . . Sometimes new translations of old favourites are surplus to our requirements. . . . Sometimes, though, a new translation really makes us see a favourite masterpiece afresh. And this English version of "Crime and Punishment" really is better. . . . "Crime and Punishment, " as well as being an horrific story and a compelling drama, is also extremely funny. Ready brings out this quality well. . . . That knife-edge between sentimentality and farce has been so skilfully and delicately captured here. . . . Ready's version is colloquial, compellingly modern and--in so far as my amateurish knowledge of the language goes--much closer to the Russian. . . . The central scene in the book . . . is a masterpiece of translation." --A. N. Wilson, "The Spectator" "This vivid, stylish and rich rendition by Oliver Ready compels the attention of the reader in a way that none of the others I've read comes close to matching. Using a clear and forceful mid-20th-century idiom, Ready gives us an entirely new kind of access to Dostoyevsky's singular, self-reflexive and at times unnervingly comic text. This is the Russian writer's story of moral revolt, guilt and possible regeneration turned into a new work of art. . . . [It] will give a jolt to the nervous system to anyone interested in the enigmatic Russian author." --John Gray, "New Statesman, ""Books of the Year" "At last we have a translation that brings out the wild humour and vitality of the original." --Robert Chandler, "PEN Atlas" "What a pleasure it is to see Oliver Ready's new translation bring renewed power to one of the world's greatest works of fiction. . . . Ready's work is of substantial and superb quality. . . . [His] version portrays more viscerally and vividly the contradictory nature of Raskolnikov's consciousness. . . . Ready evokes the crux of "Crime and Punishment" with more power than the previous translators have . . . with an enviably raw economy of prose." --"The Curator" "Oliver Ready's dynamic translation certainly succeeds in implicating new readers to Dostoyevsky's old novel." --"The Times Literary Supplement" "Ready's new translation of "Crime and Punishment" is thoughtful and elegant [and] shows us once again why this novel is one of the most intriguing psychological studies ever written. His translation also manages to revive the disturbing humor of the original. . . . In some places, Ready's version echoes Pevear and Volokhonsky's prize-winning Nineties version, but he often renders Dostoyevsky's text more lucidly while retaining its deliberately uncomfortable feel. . . . Ready's colloquial, economical use of language gives the text a new power." --"Russia Beyond the Headlines" "[A] five-star hit, which will make you see the original with new eyes."""--A. N. Wilson, ""The Times Literary Supplement"," "Books of the Year" About the Author FyodorDostoyevsky (1821 1881), one of nineteenth-century Russia s greatest novelists, spent four years in a convict prison in Siberia, after which he was obliged to enlist in the army. In later years his penchant for gambling sent him deeply into debt. Mo