Notes from Underground- Fyodor Dostoevsky
“I am a sick man. I am a spiteful man. I am an unattractive man.” The opening lines to Dostoevsky’s remarkable piece, Notes from Underground.
I’ve done previous reviews on Dostoevsky’s novels, but this one connects most directly with the purpose of this blog through the piece’s connection with mental health and psychology. In the status quo, many readers choose to pick titles from self-development authors, but Dostoevsky’s psychological and philosophical applications in his novels make his writing one of the most valuable in history. Instead of directly calling individuals to improve their lives, he encourages individuals to reflect on their lives to implicitly encourage them towards a specific purpose.
Notes from Underground was one of his most unique pieces I’ve read. This was mostly because the writing seemed to resemble the protagonist’s random, reflective thoughts rather than a clearly structured storyline. As I was reading this piece, I felt as though Dostoevsky was describing feelings we had all felt, but never truly been able to articulate. The feelings that arise from reflecting on our past were among the key sensations Dostoevsky emphasized.
For context purposes, the story is centered around a protagonist’s confession to himself of his past life of no purpose or meaning. Although he believes that he hasn’t lived with purpose, he’s an extremely reflective person and believes himself to be wise. In the story, this central character goes through key events from his life, which he believes have made him the way he is. For instance, in one section of the book, the protagonist explains a scenario where he was left completely ignored by an individual who would be considered “of a higher place in society”. Events like this pushed him to think about how deeply he yearned for power and how this sense of being humbled made him feel. In the book he expresses his opinion of himself with this line: “I’m a scoundrel, because I’m the most vile, the most ridiculous, the most petty, the most stupid, the most envious of all worms on earth… They won’t let me… I can’t…be good.” In other words, this character believes that he is a bad person, but that’s mostly because of other people— not anything that has to do with him. Although he forms such negative notions of himself, he still believes himself to be superior to other people. He believes that he is far more sophisticated than others in a philosophical and intelligence-based way. So, he believes that every departure and distance he felt from all people in his life was a sign of their lack of sophistication.
For the entirety of the novel, I was left in a state of confusion in the best way possible. One second, this character was talking about how lowly he views himself, and the other, he describes himself as the most intelligent man on earth. This constant switch between his two internal worlds pushed me to continue reading the book to find out what truly ends up happening to him. Without too many spoilers, I’d just summarize the storyline as him gradually approaching insanity.
REVIEW:
I would highly recommend this book to readers who are comfortable with experimenting with new styles of writing and those who have an interest in human psychology. I felt that a lot of the thoughts and observations that were embedded in the novel were extremely relatable and could potentially alter the worldview of many individuals. As for mental health, I feel that this book did an excellent job portraying the depth of human thought. For this reason, I would highly recommend that everyone read this book!
By Doga Ozecik