This acclaimed new translation of Dostoyevsky’s “psychological record of a crime” gives his dark masterpiece of murder and pursuit a renewed vitality, expressing its jagged, staccato urgency and fevered atmosphere as never before. Raskolnikov, a destitute and desperate former student, wanders alone through the slums of St. Petersburg, deliriously imagining himself above society’s laws. But when he commits a random murder, only suffering ensues. Embarking on a dangerous game of cat and mouse with a suspicious police investigator, Raskolnikov finds the noose of his own guilt tightening around his neck. Only Sonya, a downtrodden prostitute, can offer the chance of redemption.
For more than sixty-five years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,500 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

波德莱尔说“一切伟大的诗人本来注定了就是批评家”，他本人就是最由说服力的例子。保尔·瓦莱里盛赞他“把批评家的洞察力、怀疑主义、注意力和推理能力与诗人的自发的能力结合在一个人身上”，同时表现出了创作的才能和批评的才能，不仅是诗歌创作上的伊阿诺斯，也是文艺批评上的伊阿诺斯。
他的批评活动的范围之广令人惊讶，举凡诗歌、小说、戏剧、绘画、雕塑、音乐、舞蹈，他都发表过富有独创性的见解。他并未写出系统的理论著作，思想和观点散见于大量书评、函札和诗篇之中。《浪漫派的艺术》汇编了他文学批评方面的文章，评论的是作者曾以一个广泛含义的词称作的“他的同时代人”。
波德莱尔的文艺思想在时代思潮的冲突中形成，也反映了时代思潮的变化，成为后来许多新流派虽遥远却有迹可循的灵感源泉。