Notes from the Underground - Dostoyevsky, Fyodor

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Résumé :
Notes from Underground, also translated as Notes from the Underground or Letters from the Underworld, is an 1864 novella by Fyodor Dostoevsky. Notes is considered by many to be one of the first existentialist novels. It presents itself as an excerpt from the rambling memoirs of a bitter, isolated, unnamed narrator (generally referred to by critics as the Underground Man), who is a retired civil servant living in St. Petersburg. The first part of the story is told in monologue form, or the underground man's diary, and attacks emerging Western philosophy, especially Nikolay Chernyshevsky's What Is to Be Done?[2] The second part of the book is called Apropos of the Wet Snow and describes certain events that appear to be destroying and sometimes renewing the underground man, who acts as a first person, unreliable narrator and anti-hero. Serving as an introduction into the perplexing mind of the narrator, this part is split into nine chapters. The introduction to the chapters propounds a number of riddles whose meanings are further developed as the narration continues. Chapters 2, 3 and 4 deal with suffering and the irrational pleasure of suffering. Chapters 5 and 6 discuss the moral and intellectual fluctuation the narrator feels along with his conscious insecurities regarding inertia-inaction. Chapters 7, 8 and 9 cover theories of reason and logic, closing with the last two chapters as a summary and transition into Part 2. The narrator's desire for unhappiness is exemplified by his liver pain and toothache. The narrator mentions that utopian society removes suffering and pain, but man desires both things and needs them to be happy. According to the narrator, removing pain and suffering in society takes away a man's freedom. This parallels Raskolnikov's behavior in Dostoevsky's later novel, Crime and Punishment. He says that the cruelty of society makes human beings moan about pain only to spread their suffering to others. He builds up his own paranoia to the point that he is incapable of looking his co-workers in the eye. The main issue for the Underground Man is that he has reached a point of ennui and inactivity.

Biographie:
Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoyevsky (11 November 1821 - 9 February 1881) was a Russian novelist. Many scholars see Dostoyevsky as one of the greatest psychologists in literature. His works have had a big effect on twentieth-century fiction. Very often, he wrote about characters who live in poor conditions. Those characters are sometimes in extreme states of mind. They might show both a strange grasp of human psychology as well as good analyses of the political, social and spiritual states of Russia of Dostoevsky's time. Many of Dostoyevsky's best-known works are prophetic. He is sometimes considered to be a founder of existentialism, most frequently for Notes from Underground, which has been described as the best overture for existentialism ever written. He is also famous for writing The Brothers Karamazov, which many critics, such as Sigmund Freud, have said was one of the best novels ever written.

Sommaire:
Fyodor Dostoyevsky was a Russian novelist, journalist, and philosopher born on November 11, 1821, in Moscow. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest literary figures in Russian and world literature. Dostoyevsky was the second son of a former army doctor. His mother died when he was young, and his father was murdered by his own serfs when Dostoyevsky was 18. These events greatly influenced his writing, which often explores themes of suffering, redemption, and the human condition. Dostoyevsky began his writing career in the 1840s, with works like Poor Folk and The Double. He was arrested in 1849 for participating in a political group, and spent several years in prison and exile in Siberia. This experience would later inform his writing, particularly in his novel The House of the Dead. After his release, Dostoyevsky wrote several of his most famous works, including Crime and Punishment, The Idiot, and The Brothers Karamazov. He was known for his psychological depth and his exploration of philosophical and religious themes. Dostoyevsky died on February 9, 1881, in St. Petersburg, Russia, leaving behind a legacy of literary masterpieces that continue to be read and studied to this day....