‘Notes from underground’ is the veracious confession of a tormented soul, fathoms deep in the sea of his sorrows and misery, eloquently penned by Fyodor Dostoevsky who himself had a very eventful life. Through This memoir of an un-named man living in the shadows, Dostoevsky has put forward his existentialist ideology.
Though at the time the novel was unpopular with Soviet literary critics as many of the other Dostoevsky’s novels, it has later drawn tremendous praise around the world and is referred to as the founding stone of existentialist novels.
From the very beginning Dostoevsky draws the attention of the reader with an enigmatic introduction of the narrator, making the reader curious. The novel then divided into two main parts with Part 1 of the book giving an insight into the mind of this terribly suffering man, his outlook on the value of individualism in regards to utopian socialism, his perception of his own self and people around him. After describing his disposition the novel enters into the part II where he recalls one of his many regrettable incidents, an incident which still haunted him even after 15 years of its happening. The underground man thinks of himself as completely different from the world, he envies others yet he calls them stupid and himself intelligent, he seeks sympathy from the reader and yet he himself takes pleasure in his suffering. As a reader you might mock at him, might ridicule his thoughts but at some point you might agree with him or even relate to him. And this is the essence of the novel, unlike the conventional novels the narrator himself is an anti-hero and though he is self-contradictory at times, he is still honest.
Though at the time the novel was unpopular with Soviet literary critics as many of the other Dostoevsky’s novels, it has later drawn tremendous praise around the world and is referred to as the founding stone of existentialist novels.
From the very beginning Dostoevsky draws the attention of the reader with an enigmatic introduction of the narrator, making the reader curious. The novel then divided into two main parts with Part 1 of the book giving an insight into the mind of this terribly suffering man, his outlook on the value of individualism in regards to utopian socialism, his perception of his own self and people around him. After describing his disposition the novel enters into the part II where he recalls one of his many regrettable incidents, an incident which still haunted him even after 15 years of its happening. The underground man thinks of himself as completely different from the world, he envies others yet he calls them stupid and himself intelligent, he seeks sympathy from the reader and yet he himself takes pleasure in his suffering. As a reader you might mock at him, might ridicule his thoughts but at some point you might agree with him or even relate to him. And this is the essence of the novel, unlike the conventional novels the narrator himself is an anti-hero and though he is self-contradictory at times, he is still honest.
P.S~ I read the one translated by Mirra Ginsburg
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