Notes from Underground
by Fyodor Dostoevsky
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Book Summary Information
Author: Fyodor DostoevskyTranslator: Richard Pevear
Translator: Larissa Volokhonsky
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 1994-08-30
ISBN: 067973452X
Number of pages: 160
Publisher: Vintage
Book Reviews of Notes from Underground
Book Review: hard read
Summary: 4 Stars
There are two parts to these 'Notes'; the first (shorter) part is a philosophical diatribe which most interesting discussions revolve around the Underground man's challange to 'rational egoism' and defense of free will. The second part is a biographical account of the Underground man's relations between some old classmates and a prostitute named Liza.
Ultimately, the Underground man is a complex, condtradictory, and fragmented character thoroughly alienated from society. His interactions with his classmates illustrates this well: simultananeously, he desires to become best chums with them but just as quickly would challenge one of them to a duel. He believes himself to be superior to them intellectually but never fails to utterly humiliate himself in front of them. The story climaxes with the Underground man's meeting with Liza who he at first shows some sort of kindness but then in the future refuses to treat her humanely or build any sort of decent relationship. He seems to be incapable of love or compassion.
While not a long read, it is hard - especially the first part. It is a story that should probably be read more than once to be able to comprehend it.
Summary of Notes from Underground
(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 One of the most remarkable characters in literature, the unnamed narrator is a former official who has defiantly withdrawn into an underground existence.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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