"He's a contradiction." Yup, pretty much. One of the main themes I always took from "Notes from Underground" was the inability for the intellectual to ever come to act upon the world. After all, how can one act when he understands the perspective of the "other" person that he is expected to act or side against? If you pick 'A', you are in opposition with 'B'; and if you choose 'B', you are in opposition with 'A'. But if you understand both the validity and flaws of 'A' and 'B', you either do nothing or act in a contradictory manner. As Dostoevsky states: "I did not know how to become anything; neither spiteful nor kind, neither a rascal nor an honest man, neither a hero nor an insect...," and that "an intelligent man cannot become anything seriously, and it is only the fool who becomes anything." Behold the Tao of Dostoevsky! ^_^ Great video as always.
Then you need to read 'The Idiot' - that's the starting point of Dostoevsky and Tolstoy not the finishing point. The finishing point is to choose C your Christ, to choose eternal damnation and hell on Earth because your Christ is your truth and that's more important than the truth. Dostoevsky doesn't say you have nothing to lose by believing, he says find something worth believing so you can lose everything. Or as Tolstoy would put it pick up your cross and go and die with him for what you believe, not what the state or the Church tells you to believe.
I know I am kinda late to this video. Martin Scorsese's cinematic masterpiece "Taxi Driver" is supposed to be heavily based on Notes from Underground. I recommend you go back and watch the movie with the book in mind. Excellence in literature meets excellence in film making.
it was mostly based on the existential works of Camus (especially Stranger) and Sartre. Although the Notes from Underground are encircled in the existential genre, they haven't got a direct influence on the writing of the screenplay and the character of the Taxi Driver
I have read this five or six times and every time I've found different interpretations of the messages Dostoyevsky is trying to convey. The line about his intelligence being a hindrance to life in society I've interpreted multiple ways. The entire essay/rant in the beginning is so detailed and well written that you feel as if he is altering your own perception of human society and nature as you read it. It is one of the most influential, at least to me, thing I have ever read.
my russian family loves dostoevsky. strangely, they always side with the less 'flawed' characters...the ones that remain stuck with their limited views on society and life. and i mistrust nabokov, because...how can you not be impressed with dostoevsky?? he is such an emotional genius, with an immense understanding of the human nature, in my opinion more than any other author! my favorite to this day still remains The Idiot. would like to hear your take on that one :) there is also a great series based on the novel with simply amazing actors you can watch on youtube from 2003.... in Russian, with subtitles of course. keep up the great work!
I love Dostoyevsky! He is one of my fav writers and I have read Notes from the underground couple of times actually! Thanks for sharing your view and I look forward to your new videos.
"Dostoevesky's life was one big party.", I laughed way too hard. Savage. I haven't read his works but I did manage to read the introduction to his short stories. His life was brutal. Makes me think about whether good literature comes at the cost of deep suffering, for if there was no suffering there would be no great need in the author to seek empathy. But then this is only conjecture.
Your editing is getting really great. Really well done. Keep it coming. And excellent sign off choice overall - that John Waters quote stuck with me for a long time too
Great book, I read this book for a critical thinking class and i got so obsessed with it that i made it my thesis for my class final. Absolutely love it.
When I saw the thumbnail exclaiming "Sick, spiteful, unattractive", I went out of my way to watch your video as I was ready to go to war over this. "How dare someone reduce this book to such words!?" I thought to myself. Then I watched your video and now I am subscribed. Keep the good work up.
Having read almost everything of importance by Dostoevsky I can tell you that he is a very strange author in the way that he has conflicting views. He is at the same time full of pesimism and hope, atheism and pure faith. This one is one of the most or the most pessimistic pieces I've read in general and in terms of Dosto himself. It's a portrait of a man of paradox and will and impotence who chooses to focus on the trivial and never try to pick himself up (also a common theme of his works, characters who find God are left with hope and those without him are crushed by life). This is one of my favourite works and one of the more interesting Dostoevsky works. If you haven't you should read... well everything.
I've read 3 of his books starting with C&P then Notes lastly The Idiot. The first two blew me away but I was very disappointed with the idiot. How did you feel about the idiot? Am I an idiot for not liking it? Im not deterred by that and will read either demons or brothers next.
@@briangallagher3106 no lmao disliking any book doesn't make you an idiot really, no matter how high ranked it might be. I believe the book wasn't well-recieved as his other works, especially at the time it was published. Even Dostoyevsky didn't really like how it turned out in the end. I strongly suggest reading Dream of a ridiculous man and The house of the dead. That book has one of my favorite chapters ever written.
