SCRIPTORIUM
RUSSIAN
QUICK SUMMARIES
Crime and Punishment
Fyodor Dostoevsky
The impoverished student, Rodion Raskolnikov, murders an old pawnbroker in St. Petersburg, Russia. He believes he is an extraordinary man above moral law, inspired by Napoleon, until he eventually confesses his crime by being influenced by Sonia, a religious woman, and is sentenced to a Siberian prison.
The Brothers Karamazov
Fyodor Dostoevsky
Three brothers—Dmitri, Ivan, and Alyosha—struggle with morality, faith, and family in 19th-century provincial Russia after the murder of their corrupt father, Fyodor Pavlovich. When Fyodor is murdered amid greed, lust, and philosophical conflict, the brothers’ differing beliefs about God and guilt drive them toward tragedy.
The Overcoat
Nikolai Gogol
Akakiy Akakievich, a government clerk in St. Petersburg replaces his threadbare overcoat with a new one, which is then stolen. Devastated and ignored by the authorities, he dies, and his ghost returns to haunt the city where he steals overcoats from people until he confronts the "Important Person" who dismissed him.