One of the greatest philosophers of all times, Fyodor Dostoevsky suffered throughout his life and was studying the subject of suffering closely.
Dostoevsky said: “Pain and suffering are always inevitable for a large intelligence and a deep heart. The really great men must, I think, have great sadness on earth.”
The first American edition of the author’s masterpiece, Crime and Punishment was published in New York in 1886.
The two years before writing it had been bad ones for the author. His wife and brother had died; the magazine he and his brother had started, Epoch, collapsed under its load of debt; and he was threatened with debtor's prison. He received an advance for an unwritten novel, and fled to Wiesbaden, hoping to win enough at the roulette table to get himself out of debt. Instead, he lost all his money.