The book is so honest. Who wants to own up to their own anger? Their own prejudices and hatreds? That is why it is so refreshing especially in our PC times.
Ah I was wondering when I'd see a Dostoyevsky review! I, like many others I've spoken with, was introduced to Dostoyevsky through Crime and Punishment and moved on to Notes from Underground. Great video.
Better Than Food: Book Reviews We read "Kokoro" by Soseki, "No Longer Human" by Dazai, "The Makioka Sisters" by Tanzaki, Women in the Dunes" by Abe, and "The Silent Cry" by Oe. Let me know if you have any questions on any of them.
So many lols! I am reading this novel for a uni assignment at the moment and I appreciate your comments on this "pessimistic literature", especially the part about not reducing yourself to a mathematic algorithm and the "intimate portrait of self-loathing". Also the quote at the end! I will keep that in mind! :)
I heard one of the punishments in prison for ol' Dos was The Silent Treatment where no one spoke but also they wore pads on their shoes so that their steps would make very little noise. They got creative with their punishments.
I love your channel ! I read The Brothers Karamazov on a trip to France , i've learned more about morals , spirituality and the human condition from that book , than from any other religious transcript - Dostoyevsky is a better writer than any god out there , you'd think he'd sell more books , but i guess we have to live with the fact that the bible is a best seller - .:D Anyhow, keep up the good work . Greetings from Morocco !
Salma Ould Abdelhadi Thank you very much for watching. Yes, D is great. I'll review more of his later on. Greetings indeed! I need to return to Morocco soon, love that place.
Salma Ould Abdelhadi if you really read Brothers Karamazov, you know that it and The Bible are intertwined a lot , both on content as well as the style.
just found your channel and love your reviews, especially your review of Proust and Lowry. Subscribed to your channel and perused all your reviews, Have you reviewed Mann or Musil? My Dionysian side is very happy with your choices but my Apollonian mind is wanting more Rilke and less Baudelaire. Loved the review of Under the Volcano, I seem to read it often and find it is nicer while drinking. but I haven't tried the Mescal. Thanks Again for all the newer books you have recommended. Just turned 68 and find that great books seem to grow old with you
Hello, new subscriber here. Didn't know blogs like this existed, very cool. I liked the way you summed Underground Man's back & forth expression of yin and yang as the human experience. I found slingshotting from one extreme (the usual pessimistic side) to the other fascinating. With respect to his observation of humans generally being 'normal', does he suggest something to alter this?
In some places it might be difficult to access the benefits, enjoyment and learning that comes from misery and suffering because negativity is almost illegal. That's a shame. The labour camp was maybe like a vegan, yoga ashram. There was purpose in each day.
I searched my ass of trying to find a translation with the title Notes from Underground, not Notes from the Underground. I dunno, I just think the lack of the word 'the' makes the title just that much more badass.
I am looking for this book i cant get out of my head. I know the author is russian. A person told me about a book where the narrator kinda ask questions to the reader, or make the reader think about stuff, and sometimes contradicts itself in the "explaining", something like that. Could this be this book? :) Thank you!
Miracle Megalodon Thanks MM. Cigarettes and Cognac will do wonders. I grew up with Ernesto's stuff, I'll brush off a copy of something and get to it asap, thanks for watching.
''small sad angry little man'' why would you choose to describe him like that?? having read a number of biographies, i struggle to recall any such description of Dostoevsky! so who was it that said that?
This book is solely responsible for my utter downfall as a human being. I read it about five years ago. Ohhhhhh man, has the fall from grace been spectacular. The first part is for me the best. It condenses the ideas into just that - ideas. The second takes the psychic damage you suffer when you understand these ideas, and then applies them into life. Not just the narrator's, but also yours - even if you've never been to a brothel in St. Petersburg.
I don't think it's a rumor. His father was a tyrant toward his workers and they decided one day to kill him. Maybe it wasn't the cause of Dostoevsky's epilepsy but it definitely triggered it in a big way.
As a multilingual European (born in Ukraine), I have to say that to my recollection, Dostoyevsky in English, at least the couple of editions I've read, are quite bad. If you at least speak French or German, read it in those languages. I don't quite know why some of the English translations are so clunky. I have to return to them again in the near future... I'd like to see a video done on Broch, or Musil, two of my favorite modernists.
This guy is possibly even less likeable than the UG man.. I think I might come across as similarly narcissistic and self-obsessed. Thus I never do a vid of myself on TH-cam. Hence making me feel superior. oh dear.
"He's a contradiction."
