Notes from the Underground

A predecessor to such monumental works such as „Crime and Punishment” and „The Brothers Karamazov”, „Notes From Underground” represents a turning point in Dostoyevsky’s writing towards the more political side. In this work, we follow the unnamed narrator of the story, who, disillusioned by the oppression and corruption of the society in which he lives, withdraws from that society into the underground. This story is an exposé of the irrational forces which underlie all human enterprises, however lofty. Yet even in the darkest moments Dostoevsky finds not only grim humor but also the possibility of redemptive love, embodied in suffering individuals and, above all, in the character of Liza. The book’s extraordinary style – brilliantly violating literary conventions in ways never before attempted – shocked its first readers and still shocks many readers today.