The Sinner and the Saint explained

The Sinner and the Saint: Dostoevsky, a Crime and Its Punishment is a book by Kevin Birmingham. It details events in the life of Fyodor Dostoevsky and the inspiration behind his acclaimed novel, Crime and Punishment.^{[1] [2]}

According to Birmingham, the protagonist Rodion Raskolnikov was partly based on a minor French poet turned murderer, Pierre François Lacenaire.^{[3] [4]}

The Sinner and the Saint is the second book authored by Birmingham. His first, The Most Dangerous Book: The Battle for James Joyce’s Ulysses, originally published in 2014, won the PEN New England Award in 2015 and Truman Capote Award for Literary Criticism in 2016.^{[5] [6]}

Notes and References

1. Web site: Daniel Rey . The Sinner and the Saint — the story behind 'Crime and Punishment' . Financial Times . 10 April 2022 . Nov 25, 2021.
2. News: Kathryn Hughes . Inspired by real-life murderers, Dostoevsky wrote a new kind of novel . The Washington Post . 10 April 2022 . Dec 3, 2021.
3. Web site: Boris Fishman . The True-Life Inspiration for Dostoyevsky's Famous Murderer . The New York Times . 10 April 2022 . Nov 16, 2021.
4. Web site: Steven G. Kellman . Review: The real-life demons that drove Dostoevsky to write his masterpiece . Los Angeles Times . 10 April 2022 . Nov 22, 2021.
5. Web site: . The Sinner and the Saint by Kevin Birmingham review – a dazzling literary detective story . The Guardian . 10 April 2022 . 18 Dec 2021.
6. Web site: Maureen Corrigan . 'The Sinner and the Saint' masterfully unpacks a Dostoevsky classic . npr . 10 April 2022 . Nov 22, 2021.