This will be the first of several posts on, or at least related to, Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment. I’ve paused my reading in order to write on the book prior to completing the second and final chapter of the Epilogue, in which Dostoevsky’s protagonist, Raskolnikov, converts to Christianity. I’m still undecided on the extent to which this conclusion will be central to the philosophical argument that Dostoevsky is attempting to present with this work, and so I hope that the reader will forgive my potentially premature analysis. My reason for pausing and writing here is to examine the ‘open’ narrative before it is, to an extent, closed off (a closure that, I believe, certain critics have suggested the Epilogue represents). Also, for readers who have not yet had a chance to read my previous post, Intension and Method, I do apologise to seasoned Dostoevsky readers and interpreters for my lack of engagement…