Why is “Crime and Punishment” considered as a classic novel?

Question by Chem Girl: Why is Fyodor Dostoevsky’s “Crime and Punishment” considered as a classic novel?
Do you have a theory on how a book becomes a classic?

Answers and Views:

Answer by Fred Jones
Let me answer for you when a book becomes classic – my perspective on it.

The process of a book becoming a classic is well-defined. Any book written more than some ‘x’ number of years ago isby definition in classic. The ‘x’ depends on the country – for India it is 50 years and for US it is 75 years. The number of years is defined by the law inside that nation.

Whether a classic is immortal or not depends on how well the book was written. A well-written book will still be appreciated after those years pass and people will continue to read it. If the book was not well-written enough, that does not mean it is not a classic – that just means that it is a forgotten classic and hardly anyone is going to care about it. Whether a book will be forgotten or not depends on the importance of the book from any relevant angle (such as quality of literature, topic covered, nature of book etc).

I hope that answers you?

The best place to read classics online in my opinion is WebLiterature:

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