Notes from Underground
137. Fyodor Dostoevsky, Notes from Underground (trans. Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky)
In this two-part novel, the unnamed narrator immediately informs his readers that he is a sick and wicked man. He then proceeds to rail against the learned gentlemen of his day (the 1860s) and pick apart the flaws in their culture and philosophy. Part one is the narrator’s philosophical diatribe, which lacks the novel-esque elements of plot and characters. In part two, however, the narrator thinks back to the 1840s and reminisces about some of his most memorable experiences from that time. He talks about various acquaintances he’s met and how much he despises them; he also mentions a strange encounter with a prostitute named Liza. Through it all, the narrator’s mental disturbance and anguish become more and more evident.
This book is a tricky one to describe, because it’s much more a work of philosophy than a novel. One of Dostoevsky’s major purposes in writing this book was to criticize various aspects of his own society, particularly the prevailing intellectual climate. The translator’s forward was helpful in giving some of this historical context, but as a cultural outsider, I still felt like I wasn’t able to understand Dostoevsky’s point in some places. I do think the narrator is a very interesting character from a psychological point of view. He’s incredibly unlikeable, yet I could definitely recognize some of my own character traits in him; he seems to embody the worst qualities in mankind generally. This novel is definitely driven by the narrator’s personality, so how intriguing you find him will determine how much you like the book.