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Notes from Underground & The Double

by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Jesse Coulson (Translator, Introduction)

4.18 of 5 stars 4.18 · rating details · 2,971 ratings · 124 reviews

‘It is best to do nothing! The best thing is conscious inertia! So long live the underground!’ Alienated from society and paralysed by a sense of his own insignificance, the anonymous narrator of Dostoyevsky’s groundbreaking Notes from Underground tells the story of his tortured life. With bitter sarcasm, he describes his refusal to become a worker in the ‘ant-hill’ of soc...more

Paperback, 288 pages

Published July 30th 1972 by Penguin Classics (first published 1864)

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Apr 28, 2008 Wealhtheow rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: historical

Hey wait, are you a misanthrope? Do you feel betrayed and disappointed with life? Are you a bitter, bitter man? Why narrator, I never would have guessed! Why don't you spend the next hundred pages telling me about it? That sounds like loads of fun.

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Nov 06, 2007 Sunil rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: philosophy, self-narratives, reviews

A genius of a book written by a mind that can effortlessly delve into the nuts, bolts and avagadros of the psyche.

Regard this extract:

Every man has reminiscences which he would not tell to everyone, but only to his friends. He has other matters in his mind which he would not reveal even to his friends, but only to himself, and that in secret. But there are other things which a man is afraid to tell even to himself, and every decent man has a number of such things stored away in his mind. The mor...more

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Jan 24, 2012 Chiara rated it 4 of 5 stars

In both stories his characters make huge mistakes they pay for for the rest of their lives.

Notes from Underground is about a man so bound by 19th c. societal standards that he will not allow himself to be with the woman he loves because she is a prostitute. The female character, Liza, is compelling, gentle, sadly naive, and deserving of success.

The Double, is about a lonely man trying to climb the social ladder in Moscow. He meets someone exactly like himself with the same name and likeness wh...more

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Oct 19, 2012 Gina rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I've only read Notes from Underground for class, so my review is restricted to that:

I immediately enjoyed this book more than Crime and Punishment. Maybe I should go back and read that again sometime to see if the distance of years and not being forced to choke through it would help, but that's beside the point.

Dostoyevsky really impressed me with this one. The character is so well fleshed out and he's such a cranky, arrogant jerk it's hard not to laugh as he spews all his opinions like a grump...more

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Aug 27, 2012 Gregory rated it 5 of 5 stars

This is a very compelling book on mankind. I would look forward to re reading it too. I need to check the edtion which i have read...perhaps tis is not the same....

Notes from Underground & The Double by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is a very compelling book on mankind. I would look forward to re reading it too. I need to check the edtion which i have read...perhaps tis is not the same....

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Apr 26, 2012 Jessica Lynne Gardner rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

"Notes From Underground" pretty much blew my mind. Probably one of the only classic satires that I've ever enjoyed. I can really appreciate what Dostoyevsky was doing with his double-speak and Irony in his references to the Crystal Palace and "toothache" of humanity because I like novels that make me work and if you are looking for a brain-puzzle, this is it. After awhile it does become predictable in its unpredictability--- his tools of social awareness become recognized for what they are...unt...more

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Feb 09, 2012 Gladys rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: school-reads

Boy, oh boy, was this certainly painful to read. Not only was the constant contradictory ideology the main character kept switching about hard to read, but the amount of second hand embarrassment I went through was unbearable. (Or was that just me?)

Nevertheless, it reminded me a lot of Albert Camus's ,The Stranger. The character is obviously very conflicted and at times the reader might experience that loss at well. Either you love this character for his, ahem, uniqueness. Or, to place it mildly...more

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Jul 22, 2011 David Sarkies rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: dark

I'm glad that I'm not the only person that found this book hard to follow at times, but since it is a collection of thoughts from a man who is trapped in his own feelings of self-worthlessness it is understandable. Dostoyevsky is a write that one needs to be able to focus to be able to read an understand clearly, if it is possible to clearly understand much of his writings. It is not to say that he is not as he seems to be able to catch the essence of the human condition, particularly being a R...more

