Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s literary work has influenced countless writers. In the Myth of Sisyphus, Albert Camus states: “All of Dostoyevsky’s heroes wonder about the meaning of life. That makes them modern: they are not afraid of the ridiculous.” In his essays about the absurd and the rebellion, Camus often referred to Dostoyevsky and his characters.
Between 1860 and 1870, Dostoyevsky produced novels such as Crime and Punishment, The Gambler, and The Idiot – classical literature that would cross centuries. Amid this decade, Notes from Underground was published under the original Russian title Zapiski iz podpolya in 1864. As part of the realism literary movement, this philosophical novel is a mind-blowing narrative that reinforced Dostoyevsky as the greatest psychologist in classical literature.
In Notes from Underground, the main protagonist doesn’t have a name. He comes to us as “the unnamed narrator,” and his loathing about himself hits us with the first two sentences of the novel: “I am a sick man… I am a spiteful man. I am an unattractive man.” In the first section of the book “Underground,” he overanalyzes and overstudies his every thought, personality, past professional life, and various aspects of his life. He’s envious of what he calls the “real normal man,” who is the antithesis of the man of acute consciousness. We quickly notice that this man has hyper developed sensations, making him quite intelligent but throwing him into a crazed spiral. His analysis goes beyond himself. He ponders and ruminates from minor things to deep philosophical notions such as free will and individuality.
In the second part of the book, “A propos of the Wet Snow,” the unnamed narrator shares with us three personal stories that illustrate his despiteful behaviour. In the first story, we pick up his obsessive habits. In the second story, his pettiness is illustrated by how he behaved with old classmates at a dinner party. And in the third story, his interaction with a prostitute reveals how vicious he can be.
As the book moves from one chapter to another, the unnamed narrator’s mental ill-being prevents him from constructing or fostering any relationship. The intensity with which he shares the revulsion for himself and others shows the internal workings and psychology of a deeply disturbed but highly relatable person.
Dostoyevsky has created a protagonist like no other. The antipathy that the unnamed narrator spark in us is quite singular. He’s narcissistic, bitter, selfish, cruel, and miserable. But frighteningly relatable. We’re drawn to him. His behaviour questions who we are as people and the irrational nature of human beings. We can’t help but admit that his thoughts have crossed our minds, and his actions are similar to actions we’ve all taken but are ashamed to admit. We’re dealing with a protagonist who one minute rambles about his pathetic personality, and the following minute draws his self-worth from the belief that everyone else is beneath him. These contradictory behaviours are present in each one of us. They show the universal nature of the unnamed narrator, making him one of the most important anti-heroes of the 19th century.
We come across other characters in the second part of the novel. One can find comical the disdain that the unnamed narrator has for them and their disdain for him. His old classmates that he meets for dinner despise him. They each have a unique relationship with the unnamed narrator, but the thread in these relationships is his constant negative assumptions on how other people perceive him.
The themes that run through the novel mainly revolve around utopian socialism and rationalism.
In the 1860s, Russian elites fervently believed that social ideals instilled in men the desire for a regulated and gratifying life. They also believed that by applying the tenets of enlightenment thinking, men could make rational and wise decisions. In Notes from Underground, Dostoyevsky shatters both ideas. His time in prison and a Siberian labour camp made him conclude that there’s more to men than rationalism and the ideals of socialism. The very first paragraphs of the book reveal a character who’s at the complete opposite of these ideals. The paranoia and the unnamed narrator’s negative choices out of pure caprice reveal another side of human nature. One can even argue that for Dostoyevsky, irrational behaviour is people’s primary element.
Like so many classics, it’s easy to assume that Notes from Underground is challenging to understand. However, the use of language is accessible. Despite the strong philosophical element of the novel, the language is unpretentious. The narrative is straightforward and, at the same time, multi-layered. Dostoyevsky uses many metaphors. The tone of the book is gloomy, polemic, and to some extent darkly comic.
I would recommend Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s Notes from Underground to anyone interested in the complexity of human nature. It is a great dive into the psychology of a character that you might abhor at first sight but then you’ll quickly realize that the protagonist is you in so many ways.
4/5
