The influences behind Crime and Punishment (Prestupleniye i nakazaniye)

1866

Crime and Punishment (Prestupleniye i nakazaniye)

Fyodor Dostoevsky

Russian Golden Age. Russia. Written in Russian.

Dostoevsky's novel follows Rodion Raskolnikov, a destitute former student in St. Petersburg who murders an old pawnbroker to test his theory that extraordinary men may transgress moral law, and then suffers guilt, pursuit by the investigator Porfiry, and a slow turn toward redemption through Sonya Marmeladova. It joins a French-derived crime-and-ideas plot to Russian Orthodox themes of suffering and resurrection.

Where it came from

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1835

Père Goriot (Le Père Goriot)

Honoré de Balzac

July Monarchy. France. Written in French.

An old man ruins himself for his ungrateful daughters while the young provincial Rastignac learns the rules of Parisian ambition, tempted by the convict Vautrin.

What it handed down

To Crime and Punishment (Prestupleniye i nakazaniye) (1866)

Direct source, probable.

Rastignac asks Bianchon whether he would kill an unknown mandarin in China by an act of will if it made him rich, a question about killing one person for one's own advancement. Raskolnikov overhears a student and officer in a tavern argue that killing the useless old pawnbroker would benefit hundreds, a scene scholars regularly trace to Balzac, whom Dostoevsky had translated and admired since the 1840s.

Where it came from

Find “Père Goriot (Le Père Goriot)” on Amazon

1802

The Genius of Christianity (Génie du christianisme)

François-René de Chateaubriand

Napoleonic Consulate. France. Written in French.

An apologia for Christianity on aesthetic and moral grounds, with chapters on conscience, Christian poetry, and Milton.

What it handed down

To Père Goriot (Le Père Goriot) (1835)

Direct source, probable.

Chateaubriand's chapter on conscience poses the case of a man who could kill a distant Chinese mandarin by mere wish and inherit his wealth. Balzac lifted this thought experiment for Rastignac and Bianchon, though he attributed it to Rousseau.

Where it came from

Paradise Lost, John Milton 1667

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1667

Paradise Lost

John Milton

Restoration. England. Written in English.

Blank-verse epic of Satan's rebellion and the fall of Adam and Eve.

What it handed down

To The Genius of Christianity (Génie du christianisme) (1802)

Direct source, well documented.

Chateaubriand devotes extended discussion to Milton's epic as proof that Christianity produces great poetry, praising the characterization of Satan and of Adam and Eve. He later translated Paradise Lost into French prose (1836).

Where it came from

Genesis, Anonymous c. 500 BCE (compiled) follow this thread
Aeneid (Aeneis), Virgil 19 BCE follow this thread
Iliad, Homer c. 750 BCE

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c. 750 BCE

Iliad

Homer

Archaic Greece. Ionia. Written in Ancient Greek.

Epic of the wrath of Achilles during the Trojan War.

What it handed down

To Paradise Lost (1667)

Structural model, well documented.

The war in Heaven in Book Six is modeled on Homeric battle, with catalogues of fallen angels and single combats. Milton announces in Book Nine that his theme surpasses 'the wrath of stern Achilles.'

To Parallel Lives

Thematic kinship, probable.

Plutarch quotes Homer throughout the Lives and judges his heroes partly by Homeric standards of honor. His Life of Alexander reports that Alexander kept a copy of the Iliad under his pillow.

To Aeneid (Aeneis)

Structural model, well documented.

The second half of the Aeneid is Virgil's Iliad: a war in Italy with a new Achilles in Turnus, catalogues of warriors, funeral games, and a closing duel. Virgil imitates Homeric similes and battle scenes line by line.

Where it came from

This is one of the oldest surviving works in its tradition; the line ends here.

Find “Iliad” on Amazon

Where it came from

What it handed down

To Crime and Punishment (Prestupleniye i nakazaniye) (1866)

Where it came from

What it handed down

To Père Goriot (Le Père Goriot) (1835)

Where it came from

What it handed down

To The Genius of Christianity (Génie du christianisme) (1802)

Where it came from

What it handed down

To Paradise Lost (1667)

To Parallel Lives

To Aeneid (Aeneis)

Where it came from

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