Anguish in Crime and Punishment

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Author: Deborah A. Martinsen

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Associate Dean of Alumni Education and Adjunct Associate Professor of Russian Literature at Columbia University.

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Issue: 2018 no. 1

Department: HERMENEUTICS. POETICS. CONTEXT

Pages: 59-68

DOI: https://doi.org/10.22455/2619-0311-2018-1-59-68

UDK: 821.161.1

Keywords: toska / тоска, тосковать, anguish, moral emotions, interconnection

Abstract: This article treats Dostoevskian toska, or spiritual anguish, as one of the moral emotions that links Raskolnikov and Sonya. Raskolnikov experiences an objectless anguish, whereas Sonya’s anguish is linked to her family. In Part Two of the Epilogue, however, Raskolnikov’s anguish takes Sonya for its object, a transformation that not only signals the healing of his divided self but also reinforces the novel’s message of love and faith.