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RUSSIAN SUMMARIES

Crime and Punishment

Author: Fyodor Dostoevsky

Time period: Romantic

Language: English

Plot:

  • Rodion Romanovich Raskolnikov, an impoverished former student in St. Petersburg, Russia, murders the pawnbroker Alyona Ivanovna and her sister Lizaveta Ivanovna

  • Motivated by a theory of the “extraordinary man” (that some men have the moral right to transgress laws for higher purposes, inspired by Napoleon)

  • After the murder, Raskolnikov becomes physically ill, paranoid, and alienated, alternating between guilt and self-justification

  • Befriends Razumikhin (cheerful and loyal friend) and meets Sonya Marmeladova, a meek prostitute

  • Raskolnikov is pursued psychologically by Porfiry Petrovich, the magistrate who suspects him but plays mind games rather than arresting him outright

  • Luzhin, Dunya’s fiancé, represents materialistic hypocrisy; Svidrigailov, Dunya’s former employer, represents depravity and nihilism

  • Raskolnikov ultimately confesses to Sonya, then publicly confesses to the police after witnessing Svidrigailov’s suicide

  • Sentenced to eight years of hard labor in Siberia, where Sonya follows him.

  • Ends with Raskolnikov’s spiritual awakening where he embraces Sonya’s love and begins true repentance

 

Characters & Key Facts

Rodion Romanovich Raskolnikov

  • Name root “raskol” = “schism” in Russian 

  • Former law student; lives in a tiny garret

  • Murders Alyona and Lizaveta with an axe

  • Hides stolen goods under a rock in a courtyard

  • Suffers fevers, nightmares, and delirium throughout the novel, including a dream of the beating of a horse​

  • Develops the Napoleonic theory of “extraordinary men” justified in breaking moral laws

  • Confesses to Sonya first, then to police official Ilya Petrovich (“Gunpowder”)

Sofya Semyonovna Marmeladova (Sonya)

  • Daughter of Semyon Marmeladov and Katerina Ivanovna.

  • Forced into prostitution (carries a yellow ticket, a license for prostitutes)

  • Reads the resurrection of Lazarus to Raskolnikov (John 11)

  • Moves to Siberia to stay near Raskolnikov; catalyst for his spiritual rebirth.

Alyona Ivanovna

  • Old, miserly pawnbroker; Raskolnikov’s victim.

  • Known for her greed and cruelty

  • Sister: Lizaveta Ivanovna, kind and simple-minded and is murdered accidentally.

Semyon Zakharovich Marmeladov

  • Alcoholic ex-government clerk; delivers long drunken monologue early in the novel.

  • Tells Raskolnikov about Sonya’s prostitution

  • Run over by a carriage and dies in Sonya’s arms

  • His death prompts Raskolnikov to give the family twenty rubles

Katerina Ivanovna Marmeladova

  • Marmeladov’s sickly wife; obsessed with social status.

  • Dies of consumption and madness after public humiliation.

Avdotya Romanovna Raskolnikova (Dunya)

  • Raskolnikov’s sister

  • Engaged to Pyotr Petrovich Luzhin for financial security

  • Formerly employed by Svidrigailov, who lusted after her.

  • Ultimately marries Razumikhin

  • Fends off Svidrigailov’s attempted coercion; he later kills himself

Pyotr Petrovich Luzhin

  • Dunya’s fiancé; self-serving utilitarianism

  • Lawyer and government official; wants a wife who will feel indebted to him

  • Frames Sonya for theft to discredit Raskolnikov, exposed by Lebezyatnikov

Porfiry Petrovich

  • Magistrate investigating the murders

  • Psychological cat-and-mouse interrogations with Raskolnikov

  • Admits lack of proof but urges confession

Dmitri Prokofych Razumikhin

  • Raskolnikov’s loyal friend (“Razum” = “reason” in Russian)

  • Hardworking, honest, cheerful foil to Raskolnikov

  • Marries Dunya

Arkady Ivanovich Svidrigailov

  • Dunya’s former employer; lecherous, nihilistic, possibly insane

  • Claims to see the ghost of his wife, Marfa Petrovna

  • Offers Dunya 10,000 rubles; stalks her; later commits suicide with a pistol

  • Dreams of a five-year-old girl who transforms into a "shameless face of a French harlot"

Andrei Semyonovich Lebezyatnikov

  • Luzhin’s liberal, progressive roommate; advocates for “new ideas”

  • Witnesses Luzhin planting money on Sonya → exposes him

Ilya Petrovich (“Gunpowder”)

  • Hot-tempered police official

  • The man to whom Raskolnikov finally confesses

  • Initial title idea was The Drunkards or The Honest Thief, and Dostoevsky conceived it while living in Geneva, paying off gambling debts

  • Epigraph: “For the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23).

  • Color motif: yellow → sickness, moral decay (Sonya’s yellow ticket, yellow walls, yellow dress).

  • Nikolai (the painter) falsely confesses to the murder

  • Raskolnikov’s final transformation: he accepts Sonya’s cross → moral resurrection.

​

  • Poverty and Desperation → St. Petersburg as moral and physical hell.

  • Double Motif → Raskolnikov vs. Svidrigailov; Sonya vs. Dunya; intellect vs. emotion.