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Jan 19, 2009 Victoria rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: classics

There is little that the underground man said that I took to be true (in his fictional world that is). He had such a distorted perception of everything that even the clock seemed to personal joy in tormenting him. I think he was being most honest when he was speaking to Liza at his home. He says “I had been humiliated, so I wanted to humiliate somebody else” (115). The underground man feels as if everyone is humiliating him and looks down on him. He claims that his servant is resentful and his c...more

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Jun 23, 2009 Tom Holt added it

I will need to read this book again. In "Notes from the Underground", the main character does not know himself at all, and yet knows himself perfectly at the same time. He is a depressed man who sadistically attacks his own self-image and attempts to nurse his self-inflicted wounds with short bouts of narcissism. He isolates himself 'underground' in his shabby apartment and cloisters himself off from any real human contact. He feels inferior to nearly everyone he encounters, including his own s...more

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Oct 15, 2010 Venus rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: historical

The author of the diary and the diary itself are, of course, imaginary. Nevertheless it is clear that such persons as the writer of these notes not only may, but positively must, exist in our society, when we consider the circumstances in the midst of which our society is formed. I have tried to expose to the view of the public more distinctly than is commonly done, one of the characters of the recent past. He is one of the representatives of a generation still living. In this fragment, entitled...more

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Sep 10, 2009 S.D. rated it 5 of 5 stars

Wherein an anonymous, alienated, and astringent civil servant entertains, but does not answer, the question, What is to be done when one reaches the certainty that nothing is certain? Told in two parts – first in an excerpt from the narrator’s journal, then as a brief allegorical story – the novel is a brilliant literary exercise in the rational futility from which Kierkegaard leapt, and Camus boldly pursued. Dostoevsky would expand the narrative surrounding this existentialist dilemma in an att...more

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Mar 28, 2011 Brown Bear rated it 4 of 5 stars

NFTU was quite a slow starter, but it soon picked up with the second part that i enjoyed much more than the first.
it was a lot funnier than expected, i expect (for some unknown reason) for most Russian Lit, especially written in the 19th century, to be quite dry and tedious, but this was bursting with comedy and i loved it.
The Double (the second novella in this book) was even better for me, i loved the writing style and i can see how it was called 'a poem of St Petersburg' with the prose and rhy...more

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Oct 27, 2009 SJ rated it 4 of 5 stars

I should begin by saying that I did not read The Double. Notes from Underground was plenty for me to chew on for the time being. This story is written from the perspective of an absolutely and intentionally hateable anti-hero who is fueled by his own unstable and contradictory ideas about his own self worth. It was difficult to read, like watching a train crash in slow motion, wincing your way through every slow drawn out crunch. While I did not find it pleasant to read, I do think the story was...more

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Mar 23, 2012 Alex Sarll added it

I'm no expert on either author, so this may be a commonplace - but Dostoevsky is very like Dickens, isn't he? Except this is Dickens told from the point of view of his monsters and fools (even if the monster in 'Notes from Underground' now feels pretty much like the type of modern man). There's even one of Dickens' lapses into overlong and mawkish tedium, in the brothel scene. An impressive work in many ways, and obviously of huge influence, but for everyday purposes I think I prefer Howard Devo...more

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Sep 29, 2011 Dr Nick rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Did you ever have a moment in your life when you act in such a way that you dont recognise yourself - as if you were looking in from outside? Well old FD seems to have or rather young written alongside Poor Folk when he was 26. That very 20th century form the existential novel seems to have a forebear here in Dostoevsky's second work and first traditional novel.

It was a critical failure at the time apparently particularly amongst the left intelligentsia who had seen (and overstated I think) in D...more Did you ever have a moment in your life when you act in such a way that you dont recognise yourself - as if you were looking in from outside? Well old FD seems to have or rather young written alongside Poor Folk when he was 26. That very 20th century form the existential novel seems to have a forebear here in Dostoevsky's second work and first traditional novel.

