Alienated from society and paralysed by a sense of his own insignificance, the anonymous narrator of Dostoevsky’s groundbreaking Notes from Underground tells the story of his tortured life. With bitter irony, he describes his refusal to become a worker in the ’anthill’ of society and his gradual withdrawal to an existence ’underground’. The novel is divided into two parts: the first, a half-desperate, half-mocking political critique; the second, a powerful, at times absurdly comical account of the man’s breakaway from society and descent ’underground.’ The book’s extraordinary style – brilliantly violating literary conventions in ways never before attempted – shocked its first readers and still shocks many Russians today.
Unabridged edition with an interactive table of contents.