Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - Impressions of Russian Literature - VI
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
Below is the raw OCR text
from the above scanned image.
Do you see an error? Proofread the page now!
Här nedan syns maskintolkade texten från faksimilbilden ovan.
Ser du något fel? Korrekturläs sidan nu!
This page has been proofread at least once.
(diff)
(history)
Denna sida har korrekturlästs minst en gång.
(skillnad)
(historik)
In 1862 he made a strong impression on the reading
world by his “Recollections of a Dead House.” In
1866 he made the greatest impression of his life in
“Crime and Punishment” (Prestuplenie i Nakazanie).
Hardly any other work has contributed so much to the
psychology of the Russia of that time. What the book
describes is only apparently something special; in
reality, it unveils a great picture of society.
The problem of the book in a more limited sense is
one which the most thoughtful minds have struggled
with; the two apparently contradictory estimates which
society places upon the value of human life. Bismarck
has cleverly discussed this subject in his speeches.[1]
It occupied the author of this book, when several
years ago in Berlin a woman who was more than
eighty-two years old was murdered by one of the many
lovers whom she had won by her presents.[2] The
problem was this: Has human life absolute value? Why
does modern society answer this question in the most
contradictory manner? It punishes with the severest
penalty the murder by the mother of the new-born
child without regard to the fact that she for fear of
shame or of want inflicts upon herself a far greater
loss and a far greater pain than she inflicts upon
society; nay, it punishes her even if the motive of
her act was to free the child from all the misery in
store for it. Society demands that the full cup of
earthly misfortune shall be poured out upon the little
being’s head. But society does not oppose the
establishment of manufactories, the operation of which
entails sickness and often death among the workmen,
nay, even regards the founder of such a manufactory
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
