Translator's Preface Practice Quiz — Crime and Punishment
by Fyodor Dostoevsky — tap or click to flip
Practice Quiz: Translator's Preface
What was Dostoevsky's father's profession?
Dostoevsky's father was a doctor.
How many children did Dostoevsky's parents have, and how many rooms did they live in?
They had five children and lived in only two rooms, reflecting their extreme poverty.
What was Dostoevsky's first published work?
His first work was Poor Folk, which was published by the poet Nekrassov and received with great acclaim.
What school did Dostoevsky attend, and how did he perform?
He attended the Petersburg School of Engineering and came out third in the final examination, despite always being sickly and delicate.
In what year was Dostoevsky arrested?
He was arrested in 1849.
What were the charges against Dostoevsky that led to his death sentence?
He was accused of taking part in conversations against the censorship, reading a letter from Byelinsky to Gogol, and knowing of the intention to set up a printing press.
Who were Fourier and Proudhon in relation to Dostoevsky's arrest?
They were political theorists whose works Dostoevsky and his circle of young men met together to read, which contributed to his arrest under Tsar Nicholas I.
What happened to the prisoner Grigoryev after the mock execution?
Grigoryev went mad as soon as he was untied from the execution stake and never regained his sanity.
Who was Mihail, and what role did he play in Dostoevsky's life?
Mihail was Dostoevsky's brother, to whom he wrote a letter describing the mock execution. After Mihail's death in 1864, Dostoevsky took on the burden of paying his brother's debts.
How did Dostoevsky's second wife affect his later years?
The preface states that the later years of his life "were much softened by the tenderness and devotion of his second wife."
What is the central theme of the Translator's Preface?
The central theme is that Dostoevsky's immense personal suffering -- from poverty, imprisonment, illness, and loss -- was the crucible that forged his extraordinary literary insight and wisdom.
How does the preface characterize Dostoevsky's relationship with suffering?
His religious temperament led him to accept every suffering with resignation and regard it as a blessing, yet he constantly depicted the cruelty of such torture in his writings.
What does the preface suggest about the relationship between state power and individual freedom?
Under Tsar Nicholas I, merely reading political theorists and discussing censorship was enough to be condemned to death, illustrating the oppressive relationship between autocratic state power and intellectual freedom.
What is the purpose of the Translator's Preface as a literary device?
It serves as a biographical paratext, framing the novel by establishing Dostoevsky's personal suffering and moral authority so that readers approach Crime and Punishment with an understanding of the life experiences behind it.
How does the preface use Dostoevsky's own letter to create immediacy?
By quoting Dostoevsky's letter to his brother Mihail about the mock execution, the preface shifts from third-person biography to first-person testimony, creating a vivid and emotionally immediate account.
What structural technique does the preface use to shape the reader's view of Dostoevsky?
It follows a pattern of rise, fall, and redemption -- early success, devastating punishment, years of hardship, and ultimate recognition -- mirroring the arc of suffering and transcendence in Dostoevsky's own fiction.
What does the word "acclamations" mean in the context of the preface?
Acclamations means enthusiastic expressions of approval or praise. Poor Folk "was received with acclamations" means it was greeted with widespread critical enthusiasm.
What does "commuted" mean as used in the preface?
Commuted means changed to a less severe form. Dostoevsky's death sentence was "commuted to hard labour," meaning it was officially reduced to a lesser punishment.
What does "recurs" mean in the context of the preface?
Recurs means returns to repeatedly. The preface says Dostoevsky "constantly recurs to the subject in his writings," meaning he returned again and again to the theme of suffering in his work.
According to the closing quote, what did Dostoevsky win for himself through suffering?
He won "wisdom of the heart" -- the kind of insight that readers seek "that we may learn from it how to live."
How did mourners at Dostoevsky's funeral honor him, according to the preface?
A vast multitude of mourners followed him to the grave and "gave the hapless man the funeral of a king."