The beginning of a strange period
Crime and Punishment Week 32: Part Six, Chapter 1
Welcome to Week 32 of my slow-read of Crime and Punishment. This week’s chapter is Part Six, Chapter 1.
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This week’s characters
(I don’t include Raskolnikov in this listing as he’s in most of the chapters)
Svidrigailov • Sonya • Razumikhin • Porfiry
Synopsis
Every so often he had been gripped by an almost pathological and agonizing feeling of anxiety, a feeling that had actually turned into absolute panic.
The revelation at the end of the previous chapter, when Svidrigailov revealed that he ‘knew’, has put Raskolnikov into a bit of a psychological panic. We’re told that he’s vacillating between panic and apathy, a ‘strange period’ to be sure. Imagine knowing that there’s someone else out there that knows about your crime and wondering what he’s going to do about it. It’s written extremely well, with Raskolnikov sitting in taverns or wandering outside of the city and sleeping in bushes. We’re told that he meets Svidrigailov a few times—always near Sonya’s flat—but that they had done little more than pass pleasantries and completely avoid the ‘issue’.
There’s a funeral service for Katerina Ivanovna. Svidrigailov has arranged this to happen twice a day. Raskolnikov attends a service and, at the end, Sonya approaches him and rests her head on his shoulder, with no sign of revulsion or disgust. This makes Raskolnikov feel depressed, and we’re told that he would consider himself happy if from then on he were able to remain in complete solitude. And, even though he is on his own more often than not, he still feels beleaguered by a presence. Is it his guilt? It sounds very much like the ‘hypochondria’ he suffered from earlier in the book, that ‘strange period’ where he’s just waiting for the axe to fall—pun wholly intended!
Razumikhin comes by to see if Raskolnikov is ill. He’s been round to visit him with Dunya and his mother and everyone is worried about Rodion. Razumikhin is of the opinion that Rodion is insane. Just as Razumikhin is leaving, Rodion tells him that he’s had a word with Dunya about him and believes that they would make a good match:
"Wherever I go, whatever happens to me, you will always remain their guardian angel. I am, so to speak, handing them over to you, Razumikhin. I say that because I know for sure that you love her, and I am convinced of the purity of your heart. And I am also certain she will love you - perhaps already does, in fact. So now you can decide for yourself, better than anyone, whether to go off on a binge or not."
It feels very much like someone making farewell plans.
Rodion then talks of how Svidrigailov had said to him at a recent meeting that what a man needs is fresh air; this is what Rodion is now seeking—a clear metaphor for a cleansing, redemption, a clearing of the conscience.
It’s after this that Razumikhin informs Rodion that Porfiry has got Mikolka for the murders—he confessed. We already knew this, but now it seems that it’s all been processed and that Rodion is off the hook. Or is he?
Razumikhin leaves—seeing Rodion for the last time, although we don’t know this yet—and we’re treated to some inner monologue from him as he goes down the stairs, indicating that he did indeed suspect Rodion of the murders before Porfiry told him otherwise. That’s followed up by some inner monologue from Rodion. He’s feeling relieved, obviously, and feels now that he could quite easily have murdered Svidrigailov or Porfiry for what they’ve put him through. Is this the Napoleon complex again, or an indication that, having ‘stepped over’ and become a murderer, his thoughts now go there more readily? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
He decides to go and have a head-to-head with Svidrigailov, sort things out once and for all, but as he’s leaving, who should be waiting at the door, but Porfiry. He comes in for a cigarette.
All quotations in this post are taken from Roger Cockrell’s translation of 2022, Alma Classics, © Roger Cockrell 2022
Translation Points
I’m scraping the bottom of the barrel with today’s translation comparison! 😀
Russian - Последки, подонки выскребывались!
Garnett - The last moment had come, the last drops had to be drained!
Coulson - This was the final encounter, the last trial of strength.
McDuff - The leavings, the dregs were being scraped out!
P&V - The dregs, the leavings, were being scraped out!
Ready - The leftovers and dregs were being scraped!
Pasternak Slater - The last drops, the very dregs were now to be drained!
Katz - The leftovers and dregs were being scraped up!
Cockrell - He was scraping the very last bits from the barrel!
Head on over to the comparison spreadsheet to see the phrase in context, along with examples from every chapter so far in EIGHT different translations.
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