Notes From the Underground
Back of the Book
In 1864, just prior to the years in which he wrote his greatest novels — Crime and Punishment, The Idiot, The Possessed and The Brothers Karamazov — Fyodor Dostoyevsky (1821–1881) penned the darkly fascinating Notes from the Underground. Its nameless hero is a profoundly alienated individual in whose brooding self-analysis there is a search for the true and the good in a world of relative values and few absolutes. Moreover, the novel introduces themes — moral, religious, political and social — that dominated Dostoyevsky's later works. Notes from the Underground, then, aside from its own compelling qualities, offers readers an ideal introduction to the creative imagination, profundity and uncanny psychological penetration of one of the most influential novelists of the nineteenth century.
We Love It Because
Dostoyevsky’s meditation on the animal that loneliness and isolation makes of the human body and mind. With his meditations on why we reflect upon the larger questions when we are alienated from the other, Dostoyevsky’s ‘Notes From the Underground’ presents an interesting case for the social media age and raises questions of isolation and forged intimacy, and the infinite fight for profound connection.
Memorable Passage
He would even risk his cakes and would deliberately desire the most fatal rubbish, the most uneconomical absurdity, simply to introduce into all this positive good sense his fatal fantastic element. It is just his fantastic dreams, his vulgar folly that he will desire to retain, simply in order to prove to himself--as though that were so necessary-- that men still are men and not the keys of a piano, which the laws of nature threaten to control so completely that soon one will be able to desire nothing but by the calendar. And that is not all: even if man really were nothing but a piano-key, even if this were proved to him by natural science and mathematics, even then he would not become reasonable, but would purposely do something perverse out of simple ingratitude, simply to gain his point. And if he does not find means he will contrive destruction and chaos, will contrive sufferings of all sorts, only to gain his point! He will launch a curse upon the world, and as only man can curse (it is his privilege, the primary distinction between him and other animals), may be by his curse alone he will attain his object--that is, convince himself that he is a man and not a piano-key! If you say that all this, too, can be calculated and tabulated--chaos and darkness and curses, so that the mere possibility of calculating it all beforehand would stop it all, and reason would reassert itself, then man would purposely go mad in order to be rid of reason and gain his point! I believe in it, I answer for it, for the whole work of man really seems to consist in nothing but proving to himself every minute that he is a man and not a piano-key! It may be at the cost of his skin, it may be by cannibalism! And this being so, can one help being tempted to rejoice that it has not yet come off, and that desire still depends on something we don't know?
About the Author
Fyodor Dostoevsky (1821–1881) stands as one of the most influential and profound novelists in the history of literature, known for his penetrating psychological insight and exploration of existential themes. Born in Moscow, Dostoevsky experienced imprisonment and a mock execution, which deeply influenced his writing and contributed to his profound understanding of the human psyche. His novels, including Crime and Punishment, The Brothers Karamazov, and The Idiot, delve into the complexities of morality, guilt, and the inner turmoil of his characters, reflecting the tumultuous social and political landscape of 19th-century Russia. Dostoevsky's ability to dissect the human soul with unparalleled depth and complexity, coupled with his philosophical inquiries into faith, free will, and the nature of good and evil, makes him a literary giant worth knowing. His enduring relevance lies in his timeless exploration of the human condition, providing readers with profound insights that continue to resonate across cultures and generations.
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