It was a critical failure at the time apparently particularly amongst the left intelligentsia who had seen (and overstated I think) in D's first work a new voice exploring the poverty and inequities of Tsarist Russia. But it was so important to the writer that he spent many years re-writing it when he got out of his Siberian exile.

Narratively the work is "fantastic" in that it deals with a middle ranking civil servant in mid nineteenth century St Petersburg confronting some one who is his literal doppelganger. Yet although they start on friendly terms the double soon undermines him at work, humiliates him in front of women and makes him pay for ten pastries he buys and consumes at a German bakers!

Through this unusal prism FD explores the static nature of Russian feudalism, as in Poor Folk, the frustration of accepting without question such an unfair society. Yet to the chagrin of the critics he doesnt do it through a downtrodden serf or a decadent aristocratic but a pompous bureaucrat with a servant who he treats pretty badly.

But Golyadkin, the name of the dual character, is collapsing. His other doesn't appear in the work until after he's spent a morning skiving off work, wandering around shops promising to pay for stuff and then not, tried to get medication from his doctor and he has humiliated himself in front of a beautiful woman whilst at a party. Sounds like a modern tale !

I think all of these events are a catalyst for the self-examination which is externalised with the appearance of his look - a - likey. The passages where Golyadkin examines his faults and then pulls back to put a superficial brave face on it to admit everything is fine are painful to read yet anyone who has ever had self-doubt (which I would hope is everyone) will clearly identify with them. The problem is every time he resolves to make the best of things his double appears and stamps all over them

Golyadkin goes even further though ending up being carted away by his sinister doctor to an asylum we guess lost in the throes of mental illness crying "I think Im all right". I think the work is a brilliant examination of mental disintegration and the feeling of not having a place in a society which is completely reliant on structure. Golyadkin is an outsider who doesnt want to be - indeed in one of the passages he accuses his double of being disdainful of the rightful order of things.

Way ahead of its time in many ways but strangely it is quite contemporary - the sense of 1840s St.Petersburg is palpable - indeed the sub-title of the work is A Petersburg Poem. Reference is made to music and prose of the time (again like Poor Folk).
The tale works if you believe it is possible you can have an absolute double or if you view it as a sort of fantasy but I really think it is more about the single, the struggle that we all have as individuals to keep things together particularly when someone (who looks very much like ourselves) is trying to rip them apart.

I saw after finishing this that the guy out the IT crowd is going to direct a movie of the book - which again is pretty short 130 pages. I'm not surprised the attraction given its universal themes. But for me it was a real surprise as a piece. but a pleasant one.
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Jul 22, 2008 Professor Childermass rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I've read the Double, but not Notes from the Underground. The Double is a pretty amazing story, though like everything he writes a little challenging to wade through at times

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Nov 18, 2012 Steve Porter rated it 4 of 5 stars

Unable to recall if I'd ever read the second of these novellas (The Double), I decided to return to the world of Dostoevsky for the first time in many years. I still think of him as one of the true greats of world literature and my favourite Russian writer. He does psychological anguish better than anybody and gets right to the very 'soul' of his characters. The Double is no exception. The only thing that left me wondering a little is why Mr Golyadkin's doppelganger appears real to other charact...more

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Nov 27, 2010 Matt Owens rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: existentialism

I don't know why I enjoy this book so much. I could listen to it over and over. The audio-book narrator is excellent. He really brings the "Underground Man" to life. The "Underground Man" is a very unpleasant person. I don't think I'd invite him to many parties. He reminds me of someone,though (and it's not me . . . at least not until I'm 85 and I think I'll be pushing up daisies long before I reach that age). His rants do make me smile. It's so pathetic it's hilarious. The "Underground Man" is...more

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Dec 16, 2012 A.E. Reiff rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

III. (Part II here: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10...)

THE INFERNO

There are beings in the underground not to be dug up, but covered, as if to say that "all that can be seen from outside is a big hole; that, however, really leads nowhere" (Muir tr. Kafka, The Burrow). The real entrance "at a thousand paces from this hole lies covered by a movable layer of moss." This entrance is far from the decoy and has many exits, so if we come to the underground it is to things hidden, buried, not to be...more III. (Part II here: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10...)

