The lineage of 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

Find “Crime and Punishment (Prestupleniye i nakazaniye)” on Amazon

c. 95

Gospel of John

Anonymous

Early Christian. Roman Asia Minor. written in Koine Greek.

The fourth canonical gospel, opening with the Logos prologue and including the raising of Lazarus.

What it handed down

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

Direct source, well documented.

In Part Four, Raskolnikov asks Sonya to read him the raising of Lazarus from John 11, and she reads it aloud from a New Testament that once belonged to the murdered Lizaveta. The resurrection of Lazarus becomes the figure for Raskolnikov's own renewal in the epilogue, where the same book lies under his pillow in Siberia.

To Confessions (Confessiones)

Direct source, well documented.

In Book Seven Augustine says the Platonists' books taught him 'In the beginning was the Word' but not 'the Word was made flesh,' quoting John's prologue to mark where philosophy ends and Christianity begins.

Where it came from

Genesis, Anonymous c. 500 BCE (compiled)

Find “Gospel of John” on Amazon

c. 500 BCE (compiled)

Genesis

Anonymous

Persian-period Judah. Judah / Babylonian exile. written in Hebrew.

The first book of the Hebrew Bible: creation, the fall of Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, the flood, and the patriarchs.

What it handed down

To Paradise Lost

Direct source, well documented.

Milton's subject is the first three chapters of Genesis: creation, Eden, the temptation, and the expulsion. He expands a few verses into twelve books.

To Gospel of John (c. 95)

Direct source, well documented.

John's prologue opens 'In the beginning,' deliberately repeating the first words of Genesis, and recasts creation as the work of the Word. Light and darkness from Genesis 1 become the gospel's governing images.

To Letter to the Romans

Direct source, well documented.

In Romans 5, Paul traces sin and death into the world through Adam's transgression in Genesis 3. He also builds his argument on faith from Abraham's story in Genesis 15.

Where it came from

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

Find “Genesis” on Amazon

Crime and Punishment (Prestupleniye i nakazaniye)

Where it came from

Gospel of John

What it handed down

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

To Confessions (Confessiones)

Where it came from

Genesis

What it handed down

To Paradise Lost

To Gospel of John (c. 95)

To Letter to the Romans

Where it came from

Share this lineage