Reading The Sinner and the Saint

Proof of purchase.

Kevin Birmingham tells paralleling stories in his history of Fyodor Dostoevsky writing Crime and Punishment.  The first is of Dostoevsky himself, of course, all that happened to him and that he went through while writing the world-famous novel.  The second is of a French gentleman from 30 years earlier who committed the murders that inspired the novel.  Both stories are intriguing and, indeed, make for reading almost as interesting as the great novel itself.    

Pierre Francois Lacenaire committed a notorious double murder and had a sensational trial in  Paris in the 1830's.  He was a dapper man, well-read, good-looking, as honest as a child.  He felt no remorse for committing the murders (nor any of his many other crimes).  He was convicted and beheaded, which is precisely what he professed to desire most.  He wanted the guillotine.  All the best Parisian high-society ladies turned out to watch the trial.  The press further sensationalized this well-groomed, articulate, remorseless young man.

Decades later Dostoevsky, who had a wider fascination with murders of his time, latched on to Lacenaire and immortalized his crime by using key elements of it in the story of Raskolnikov.  According to some scholars, Lacernaire's personality helped shape Dostoevsky's idea of evil and how it functioned humanly.  So every third or fourth chapter, Birmingham shifts to the 1830's and Lacernaire's story.  The other three-quarters or so of the book is devoted to Dostoevsky's life leading up to and including the writing of Crime and Punishment.

Lacernaire's story is rather straightforward, though Birmingham fills it with interesting historical details.  He grew up with a psychopathic mind.  He committed numerous crimes before being caught for his double murder.  He was highly intelligent and had enough charm to be a lady's man.  He freely admitted his criminal guilt.  He felt no moral guilt whatsoever.  He was without morality.  While in his prison cell, he wrote essays that were published and a short biography.  He was executed.

When Dostoevsky read of the murder, he decided to use it in the writing of his next novel.  He desperately needed more income.  He was almost put into debtors prison, which was prevalent in Russia at the time.  He tried on numerous occasions to win more money at gambling, to which he was addicted.  In the end he only lost even more money and became ever more in debt.  It was like wrestling with quicksand.  He pawned his clothes and went without eating now and then in order to have enough money to write and survive.  

Both these stories are fascinating, for different reasons, of course.  But there is far more about Dostoevsky mentioned in this book than contained in the brief summary above.  Birmingham really provides the reader with an excellent biography of Dostoevsky up to this point in his life.  Lacernaire is seen as an inspiration for the novel, but how Dostoevsky came to write it and under what circumstances and who all he met along the way is what makes this biography of the writing of the novel so compelling.

Within a short span of a few months, Dostoevsky's wife and brother died.  She had been a sickly and troubled woman he had met while trapped in Siberia.  His brother was his best friend.  Dostoevsky was deep in debt but he took on responsibility for the debt of his brother's family, which more than tripled the amount.  An unscrupulous publisher offered him a sizable (but discounted) amount for an edition of all his published works to date, plus a new story at least 160-pages in length.  

Crime and Punishment was not written yet nor was it part of this deal.  What's more, if he failed to produce the 160 pages, Dostoevsky would forfeit all his literary income for the next nine years.  No one in their right mind would sign such terms.  It shows you how desperate Dostoevsky was at the time.  

Dostoevsky signed the deal.  It was not enough money to satisfy all his debts, only the most pressing ones.  A few rubles were left over for him to travel to Europe, where he proceeded to lose everything once more by gambling it all (and then some) away.  He started writing Crime and Punishment knowing he desperately needed the money to avoid debtor's prison.  

He wrote at night. Often all night.  He had trouble with his landlord supplying candles, since he was iffy on his rent.  (So did Roskolnikov in the novel.) “Dostoevsky was writing Crime and Punishment in his study at night, which helped him approach the story with 'a certain mood.'  His landlord would notice the novelist's light still burning in the early-morning.  Dostoevsky paid twenty-five rubles a month for a small flat at the top of a five-story building […] His desk was a painted table in the corner.  There was a ragged divan.  The ceiling was low, and the study was six paces wide, like a cell.” (page 272)

The novel was published in serial form in a literary magazine like almost all Russian novels were at that time.  The first installment took the story up to and through the double murder.  It was an instant sensation. Yet Dostoevsky was miserable at this time.  “Dostoevsky cloistered himself in his study in order to meet the monthly deadlines […] His health deteriorated. He suffered from hemorrhoids so intense that he couldn't write for two weeks.  When he recovered, he wrote while lying on his divan because sitting or standing caused painful cramps.  And he was having seizures again.  'Attacks of the falling sickness torment me,' he wrote to one of his sisters-in-law.  The more intensely he wrote, the stronger they became.  In February he wrote to his sister-in-law that he hadn't seen a doctor in two months: 'There is no time.'” (Doestoevsky's emphasis, page 273)

Birmingham gives us a very intimate account of Dostoevsky's life and his writing.  This is the absurd truth about Crime and Punishment.  He was largely miserable in the beginning.  Yet, the demand for more of Crime and Punishment was profitable and would have been sufficient for anyone not addicted to gambling and smothered in debt to the point of poverty.  As it was, Dostoevsky needed the money as fast as he could get it.

The reader knows all about Raskolnikov.  We are inside his thoughts, feelings, dreams, his confusion and sickness.  Dostoevsky was brilliant at creating characters of rich depth and distinctive qualities.  Birmingham offers several insights into Raskolnikov as revealed in the novel.  Most of the other characters are fairly straightforward yet the reader learns much of all of their personalities throughout the story.  Birmingham points out, the “mystery” aspect of the story is not in the murderer, rather it is in his detective.

