Zapiski iz podpolya (Notes from Underground)

Notes from Underground (Zapiski iz podpolya), published in 1864, is one of the first great works of existentialist literature. The unnamed narrator, the Underground Man, is a bitter, hyper-conscious civil servant in St Petersburg who delivers a furious, paradoxical monologue attacking the rational utopian ideals of his time. He is acutely aware of his own contradictions yet unable to escape them. Dostoevsky created one of literature's most unforgettable anti-heroes — intelligent, resentful, and painfully self-aware. This short but dense novella prefigures the great psychological novels of Dostoevsky's later career. Stream free, no account required.