Book of the week: The Sinner and the Saint by Kevin Birmingham
Kevin Birmingham explores Fyodor Dostoevsky’s inspiration for Crime and Punishment
In his 2014 debut, The Most Dangerous Book, Kevin Birmingham told the gripping story of how “a drunken night in a Dublin pub” inspired James Joyce to write Ulysses, said Boris Fishman in The New York Times. In his new book, Birmingham “does it again” – this time giving “the Ulysses treatment” to Crime and Punishment.
Birmingham shows how Fyodor Dostoevsky’s 1866 novel – about a double murder committed by a former student named Raskolnikov – was partly inspired by a real-life murderer: the French poet Pierre-François Lacenaire, who in 1834 stabbed to death a convicted thief and his widowed mother. (Later the same day, he attended a comedy show. “That was a great day for me,” he would recall.)
The case became the talk of Paris. Reading about it nearly three decades later, Dostoevsky found Lacenaire to be “enigmatic, frightening and gripping” – and used him as a model for Raskolnikov. Braiding the stories of the two together, Birmingham has written a “magisterially immersive, novelistic account” of how a masterpiece of Russian literature came to be written.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Birmingham’s account also reveals some striking parallels between the lives of Lacenaire and Dostoevsky, said Anna Aslanyan in The Spectator. Both writers were from wealthy backgrounds, but fell into poverty in adulthood. Both were incarcerated for significant periods: Lacenaire’s petty thieving landed him in prison, while Dostoevsky’s youthful radicalism led to a ten-year exile in Siberia. (While there, he met numerous murderers, and recorded his observations in a secret diary.)
Writing The Sinner and the Saint can’t have been easy – the “sheer weight of sources” must have been overwhelming – but Birmingham shifts the “historical layers with seeming ease”. The result is a book that “works on several levels: as a historical study, a work of literary criticism and, gratifyingly, a double thriller”.
Crime and Punishment is often described as a “whydunnit”, said Alex Christofi in The Guardian: Raskolnikov commits his crime near the start of the book, and it’s never entirely clear what drives him to it. But for modern readers, another mystery “hovers behind the novel” – how can we ever account for a work of genius like that, which appears to have “sprung into the world fully formed”?
In exploring how Dostoevsky’s masterpiece came to life, Birmingham goes a long way to answering that question. This is “not just a fitting tribute to one of the great works of literature, but a dazzling literary detective story in its own right”.
Allen Lane 432pp £25; The Week Bookshop £19.99
The Week Bookshop
To order this title or any other book in print, visit theweekbookshop.co.uk, or speak to a bookseller on 020-3176 3835. Opening times: Monday to Saturday 9am-5.30pm and Sunday 10am-4pm.
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
Today's political cartoons - March 16, 2024
Cartoons Saturday's cartoons - pointed commentary, Haiti in trouble, and more
By The Week US Published
-
5 hilarious cartoons about the RNC's MAGA takeover
Cartoons Artists take on RNC funding, Lara Trump, and more
By The Week US Published
-
Trump's presidential run: a bad bet for Republicans?
Talking Point The GOP is taking a 'big gamble' on former president's 2024 White House bid
By The Week UK Published
-
Properties of the week: properties with income potential
The Week Recommends Featuring a converted windmill and a country house with medieval origins
By The Week UK Published
-
Angelica Kauffman: 'shrewd and entertaining' exhibition
the week recommends One of two female founders of the Royal Academy, time was 'not kind to her reputation'
By The Week UK Published
-
High & Low: John Galliano – rise and fall of the 'ignominiously sacked' fashion genius
the week recommends Forced out of Dior in 2011, he has since engaged in a 'process of rehabilitation'
By The Week UK Published
-
Starter for Ten: 'very fun' musical adaptation of One Day author's debut
the week recommends 'Top-notch' cast combined with 'energetic and fun' songs makes for a 'feel-good' show
By The Week UK Published
-
6 well-thought-out homes with libraries
Feature Featuring a Tudor Revival in Texas and a condo with illuminated bookshelves in Illinois
By The Week Staff Published
-
Rebecca Serle's 6 favorite books about interpersonal relationships
Feature The best-selling author recommends works by J.D. Salinger, Dolly Alderton, and more
By The Week US Published
-
Príncipe: an island paradise off the west coast of Africa
The Week Recommends The remote island isn't easy to get to, but the journey is 'well worth it'
By The Week UK Published
-
Recipe: pistachio, lemon and coriander seed cake
The Week Recommends The unconventional coriander seeds 'make the flavours sing'
By The Week UK Published