Those people, who know me well, also know how fond of books I am. I know I should be reading more anyway, but actually from a young age and till this day books form a great part of my life providing me not only with knowledge and new information but also functioning as simple but effective tool of spending good-quality leisure time. Since I moved to Hungary, my book sources have run out a bit and that’s a great pity. Hence, naturally, prior returning here from my winter holiday in Latvia, I thought I would take something voluminous with me. Something I cannot finish so soon. Classics it is. While looking around hundreds of thousands of older and newer books we have back home in the village, I remembered of something I actually felt ashamed not to have read. Crime and Punishment. In the summer I had already read „The Idiot” by the same master - Fyodor Dostoevsky – and was more than pleased to continue with another famous work of his. But my point here lies in issues of different, more social matters.
As discussing books with different people I find myself to be surrounded by really diverse opinions. Firstly, there are the ones with whom I have similar tastes. Everything good from classics, to beatniks, to contemporary literature will do unless the text is meaningful and keeps the reader thinking on several levels. Then there are those, who cannot focus on too large books, for them there is too little action in classics and texts are too long to read. And there are the third ones, who simply do not read books at all either due to lack of time or simply they have zero interest in literature or arts whatsoever. Indeed, nowadays when TV shows and fast amusement is available for free because of internet, it is not wonder that, by young people particularly, books are seen more as educational tool (thus difficult and tiring to be performed everyday, not to mention weekends and free time) rather than leisure activity. For those, who maybe are part of the second and third category, it might be useful to find out what actually I learned from Dostoyevsky and reading classics particularly.
As we all know, the story of Crime and Punishment starts with a murder. Clever but poor student decides to kill in order to obtain extra money and have a decent living. The murdered lady is represented as having no value in the society whatsoever yet the situation turns unexpected and student appears to have killed more than panned before by taking lives of two people from whom one is a young, innocent girl. Many would think that this kind of thought of person’s life not having a true value, is incredibly cruel step done by the author but actually, as reading and getting deeper into the situation, I could not be more surprised of how skillfully Dostoyevsky transferred the typical attention of the nature of murder from „victim” to „criminal” perspective. Basically, what he shows is the variety of view-points, the reasons and causes behind every action and also the very nature of our consciousness either we do good or bad. It can be applied to modern, everyday situations as well. As discussing political and social issues, how often do we leave our personal issues and experiences aside and try to have empathy or at least some understanding of all the sides of situation? How often do we just follow with the standards set by society and mass media? Yet how often do we put these perceptions aside and look a bit outside of the frame of what we’ve been told?
Illustration for Punishment and Crime by Mihail Shemyakin.
Source: http://www.arteveryday.org/mixail-shemyakin-chast-1-illyustracii/
Another thing I could not stop thinking about was the nature of “the bad” and modern punishments. Since childhood we are used to knowing that every bad action usually is followed by appropriate consequences usually in form of some sort of punishment. Either it is some “stronger word” by parents about a broken thing or a fine for black-riding on a public transport. There is fixed strategy for almost every “crime” nowadays. However, Dostoyevsky tried to prove that mind sometimes can be the greatest gift and also the greatest punishment of ours. Of course, not everyone obtains this part of thinking but similarly as author I, too, believe that majority of people are greatly aware of their own actions and it is better to let them learn on their own experiences rather than applying the same answers and punishments to similar situations but totally different individuals. And is a punishment supposed to give us a lesson or just function as “tick” in a box taking into account that every crime ought to have according punishment afterwards? I think, nowadays unfortunately we do the second one.
And then there is also the question of social acceptance. As, for instance, in The Idiot, main character seems to be less blessed with mind and knowledge than others, although by his actions he is harming no one and instead shows incredible tolerance so many people he cares about are lacking. And isn’t it similar nowadays when we evaluate status, profession and success higher than, for instance, individuals attitude towards others or kindness? Of course, the lessons within classics are way beyond the ones I have mentioned here but I believe it is always worth thinking about things, issues and questions in several layers. And perhaps also when it comes to choosing between watching a TV show and reading a book.