The first of a few Dostoevsky novels that I will be talking about is Notes from Underground, 1864. If you have never read a book written by Fyodor Dostoevsky, the famous Russian writer, consider your life incomplete. Thanks in large part to the works of Dostoevsky, Russia can boast to have produced some of the world's greatest works of fiction. The two biggest names being: Tolstoy (War and Peace, Anna Karenina), and Dostoevsky, our topic of conversation.Dostoevsky's novels are dark, stygian; no sunshine and lollipops here. This is a large part of what makes them so enjoyable. The characters all suffer from flaws, desires, disturbed thoughts, and dark secrets, some much darker than others. The unnamed narrator of Notes from Underground is no exception. This character is a man who has found it hard to participate normally in society, and who now spends a majority of his time in self-sequesterment, underground.
The novella (short novel, the book is only 130 pages, all the more reason to pick it up) is divided into two sections. The first section consists of the narrator's half-crazy, half-genius ramblings (there is pleasure in a toothache) about life, his life, the way people tend to look at life, and the errors he sees in the way people live and look at life. Some claim this to be the first "existentialist" novel. What does that mean? It's a way of looking at the world. Here's the American Heritage Dictionary's definition:
Existentialism - n. A philosophy that emphasizes the uniqueness and isolation of the individual experience in a hostile or indifferent universe, regards human existence as unexplainable, and stresses freedom of choice and responsibility for the consequences of one's acts
Makes sense. In the second section of the novella the narrator describes a few experiences that have strengthened his distaste for society. He tries to assert himself by planning to walk past an officer who had previously offended him, and to not give way at all when passing him. I'm sure you know what it feels like to be the one who moves out of the way first when someone is walking past you in close quarters, demasculating maybe. The narrator decides he is not going to move this time; he is not going to be the one to submit. He dwells on this and plans, attempts, fails, and tries again. As you can see, this character is not a nice person, and is definately neurotic. The way he explains himself, though, you can not help but empathize. The other events in the second section are him, with his old highschool buddies, whom he now hates, and who all feel basically the same way about him, and him befriending/tormenting a prostitute. These are more developed than the first, but you will have to read it yourself to find out what happens. It's good.
Hopefully this has piqued your interest in this short novel. It is a quick read and pays off ten to twenty-fold. You will want to reread it for the rest of your life.
More Dostoevsky to come. . .
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3 comments:
I wrote this in the earlier post, but I am Levi's roomate, and he told me to check out your post. Really like it, to kill some time this sunday I made a few comments over your last few reviews. I have to admit, the only Dostoyevski I have ever read is Notes from the Underground. I think the first paragraph is pretty indicative of the rest of the book, with a man so spiteful that he wont even go see a doctor to cure his diseased liver. But the part you brought up is probably my favorite, where he thinks he will gain some sort of dignity or respect if he refuses to yield to a person in the street. He isn't afraid of the physical pain of getting his ass beat by the soldier, but he doesn't have the moral courage to stand up, so he reverts to a subtlety that the officer probably wouldn't even recognize. His simple desire for acknowledgement is thwarted time and again, and when he finally stands his ground, the officer doesn't even realize what happened. Yet in some manner, the narrator still gains some sort of satisfaction, thinking that he somehow made his point and the officer learned a lesson. The way Dostoyevsky portrays an antisocial, depressed man is genius, I can think of no better book to show this.
On a side note, you might want to check out Heart of a Dog, by Mikhail Bulgakov. Written a few years after WWI, it is perhaps one of the most imaginative books, and seems completely out of place for its time and place.
"...tells the story of a scroungy Moscow mongrel named Sharik. Thanks to the skills of a renowned Soviet scientist and the transplanted pituitary gland and testes of a petty criminal, Sharik is transformed into a lecherous, vulgar man who spouts Engels and inevitably finds his niche in the bureaucracy as the government official in charge of purging the city of cats." It plays into your earlier post of Utopia, in that it is a satire of (to name a few) Russia's attempt to create the perfect Russian and perfect society. A good read overall...
Thank you so much for all your comments. I really enjoy reading them. It's really very nice to hear other's perspectives. Keep checking the blog and when I can I will try to comment back. Thanks again. I will certainly look into the recommended books. A friend got me "The Fountainhead" as a gift. I haven't picked it up yet. Any thoughts? Bulgakov's "The Master and Margarita" I have been thinking about reading also. Read it?
Well, if you are going to start with Rand, you might as well start with Atlas Shrugged. I believe Fountainhead was written about 15 years earlier, and I don't think it is as effective at bringing out the philosophy and tying it in with the story. Don't get me wrong, it's a good read, but I would suggest Atlas Shrugged to begin, and Fountainhead to build upon it (if you so choose). And also keep in mind, its a book. Its "controversial", but I've realized that most of the people decrying the book haven't even read it and aren't used to expanding their mind anyways. I agree with some parts of it, sometimes it is a little simplistic, sometimes I disagree, but overall I learned a lot and I think it helped shape my own personal philosophy. Plus, I think its at the top of the most influential books ever written, so you really got nothing to lose. Its a little daunting when you begin, but I think I knocked out 250 pages the first day I started and just kept a steady pace of 50-60 pages per day with a dash to the end. But if you have read War of Peace, I'm sure you are more than experienced in that.
As far as "The Master and Margarita," my "Heart of a Dog" intro seems to point to the fact that the former is his most popular book. I checked it out on amazon a second ago, it looks pretty good. I might try to read it as well, I'm a little bogged down with some of my masters classes and a "to-read" list of 3 pages so it might be a while.
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