Notes from the Underground

Fyodor Dostoevsky’s novella Notes from the Underground is an intensely disturbing look at the interior life of the individual. Perhaps most disturbing is the fact that the angst, unreliability, and personal weaknesses of the unnamed narrator are traits which we are able to identify within ourselves. Yet, despite Dostoevsky’s brutally realistic portrayal of the unattractive petty obsessions and actions which play so prevalent a role in the human experience, the story is also one which seeks out the potential for a more elevated human condition.