Dostoevsky - Great Writer of the Modern World

"A novel needs a hero," says the "Underground Man."  Could we consider someone like Roskolnikov - Dostoevsky's creation from Crime and Punishment - a hero? 

Using passages from Crime and Punishment, amplified by dramatized scenes and commentary, John Jones (a professor at Merton College, Oxford) guides us on an exploration of issues which Dostoevsky pondered so many years ago. 

Jones calls C&P the "king of all detective stories."  He also asks this question:  "Is Roskolnikov the spiritual forefather" of everyone who lives in the modern world?

See, also:

Dostoevsky - Crime and Punishment  

Crime and Punishment - The Murder Scene  

Crime and Punishment - Death of the Pawnbroker

Crime and Punishment - Raskolnikov

Crime and Punishment - Alienation  

Crime and Punishment - Suffering  

Dostoevsky - The Underground Man

AND ... See:

Brothers Karamazov, in 15 parts

Credits

From the British television series, "The Modern World: Ten Great Writers." 

This video clip is from the episode, "Fyodor Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment," which originally aired on 24 January 1988.  Online, courtesy BFI and YouTube.

Director:
David Hinton

Writer:
David Hinton

Commentator:
Professor John Jones
Merton College, Oxford

Dostoevsky:
Ian McDiarmid

Sonya:
Katy Behean

Mrs. Marmeladov:
Mair Coleman

Marmeladov:
Charlie Drake

Raskolnikov:
Douglas Hodge

Porfiry:
Timothy Spall

Old Woman (Alyona Ivanovna):
Ann Way

Underground Man:
Patrick Malahide