Notes from Underground is a novella written in 1864 by Fyodor Dostoevsky and considered to be one of the first existentialist novels. Its form is an excerpt from the memoirs of an unnamed narrator (referred to as the Underground Man), a former low-rank civil servant that lives in St. Petersburg. The first part, "Underground", is a monologue, the diary of the underground man, an attack … [Read more...]
Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoyevsky (1821 - 1881) was a Russian novelist and, side by side with Tolstoy, one of the best writers of Russian realism. He lived a hard life in poverty and also had epilepsy. He faced a death sentence, Siberian jail and the death of dear members of his family.
He went to a military academy in January 1838, when he was 16, to please his father. He never liked it. He began writing in his 20s, and completed his first novel, Poor Folk, in May 1845.
A big turn in his life was his participation in the utopian - socialist society because of which he was sentenced to death in 1849, but then he was saved by going to Siberia where he spends 10 years.
In the beginning of his career he followed the footsteps of Gogol and he represented some advanced social point of views and after he served his sentence, described in the work "Notes from Underground" in 1861, not only did he left but also judged the revolutionary actions (novel "Demons" from 1871- 1872) and fell deep into the world of mysticism, Eastern Orthodox Church and preached non-defiance of evil with force.
Dostoyevsky worked as a journalist. He began to travel around western Europe and developed a gambling addiction, which led to financial hardship. For a time, he had to beg for money, but he eventually became one of the most widely read and highly regarded Russian writers.
His books have been translated into more than 170 languages. His main works are the novels: "Crime and Punishment", "Poor Folk", "Notes from Underground", "The idiot" and "The Brothers Karamazov".
He dies in January 1881 from a pulmonary hemorrhage.
Crime and Punishment
"Crime and Punishment" is one of the most famous and most read novels by F.M. Dostoyevsky which brought him fame. He writes about the same theme he wrote about in "The Idiot" and "The Brothers Karamazov" - sin and redemption. Dostoyevsky deals with the degradation of Russian society and family in most of his works. This novel was no exception because here he talks about a poor student … [Read more...]