Audiobook5 hours
Notes from the Underground
Written by Fyodor Dostoevsky
Narrated by Norman Dietz
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
4/5
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About this audiobook
A predecessor to such monumental works as Crime and Punishment and The Brothers Karamazov, Notes from the Underground represents a turning point in Fyodor Dostoevsky's writing toward the more political side. In this work, we follow the unnamed narrator of the story, who, disillusioned by the oppression and corruption of the society in which he lives, withdraws from that society into the underground. This "Underground Man" is one of the first genuine antiheroes in European literature.
The first part of this unusual work is often treated as a philosophical text in its own right; the second part illustrates the theory of the first by means of its own fictional practice. A dark and politically charged novel, Notes from the Underground shows Dostoevsky at his best.
This version of Notes from the Underground is the translation by Constance Garnett.
The first part of this unusual work is often treated as a philosophical text in its own right; the second part illustrates the theory of the first by means of its own fictional practice. A dark and politically charged novel, Notes from the Underground shows Dostoevsky at his best.
This version of Notes from the Underground is the translation by Constance Garnett.
Author
Fyodor Dostoevsky
Fyodor Dostoyevsky (1821–1881) was a Russian novelist and philosopher whose works examined the human psyche of the nineteenth century. Dostoyevsky is considered one of the greatest writers in world literature, with titles such as Crime and Punishment; Notes from Underground, one of the first existential novellas ever written; and Poor Folk, Russia’s first “social novel.”
Reviews for Notes from the Underground
Rating: 4.056 out of 5 stars
4/5
125 ratings64 reviews
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5All of Dostoyevsky's novels are works of genius, but, as far as I am concerned, this is the best one of them all.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Shooting from my hip, I'd guess that Notes From The Underground emerged via the tradition of epistolary novels and the recent triumph of Gogol's Diary of a Madman. There is little need here to measure the impact and influence of Dostoevsky's tract. Nearly all of noir fiction is indebted. The monologue as a novella continues to thrive, finding its zenith, perhaps, in the work of Thomas Bernhard.
Notes is a work for the young. Its transgressions can't begin to shock anymore. Its creative instability has to be appreciated for its technical merit. This hardly works on old sods like me. Somehow in this tale of honor lost and self deception I kept thinking of the Arab Spring. Dangerous potentials are unearthed when you cleave away traditions and don't offer realized possibilities. - Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Short and enjoyable. I can't get enough. Feels like a slice from the mind of one of Dostoevsky's more expanded characters, in a good way. It's all been distilled into 130 pages and it really made me think. How is he so darn good at writing melodramatic and insane people? I probably relate a little too much to this guy.
And in there, also a nugget of truth re: philosophy of science "Man is so partial to systems and abstract conclusions that he is ready intentionally to distort the truth, to turn a blind eye and a deaf ear, only so as to justify his logic.". - Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Amazing how he can twist and turn a thought from nowhere and make it grow into a full blown psychological drama.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5My first Dostoyevsky reading, and I really enjoyed it. Soon I'll begin reading his longer works, this was a good introduction.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5painful articulation of the internal side of a self marginalized person