Introduction
by Ernest J. Simmons
The twenty-four-year-old Dostoevsky, his head in a whirl, had
just left the house of the famous critic, Vissarion Belinsky, a man whose
favorable opinion any young author would have prized in the Russia of
those days. He had been listening to Belinsky's praise of the manuscript
of his first story, Poor Folk. "This is the truth of art!" the
enraptured critic had exclaimed as he concluded his comments on the tale.
"This is the artist's service to truth! To you, as an artist, truth is
revealed and declared; it came to you as a gift. Treasure, then, your
gift, be faithful to it, and you will become a great writer."
The youthful Dostoevsky stopped at the corner of the critic's house,
looked at the sky, at the bright day, and at the passers-by. With
Belinsky's words sti ... read full excerpt from Crime and Punishment ebook
