40 pages • 1 hour read
Notes from Underground
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Summary and Study Guide
Overview
Notes from Underground (sometimes translated as Notes from the Underground) is an 1864 novella by Russian writer Fyodor Dostoevsky. Dostoevsky was a novelist, journalist, and short story author. His novels are deeply rooted in philosophy and politics and explore the experiences and repercussions of his 19th-century Russian sociopolitical context. Dostoevsky is also the author of Crime and Punishment, The Idiot, Demons, and The Brothers Karamazov. His writing influenced many other writers and philosophers, including existentialists and the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche.
This guide uses the 2020 eBook version (Pharos Books) of Constance Garnett’s translation.
Content Warning: The source material and this guide reference sex trafficking.
Plot Summary
Notes from Underground is split into two parts. Part 1 takes place in the 1860s, when the Underground Man is 40 years old, and is a philosophical, diaristic reflection on life. Part 2 goes back in time about 15 years and describes some of the interactions the Underground Man had with various people in his life, including his coworkers, his former classmates, and a woman named Liza. This work defines the antihero and the idea of the unreliable narrator, a character who cannot be trusted to accurately relay events.
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Related Titles
By Fyodor Dostoevsky
