Notes from Underground (1864) is considered one of Dostoevsky’s most influential works and a key precursor to existentialist literature. It is written as the confession or inner monologue of an unnamed narrator known as the Underground Man, a bitter, isolated former civil servant living in St. Petersburg. The book is divided into two parts.
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Part I: “Underground”
The Underground Man introduces himself as a spiteful and self-contradictory individual.
He lives in self-imposed isolation, filled with resentment toward society and himself.
He argues that rationality, progress, and reason, which 19th-century thinkers claimed would lead to human happiness, actually destroy individuality and freedom.
He mocks the idea that humans always act in their own best interest, claiming people often do the opposite just to prove they have free will.
He portrays himself as overly conscious — a man who thinks too much and does nothing, paralyzed by self-awareness.
He despises others but also longs for their approval, leading to deep inner conflict and self-loathing.
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Part II: “Apropos of the Wet Snow”
The Underground Man recounts episodes from his life 20 years earlier, illustrating his psychological misery.
He describes his humiliating interactions with old schoolmates, where he tries to assert his dignity but ends up being ignored and ridiculed.
He later forces himself into a dinner party with them, behaves awkwardly, and is again humiliated.
Afterward, he encounters a prostitute named Liza and delivers a moralistic, self-righteous lecture about how degrading her life is.
But when Liza visits him later, he feels exposed and ashamed, ultimately insulting and rejecting her — an act that reveals his inability to connect genuinely with others.
The story ends in self-disgust and alienation, with the narrator withdrawing back into his underground world of thoughts and bitterness.
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Major Themes
1. Isolation and Alienation – The Underground Man is cut off from society and trapped in his own mind.
2. Freedom and Irrationality – Humans crave free will, even when it leads to self-destruction.
3. Consciousness and Paralysis – Excessive self-awareness leads to inaction and misery.
4. Critique of Rationalism – Dostoevsky attacks the idea that human behavior can be logically predicted or perfected by reason.
5. Existential Despair – The book anticipates existentialism by exploring the meaninglessness and absurdity of human life.
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In Short
Notes from Underground is a psychological portrait of a man tormented by his own intellect and isolation, who rejects society yet cannot escape his need for human connection. Through his fragmented, contradictory voice, Dostoevsky reveals the dark, irrational depths of human consciousness.
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