Old Books, New Readers discussion
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September 2024 BOTM: Notes From Underground
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I’m in! I have had this book on my kindle for years!!!
Ah reading it for the first time anyoe? What an experience! But I've read it many, many times and going to give it a miss this time. Have fun you lot!
Mod
I'll make reading schedule later today, so we all row the boat together.
I will be reading the Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky translation.
This is my first time too, I just checked and I bought this book back in July 2018, it's about time I read it!
Mod
I went ahead and posted a schedule in bold font above, but I'll post it here as well. Feel free to elaborate on themes and other literary devices employed by the author.
**Schedule**
My copy (Ronald Wilk's translation) is 118 pages, so it breaks down to 25 pages a week.
Week 1 (9/1 - 9/7) 1-25
Week 2 (9/8 - 9/14) 26 -50
Week 3 (9/14 - 9/21) 51-75
Week 4 ( 9/22 - 9.28) 76 - 118
I have not got very far with this book, in part because I started a new job this month! But also because I’m really struggling to enjoy this. I can’t get past the feeling it’s just an odd man rambling on inanely. Please tell me it gets better?
This is a tough one for sure: Dostoevsky’s attack on nihilism. Underground Man’s push to be childishly anti-rational in order to assert humanity’s right to free choice is uncomfortably close to arguing with a modern-day conspiracy theorist (2+2=5). UM is a despicable character, but a foil who Dostoevsky uses to show the limitations of a utopian ideal (socialism) when we, or our fellow human-being, assert our individuality, even in a spiteful or irrational way. We can’t expect everyone to fall in step. A utopia that requires everyone to fall in step is unachievable. The dissertation on ‘self-interest’ is particularly sad but true.The first half dissertation especially demands patience!
That’s my take anyway!
Oh wow, thank you Clint for taking the time to write that out, it does actually help and explains a lot. It is useful having some kind of context for these ramblings! Much appreciated I shall persevere and keep those thoughts in mind. I’m such a literal reader and find it hard sometimes to see the meaning behind the words as I tend to take it all at face value. That is one of the reasons this book club is so good, we all have our takes and share our thoughts. Thanks again. Happy reading!
(Ugh! Sorry for the sloppy post before, I was distracted)Don’t worry, Cheryl! I had _a lot_ of help from an introduction included with the text! And I read it more than once as I went along. On top of that, it’s the second or third time I’ve read this story. On top of that, I’ve read other Dostoyevsky pieces and background essays for those. The point is that, from my experience, it often takes more outside effort to crack open a literary work. Even provisioned that way, tackling a malificic unreliable narrator like this one, where you have to try and sort out what the author actually believes (or criticizes) is a challenge.
There’s a reason Lit’s taught in college, you get an instructor for some of that provisioning, and moderating, but since most of us can’t just take a course on all the lit we read (unfortunately!), it takes a little more work. But the ideas become like a vocabulary that you build. It’s cool and exciting stuff! One of my instructors urged us to pay attention to our feelings and attitudes as we read. So if you think the Underground Man is a jerk and a misfit I think you’re on the right track: “All our plans for that dinner party were perfect [utopia] until that guy [individual] showed up and started wrecking it!” What does that say about plans and expectations? What does it say about seeing ourselves in the misfits and being our brother’s keepers?
Mod
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Enjoy Reading 📚
I’m sorry everyone but I have given up. I couldn’t get into this at all and I wasn’t anywhere near to enjoying it so I decided to stop forcing it and move on. It didn’t help that when I signed up I was between jobs and unexpectedly got a new job faster than planned. I am now snowed under learning my new role so my reading has taken a back seat. I feel like I have let you guys down, I rarely ever in my entire life DNF books but this needed to be done. Forgive me and I hope the rest of you enjoy this. I’ll be back for another read when I have time!
After finishing this book, I don’t really know what to think.It definitely had some interesting reflections, but I don’t know if that makes up for all the times I thought “what’s the point?”.
For those who prefer to have a physical copy, this novella is readily available at all major book outlets.
If that is not a preference, I have posted a link below for the eBook format, which is made available through The Project Gutenberg.
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/600
Although this is a relatively quick read, it is certainly not a race. Let's siphon all the meaning from this powerhouse of Russian literature. Please hold back all final comments and links to your reviews until the last week, to ensure that we all have a good reading experience :)
**Schedule**
My copy (Ronald Wilk's translation) is 118 pages, so it breaks down to 25 pages a week.
Week 1 (9/1 - 9/7) 1-25
Week 2 (9/8 - 9/14) 26 -50
Week 3 (9/14 - 9/21) 51-75
Week 4 ( 9/22 - 9.28) 76 - 118