Numerology in Crime and Punishment

[Marc Robinson]

An equally important meaning of 4 might be Creation.  Crossroads (possibly
cross=death, but also salvation/resurrection) figure prominently  - one
might also interpret it as pertaining to the four directions - i.e. covering
all of the earth (Rask. is to bow down and kiss the earth).  It seems to me
the symbol is more complicated than a uniform 4=death=bad.

Marc Robinson, chair
Dept. of Russian Language and Area Studies
St. Olaf College
1520 St. Olaf Avenue
Northfield, MN 55057



On Wed, Dec 22, 2010 at 7:12 PM, Alina Israeli <aisrael at american.edu> wrote:

> Even numbers of flowers for funerals, odd numbers for birthdays and other
> lively occasions. Ulitskaya plays on this in her short story "Zürich" where
> the Swiss brings her a dozen flowers.
>
> Four is bad in Chinese and Japanese because the word for death is
> homophonic to the word meaning four
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Numbers_in_Chinese_culture#Four.
>
> Did Dostoevsky know Chinese? Or Chinese customs?
>
> AI
>
> Dec 22, 2010, в 6:00 PM, anne marie devlin написал(а):
>
>
>  Four flowers are often given at a funeral.  I'm not sure whether this
>> applies only to the number four or to all even numbers
>> AM
>>
>>  Date: Wed, 22 Dec 2010 20:33:47 +0000
>>> From: wfr at SAS.AC.UK
>>> Subject: Re: [SEELANGS] Numerology in Crime and Punishment
>>> To: SEELANGS at bama.ua.edu
>>>
>>> The Russian world is a big place - can you be more specific about who
>>> believes this?
>>> Will
>>>
>>> On 22/12/2010 19:56, Lewis B. Sckolnick wrote:
>>>
>>>> In the Russian world the number four is the number which represents
>>>> death.
>>>>
>>>> Lewis B. Sckolnick
>>>> The Ledge House
>>>> 130 Rattlesnake Gutter Road, Suite 1000
>>>> Leverett, MA 01054-9726
>>>> U.S.A.
>>>>
>>>> Telephone 1. 413. 367. 0303
>>>> Facsimile 1. 413. 367. 2853
>>>> info at runanywhere.com
>>>>
>>>>  I am currently teaching Crime and Punishment to a group of Advanced
>>>>> Placement high school seniors. We are trying to figure out the
>>>>> significance of
>>>>> numbers in the book, especially the number four which he uses
>>>>> constantly.
>>>>> The scene in the police station shortly after the murder is inundated
>>>>> with the
>>>>> number four and most people live on the fourth floor. Razuhmikhin,
>>>>> however,
>>>>> lives on the fifth floor. Don't want to make too much out of it, but
>>>>> when
>>>>> someone of Dostoevsky's caliber emphazises a number there is most
>>>>> likely
>>>>> something behind it.
>>>>>
>>>>> Thanks for any input!
>>>>>
>>>>>
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>
> Alina Israeli
> Associate Professor of Russian
> LFS, American University
> 4400 Massachusetts Ave.
> Washington DC 20016
> (202) 885-2387  fax (202) 885-1076
> aisrael at american.edu
>
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