Q 01/05

In which literary journal was Crime and Punishment first published, in twelve monthly instalments?

A) Notes of the Fatherland

B) The Russian Messenger

C) The Contemporary

D) Epoch

Answer · why

B) The Russian Messenger

The Russian Messenger began printing the novel while its debt-ridden author was still writing it, the ending unwritten when the first part appeared.

Q 02/05

In a dream, Raskolnikov is a boy watching drunken peasants beat which animal to death?

A) Donkey

B) Dog

C) Horse

D) Goat

Answer · why

C) Horse

A horse: the boy in the dream runs through the crowd to embrace the dead mare; Raskolnikov wakes renouncing his plan, a resolve that lasts only hours.

Q 03/05

Before dropping out, what subject had Raskolnikov been studying?

A) Law

B) Medicine

C) Engineering

D) Theology

Answer · why

A) Law

Law. He gave up the university for want of money and broods in a garret that Dostoevsky calls more like a cupboard than a room.

Q 04/05

What weapon does Raskolnikov steal to carry out the murder?

A) A knife

B) A hammer

C) A pistol

D) An axe

Answer · why

D) An axe

An axe: he means to take one from his landlady's kitchen, finds the maid there, and then spots another gleaming in the caretaker's empty room.

Q 05/05

What is the trade of the old woman Raskolnikov plans to rob and kill?

A) Pawnbroker

B) Innkeeper

C) Seamstress

D) Midwife

Answer · why

A) Pawnbroker

Pawnbroker. He first calls on her to pledge a watch, a rehearsal that lets him study the flat and note where she keeps her keys.