| Crime and Punishment | |
The cover for the Japan Times' dual-language publication of Crime & Punishment. |
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| 罪と罰 (Tsumi To Batsu) |
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|---|---|
| Genre | Drama |
| Manga | |
| Crime and Punishment | |
| Written by | Osamu Tezuka |
| Published by | Tokodo |
| English publisher | The Japan Times |
| Demographic | Shōnen |
| Published | November 5, 1953 |
| Volumes | 1 |
Crime and Punishment (罪と罰 Tsumi To Batsu) is a manga by Osamu Tezuka, based on Fyodor Dostoevsky's book Crime and Punishment that was published in 1953. In 1990 The Japan Times published a bilingual edition featuring an English translation by Frederik Schodt.[1] In Russia it was licensed by Comics Factory and will be published in December 2010.[2]
Contents |
This is a manga version of the classic Russian novel Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky. Here, Osamu Tezuka draws the characters in his own unique style, and gives some key roles from the book to some of the characters from his Star System. However, the ending of Osamu Tezuka's version of Crime and Punishment is vastly different than Dostoevsky's ending.
Just as in the original novel, the setting is St. Petersburg, Russia during the days when the country was ruled by Czars and only days before the Russian Revolution. The main character, Rascalnikov, is a child from a poor family who murders an old woman who works as a loan shark. Fleeing with her valuables to support his family, Rascalnikov believes that his murdering of her was justified as she was a bad person.
However, Judge Polifili has been assigned to investigate the woman's murder and soon suspects Rascalnikov. At first, Rascalnikov feels like he can evade the law forever, but as Judge Polifili's investigation continues, Rascalnikov begins to feel cornered. Meanwhile, Sonya, a prostitute, tries to convince Rascalnikov to turn himself in.
The names of the characters in the manga here are the romanization given at Osamu Tezuka's main website. Next to them are the English translated names found in the English translation of the novel.
When Osamu Tezuka was in college, he appeared on stage in a 1947 production of Crime and Punishment. He was assigned to take on a role as a painter on top of a tall staircase, which terrified him greatly as Tezuka was afraid of heights. Despite his fear, Tezuka bravely went up and performed his role, but was disappointed when he discovered that all the audience could see of him on stage was his feet.[3]
In September 2007 an exhibition dedicated to Crime and Punishment manga was opened in Dostoevsky Museum in St. Petersburg. Dostoyevsky's great-grandson said: "Perhaps, in the Land of the Rising Sun such thing is normal and not considered an exotic. From Russian people point of view, it looks blasphemous. Demonstration of such comics is possible, but Russian people should not study the works of Dostoevsky on the Japanese comics".[4]