IDEAS THAT PLAGUE US: CRIME AND PUNISHMENT AS A PANDEMIC NARRATIVE

This paper argues that the motif of illness runs through all of Crime and Punishment and accompanies key developments and themes to such an extent that the novel merits a reading as a plague, or pandemic, narrative. The paper examines imagery of illness and infection in Dostoevsky's novel and analyzes the way this imagery is used to underscore the danger and the infectiousness of the ideas that Dostoevsky is trying to debunk. This analysis of Crime and Punishment shows that Dostoevsky brilliantly mixes metaphors of biological and ideological infection, diagnosing ailments that still plague us to this day.& COPY; 2022 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http:// creativecommons .org /licenses /by -nc -nd /4 .0/).

Automated summary

This paper argues that "Crime and Punishment" can be read as a plague or pandemic narrative due to the motif of illness running throughout the novel and accompanying key developments and themes. The author examines the imagery of illness and infection in Dostoevsky's work, highlighting how it underscores the danger and infectiousness of the ideas being debunked. The analysis shows how Dostoevsky masterfully combines metaphors of biological and ideological infection to diagnose ongoing ailments.