Allreaders.com
Author Fyodor Dostoyevsky booklist (click here)

Book Review By David Loftus
Notes From Underground by Fyodor Dostoyevski

Sometimes translated as "Letters From the Underworld," this short, two-part novella sprang the first existential modernist on the world in 1864. Addressing the reader directly, the "Underground Man," a rude and spiteful government official of about 40, has quit his job and ruminates in his poor apartment, remembering past foolishness and humiliations, and going out only to embarrass friends and abuse a prostitute. He talks much sense about the illusions of perfection and scientific determinism -- of how perversely humans will express their need for freedom no matter how hard society tries either to satisfy or control them -- but he is incapable of love, and so provides a stinging portrait of what many could and have become in the nearly 150 years since. There is a sour, depressing humor, and a crabbed grandeur to this transitional work between Dostoevsky's early romanticism and his masterful long novels.


Plot & Themes
Tone of book? - depressed
Time/era of story - 1600-1899
Ethnic/Regional/Religion
Is this an adult or child's book? - Adult or Young Adult Book
Main char. serviced by prostitute? Yes
Ethnic/regional/gender life Yes

Main Character
Gender - Male
Age: - 40's-50's

Main Adversary
Identity: - Female
Age: - 20's-30's
Profession/status:
How sensitive is this character?
Sense of humor - Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence - Average intelligence

Setting
How much descriptions of surroundings? - 2 ()
Asia/Pacific Yes
Asian country: - Russia
City? Yes
City: - dirty, grimy (like New York)

Writing Style
Sex in book? Yes
What kind of sex: - vague references only
Amount of dialog - little dialog
Back To Main Menu