The epitome of the alienated, under-appreciated intellectual

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	• Notes from Underground Fyodor Dostoevsky Vintage, 1994 - 160 pages average customer review:based on 133 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Read it in context for a better understanding...

Those who read this book should know that it was intended as a parody, a satirical and scathing attack on the prevailing trends in popular philosophy and literature in Russia (Saint Petersburg literary society) in the day (1860's), in which a hasty utilitarianism and egalitarianism were prominent... This book includes several indirect references to, and parodies of some of Dostoevsky's literary rivals and their often empty and poorly thought-out ideological systems and "Utopias"... to really understand these (often quite subtle) undercurrents, I humbly suggest that those REALLY interested check out Joseph Frank's biography of Dostoevsky, which includes a great deal of discussion of all of his works (vol. 3 Chap. 21 is completely devoted to a detailed examination of "Notes from Underground"...), and, importantly, gives a solid historical context in which to fit them... also, if you have the Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky translation (or intend to get it), read the introduction. It's a good introduction and helps to explain a lot of this. When read with a little understanding of this context, though quite short, this is really a very rich (and funny) book...

Basically, don't take everything the "Underground Man" says literally. many of his absurd expressions are deliberate perversions of popular maxims and attitudes of the time, taking the fashionable new philosophies of "science" to their final conclusions... This book is a defense of Free Will and real Humanity...

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Notes From Underground

Notes From Underground is a difficult but immensely gratifying and important read.
Critics tend to refer to the Underground Man as a 'Mad Genius'; I beg to differ. He is the epitome of the average thinking human albeit with a shocking amount of self awareness. The Underground Man seems to be aware of the delusions he brings upon himself and the the facade he puts on in front of society. In the end, it is that self awareness that makes him better than the rest of us; but only marginally.
Compulsory reading for anyone who appreciates existentialist literature and despite what you think, the book is ultimately quite uplifting.

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Superb character development

The underground man is the best-developed character I have come across. A reader can take what they want from this book. Everyone's reaction will vary. I'm sure there are people who won't enjoy it but I can not imagine anyone not finding it thought-provoking

The epitome of the alienated, under-appreciated intellectual

In this book, Dostoyevsky presents a character that is self-possessed, vain, subject to bouts of depressive arrogance, yet seems to be looking for some good to do. He recognizes many of his faults, yet is convinced that they are merely character traits. He lives in poverty, yet has a servant that he treats in a petty and poor way, even though the servant is clearly his moral superior.
The character voluntarily associates with vain and simple men, simply for the opportunity to feel intellectually superior. When slighted, he pouts uncontrollably, talking about a duel with one where he openly states he will fire into the air and give the man the opportunity to kill him.
Continuing his fit of self-centered pique, he visits a young prostitute and treats her as a person. He learns that she was sold into prostitution and has a medical student boyfriend He talks to her and adopts the attitude of someone who will rescue her, giving her his address. However, when she arrives at his residence, he is cruel, telling her that he was only ridiculing her when he was apparently giving her the offer of aid. After he does this, he collapses in tears on the sofa and she holds and comforts him.
I read, "Crime and Punishment" several years ago, so I recognized many of the character traits so prominent in that novel. "Notes From the Underground" was written before his greatest novels yet you see that same very alienated person who has simultaneously adopted the air of complete superiority inextricably bound with feelings of hopelessness and self-loathing. It is a difficult story to read.

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"I AM A SICK MAN...I am a wicked man."

Brilliant...

One of my favorite Dostoevsky books!

It's a short tale that explores the neurotic mind.

From the first line...
"I AM A SICK MAN...I am a wicked man."

This work is a painfully honest fictional exploration into the human heart.

MikeG

reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

(Book Jacket Status: Jacketed)

Dostoevsky?s most revolutionary novel, Notes from Underground marks the dividing line between nineteenth- and twentieth-century fiction, and between the visions of self each century embodied. One of the most remarkable characters in literature, the unnamed narrator is a former official who has defiantly withdrawn into an underground existence. In full retreat from society, he scrawls a passionate, obsessive, self-contradictory narrative that serves as a devastating attack on social utopianism and an assertion of man?s essentially irrational nature.

Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky, whose Dostoevsky translations have become the standard, give us a brilliantly faithful edition of this classic novel, conveying all the tragedy and tormented comedy of the original.

From the Hardcover edition.

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