The fuse for this timeless masterpiece was ignited by the author’s own history of epilepsy, by his terrifying reprieve minutes before execution for sedition, by his wretched and humiliating poverty, and by the years he spent in prison in Siberia, during which he meditated on crimes committed by idealists past and present. Raskolnikov murders a miserly pawnbroker, in what is intended to be the perfect motiveless crime, and is himself punished by a self-disgust so horrifying that, like a moth drawn to a flame, he confesses.

In this well-abridged version, the novel’s dark mood is aptly established by the music of Cesar Franck. Martin Sheen’s reading conveys a thrilling mixture of nervous agitation, mounting confusion, and finally despair. He commands an impressive array of voices, conveying not only the hero’s mental turmoil but also the forgiving humanity of Sonia, his prostitute guardian angel, and the crabbed harshness of his victim. Dostoevsky’s gallery of human types transcends history: this version does full justice to his panorama.

It is remarkable that a talented young stage actor like Sheen should carry off this difficult feat with such flair and sensitivity. He allows the tension to mount, using the inflections of his voice to imply both the disintegration of a human mind and its eventual redemption.