Notes From Underground [RECOMMENDED × 2026]

The book deeply impacted thinkers like Friedrich Nietzsche , who saw it as a psychological revelation, and later existentialists like Jean-Paul Sartre and Albert Camus .

Set sixteen years earlier, it follows his disastrous social interactions, including a humiliating dinner with former schoolmates and a complex encounter with a prostitute named Liza. Notes From Underground

Dostoevsky wrote the book as a rebuttal to Nikolai Chernyshevsky’s What Is to Be Done? , which argued that humans could be guided by rational self-interest. The book deeply impacted thinkers like Friedrich Nietzsche

The book is famously divided into two distinct sections that must be read together to understand the narrator's psyche. Part I: Underground A rambling, aggressive monologue. , which argued that humans could be guided

Its influence can be seen in works ranging from Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man to Martin Scorsese’s film Taxi Driver .

Reading an edition with historical notes can help clarify the specific 19th-century Russian ideologies Dostoevsky was mocking.

Recent trends show a resurgence of interest in Dostoevsky among younger readers who value his "raw honesty" over modern social media perfectionism. 💡 Reader Tips