Guide Note:
Notes from Underground is a 19th-century novel by Russian author Fyodor Dostoevsky. Written in the form of the bitter memoirs of its anonymous anti-hero, this novel consists solely of the rantings of its narrator, an unnamed civil servant living in the city of St. Petersburg. Like the author's later creation, the character Raskolnikov from Crime and Punishment, the Underground Man is a paranoid figure, representing humanity's uncontrollable nature and inevitable suffering.
Fast Facts:
- Author: Fyodor Dostoevsky
- Year of Publication: 1864
- Sometimes translated as Notes from the Underground
- Considered the first existialist writing
- Can be called a novella or brief novel
- Dostoevsky's first important work
- Unpopular in Russia upon publication for its anti-Marxist themes
- Influence on the 1973 Martin Scorsese film Taxi Driver
- Themes: Alienation, torture, self-loathing
- Famous First Line: "I am a sick man. ... I am a spiteful man. I am an unattractive man. I believe my liver is diseased..."