Yup, pretty much. One of the main themes I always took from "Notes from Underground" was the inability for the intellectual to ever come to act upon the world. After all, how can one act when he understands the perspective of the "other" person that he is expected to act or side against? If you pick 'A', you are in opposition with 'B'; and if you choose 'B', you are in opposition with 'A'. But if you understand both the validity and flaws of 'A' and 'B', you either do nothing or act in a contradictory manner. As Dostoevsky states: "I did not know how to become anything; neither spiteful nor kind, neither a rascal nor an honest man, neither a hero nor an insect...," and that "an intelligent man cannot become anything seriously, and it is only the fool who becomes anything."
Behold the Tao of Dostoevsky! ^_^ Great video as always.
***** Truly. Great comment. Thanks for watching!
Then you need to read 'The Idiot' - that's the starting point of Dostoevsky and Tolstoy not the finishing point. The finishing point is to choose C your Christ, to choose eternal damnation and hell on Earth because your Christ is your truth and that's more important than the truth. Dostoevsky doesn't say you have nothing to lose by believing, he says find something worth believing so you can lose everything. Or as Tolstoy would put it pick up your cross and go and die with him for what you believe, not what the state or the Church tells you to believe.
That's so impressive! Thanks for sharing that :D I guess I have to get that book now :D
I believed in this concept but never knew that it was in Dostoevsky's NFU. Thank you for explaining it!
It's like The Book of Disquiet
I know I am kinda late to this video. Martin Scorsese's cinematic masterpiece "Taxi Driver" is supposed to be heavily based on Notes from Underground. I recommend you go back and watch the movie with the book in mind. Excellence in literature meets excellence in film making.
Good point. Like an anti hero.
it was mostly based on the existential works of Camus (especially Stranger) and Sartre. Although the Notes from Underground are encircled in the existential genre, they haven't got a direct influence on the writing of the screenplay and the character of the Taxi Driver
Looks to me more similar to crime and punishment.
Terrible movie and Scorsese is mid ngl
I have read this five or six times and every time I've found different interpretations of the messages Dostoyevsky is trying to convey. The line about his intelligence being a hindrance to life in society I've interpreted multiple ways. The entire essay/rant in the beginning is so detailed and well written that you feel as if he is altering your own perception of human society and nature as you read it. It is one of the most influential, at least to me, thing I have ever read.
my russian family loves dostoevsky. strangely, they always side with the less 'flawed' characters...the ones that remain stuck with their limited views on society and life.
and i mistrust nabokov, because...how can you not be impressed with dostoevsky?? he is such an emotional genius, with an immense understanding of the human nature, in my opinion more than any other author! my favorite to this day still remains The Idiot. would like to hear your take on that one :) there is also a great series based on the novel with simply amazing actors you can watch on youtube from 2003.... in Russian, with subtitles of course.
keep up the great work!
+Daisy Fay Thanks Daisy!
I love Dostoyevsky! He is one of my fav writers and I have read Notes from the underground couple of times actually! Thanks for sharing your view and I look forward to your new videos.
Officially one of my favorite channels on TH-cam, was late to the party but glad I found it :)
Elizabeth Wincapaw Welcome!
"Dostoevesky's life was one big party.", I laughed way too hard. Savage. I haven't read his works but I did manage to read the introduction to his short stories. His life was brutal. Makes me think about whether good literature comes at the cost of deep suffering, for if there was no suffering there would be no great need in the author to seek empathy. But then this is only conjecture.
Your editing is getting really great. Really well done. Keep it coming. And excellent sign off choice overall - that John Waters quote stuck with me for a long time too
Devin O'Shea Thanks for watching! One day I'll create my own when it gets old..............Maybe.
I know that you sometimes deleted reviews, but don't delete this one, it's hilarious at time
which ones did he delete?
Character never changes? Pretty sure Camus would give it an A for Absurd.
Nabokov hated Camus as well though.
Nabokov was a snob lmao
Do you live in portland? felt 99% sure I saw you walk out of the library.
Patrick Sorensen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Yes. Picked up some Beckett.
The universe is strange.
You should make a goodreads account, I bet there's a lot of people seeking good books who would follow you.
I do have a goodreads, I may take your advice and thanks for the first official public spotting!
Patrick Sorensen Im in Portland.
''If you go home with somebody and they don't have books, don't fuck" - John Waters
Gotta keep that in mind😂
Great book, I read this book for a critical thinking class and i got so obsessed with it that i made it my thesis for my class final. Absolutely love it.
