Notes from the Underground

by Fyodor Dostoyevsky (1821–1881)

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"Notes from the Underground" by Fyodor Dostoevsky is a novella published in 1864. This confession-style narrative follows a bitter, isolated former civil servant in St. Petersburg known as the Underground Man. Through philosophical monologues and personal anecdotes, he attacks determinism and utopian ideals, arguing that humans need suffering and irrationality to maintain freedom. He obsesses over past humiliations and social encounters, embracing spite and inaction while despising the rational self-interest that he believes has trapped him in unhappiness.