Notes from the Underground is a hardcore band from based out of southern New Hampshire. Their electric single, "Why Did You Put Me On?" later saw release on the compilation set Love Is The Song We Sing, giving them a little bit wider exposure forty years down the line. They released one self titled record in 1968 but soon disappeared into relative obscurity. Notes From the Underground was a west coast psychedelic rock group based out of San Francisco. Skip Rose - piano, electric piano, organ, harpsichord Unreliable Narrator: We're not actually supposed to agree with the Underground Man in the end, and the second half of the book is largely there to show how morally bankrupt the philosophy he's been preaching to us really is.There is more than one artist with this name:įred Sokolow - banjo, mandolin, guitar, tambourine, vocals.(Funnily enough, Chernyshevsky's book was itself a response to Ivan Turgenev's 1862 novel Fathers and Sons, which first popularized nihilism as a term and an ideology in Russia Dostoevsky also included an unflattering No Celebrities Were Harmed version of Turgenev in his later novel, Demons.) Take That!: Dostoevsky intended the book as a retort to Nikolai Chernyshevsky's 1863 socialist/utopian novel What Is to Be Done?, specifically, as well as a takedown of nihilism and modernity in general.The Underground Man is, essentially, Dostoevsky's caricature of a nihilist. The Underground Man is quite cynical, but works himself up to an idealistic zeal when lecturing the prostitute (whom he's just slept with) on family. Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism: Played straight and then invoked.Philosophical Novel: A famous example (the whole first half of the book is a diatribe about the state of the world and the nature of humanity), though notably the nihilistic philosophy which the narrator espouses is just about the opposite of what Dostoevsky himself really believed.Subsequent generations of readers and critics have come to refer to him as "The Underground Man". No Name Given: The narrator only ever calls himself "I".Among other things, most of the book is a screed for a worldview that the author doesn't even hold. Mind Screw: It's Dostoevsky, after all.Loners Are Freaks: The narrator is really terrible at making friends, partly because he's abrasive and rude, and partly because he has major social anxiety.Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Debatable on the "heart of gold" part, but he does seem to regret everything he's done.How We Got Here: The novel's second half is a flashback showcasing a few of the experiences that molded the narrator into the person he is when we first meet him.(He still tries to lecture her about morality, though.) Hooker with a Heart of Gold: The innocent, compassionate Liza contrasts sharply with the cynical, selfish narrator.Disgusted by his society and himself, the Underground Man has decided to hide himself away from the world. Hikikomori: Possibly the most famous example in western literature.Foregone Conclusion: A minor case, since the second half of the book is a Flashback.Downer Ending: The Underground Man drives Liza, and with her any hope of a positive human connection, away, leaving him even more lonely and bitter than before.They may not always be in your face bombastic and they may not be loud, but they take whatever trait they have to (or past) its logical extreme to the point of ridiculous, and it serves a purpose. Big Ham: The thing with a lot of Dostoevsky's characters is that they work on extremes. Dostoevsky was actually using the character as an example of what he saw as the degradation of the human condition.
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