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Notes from Underground by Fyodor Dostoevsky — book cover
Literature

Notes from Underground

Fyodor Dostoevsky

The first existentialist novel, written twenty years before Nietzsche.

Man needs only independent will, whatever that independence may cost and wherever it may lead.

Fyodor Dostoevsky

Why It's Lindy

The first existentialist novel, written twenty years before Nietzsche. Dostoevsky's underground man anticipates every 20th-century critique of rationalism and utopia. Nietzsche said it was the only psychologically true book he had ever read.

About This Volume

A bitter, brilliant narrator delivers a two-part monologue attacking rational egoism and the idea that human beings can be reduced to predictable, self-interested machines.

Frequently Asked

Why should I read Notes from Underground?

The first existentialist novel, written twenty years before Nietzsche. Dostoevsky's underground man anticipates every 20th-century critique of rationalism and utopia. Nietzsche said it was the only psychologically true book he had ever read.

What is Notes from Underground about?

A bitter, brilliant narrator delivers a two-part monologue attacking rational egoism and the idea that human beings can be reduced to predictable, self-interested machines.

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