Notes From Underground

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Notes from Underground
Original Title: Записки изъ подполья
Written by: Fyodor Dostoevsky
Central Theme:
Synopsis:
First published: 1864
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"...what is man without desire, without will, and without wishes if not a stop in an organ pipe?"

An 1863 novel by Fyodor Dostoevsky about an unnamed social outcast living in St. Petersburg. Depressed by the city and his own inadequacy, this mysterious Underground Man begins to write a rambling, philosophical journal -- the Notes From Underground.

The novel's divided into two parts: first, the notes ("Underground"), and second, an account of the humiliating events which led to his self-imposed seclusion ("Apropos to Wet Snow").

Deals with themes of existentialism (though it predates the actual movement), free will, and the modern disconnect from others.

Tropes used in Notes From Underground include: