Notes from Underground

by Fyodor Dostoevsky, Richard Pevear (Translator), Larissa Volokhonsky (Translator)

In 1864, just prior to the years in which he wrote his greatest novels — Crime and Punishment, The Idiot, The Possessed and The Brothers Karamazov — Fyodor Dostoyevsky (1821–1881) penned the darkly fascinating Notes from the Underground. Its nameless hero is a profoundly alienated individual in whose brooding self-analysis there is a search for the true and the good in a world of relative values and few absolutes. Moreover, the novel introduces themes — moral, religious, political and social — that dominated Dostoyevsky's later works. Notes from the Underground, then, aside from its own compelling qualities, offers readers an ideal introduction to the creative imagination, profundity and uncanny psychological penetration of one of the most influential novelists of the nineteenth century. Constance Garnett's authoritative translation is reprinted here, with a new introduction.

Genres: Classics, Fiction, Philosophy, Russia, Russian Literature, Literature, Novels

136 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1864

About the author

Фёдор Михайлович Достоевский (Russian)

Works, such as the novels Crime and Punishment (1866), The Idiot (1869), and The Brothers Karamazov (1880), of Russian writer Feodor Mikhailovich Dostoyevsky or Dostoevski combine religious mysticism with profound psychological insight.

Very influential writings of Mikhail Mikhailovich Bakhtin included Problems of Dostoyevsky's Works (1929),

Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky composed short stories, essays, and journals. His literature explores humans in the troubled political, social, and spiritual atmospheres of 19th-century and engages with a variety of philosophies and themes. People most acclaimed his Demons(1872) .

Many literary critics rate him among the greatest authors of world literature and consider multiple books written by him to be highly influential masterpieces. They consider his Notes from Underground of the first existentialist literature. He is also well regarded as a philosopher and theologian.

See also:
Russian → Фёдор Михайлович Достоевский
French → Fédor Dostoïevski
French → Fiodor Dostoïevski
Spanish → Fiódor Dostoyevski
Portuguese → Fiódor Dostoiévski

Reviews

[Ami Iida]

この小説は素晴らしい恋愛小説です。
是非ともあなたに読んでみて

[ZeV]

自意識過剰な男の、無様で滑稽極まりない生き様と脳内の苦闘を描き出した傑作。近代合理主義への痛烈な批判を展開しながらも、当の本人は肥大化した理性・自意識の殻を破れず、自分を理解しない世界へのルサンチマンを抱えて「地下室」の闇に閉じこもる。地下室の男はドストエフスキーの手によって文学史に不滅の名を残した。しかし、彼と同様に鬱屈した自意識の闇へ引きこもる〈あなた〉の苦悩を、書き残す者は誰もいない。