THE INFERNO

There are beings in the underground not to be dug up, but covered, as if to say that "all that can be seen from outside is a big hole; that, however, really leads nowhere" (Muir tr. Kafka, The Burrow). The real entrance "at a thousand paces from this hole lies covered by a movable layer of moss." This entrance is far from the decoy and has many exits, so if we come to the underground it is to things hidden, buried, not to be dug. The self, the real, has many counterfeits to protect it, an elaborate shape to cover, there to explore, not to know, but however to do. There being no philosophy, only action worth telling, all action above ground is somehow symbolic of below.

Everything is good as long as the reader is under the reflection of the above, but go deeper below and all bets are off. Then we prefer to walk past the monuments erected by our selves or others and pretend they are something else, encounters with memory monoliths, but like the shag carpet Dante climbs up and down as a foothold in the underneath, anything but what they are, the frozen visage of Satan down which he descends. We could stop to look at it a while, except we realize then that there are other frozen statues there and run like hell. These are images of programmed abuse. So it's one thing to be a kid and walk up a sewer pipe like it's a park and there are birds singing not bats, what does it matter when you are invincible and eternal, but it's another when you have to walk down a corridor inhabited by human corpses still breathing with long stringy hair with grimaces and slobbering with gestures to come closer, body after body of insanity, then the boy is afraid. Well maybe not ever afraid, but incredulous and amazed. These are the images the child faces in the man. And these are where he is comforted. We have not yet assayed, fully, the agencies of his counselor.

The image stays when you see the worst fates of the human that most people can never know, who hardly exist anymore in those sanitized white gowned beings who shuffle jacketed with Thorazine, replaced now by the universal fear of losing the self, all memory of life while still alive, not know the faces they meet, but add to that inhumanity all the heroic gestures made to keep life alive in the dead, as if there were no better place than to suffer in this asylum. This easily gets sensational and murky as if it were a pedestal of some severed head.

All forms of the occult are abuse. rituals in rotundas, dark thoughts, severed heads. Those who walk the serpentine tunnels were not created to have hidden lives. How the images came about is our tragedy, the woman raped on a date who doesn't speak of it, so ashamed, raped again by a college administrator years later, finally cannot shake depression, which no medicine helps and tells a doc years after that. Finally the the day dawns. Never meant to be. These episodes completely hidden from light, walled off, fragmented amnesias, where do they come from? It is the history of our race and heresy to say it doesn't belong because they won't put it out of business, poets, novelists, psychologists, archeologists, but there it is, in the race made for breath and light.

It is dark to meditate the underworld, "hell is murky," not funny at all if we contemplate the ditches of the Inferno and its cute tortures symbolic of it all, knives and hatchets sticking out of the walking penalties, the reptile biting (xxx, 53-56) Cinfa, "the reptile's nether limbs round his thighs / While twixt the sinner's legs the tail was thrust," just the thing that so excites Leonard Baskin in his woodcuts, the tortures of Tiresias (xx, 40) facing back, twisted but the torso is seen from the back, ho, ho, or snakes "twisting in knots and boring through their loins" (xxiv, 99-100)with great plains of chiaro oscuro scapes, Nebuchadnezzar on his knees (xxi, 44), or looks like, and another "pierced throat" or severed head. Goya took it real theater in his Caprioches. We like the severed head, like comics, the internet, the movies where we can just turn our heads, shut our eyes or revel in the all naked, for there is no clothing in the underworld, no niceties, no goth cloaks or underpins, feathers, garments, just sagging flesh and flaccid, no six packs unless double vision multiplies the three faces of Dis (xxxiv, 35-36).

