Fyodor Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment (Bloom's Notes)

ISBN 10: 0791040569 ISBN 13: 9780791040560

Publisher: Chelsea House Pub, 1996

Synopsis

Includes a brief biography of the writer, thematic and structural analysis of the work, critical views, and an index of themes and ideas

About this title

Reviews

Grade 10 Up. The goal of this series, to provide for secondary school students what Bloom's "Modern Critical Views" (Chelsea) does for the college crowd, may be met a little too well. The excerpts of scholarly essays are rather sophisticated, and often not enough of the essay is included to provide sufficient insight into the author's argument. Also, Bloom arranges the essays chronologically, even going back to Aristotle and Cicero for critiques on Sophocles. While the inclusion of such criticism certainly lends perspective, it also creates a sense of disjointedness in the collection as a whole. These flaws aside, the books should be of much use to students in need of assistance either comprehending these works of literature or with research. A brief biographical portrait of the author, a structural summary of the text, character sketches, the excerpts, and lists of works both by and about the particular author and his works are included. The indexes, however, present a problem. Entitled "Index of Themes and Ideas," they also reference characters and other works by the author and others. Some of the entries are thorough, while others seem not to belong at all. Although the series has its faults, these titles fill a void: solid literary criticism for high school students. Additionally, the plot summary and character descriptions make these titles a good starting point for those overwhelmed by the material. Overall, much-needed series entries to tackle those term papers.?Carol Fazioli, Cardinal Hayes Library, Manhattan College, NY
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Chelsea House Pub
• Publication date: 1996
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0791040569
• ISBN 13: 9780791040560
• Binding: Library Binding
• Number of pages: 88
• Editor: Bloom Harold