Free digital classic
Notes from the Underground
by Dostoyevsky, Fyodor
About this book
Creators: Fyodor Dostoyevsky (1821-1881) and Constance Garnett (1861-1946) [Translator] "Notes from the Underground" by Fyodor Dostoevsky is a novella published in 1864. This confession-style narrative follows a bitter, isolated former civil servant in St. Petersburg known as the Underground Man. Through philosophical monologues and personal anecdotes, he attacks determinism and utopian ideals, arguing that humans need suffering and irrationality to maintain freedom. He obsesses over past humiliations and social encounters, embracing spite and inaction while despising the rational self-interest that he believes has trapped him in unhappiness. (This is an automatically generated summary.) Reading Level: Reading ease score: 78.9 (7th grade). Fairly easy to read. Rights: Public domain in the USA. Downloads: 13496