CliffsNotes on Crime and Punishment takes you into a masterpiece of Russian literature, a work published during the time the western world was moving away from romanticism and into a new realistic approach to writing.
Following the story of an impoverished young man who expects to enrich humanity by rising to a level above the law, this study guide provides a character list, character map, and character analyses to explore the personalities within Fyodor Dostoevsky's masterpiece. Other features that help you figure out this important work include Life and background of the author Introduction to and brief synopsis of the novel Summaries and expert commentaries for each chapter within the book Essays that explore aspects of the author's characters and theories A review section that tests your knowledge and suggests essay topics and practice projects A Resource Center full of books, publications, films, and Internet resources
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The Summary/Commentary section breaks the novel down by chapters and Roberts uses A-B-C notations to distinguish specific lines of analysis; I consider such signposting useful to students. As always, the best way to use these commentaries is to read them after the corresponding parts of the novel, rather than doing them all at once after (or before...) doing the reading. Roberts them explores the Extraordinary Man Theories of Hegel, Nietzsche and Raskolnikov in a short essay section students will certainly find provocative. The Character Review looks as Raskolnikov, Sonia, Svidrigailov, and Petrovitch while under Motifs he examines Confession, being "All Alone," the Square Yard of Space, Suffering and Fresh Air.
This is one of the better little yellow books with the black stripes, with its major strength being that Roberts provides his best analysis outside of the Summary/Commentary section. He also takes the time to develop his case on Structure, Characters and Motifs (not all of these books do). But above all, Roberts sets up the novel so that going into "Crime and Punishment" students are well prepared to deal with the major elements.
