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Notes From Underground

By Fyodor Dostoevsky
Series: Everyman's Library CLASSICS
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Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
Notes From Underground by Fyodor Dostoevsky delves into the mind of an unnamed narrator, an isolated and introspective man living in St. Petersburg. He provides a critique of utopian society, wrestling with his own paradoxical philosophies and emotions. The narrative explores the themes of free will, individualism, and the complexities of human nature.
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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

You might enjoy this book if you appreciate delving deep into the complexities of the human psyche and engaging with philosophical questions about existence and society through the eyes of a deeply introspective and often contradictory narrator. It’s a compelling exploration of self-awareness and the struggles one faces when confronting personal freedom and societal norms.

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Dostoevsky was writing at a time when Russia had reason to be optimistic, but the warning signs in his fiction perhaps leave us clues as to why Russia still has social problems today - and why, less than 40 years after Dostoevsky's death, Russia embraced Communism and destroyed the society in which Dostoevsky had lived

Dostoevsky's most revolutionary novel, Notes from Underground marks the dividing line between 19th- and 20th- 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 One of the most remarkable characters in literature, the unnamed narrator is a former official who has defiantly withdrawn into an underground existence.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.

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

I am a sick man...I am a wicked man. With this sentence, Dostoevsky began a work which marks the frontier not only between nineteenth- and twentieth-century fiction, but between two centuries' visions of the self.

For the unnamed narrator of Notes From Underground is a multiplicity of selves, each at war with the othersβ€”all at war with everything else. A former official who has retreated from society into an underground existence, he scrawls a passionate, obsessive, and self-contradictory narrative which serves as a devastating attack on social utopianism and an assertion of man's essentially irrational nature.

Richard and Larissa Volokhonsky, whose Dostoevsky translations have become the standard versions, give us a remarkably faithful edition of Dostoevsky's classic, which conveys both the tragedy and the tormented comedy of the original Russian.

Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?

Notes From Underground by Fyodor Dostoevsky is often praised for its deep psychological insight and exploration of existential themes. Reviewers frequently highlight the book's complex protagonist, whose introspective narrative offers a critique of modern society and human nature. The novella is considered a pioneering work in existential literature, sparking thought and debate on free will and self-awareness.

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Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9781857152715

Publisher: Everyman

Format: Hardback

Date Published: 04 March 2004

Country: United Kingdom

Imprint: Everyman's Library

Contributors:

  • Translated by Richard Pevear
  • Translated by Larissa Volokhonsky
  • Introduction by Richard Pevear
  • Translated by Richard Pevear
  • Translated by Larissa Volokhonsky
  • Introduction by Richard Pevear

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 15.0mm

Width: 132.0mm

Height: 211.0mm

Weight: 285g

Pages: 160

Collections

Classic Fiction Classic General Fiction Fiction Fyodor Dostoevsky General Fiction Literary Fiction Penguin Books Series: Everyman's Library CLASSICS

About the Author

Fyodor Dostoevsky was born in Moscow on 11th November 1821. He had six siblings and his mother died in 1837 and his father in 1839. He graduated from the St Petersburg Academy of Military Engineering in 1846 but decided to change careers and become a writer. His first book, Poor Folk, did very well but on 23rd April 1849 he was arrested for subversion and sentenced to death. After a mock-execution his sentence was commuted to hard labour in Siberia where he developed epilepsy.He was released in 1854. His 1860 book, The House of the Dead was based on these experiences. In 1857 he married Maria Dmitrievna Isaeva. After his release he adopted more conservative and traditional values and rejected his previous socialist position. In the following years he spent a lot of time abroad, struggled with an addiction to gambling and fell deeply in debt. His wife died in 1864 and he married Anna Grigoryeva Snitkina. In the following years he published his most enduring and successful books, includingCrime and Punishment (1865). He died on 9th February 1881.

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