Underworld in strip mines on shale, below creeks, under factories, further down, tombstone letters held only by wax that comes off. If the letters fall, what of the stones, for only titanium caskets last as cemeteries fail. Who doesn't know who they are can say as they wait in the ground to be raised. Swept in the discovery, Isaiah says, "who is blind but my servant, and deaf like the messenger I send? Who is blind like the one committed to me, blind like the servant of the LORD." So in dark waters, in the fire, the mountain breathing air, "you have seen many things, but have paid no attention; your ears are open, but you hear nothing." It is not the nothing of the sound of air ducts consigned to a cube, what doors and windows tell. This nothing is heard and not, the Nothing that is includes the not, the no that's not, the cold that's not, because we are all Jesus Christ and we are all crucified, says Sherwood Anderson, and not measured by what you see, the soul for either good or ill, which is not. This nothing not the nothing that is, an overwhelming thing, life can sing stretch. It cannot down to being and not. There is no not. If no not then life celebrates the beautiful, ugly and true, a race not to the swift and strong, the beautiful and rich but to the sick and departed, the lame and thwarted, the depraved by your standard, the blind deaf and dumb. This is the covenant.

The real issue among these difficulties is how to embrace that the torturer and victim are one. Shall we say the harvester of the corn and the corn are one, that life and death are one? Where is there room for anyone to be pious who comes of a race of both, that all are human? The judgments are great among the onlookers. Sufferers wish no retribution. Torturers hope to hide their madness from the world even if each time they close their eyes or leave them open memories recur in the archeology of their sins. Do not dig those bones. They seek a death which will come, hope they will die and be done gaining the approval of their superiors, or in their fear escape like some pensioner of a corporation who thinks lies told in that service will be over at the end. But what dies! Death is the greater lie, the poseur of existence. Do you want to hear how long life lives after? Do good to some and not to others? Sun shines on what? Rain? Maybe it is argued that if death is a lie so is life. Poor dualism. They are powerful but unequal actors, for life includes death but death includes nothing but death, which is why the resurrection proves what Dr. Donne says, "shall die."

THE THAW OF NOTHING:
http://humanbotany.blogspot.com/2010/...

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Sep 04, 2011 Christina rated it 5 of 5 stars

9/3/11 Lightbulb: must remember to consider Dostoyevsky's time imprisoned in Siberia as more than a footnote finding mention in his novels. Probably life-changing to his views on FREEDOM, FREE WILL and determinism! Which, potentially completely changes my assessment of this work.

-----------------------------------
Posted March 2011

(1) Why did the narrator consistently do everything AGAINST his own self interest? One finds throughout the novel that the narrator vacillates on almost every idea. Th...more 9/3/11 Lightbulb: must remember to consider Dostoyevsky's time imprisoned in Siberia as more than a footnote finding mention in his novels. Probably life-changing to his views on FREEDOM, FREE WILL and determinism! Which, potentially completely changes my assessment of this work.

-----------------------------------
Posted March 2011

(1) Why did the narrator consistently do everything AGAINST his own self interest? One finds throughout the novel that the narrator vacillates on almost every idea. This was exasperating. But it's also kind of the point. "the pleasure here lay precisely in the too vivid consciousness of one's own humiliation; in feeling that one had reached the ultimate wall; that bad as it is, it cannot be otherwise; that there is no way out for you, that you will never change into a different person;that even if you had enough time and faith left to change yourself into something different, you probably would not wish to change; and even if you did wish it, you would still not do anything, because in fact there is perhaps nothing to change into."

And if there exists any part of this that a reader might understand- that sometimes, feeling anything including pain "beats feeling nothing at all" type thing, as the narrator's only evidence of being alive- it's certainly being explored here.

(2) WHY was he full of self-loathing, to begin with? One discovers later that he was an orphan and obviously never knew or understood how to love, receive love and, evident throughout, how to relate to others. But why wouldn't he learn this? The answer, again, in #1- he prefers the suffering and misery.

