The Sinner and the Saint

The Sinner and the Saint: Dostoevsky, a Crime and Its Punishment[a] is a book by Kevin Birmingham. It details events in the life of Fyodor Dostoevsky and the inspiration behind his acclaimed novel, Crime and Punishment.[1][2]

The Sinner and the Saint: Dostoevsky, a Crime and Its Punishment
Allen Lane imprint edition[a]
AuthorKevin Birmingham
LanguageEnglish
SubjectLiterary criticism, biography
GenreNonfiction
PublisherAllen Lane
Publication date
16 November 2021
Publication placeUnited Kingdom
Media typePrint (hardback), Digital
Pages432
ISBN9780241235942
Websitepenguin.co.uk

According to Birmingham, the protagonist Rodion Raskolnikov was partly based on a minor French poet turned murderer, Pierre François Lacenaire.[3][4]

The Sinner and the Saint is the second book authored by Birmingham. His first, The Most Dangerous Book: The Battle for James Joyce’s Ulysses, originally published in 2014, won the PEN New England Award in 2015 and Truman Capote Award for Literary Criticism in 2016.[5][6]

References

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  1. ^ a b Penguin imprint edition is titled "The Sinner and the Saint: Dostoevsky and the Gentleman Murderer Who Inspired a Masterpiece", with a different book cover.
  1. ^ Daniel Rey (Nov 25, 2021). "The Sinner and the Saint — the story behind 'Crime and Punishment'". Financial Times. Retrieved 10 April 2022.
  2. ^ Kathryn Hughes (Dec 3, 2021). "Inspired by real-life murderers, Dostoevsky wrote a new kind of novel". The Washington Post. Retrieved 10 April 2022.
  3. ^ Boris Fishman (Nov 16, 2021). "The True-Life Inspiration for Dostoyevsky's Famous Murderer". The New York Times. Retrieved 10 April 2022.
  4. ^ Steven G. Kellman (Nov 22, 2021). "Review: The real-life demons that drove Dostoevsky to write his masterpiece". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 10 April 2022.
  5. ^ Alex Christofi (18 Dec 2021). "The Sinner and the Saint by Kevin Birmingham review – a dazzling literary detective story". The Guardian. Retrieved 10 April 2022.
  6. ^ Maureen Corrigan (Nov 22, 2021). "'The Sinner and the Saint' masterfully unpacks a Dostoevsky classic". npr. Retrieved 10 April 2022.