Novella · 1864
Notes from Underground
Fyodor Dostoevsky
Aya Saleh · Ink & Ivy
Novella · 1864 · Russian · 19th Century
Notes from Underground
'I am a sick man… I am a spiteful man.'
Read the book
English reading edition · Constance Garnett, translator
Full Project Gutenberg text, newly typeset—not a publisher scan. Public-domain status varies by country; check local laws. The source license is included.
Edition and sourceHow to read it
The first modern anti-hero: a mind that would rather choose suffering than be predicted by a rational formula.
Complete section guide
Constance Garnett, Project Gutenberg #600: Part I has 11 sections and Part II has 10. Summaries contain spoilers; descriptive headings are editorial.
Part I, 1Spiteful portrait
The former clerk introduces his illness, isolation and contradictory personality.
Part I, 2Excess consciousness
He argues that excessive awareness prevents action and makes humiliation perversely pleasurable.
Part I, 3The mouse
A resentful imaginary mouse exemplifies consciousness unable to accept the wall of natural law.
Part I, 4Toothache
Deliberately theatrical groans turn pain into an instrument for tormenting others.
Part I, 5Manufactured motives
Analysis dissolves invented emotional dramas and leaves the narrator unable to act.
Part I, 6The connoisseur
He imagines an identity as a complacent admirer of beauty, mocking respectable self-definition.
Part I, 7Rational advantage
He rejects the claim that knowledge of self-interest produces virtue: free choice can deliberately embrace harm.
Part I, 8Freedom
Reason cannot encompass all desire, and perfectly predicted behavior would invite rebellion.
Part I, 9Destruction
Completed happiness may be less desirable than striving, suffering or refusing mathematical certainty.
Part I, 10The crystal palace
He rejects a rational utopia that permits no protest, even while longing for genuine fulfillment.
Part I, 11Confession
He admits underground life is undesirable and turns toward a shameful memory recalled by snow.
Part II, 1The officer
An officer moves him aside in a tavern. Years of obsessive preparation end in refusing to yield on the pavement.
Part II, 2Dreams
Grandiose fantasies of admiration lead him to seek company at Simonov’s home.
Part II, 3The invitation
He forces himself into Zverkov’s farewell dinner and anxiously prepares for the encounter.
Part II, 4The dinner
Insults, drunkenness and conspicuous pacing alienate the other diners. He borrows money to follow them to a brothel.
Part II, 5Revenge deferred
He imagines confronting Zverkov, but finds the company gone and remains with Liza.
Part II, 6The sermon
He describes loving family life to Liza, mingling emotional appeal with an effort to dominate her.
Part II, 7Tears and an address
Predictions of degradation reduce Liza to despair. He gives his address before she shows a treasured admirer’s letter.
Part II, 8Waiting
He fears Liza discovering his poverty. A quarrel with Apollon is underway when she arrives.
Part II, 9Compassion
He admits his earlier sermon was displaced revenge. Liza embraces him, but being pitied wounds his pride.
Part II, 10The banknote
He treats Liza cruelly and gives money she rejects. He fails to recover intimacy and returns to self-justification.
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