So the psychological foundations are inextricably tied with any philosophical proposition F.D. is making here. The philosophical "hypothesis", if you will, of taking a nihilistic line of thinking all the way down to the end of its own type of conclusion, almost has to be circular in order to work: misery begetting misery begetting misery. But only a very marginalized and extreme personality would be expected to live like this. So, my point here is that two fields are merged here and are working together to make this illustration.

(3) Why is the narrator revolting internally and against what? In order to understand the context a little better, I looked up some of the references and read the footnotes and introduction for help. One would have to research it some but my overall understanding is that the there is an argument being made here against reason, science, Enlightenment and all of the trendy thoughts that were becoming pervasive to his society in Russia. In fact there is evidence throughout when the narrator goes on to attack 2X2.. but perhaps also F.D. is questioning these thoughts as well. This was greatly influential to existential thinkers who later read Dostoyevsky, and if so- I can see the roots of their voices quite clearly here.

(4)Finally, was there a point to all this misery and alienation?

In short, I felt this was F.D. torturing the reader at high voltage and perhaps getting a kick out of it! (Who knows, I would have, as the author...) But also, as I said, chasing down a line of reasoning, or anti-reasoning, to its fullest conclusion. It's a "rendering"- a presentation, or an argument that both parodies the Underground narrator but does also forces the reader to take a severe look at consciousness, being alive and happiness.
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Oct 07, 2008 Mr. rated it 5 of 5 stars

Dostoyevsky's 'Notes from Underground,' is often called the first truly existential work of literature in the history of the west. Yet I think it is read today for the very seem reasons we always read Dostoevsky: for his command over intensity, his genuine and masterly sense of atmosphere, and his ability to psychologize those who are suffering. 'Notes from Underground,' is a true masterpiece in that it recreates the truth of genuine alienation and hatred. It laid the basis for all great works o...more

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Aug 26, 2008 Rossrn Nunamaker rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction

The version I read only included Notes From Underground (Bantam 1974, translated by Mirra Ginsburg).

Dostoyevsky's portrayal of the solitary man is striking and powerful. The reader feels pained for this man, frustrated by him, sorry for his pitiful existence, and can hardly stand his very being as he tries to exert his 'power' over others.

There is no question that Dostoyevsky can express inner-demons, desires, motivations, and drivers for better, or more often, worse.

His style is tough, especial...more

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May 19, 2008 Shawn rated it 5 of 5 stars

Apropos of the wet snow - so beautiful - sometimes I'm him, sometimes her - but that was before.

The frightened and wounded expression on her face was followed first by a look of sorrowful perplexity. When I began calling myself a scoundrel and a blackguard and my tears flowed (the tirade was accompanied throughout by tears) her whole face worked convulsively. She was on the point of getting up and stopping me; when I finished she took no notice of my shouting: "Why are you here, why don't you g...more

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Oct 12, 2007 Kristina rated it 4 of 5 stars

This book is broken into two parts. The first part is a rambling narrative that I almost couldn't get through because it seemed to be going nowhere. However, the contraditory anti-hero produced so many profound statements that I knew I had to suffer through to catch the hidden gems. The second part suddenly broke into a story that captivated me. Overall, the narrator made me sick, but it was the kind of sick I couldn't look away from.

Fav. quotes:
"Men like that, men of action, doers, quite genuin...more

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Jan 13, 2013 Lichen rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2013-literary-exploration-challange, classics, russian, philosphy, 1001-books-to-read-before-you-die, guardian-1000

Well Notes From Underground left me with a different combination of thoughts and emotions.

Basically, the book is about a bitter, misanthropic recluse that most critics call "The Underground Man" and it follows his rants, raves and rambles about his view on life and the universe and a series of socially awkward events that happen to him.

Firstly, I think I should say that the book is in two parts. And the first part for me is where most of my criticisms lies. In short, he rambles waaaay to much....more

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Mar 27, 2009 Lloyd Scott rated it 5 of 5 stars

Unlike his famous books that everyone raves about, I own this collection in hard cover from when I belonged to Doubleday Book Club when I was in Jr. College back in the middle 70s. I love this short story collection, definitely written by a true master, and although he was Russian and most of their stories have a tendency to be doom and gloom, this collection is not like that, far from it. Check it out, you will enjoy it.

