Notes from Underground

If an anti hero ever was created my any writer, It has been by Dostoevsky through Notes from Underground. He redefines, or rather, defines rightly the meaning of an anti Hero. An Anti-hero isn't the shady character who indulges in unheroic activities, refusing to follow convention, but is justified in one way or the other. He is then, simply a Hero!

The Bitter, irritating, isolated, anxious lover of Paradoxes who resides in this "mouse hole" from this novel is the true example of an anti hero - The Man who both craves and despises affection. The man who has an explanation for anything, the spiteful, sick man who rambles and rambles your head off. This novel is rather a protest and mockery of the oversimplified, optimistic to the point of foolishness outlook towards future. The charting and life, of ideas, computing Humans into Logarithm tables.

Dostoevsky vehemently asks, "why should two and two make four?! Why should I accept it, bcoz everyone does? Thats because they are all stupids, phenomenally stupid." an intelligent man is the one who is never able to start or finish anything according to this absolutely "charming" Underground Man. The Rational egoists are targeted by Dostoevsky. He says that they crumble in front of the Wall, The men of action are nothing but the ultimate stupids, they are easily convinced and jump into the canon and cannot think and desire.

There is pleasure in "toothache". Men Moan and moan because of it hoping to irritate others, with the bitter aim of spreading the suffering. Reminds you of Raskolvikov's quite similar views in 'Crime and Punishment'.

The greatest existentialist Novel of all time, Notes from Underground cements Dostoevsky's position as the unparalleled storyteller with masterful insight into Human Mind and train of Thoughts. To Derive a philosophical system out of Dostoevsky's works isnot difficult, its impossible because you are groping in empty space. There is None. His books are full of Paradoxes, absurdities, contradictions and inconsistencies. He teaches you nothing, he provokes you to Think and thats the biggest achievement of the master.

A weird little book. Excellent translation by Pevear and Volokonsky Not that I can read the original Russian but one can triangulate between translations, and they earned my trust as a reader.

Formally peculiar psychological snapshot in the form of an epistolary novel to no one in particular, that the imaginary author perhaps intends for no one to read (I say 'perhaps' because the imaginary author is full of very believable psychological contradictions).

Among other things, Dostoyevsky basically invents the anti-hero (as far as I know). The first part (the book is divided into two parts) demolishes a lot of the enlightenment and romantic philosophy of his time and stakes out the existentialist territory he would later mine to great effect.

The first section, the philosophical treatise of sorts (more of a rant, really) by the imagined author, is rough going, but the second part, the actual narrative is much more engaging. The first part is necessary, but read by itself as a philosophy tract it's a mere intellectual curiosity. The second part, which actually happened about 15 years before the imagined author wrote the first part, brings it home, makes it real, makes all that philosophizing meaningful.

A strange, strange strange and massively influential little book. The imaginary author, the Underground Man, bred like a rabbit. his progeny are the antiheros of man vs society novels like Catch 22 and movies like Taxi Driver. Underground Men are everywhere.

The year: 2024. The world is in economic turmoil. War wages on. Hitler's brother, Steve, has just risen to power in Germania (the people of the republic felt this name was more accessible than its predecessor). The UN had crumbled in 2010 due to an argument over Doritos. After a Nuclear Holocaust and several zombie uprisings (largely due to fall-out), Earth’s only survivors were forced to relocate…underground. Enter: _____, a well-mannered banker who lost it all in a fuck-to-death poker match. Angered by the state of this “new world” he begins to write a series of angry --- no --- furious letters. At the end of his life he publishes an anthology titled, "Notes...from underground."

"Notes from Underground" is the only novel that, upon finishing, I immediately began to read again. While I appreciated the book more the second time around, I still felt it was jumbled, disconnected, and a mite repetitive. Still, the narrative style - rushing along, brimming over with misery and hate - and the conflicted narrator (who is utterly loathsome) make for compelling reading. The book is divided into two parts: the first philosophical, the second more novelistic. The novel's climax combines them. While far from a masterpiece, "Note from Underground" is interesting and worth reading, perhaps several times.

Love it!! It's even better in Russian because you realize how often the narrator uses crazy asides like, "Gentlemen, you won't believe..." and also because you realize that even Russian speakers think he's totally crazy. It may be useful (that is more amusing) to glance through Chernishevsky's "What Is To Be Done?" to see what Dostoevsky is reacting against.

I chose to read this books for several reasons. First, it is the shortest Dostoevsky book that I could find. Second, it has been highly recommended both here and elsewhere. Third, the cover art. Fourth, the opening sentences, which read “I am a sick man. . . a wicked man. An unattractive man. I think my liver hurts.”

At first, my greatest fear was that it would be difficult to read. Russian books have a certain notoriety for being incredibly dense. Thankfully this was not the case, at least with the translation I chose. In fact, if I did not know any better I would have guessed the book had been originally written in English, albeit very clear and poignant English. Pevear's translation is highly recommended.

As is evident from the very first sentence, this is not a normal novel. In fact, it is not even a totally sane novel, which is why it is worth reading. The book is divided into two sections. The first is simply the narrator launching a gigantic rant against half a dozen philosophies that were probably popular in Russia at some point in time. The second portion “Apropos of the Wet Snow” is a series of short stories which detail exactly how abject of a failure the narrator is at everything. Both parts are related in the extremely deep fashion of someone who considers everything immensely important, except his own self.

I found the book to be very well written. The insanity was easily apparent. It was not the prototypical “crazy” insanity, however. It is instead the “unbalanced” form of insanity. The difference being that the latter is very easy to relate to. The narrator is, in fact, not unlike myself. If I had not found Christianity to anchor myself around, it would have been very easy to unbalance myself and become like the unnamed narrator, with my own wretchedness and self hatred leading me to do the ever more despicable. Obviously not everyone will identify with (or even enjoy) this atypical book, but those who do will find it genius. 10/10

The only redeeming quality of this work is that it's short. The ramblings of a man who succeeds only in proving he's full of shit. His observations of society are meaningless and irrelavent because they eminate from an isolated and diseased mind. Thought in isolation leads to imbecility. Thus after seeming to refute determinism in the first part he ultimately proves it in his inactions. "They-they, won't let me I can't be good." Indeed this book is a precursor of much of the modern pessimistic world view of the twentieth century. All those lonely isolated men who like so many smoke-stacks belch up their black and acrid poison to darken and enslave the mind.

The book reminds me that people are not rational and will work against their own interests. That is the part that I found most interesting. Its a worthy read. I don't think that I have found myself as low as the protagonist, but I think the author still is accurate in his reporting about the human condition. We want attention. We want to be important or at least have what importance we have recognized. Some environments make this difficult. I think the protagonist would have been much happier being something other than a civil servant.

Dostoevsky is a genius, the bitter voice that lingers throughout this masterpiece is enough to get any disturbed reader excited. Ranks number 5 on my all time favorites.

It's amazing how contemporary this book feels, given that it is almost 150 years old. A brilliant precursor to such giants as Nietzsche and Kafka. A must read for anyone interested in existentialism.