Anyone who's read Crime and Punishment.

[LiveLife]

I'm doing an IOP early march and I'm doing the novel Crime and Punishment.
I have....these topics..
1. Raskolnikov's changing belief in his nature throughout the novel
3. The operation of conscience in the development of the plot
4. Parallels between Dostoyevsky and Raskolnikov
5. The role of poverty in the commission of crime

which one do you think would be best for me?
15 minutes is such a long time..

[LinuxBeta]

I think the reason you think 15 minutes is such a long time is because you still need a good topic. All of your four topics (love your counting 1,3,4,5 btw =P) is because your topics are very plot-centered. This leads you into the pit fall of summarizing the novel.

I think number 1 is your best bet. It could be promising if you examine it more in terms of character development, and examine Dostoyevsky's characterization techniques. Also, this might be a good topic to examine reader sympathy/judgment towards the protagonist ie/ how can it be that at certain points in the novel, the reader sympathizes with Raskolnikov, the murderer?

Also, from what I remember, it was 10-15 minutes, and in that you had to include some time for teacher questioning. For my IOP, I just had some general notes on what I was going to talk about, and the 12 minutes came easy. Preparation at home is key- also quotes are always a good thing.

[Tilia]

I also think the first one seems the most interesting. The fourth and the fifth one migth be a bit off the actual novel... By the way, I was also really nervous about mine being to short, but the 10-15 minutes came easily. Just remember to speak sloooowly, I agreed with a friend that she would cough if I spoke too fast

Good luck!

[Tarz]

I think you need to think of a topic that would let you talk about more literary features. 4 is biographical, which is not English. The role of poverty is a bad idea because it will become an analysis of the plot, not the writing style. Conscience can become psychology (mostly plot) easily. You should choose something like "the significance of bridges" or windows... but maybe specific than that. Choose a theme and discuss how it is explored by the author in literary terms. Don't discuss the plot. Everyone knows what happens in the book.

[Sandwich]

I would do #4 for two reasons. First it's the most interesting one because you get to research Dostoyevsky and it's very easy to talk and engage people for 15 minutes if you're interested in what you're talking about. Secondly you can actually give it a serious attack of literary feature by analysing all the descriptions of Raskolnikov and his behaviours (and their relation to what we know of Dostoyevsky and his comment on society etc etc). Actually you might even get bonus points if you can interpret this in multiple ways according to Dostoyevsky's life. Inventive thinking does tend to knock up the mark total-- plus your classmates will love you for not boring them to death as much as usual.

[LinuxBeta]

I disagree with you, sandwich. While it is true that you can include literary features in number four, the topic would be half biographical and half literary, which is not a good idea. While it is interesting to do some research on the author before you read the book, to compare a character to the author is not what you should be doing. It is similar to the fallacy of believing the speaker in the novel is equivalent to the author. While there can be connections between an author's life and a character, there are usually few connections- this is why we call it fiction. Your best bet is, as Tarz said, to take a topic that relies on literary features and interpretation of the text. Don't rely heavily on plot, since everyone can pick up sparknotes and find out about the plot. Same goes with biography- I can easily find out about a writer. Interpretation is far more interesting and more varied. While there is only ONE plot and ONE life of the author, there are much more interpretations- why do you think we have literary criticisms?

[Sandwich]

I think it depends on how you treat it-- whether you use Dostoyevsky as the jumping point, as in the message the author is trying to convey (as interpreted and related to what we know of him), or as a point of comparison. I don't think it would work for every novel, but in Crime and Punishment there's tonnes to say if you use him as the jumping point to explore particular ideas-- more or less what you're discussing is ultimately the author's views on human nature, particularly madness, greed and guilt. You're just able to introduce it with Dostoyevsky, which helps give a good structure and point of reference (:

If you do it that way, it is intensely focussed on interpretation of the text. I agree that it could become a lot like a biography, but only if you start doing it as in "this happened to Dostoyevsky" "this also happened to Raskolnikov". You would have to be careful to treat it in the correct way, but I think it'd be the most enjoyable presentation to give if you could pull it off x)

Avoiding solely direct comparison, I agree-- exploring the significance of parallels in terms of the author's views, rather than specifically his life, is more what I meant.