Crime and Punishment, part 2: Three extraordinary men

we're just normal men. We're just innocent men!

In parts 3 and 4 of Fyodor Dostoevsky's 1866 Crime and Punishment we get a lot more meat on Raskolnikov's 'extraordinary man' thesis.

How does it overlap with the concept of the Übermensch in Nietzsche and Hegel? Are we too deeply steeped in Christian morality to become 'extraordinary' without destroying ourselves?

We reconsider Raskolnikov, Svidrigailov, and Luzhin through this lens.

Plus: cam's obligatory sibling inc*st fantasies, rich tries to give dostoyevsky writing advice, etc

 

CHAPTERS

• (00:00:00) hangry
• (00:02:00) the Extraordinary Man thesis
• (00:06:28) Nietzsche, hegel and the RETVRN to bronze age morality
• (00:13:35) Can you be an extraordinary man without breaking yourself?
• (00:23:05) Svidrigailov introduction
• (00:29:45) What would you do if your best friend killed someone
• (00:34:32) lil dick Luzhin
• (00:44:30) Lazarus story (the ultimate flipperoo)
• (00:49:00) Porfiry’s police procedural: pragmatic pressure or pure punishment?
• (00:59:32) could this be a shorter book
• (01:05:33) Listener mail: revisiting Hamlet’s soliloquy

 

SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS:

We wanna start reading listener feedback out on the pod, so send us a note at douevenlit@gmail.com to correct our bad takes or share your own. 

 

NEXT ON THE READING LIST:

Crime and Punishment - parts 5 and 6

Candide — Voltaire

A Farewell to Arms - Ernest Hemingway