When I saw the thumbnail exclaiming "Sick, spiteful, unattractive", I went out of my way to watch your video as I was ready to go to war over this. "How dare someone reduce this book to such words!?" I thought to myself. Then I watched your video and now I am subscribed.
Keep the good work up.
Having read almost everything of importance by Dostoevsky I can tell you that he is a very strange author in the way that he has conflicting views. He is at the same time full of pesimism and hope, atheism and pure faith. This one is one of the most or the most pessimistic pieces I've read in general and in terms of Dosto himself. It's a portrait of a man of paradox and will and impotence who chooses to focus on the trivial and never try to pick himself up (also a common theme of his works, characters who find God are left with hope and those without him are crushed by life). This is one of my favourite works and one of the more interesting Dostoevsky works. If you haven't you should read... well everything.
PinkyIvan Workin on just that, thanks for watching!
I've read 3 of his books starting with C&P then Notes lastly The Idiot. The first two blew me away but I was very disappointed with the idiot. How did you feel about the idiot? Am I an idiot for not liking it? Im not deterred by that and will read either demons or brothers next.
@@briangallagher3106 no lmao disliking any book doesn't make you an idiot really, no matter how high ranked it might be. I believe the book wasn't well-recieved as his other works, especially at the time it was published. Even Dostoyevsky didn't really like how it turned out in the end. I strongly suggest reading Dream of a ridiculous man and The house of the dead. That book has one of my favorite chapters ever written.
Allma Pašić point taken and those books added to my ever growing list. Thank you
Allma Pašić also can I recommend you a book? At swim two birds by Flann O’brien. It’s an excellent book.
The book is so honest. Who wants to own up to their own anger? Their own prejudices and hatreds? That is why it is so refreshing especially in our PC times.
I came for a book review, stayed for the personality, subscribed because I really vibe with you
Looks like you had fun filming and editing this one! Cheers, love your reviews.
Ah I was wondering when I'd see a Dostoyevsky review! I, like many others I've spoken with, was introduced to Dostoyevsky through Crime and Punishment and moved on to Notes from Underground. Great video.
The Underground Man always reminded me of George Costanza or Larry David.
hahahahaha
Greetings from St. Petersburg! Great Content! Lovin it! Thank You so much! Very interested what you think about Brothers Karamazov. Keep Great Work!
Love the new set up. Been meaning to read some Dostoyesky. Took a Japanese literature class and basically everything came back to him influence wise.
HarrysonTucker No kidding?? Give me some titles! Other than Mishima because I've got that covered...
Better Than Food: Book Reviews We read "Kokoro" by Soseki, "No Longer Human" by Dazai, "The Makioka Sisters" by Tanzaki, Women in the Dunes" by Abe, and "The Silent Cry" by Oe. Let me know if you have any questions on any of them.
HarrysonTucker Perfect, thanks!
You make me want to read everything you review! Glad to see you're getting more views :)
***** slowly but surely.
So many lols! I am reading this novel for a uni assignment at the moment and I appreciate your comments on this "pessimistic literature", especially the part about not reducing yourself to a mathematic algorithm and the "intimate portrait of self-loathing". Also the quote at the end! I will keep that in mind! :)
I heard one of the punishments in prison for ol' Dos was The Silent Treatment where no one spoke but also they wore pads on their shoes so that their steps would make very little noise. They got creative with their punishments.
I love your channel ! I read The Brothers Karamazov on a trip to France , i've learned more about morals , spirituality and the human condition from that book , than from any other religious transcript - Dostoyevsky is a better writer than any god out there , you'd think he'd sell more books , but i guess we have to live with the fact that the bible is a best seller - .:D
Anyhow, keep up the good work .
Greetings from Morocco !
Salma Ould Abdelhadi Thank you very much for watching. Yes, D is great. I'll review more of his later on. Greetings indeed! I need to return to Morocco soon, love that place.
Salma Ould Abdelhadi if you really read Brothers Karamazov, you know that it and The Bible are intertwined a lot , both on content as well as the style.
@@sitting_nut reading it atm and it’s sooo good
just found your channel and love your reviews, especially your review of Proust and Lowry. Subscribed to your channel and perused all your reviews, Have you reviewed Mann or Musil? My Dionysian side is very happy with your choices but my Apollonian mind is wanting more Rilke and less Baudelaire. Loved the review of Under the Volcano, I seem to read it often and find it is nicer while drinking. but I haven't tried the Mescal. Thanks Again for all the newer books you have recommended. Just turned 68 and find that great books seem to grow old with you
A very Happy Birthday to you! Thank you for watching. Have not read Mann or Musil yet but planning on it, many thanks for the kind words.