Porfiry is one of Dostoevsky's most wonderful achievements.  He is persistent, clever, curious, humorous, extroverted and observant.  We are not granted access to Porfiry's thoughts as with other characters.  He “winks” at Raskolnikov early on and it is hugely disturbing to the murderer.  The ambiguity plays into the reader's access to Raskolnikov's mind.  The wink's meaning is not understood and there is much internal speculation.  Birmingham devotes much of his bio-book to the strength of the story Dostoevsky was almost frantically writing.

Another intimate gem.  “We often think of Dostoevsky as melancholy, but he experienced bliss in a way few of us ever will.  He thought of his falling sickness as a dialectic of misery and ecstasy: whatever depression he suffered was the inevitable consequence of his split second of sheer joy.  He believed that touching the limits of human experience was something he shared with the Prophet Muhammad, who was also reputedly epileptic.” (page 298)

Now things start to get interesting.  He was so consumed by his immersion into Crime and Punishment that he had not written a word of the 160-page novella he was obligated upon forfeit of his publishing income for the next nine years.  A ridiculous situation which, Birmingham points out, shows you exactly what kind of gambler Dostoevsky was.

Finally, the month before the other novel was due arrives and nothing was written.  Dostoevsky suddenly started to despair.  He did not see how he could write both novels simultaneously.  This was the race that makes the history exciting.  A friend recommended that Dostoevsky hire a stenographer.  He can write the other book faster if he dictates it to someone.  Dostoevsky agrees, though he is hesitant, he does not know if he can dictate as if he were writing.

Dostoevsky takes on a double literary life.  In one life he is writing the next installment of Crime and Punishment.  In the other life, he is dictating what would become The Gambler.  He would dictate it to the young, bright and talented Anna Grigorievna Snitkina.  This was her first job.  She was a huge fan of Dostoevsky and she was very nervous.

Dostoevsky decided to try out the whole dictation thing by reading from a magazine.  This way he learned the pace at which he should deliver the dictation.  Her stenography was perfect.  “He continued pacing, thinking, becoming unaware of her presence in the room while she sat motionless.  Could she return in the evening around eight o'clock?” (page 318)

As he dictated The Gambler to Anna for 50 rubles, he also shared more about himself and his past.  They obviously became better acquainted as days went by.  “From noon to 4:00 pm each day, Dostoevsky would dictate to her in half-hour bursts, and they would break for tea between sessions.  He gave her ruled writing paper and precise instructions about the margin width she should leave for her transcriptions.  She would transcribe at home – at night or in the morning – and he would revise the previous day's dictated text two or three times.” (page 322)

Dictation was difficult for Dostoevsky, but it was also vital.  So he adapted.  After their sessions became comfortable and routine, Anna offered some input into The Gambler.  To her surprise, Dostoevsky sometimes accepted her suggestions and incorporated them into the story.  They had 26 days together like this and the required novella was written.

As a final flurry of excitement, the indebted man is not in town when Dostoevsky tries to deliver the manuscript.  It was a standard, cut-throat tactic; to make it difficult for Dostoevsky to fulfill the obligation of “presenting” him with the book on time to avoid the nine-year trigger clause.  But Dostoevsky went straight to the police and they delivered the manuscript later, officially marked before the date in question.    

Dostoevsky wanted to celebrate.  He had a dinner party (blowing what little money he had) and invited Anna to attend.  But she was too shy to do so.  Afterwards, she paid him a quick visit but left when other friends were coming in.  He made her promise to let him meet her family.  Which he did several days later.  He was late due to difficulty finding the place.  She feared he would not come.  He stayed until 11PM, which thrilled her.

Not long after this Dostoevsky proposed to Anna.  This caused somewhat of a scandal because she was so young and Dostoevsky was almost twice her age.  Neither his family nor her's supported the relationship.  He kept their engagement a secret from his own family.  She assisted him with the final section of Crime and Punishment.

Birmingham returns to Lacenaire's story with captivating details.  The Frenchman is convicted and executed for his multiple, merciless crimes.  “The blade got stuck – it jammed halfway down.  Maybe the damp weather had swollen the wood, narrowing one of the grooves just enough to block the fall.  Maybe the machine was just old.  Either way, seeing the blade suspended above the murderer was bone-chilling.  They hoisted it up again.  As the rope turned the squeaking wheel, Lacenaire contorted his torso enough to rotate his head upward in the lunette so that when the blade finally came he would be able to see it for himself.  And it would be the most extraordinary view.” (page 351)  This is indicative of Lacenaire's pathological fascination with his own death by guillotine.  The details are exceptional.

Dostoevsky had no money for a wedding.  In fact, he told Anna that they might have to postpone getting married at all, given his dire financial situation.  The popularity of Crime and Punishment gave him some leverage with the magazine editor.  There were plans for a book edition of the work and a 2,000 ruble advance.  With this he paid for the wedding and escaped to Europe with his new bride.  He had his first epileptic seizure in Anna's presence shortly thereafter.  She was supportive and understanding.  Their love would remain true and they would establish a family together, which Dostoevsky called “the great and only human happiness.”  (page 353)

Kevin Birmingham gives us an exciting, intimate account of the extraordinary circumstances of the writer and the writing of Crime and Punishment.  The novel arose out of a chaotic mix of debt, poverty, prison, epilepsy, belief, philosophy, murder, investigation, guilt, love and friendship.  This history story is not as great a story as the novel itself, but it is as fascinating and as detailed a biography as one could hope to read.  Dostoevsky admirers will find it a treasure-trove leading to a better understanding of both one of the world's great authors and one of the greatest books ever written.  And we got The Gambler in the process.  Plus, Dostoevsky found his soulmate in Anna.  A remarkable true story!