The Overcoat

Author: Nikolai Gogol

Time period: 1842

Language: Russian

 

Characters

  • Akakiy Akakievitch – low-ranking titular councillor in St. Petersburg; devoted to copying documents; poor, timid, and socially ostracized; obsessed with work and eventually with acquiring a new overcoat.

  • Petrovitch – One-eyed tailor in Akakievitch’s building; often drunk but skilled; repairs Akakievitch’s old coat and crafts the new overcoat.

  • Landlady – Akakievitch’s landlady; gives practical advice, urges him to report the stolen overcoat.

  • Young officials / coworkers – Mock and belittle Akakievitch at work; throw trash on him and tease him; contrast with Akakievitch’s dedication to his clerical work.

  • Department sub-chief – Offers to “christen” Akakievitch’s new coat with a party; represents superficial recognition and social hierarchy.

  • District chief / police – Ineffectual in helping Akakievitch recover the stolen overcoat; represents bureaucratic incompetence.

  • Prominent personage – High-ranking official; dismissive and condescending to Akakievitch; later targeted by Akakievitch’s ghost, learns humility.

  • Gang of thieves / muggers – Steal Akakievitch’s new overcoat in a town square at night.

  • Ghost of Akakiy Akakievitch – Returns after death to haunt St. Petersburg; seeks justice for the stolen overcoat; eventually reforms the prominent personage.

​

Plot

  • Akakiy Akakievitch, a clerk in St. Petersburg, leads a solitary, monotonous life, devoted to copying official documents.

  • Mocked and belittled by coworkers, he barely notices life around him, living frugally and with little social contact.

  • He cries out “Leave me alone!” when distracted at work, leaving a deep impression on one coworker.

  • In winter, his old overcoat is too shabby; he takes it to tailor Petrovitch, who refuses to mend it, forcing Akakievitch to save for a new overcoat.

  • Akakievitch lives extremely frugally for months, carefully conserving money and even avoiding candles and tea.

  • He finally purchases a new overcoat, crafted from the best fabric he can afford; the tailor proudly follows him to admire it.

  • At work, Akakievitch’s coworkers notice and praise the coat, and a sub-chief offers an evening “christening” party.

  • That night, after attending the party, Akakievitch is mugged by a gang in a dimly lit square; the overcoat is stolen.

  • Efforts to reclaim the coat through the police, district chief, and a prominent personage fail; bureaucratic inefficiency and social hierarchy leave Akakievitch powerless.

  • He falls ill from a fever and despair, and dies shortly afterward; his office barely notices, and his replacement is unskilled.

  • After death, Akakievitch’s ghost haunts St. Petersburg, appearing on Kalinkin Bridge demanding the return of the stolen overcoat.

  • The ghost eventually accosts the prominent personage, ripping off his fancy cloak, terrifying him; the experience reforms the official’s attitude toward those of lower rank.

  • Other ghostly apparitions appear later, but they are distinct from Akakievitch, suggesting the continuation of supernatural justice in the city.​

Dead Souls

Author: Nikolai Gogol

Time period: 1842

Language: Russian

 

Characters:

  • Pavel Ivanovich Chichikov: Protagonist; a middle-class gentleman; mysterious and morally dubious plan to buy “dead souls” (deceased serfs still counted on census rolls). Charming, shrewd, and evasive.

  • Manilov: Sentimental, weak-willed landowner; overly polite and empty-headed.

  • Sobakevich: Gruff, practical, physically imposing landowner; represents blunt, unsentimental reality.

  • Madame (M-me) Korobochka: A widow landowner; cautious, miserly, simple-minded.

  • Nozdryov: Boisterous, reckless, dishonest bully; notorious for gambling and wild behavior.

  • Plyushkin: A miserly, obsessive hoarder; embodies extreme greed and decay.

  • Tentetnikov: Idle landowner from Part Two; tries to advance socially by marrying into military aristocracy.

  • General Betrishchev: Military official; Tentetnikov’s benefactor.

  • Colonel Koshkaryov: A relative of General Betrishchev; involved in social visits and intrigues.

  • Khlobuyev: A poor landowner from whom Chichikov buys an estate; later involved in forgery and arrest subplot.

  • Prince (unnamed): Figures in the unfinished second part; involved in anti-corruption speech at novel’s end.

 

Summary:

  • Chichikov arrives in a provincial Russian town, charming officials and landowners while hiding his true purpose.

  • He plans to buy “dead souls” = serfs who have died but still appear in census records to use as collateral for a loan, effectively committing fraud.

  • Chichikov visits various landowners, each a caricature embodying different flaws of the Russian middle aristocracy:

    • The ineffective Manilov

    • The practical Sobakevich

    • The cautious Korobochka

    • The loud and dishonest Nozdryov

    • The miserly Plyushkin

  • The plan is complicated by the suspicious, greedy, and eccentric landowners who don’t readily part with their “souls.”

  • Eventually, Chichikov amasses a large number of dead souls and returns to town, where he is celebrated—until rumors spread that the souls are dead and that Chichikov is a fraud.

  • Ostracized, he flees to another region (Pt Two), attempting to continue his schemes and ingratiate himself with other officials and aristocrats.

  • The second part, incomplete and ending abruptly mid-sentence, involves further travels, social intrigues, and Chichikov’s arrest on forgery charges, followed by a pardon and forced flight.

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