Notes From Underground: Translated by Richard Pevear & Larissa Volokhonsky
Apr 2010 · Random House
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About this ebook
FROM THE AWARD-WINNING TRANSLATORS RICHARD PEVEAR AND LARISSA VOLOKHONSKY
Dostoevsky's genius is on display in this powerful existential novel.
The apology and confession of a minor mid-19th-century Russian official, Notes from Underground, is a half-desperate, half-mocking political critique and a powerful, at times absurdly comical, account of man's breakaway from society and descent 'underground'.
Dostoevsky's genius is on display in this powerful existential novel.
The apology and confession of a minor mid-19th-century Russian official, Notes from Underground, is a half-desperate, half-mocking political critique and a powerful, at times absurdly comical, account of man's breakaway from society and descent 'underground'.
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5.0
3 reviews
Tony Cairns
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July 10, 2017
A nameless man spews a philosophy of negation at the unsuspecting reader. His voice is abruptly 'silenced', and in second-person flashback we witness the gradual formation of this intellectual monster. As with the later 'The Devils', Dostoevsky goes into the darkness, only to find the absence of light. There are modern parallels, eg. Mike Leigh's 'Naked' (film), and Hubert Selby JNR's 'The Room' (novel.)
About the author
Fyodor Dostoevsky was born in Moscow on 11th November 1821. He had six siblings and his mother died in 1837 and his father in 1839. He graduated from the St Petersburg Academy of Military Engineering in 1846 but decided to change careers and become a writer. His first book, Poor Folk, did very well but on 23rd April 1849 he was arrested for subversion and sentenced to death. After a mock-execution his sentence was commuted to hard labour in Siberia where he developed epilepsy.He was released in 1854. His 1860 book, The House of the Dead was based on these experiences. In 1857 he married Maria Dmitrievna Isaeva. After his release he adopted more conservative and traditional values and rejected his previous socialist position. In the following years he spent a lot of time abroad, struggled with an addiction to gambling and fell deeply in debt. His wife died in 1864 and he married Anna Grigoryeva Snitkina. In the following years he published his most enduring and successful books, including Crime and Punishment (1865). He died on 9th February 1881.
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