"Notes from Underground"

Paper Summary:

This paper discusses how Dostoevsky's "Notes from Underground" is an interesting and somewhat shocking short novel first published in 1864 and often seen as a forerunner of existential fiction. The paper then looks at how first-person narrator of the story recites a long complaint about life, society, and in fact all of human existence in what he deeply feels to be its essential pointlessness and cruelty. The paper then attempts to analyze the psychology behind the behavior of the "Underground Man" by examining what three important thinkers have to contribute to the discussion: Plato, Nietzsche, and Freud.

From the Paper:

"Nineteenth-century German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche was very impressed with Dostoevsky, claiming that "Dostoevsky is one of the few psychologists from whom I have learned something" ("Nietzsche.") The Birth of Tragedy from the Spirit of Music (1871) was Nietzsche's first major book. In it, he first elucidates what would soon become a widely known dichotomy, that between the Apollonian and the Dionysian, two opposed strands of ancient Greek thinking which he deduces based upon his uniquely creative interpretation of Greek literature. Put briefly, the Apollonian is the rational, while the Dionysian is that which is irrational or instinctive. "

Sample of Sources Used:

• Dostoevsky, Fyodor. Notes from Underground. Gutenberg Project 1996. http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/600.
• Freud, Sigmund. The Psychopathology of Everyday Life. Trans. A. A. Brill. Orig. pub.: London: T. Fisher Unwin 1914. Classics in the History of Psychology. http://psychclassics.yorku.ca/Freud/Psycho/
• "Nietzsche." Wikipedia, a free online encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation. 19 March 2007. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nietzsche.
• Nietzsche, Friedrich. The Birth of Tragedy. Trans. Ian Johnston. Nanaimo, BC: Malaspina University. http://tinyurl.com/2pt6kz.
• Plato. The Protagoras. Trans. Benjamin Jowett. Gutenberg Project 1999. http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/1591.

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• Book Review # 106233 : "Notes from Underground" as Social Critique"
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• Analytical Essay # 60936 : "Notes from Underground"

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