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Jun 16, 2013 Doravmarie rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

It began as a strenuous read. Dostoyevsky's absurd rhythym emerged with each devastating episode and I felt compelled to suffer through it curious to learn what turning point would come. The second act proved to be more spastically dark than the first but ultimately revealing. To have read it once is enough for me, however I am glad to have read it. It was sadomasochismistic and self loathing in Times New Roman.

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Aug 19, 2009 Janet Wilcox rated it 3 of 5 stars

Portrays a man who is socially unacceptable because of irrational ideas and lack of human insight. Despite his good opinion of himself, is quite childish despite his supposedly mature understanding and knowledge of the world. He lives in the "underground" divorced from real life. The book is an analogy of our own "still brn" lives. Read while in college...

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Feb 10, 2013 Ranita Terroe rated it 5 of 5 stars

Here's to a truly selfish man who longs for happiness but looks for it in suffering! Dostoevsky excelled in describing the indescribable, portraying the mind of a conscious lunatic. Though I don't agree character's worldview, I can relate to him and be disgusted at him at the same time. It helps us to look in the mirror and correct ourselves.

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About Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Fyodor Mikhaylovich Dostoyevsky (Russian: Фёдор Михайлович Достоевский) was a Russian novelist, journalist, and short-story writer whose psychological penetration into the human soul had a profound influence on the 20th century novel.

Dostoevsky was the second son of a former army doctor. He was educated at home and at a private school. Shortly after the death of his mother in 1837 he was sent to S...more Fyodor Mikhaylovich Dostoyevsky (Russian: Фёдор Михайлович Достоевский) was a Russian novelist, journalist, and short-story writer whose psychological penetration into the human soul had a profound influence on the 20th century novel.

Dostoevsky was the second son of a former army doctor. He was educated at home and at a private school. Shortly after the death of his mother in 1837 he was sent to St. Petersburg, where he entered the Army Engineering College. Dostoevsky's father died in 1839, most likely of apoplexy, but it was rumored that he was murdered by his own serfs. Dostoevsky graduated as a military engineer, but resigned in 1844 to devote himself to writing. His first novel, Poor Folk appeared in 1846.

That year he joined a group of utopian socialists. He was arrested in 1849 and sentenced to death, commuted to imprisonment in Siberia. Dostoevsky spent four years in hard labor and four years as a soldier in Semipalatinsk, a city in what it is today Kazakhstan.

Dostoevsky returned to St. Petersburg in 1854 as a writer with a religious mission and published three works that derive in different ways from his Siberia experiences: The House of the Dead , (1860) a fictional account of prison life, The Insulted and Injured, which reflects the author's refutation of naive Utopianism in the face of evil, and Winter Notes on Summer Impressions, his account of a trip to Western Europe.

In 1857 Dostoevsky married Maria Isaev, a 29-year old widow. He resigned from the army two years later. Between the years 1861 and 1863 he served as editor of the monthly periodical Time, which was later suppressed because of an article on the Polish uprising.

In 1864-65 his wife and brother died and he was burdened with debts. His situation was made even worse by his gambling addiction. From the turmoil of the 1860s emerged Notes from the Underground, a psychological study of an outsider, which marked a major advancement in Dostoevsky's artistic development.

In 1867 Dostoevsky married Anna Snitkin, his 22-year old stenographer. They traveled abroad and returned in 1871. By the time of The Brothers Karamazov (1879-80), Dostoevsky was recognized in his own country as one of its great writers.(less)

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“I am alone, I thought, and they are everybody.” — 160 people liked it

“We have all lost touch with life, we all limp, each to a greater or lesser degree.” — 26 people liked it

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BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17881.Notes_from_Underground_The_Double?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1330074091l/17881.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17881.Notes_from_Underground_The_Double?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]Notes from Underground & The Double by Fyodor Dostoyevsky[/url]

Notes from Underground & The Double

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