Drawing Inspiration From Fydor Dostoevsky’s Book: Crime and Punishment
Elempe Dele
My first physical encounter with Fyodor Dostoevsky was in Lagos under the bridge there in the Island some one and half decade ago – I cannot now recall as the acuity of my memory is no longer certain. I was then an avid collector of Classics to help me in the process of writing Season of Imperfections. Among other second-hand books I bought was Crime and Punishment. It became one of the best Russian books I have read up till this day after Gulag Achipelago by Aleksandr Solzhenistyn, a Russian dissident who raised awareness to the outside world on the political repression in the Soviet Union, especially the Gulag prison system. He would later be awarded the 1970 Nobel Prize in Literature “for the ethical force with which he has pursued the indispensable traditions of Russian literature”.
Crime and Punishment affected me so intensely that I had to reread it again to gain more psychological perspectives of guiltiness. It was in the book I also discovered one quote that always fascinates whenever I come across it:
“We sometimes encounter people, even perfect strangers, who begin to interest us at first sight, somehow suddenly, all at once, before a word has been spoken”.
And this brings me to another of his quote that inspired this very particular offering. “Above all, do not lie to yourself”. This quote is no doubt a sincere reminder of the need for one to be honest first to ones self. The principle of honesty to self is a foundational principle for awareness, growth, interpersonal relationship and a well structured life.
In my previous article, I dealt with the concept of rationalizing poor choices through the tiny scope of determinism, and other alibis. Yes, that taste for self-deception. We often struggle in accepting our personal flaws by creating stories that tend to veil the truth of our condition of existence. We want to depend on what temporary comfort can offer, and in so doing we fail to address the root causes of our challenges, leading to lack of growth. We can easily relate this to our economic stagnation in Nigeria today where we want governments at all level to put food in our mouths, but let us leave it for another day so that we wont be drawing blood from raw nerves.
I was inspired by Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment where the main character struggled with moral and existential difficulties. Raskolnikov, the main character in the book, struggled with self-deception which led to his downfall my committing double murder( we recently witness the the same downfall of a Nollywood director who was living a double life) Raskolnikov however later redeemed and liberated after facing the truth albeit painfully.
In our economic downturn in Nigeria today, how much have we learnt in facing our own existential realities, away from the life of make-believe? Away from the lie we were living thinking all was well? Have any lessons be learnt in the past one year? Have we been able to adjust to our certain realities?
We must learn to start embracing the realities of our beings through self-honesty. This takes bravery and deep introspection. It takes the acknowledgement of our weakness, our mistakes, failings, missteps, and imperfections. This will lead us sooner or later away from the self-inflicted cull de sac to the bright lights of self-awareness, better decision making, honesty and sincerity of purpose.
I took away from Dostoevsky’s work the ageless advice anchored on truthfulness, facing reality no matter how painful, and the true fulfillment of life that is honestly lived.