"If you go home with someone and they don't have books, don't fuck 'em." Damn right.
Hello, new subscriber here. Didn't know blogs like this existed, very cool.
I liked the way you summed Underground Man's back & forth expression of yin and yang as the human experience. I found slingshotting from one extreme (the usual pessimistic side) to the other fascinating. With respect to his observation of humans generally being 'normal', does he suggest something to alter this?
Awesome video edit on this one man!
We had to read this book for one of my college courses, loved it
You have the best book review channel I've ever seen, keep it up :)
JoaoHenriqueWR thanks a bunch!
This was an awesome video, first I've seen from you, far from disappointed
Awesome video, Cliff! This saved me a lot of time.
What camera are you using?
Subscribed!
In some places it might be difficult to access the benefits, enjoyment and learning that comes from misery and suffering because negativity is almost illegal. That's a shame. The labour camp was maybe like a vegan, yoga ashram. There was purpose in each day.
If you're into pessimistic literature you should take a look at Juan Carlos Onetti
Forgot to mention he also suffered of epilepsy throughout his lifetime. This man's life was an interesting novel in of itself.
I loved this book. Just read it.
A real summer book!
You should review white nights
now it is time for Crime and Punishment, awesome book. :)
Review of The Master and Margerita by Mikhail Bulgakhov?
THIS IS A SONG FROM UNDER THE FLOORBOARDS, THIS IS A SONG FROM WHERE THE WALL IS CRACKED, BY FORCE OF HABIT, I AM AN INSECT
Keep up the great work.
jstone93 Thanks man, shall do.
I searched my ass of trying to find a translation with the title Notes from Underground, not Notes from the Underground. I dunno, I just think the lack of the word 'the' makes the title just that much more badass.
I am looking for this book i cant get out of my head. I know the author is russian. A person told me about a book where the narrator kinda ask questions to the reader, or make the reader think about stuff, and sometimes contradicts itself in the "explaining", something like that. Could this be this book? :) Thank you!
lol is that a copy of mushrooms demystified on the shelf?
Maybe.
Your taste in literature is perfect. xo subscribing now.. love your articulation in all your reviews.
Weren't there up to three firing squad but saved at the last moment sequences in his life ?
When will you do some Hemingway?
I'm in love with your channel.
By the way, your voice is very nice.
Miracle Megalodon Thanks MM. Cigarettes and Cognac will do wonders. I grew up with Ernesto's stuff, I'll brush off a copy of something and get to it asap, thanks for watching.
''small sad angry little man'' why would you choose to describe him like that?? having read a number of biographies, i struggle to recall any such description of Dostoevsky! so who was it that said that?
This book is solely responsible for my utter downfall as a human being. I read it about five years ago. Ohhhhhh man, has the fall from grace been spectacular. The first part is for me the best. It condenses the ideas into just that - ideas. The second takes the psychic damage you suffer when you understand these ideas, and then applies them into life. Not just the narrator's, but also yours - even if you've never been to a brothel in St. Petersburg.
4:39 1984 George orwell
Dostoyevsky was born in Moscow. Nitpicking, I know, but not entirely irrelevant because of the rivalry of the two cities.
I don't think it's a rumor. His father was a tyrant toward his workers and they decided one day to kill him. Maybe it wasn't the cause of Dostoevsky's epilepsy but it definitely triggered it in a big way.
Thx, mate, havent read yet, shall now ...
That book case screams old money.
Do you cold brew your coffee ?
Alfonso Jimenez I buy it but I should really do it meself.
As a multilingual European (born in Ukraine), I have to say that to my recollection, Dostoyevsky in English, at least the couple of editions I've read, are quite bad.
If you at least speak French or German, read it in those languages. I don't quite know why some of the English translations are so clunky.
I have to return to them again in the near future...
I'd like to see a video done on Broch, or Musil, two of my favorite modernists.
I loved the party scene.
White Nights is the superior story in my opinion
A socialist who became victim of socialism... You don't say lol.
Notes from underground was a deep and strikingly disturbing novel. Highly recommend.
one of my faaaaaavvvvvvvvvvv
This is more of an impression than a review.
an enigma
0.46.died 1881.small point.
It is not that hot here :(
This guy is possibly even less likeable than the UG man.. I think I might come across as similarly narcissistic and self-obsessed. Thus I never do a vid of myself on TH-cam. Hence making me feel superior. oh dear.
antidepressant11 😆
Big D😅
When you say "fuck you" you really mean you love everyone...right?
He got off lightly? WTF
You actually don't review the book in this video.
Bad comedy?