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Notes from Underground
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July 2017: Notes from the Underground
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My library just sent me the notification that it finally arrived. Not sure I'll manage this month though.
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I'm still waiting for hallucinating Foucault to arrive. I ordered it at the beginning of the month. Now got a shipping notice that says delivery between July 12 and July 27. I hope to get to this one but it's doubtful. I would push it up if any others were planning on reading it but seems like you and I both got held up waiting for our various books.
I have read it previously, but am toying with the idea of re-reading it since it is short. I am starting to get backlogged on my reading with all of the summer challenges I am in though.
I have already read this one and don't plan to re read it and like Diane I have a lot of other reading going on.
Here is my review from when I originally read the book, for some reason my GR import went horribly wrong and lost most of my Shelfari data but thankfully my Librarything import worked fine, which is making me feel guilty for not keeping things up to date over there :(
Notes from the Underground Fyodor Dostoevsky
★★★
This is a very bizarre book, written entirely from the point of view of a male narrator, at first it appears that he is writing to a particular group of gentlemen until he explains that all he is doing is writing notes and that he finds it easier to address an audience than to write to himself.
As the novel progress I got the feeling we were dealing with a man suffering from Aspergers he is obviously highly intelligent and yet cannot engage socially and often misses social clues from his peers.
At the start of the novel he is arguing for free will and showing determinism by the simple fact that no matter what you may want the outcome to be 2 2 will always equal 4, he is also trying to assert himself into a higher social footing than that to which he is assigned.
In the second half of the novel he is trying to show that love is not a real emotion by destroying the hopes of a young woman who is looking to escape prostitution.
The novel ends abruptly when it appears that we have been reading the notes at an indeterminate point in the future from when they were written and that they have been edited for our benefit by someone other than the writer.
Notes from the Underground Fyodor Dostoevsky
★★★
This is a very bizarre book, written entirely from the point of view of a male narrator, at first it appears that he is writing to a particular group of gentlemen until he explains that all he is doing is writing notes and that he finds it easier to address an audience than to write to himself.
As the novel progress I got the feeling we were dealing with a man suffering from Aspergers he is obviously highly intelligent and yet cannot engage socially and often misses social clues from his peers.
At the start of the novel he is arguing for free will and showing determinism by the simple fact that no matter what you may want the outcome to be 2 2 will always equal 4, he is also trying to assert himself into a higher social footing than that to which he is assigned.
In the second half of the novel he is trying to show that love is not a real emotion by destroying the hopes of a young woman who is looking to escape prostitution.
The novel ends abruptly when it appears that we have been reading the notes at an indeterminate point in the future from when they were written and that they have been edited for our benefit by someone other than the writer.
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Liza is a prostitute that he runs into after he humiliates himself at the going away party. He manages to be empathetic to her plight, brings her to tears only to destroy he later.
The letter was a form of an apology and excuse for his bad behavior at the party. It was however a lie. He was not drunk.
The servant was the only companionship he had after he ran every one off so he continues to pay him.
This is on the list because it is considered to be the first existential novel. The first part is really just the musings (by writing) of the man who has, at age 40, withdrawn from life. He writes about man, free will, can man be logical and will that result in ridding the world of evil.
The second part of the novella is the backdrop, the telling of events that led to his being a man underground.
I found it to be not so much a story as an essay or another work of philosophy until the second part when the reader finds out how he has come to be the man underground writing these notes. It was perhaps the first existential novel but it lacks a whole lot in the area of plot and readabiiity. It is my least favorite Dostoyevsky. Rate it 3.43
Rating: 4 StarsRe-Read July 2017
I love Dostoevsky. This is my least favorite from him, and it still rates 4 stars. The first half contains rantings, ravings, and ramblings by an "old man" of 40 (he said this, not me). During the second half, he reminisces about key events that happened when he was 24. These events shed light on his ramblings in the first half.
When I embarked on re-reading this, I forgot what a dense book it is. Don't let the low page count fool you. I am still glad I re-read it, though, since I do love Dostoevsky.
@Jen, I would like to know your take on the narrator in terms of psychology. He definitely has some issues in that department.
I listened to this as an audiobook. Very, very weird. The narrator starts by going off on a rant, sometimes contradicting himself or just being completely off in his thinking. When he tells of the events of the dinner party, I got the feeling that he has an overactive imagination and thinks more highly of himself than he really should. I am wondering if the "underground" is a term for those who might seem to function in society but really might be mentally unstable or insane. Maybe the compiler was someone who found the notes after the narrator was committed to an asylum. I give it 3 stars.
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Hmm, I plan to read this soon but just couldn't get to it in time. I knew it was a dense read so kept pushing it back. I will hopefully be able to read and give some thoughts in the next month. Kristel might also have some thoughts about this too since she also works in the field.
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It seems like it would be a tough one for audio. I was thinking about trying the audio but perhaps will wait and get the print copy.
Jen, I had to limit myself to about half an hour at a time and then switch to an audio science fiction book since "Notes..." is hard to listen to for longer than that.
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I ended up doing it audio as I found that easier. I even used a free audio through the app audiobooks.com. I downloaded this awhile back at someone's suggestion and when the book became too hard to stick to by reading, I switched back and forth. This worked well. The book was free with this app (I never joined) and you do have the ability to speed him up so I listened at 1.5x. That worked good. It is a librovox recording but a much better librovox recording than the one offered by Free Books app. That reader was horrid and I recommend staying away from him.
Just finished this one which makes 200. Smart authors seem to like to throw in simple minded language as emphasis. This can get obnoxious but Dostoevsky is a smart fella and does it in way that's easy to follow. Although I'd agree, you might have to take it in a chunk at a time.
There are a lot of things going on in this novel. I've enjoyed listening to the story. Even though the man seems to be rambling about things, I believe it could have been things Dostoevsky couldn't openly express himself. (I didn't do additional reading so cannot claim I'm correct, but these are my feelings after reading the story.) I am wondering if it was meant not to be ever published, if he truly meant it to be his diary.I might have missed it, but I never heard the author referring to Liza as a prostitute. I didn't think of here being one. I just assumed that she spent a night with him, but never thought of her getting paid for it.
I absolutely loved the passage about love, and specifically love of husband and wife. I need to go back and copy/add it to this review.
Jen wrote: "It seems like it would be a tough one for audio. I was thinking about trying the audio but perhaps will wait and get the print copy."I haven't listened to the English audio version, but the Russian I found was superb! Maybe it's my heritage talking, but I absolutely loved listening to a book, and didn't find it too hard to follow. It was getting repetitious at times, but I think it needed to be that way to convey the inner thoughts of a person better. Aren't we all thinking over, and over, and over things that bother us?
What are some of the characteristics of the writer? What do these say about him?
What or where is the underground? Why do you take this stand? If it is not a physical place, is it possible for others to also be in the underground?
Why does the author seek out companionship if he's not truly friends with any of these people? What do others seem to think of the writer?
Who is Liza? How do they meet? What is the author's reaction to her? What is her reaction to the author? When he admits that he knows she loves him, why doesn't he seek her out?
Who is the officer? Why is the encounter with this man so important to the writer? What importance does it hold for the officer?
Describe the letter the author sends to Simonov after the disastrous farewell dinner party. What does the author say about the letter?
What is the relationship between the author and Apollon? Why does the author continue to pay him when he claims the servant is insolent and rude?
Ratings and reviews?
Does this deserve its place on the list? Why do you think it is on the list?