Obsession

I can’t stop being fixated by the size of Raskolnikov’s room!  We get this description:

Mistrustfully and with an affectation of being alarmed and almost affronted, he [Luzhin] scanned Raskolnikov’s low and narrow “cabin.”

Sounds tiny, right?  But then by my count there are five people in the room: Raskolnikov (in bed), Razumihin, Zossimov, Luzhin, and (I think, in the corner) Nastasya.  And three of them (Razumihin, Zossimov and Luzhin) are sitting–that means three sitting platforms in addition to the bed…it’s now sounding practically palatial.  But remember he can reach the door from his room.  Maybe it’s some kind psychadelic “breathing” room, expanding and contracting, expanding and contracting.

Or it’s just a normal room that I can’t picture well.  I don’t have a good imagination.

I still don’t understand what puts Raskolnikov in such a snit about Luzhin.  He seems like an okay guy to me…but he can’t do anything right in the eyes of Raskolnikov.

But then again Raskolnikov murdered an old lady, so maybe we shouldn’t trust his emotional intelligence.

Fun fact!  We learn here (Part II, Chapter V) what Raskolnikov’s first name is…Rodion.  So next time you play Trivial Pursuit and the answer is “Raskolnikov” you can say “Rodion Raskolnikov” or even “Rodion Romanovich Roskolnikov” or if you’re feeling cool “R Cubed” and when your opponents look confused you can say with a withering look of disbelief “uh…Rodion Romanovich Raskolnikov, you know the most famous anti-hero of literature.”  However you say it what you’ll be saying is “I’ve read Crime and Punishment” (we won’t tell them about your lack of blog posts).

Well either “I’ve read Crime and Punishment” or “I’m a pedantic ass.”

Potato, Potato.

Jon