Dostoevsky: Notes from the Underground (1864)

A painting of Fyodor Dostoevsky in St. Petersburg

When Ford and I returned from our hunting trip, we found time had jolted again. This time, we traveled a little over a decade in the future. Despite my best attempts, I have not been able to figure out why this happens to me. Luckily, I had informed my solicitors such a thing might happen periodically, so I was able to restore myself to my estate with little trouble. Once all had settled down, I sought to catch up on all the goings on in literature. My most recent read is a book by a young and remarkable author named Fyodor Dostoevsky. The book is called "Записки из подполья" or "Notes From Underground." 

A cover for "Notes from the Underground"

"Notes from the Underground" is told from the narrator's point of view, though this might pose some difficulties for the reader right away. The immediately discredits himself by describing himself as "a sick man.... I am a spiteful man. I am an unattractive man. I believe my liver is diseased. However, I know nothing at all about my disease, and do not know for certain what ails me" (Dostoevsky 1). The rest of the narrator's description of himself continues to indicates his instability and anger towards some unnamed gentlemen. The narrator of the novel might be described as an “anti-hero” because of his unlikeable and reprehensible behavior (Terras 347).

 In an almost incoherent rambling, he expounds on his philosophies and opinions in the first nine chapters (Dostoevsky). The second half of the book contains a plot instead of philosophical exposition. The narrator recollects some experiences he finds traumatic and which illustrate why his life philosophy has evolved a particular way (Terras 347).

Even though the narrator is in many ways unlikeable because of how he condemns society and acts in a defeated way, I found many of the philosophies in the beginning of the novel to be interesting and poignant. The narrator expounds on ideas such as free will and choice (Dostoevsky 14). He often refers to the mathematical equation of two plus two equals four to illustrate his ideas about free will and human nature (22). Additionally, he critiques philosophy that would say that men only act in a way that correlates with their rational self-interest (Terras 347). The narrator professes his stubbornness in choosing the strange and the difficult in the face of determinism, which would claim that any event happens regardless of choice (Robert 399). So, even though the narrator writes in a whirlwind of self-loathing and cynicism, he might be more insightful and relatable after further examination (398).

The second half of the novel is made up of memoirs from when the narrator was 24 years old. He tells the reader that he is writing this for himself and no one else at the end of the first part and ends or begins with a poem by Nekrasov (Dostoevsky 29-30). The narrator describes himself as a solitary, unfriendly workaholic at twenty-four. He then recounts some experiences. In one experience, he tries to get revenge for what he considers a slight on him. In another, he talks about an experience he has with some former school fellows in which he displays poor social conduct. When his school fellows leave to go to a brothel, he follows them in frustration to confront them but ends up meeting Liza, a prostitute whom he takes to (Robert 400).

The narrator interacts with Liza and asks about her life. He relates to the reader that he feels the desire to be cruel to her and tell her how awful her life will be and leaves her in tears when he gives in to that desire. He immediately feels guilty and asks Liza to visit him (Dostoevsky 86-90). The narrator, agitated, waits for Liza, and when she finally comes, he finds himself in an argument with his servant and yells at her. Instead of leaving, she responds kindly and leaves. As she is leaving, he puts money in her hand as if to pay her for their night together in a cruel gesture. He never sees Liza again and regrets his actions, which were counter to his actual desires (91-94).

This episode with Liza illustrates what the narrator expounds upon in the first part of the novel: a man will not always act in his own self-interest despite knowing what he must do.

In this novel, the psychological examination of character and unflinching critique of human character shows how far literature has come since the natural school. If the natural school desired to show the realness of life, Dostoevsky’s realism represents the full shift in literature since the 1840s.

Works Cited

Dostoevsky, Feodor. Notes From the Underground. Project Gutenberg, 13 September 2008, http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/600#.

Roberts, Peter. "The Stranger Within: Dostoevsky’s Underground." Educational Philosophy & Theory, vol. 45, no. 4, Apr. 2013, pp. 396-408. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1080/00131857.2012.718146.

Terras, Victor. A History of Russian Literature. Yale University Press, 1991.