Crime and Punishment

Three notebooks with drafts and notes for Crime and Punishment have been preserved, that is, three manuscript versions of the novel: the first, short version ("the novella"); the second, lengthier version; and the third, final version. These correspond to the three stages of [Dostoevsky's] work: the Wiesbaden stage (the letter to Katkov); the Petersburg stage (from October to December 1865), when Dostoevsky launched his "new plan"; and, finally, the last stage (1866). All three-manuscript versions of the …

…stoevsky really had doubts until the day he died whether God existed, but he never doubted conscience. He did not translate the words "conscience," "love," and "life," as the word "religion," but rather he translated the word "religion" as the words "conscience," "love," and "life." The artistic world that he created turns around the human being, not around God. The human being is the only sun, and in this world, he must be the sun!