Dostoevsky, Notes from Underground, Part II, Chapters 2, 3, 4
100 Days of Dostoevsky's Notes from Underground and Crime and Punishment September 1 - December 10, 2024
100 Days of Dostoevsky's Notes from Underground and Crime and Punishment
September 1 - December 10, 2024
Notes from Underground (Записки из подполья)
September 16-17 - posted on September 18
Part II, Chapters 2, 3, 4
Next passages:
September 18
Part II, Chapters 5, 6, 7
September 19
Part II, Chapters 8, 9, 10
September 20
Break
September 21-22
Chime and Punishment Part One, Chapter 1, 9 pages
Made it through a busy teaching week - without bumping into colleagues, without swerving - WHILE preserving a TERRIBLY intelligent face!!! AND wearing a black dress with a sufficient amount of self confidence!!! Plus - ZERO challenges to duels!!! All in all - a total success of a week!!! Life vs Anna is 1:1 I would say!!! Plus - here’s winking at you, full moon!!!
What do we make of our painfully self aware and miserably self conscious hero who goes out of his way to humiliate himself - while attempting to make an impression that he DOES NOT have a chip on his shoulder?! He is convinced that he chooses not to engage with a society which allows conforming mediocrities to succeed - AND stays above a reality that does not place much value on independent thought or informed intelligence. OR - is he lulling himself into a state of complacency with a comforting narrative?!
Just like the hero of Dostoevsky 1848 “White Nights” - the Underground Man is a dreamer:
“I dreamed terribly, I would dream for three months at a time, shrinking into my corner, and, believe me, in those moments I bore no resemblance to that gentleman who, in the panic of his chicken heart, sat sewing a German beaver to the collar of his overcoat. I'd suddenly become a hero. And then I wouldn't even have let my six-foot lieutenant into the house.”
Ah, to be a hero in the REAL world - to preserve one’s dignity without compromising with one’s conscience and usher in the “beautiful and lofty” ideal - all ready made and applicable to all and every possible - AND impossible - situation!!!
“There was faith, hope, love. This was the point, that I blindly believed then that through some miracle, some external circumstance, all this would suddenly extend, expand; suddenly a horizon of appropriate activity would present itself, beneficent, beautiful, and, above all, quite ready-made (precisely what, I never knew, but above all—quite ready-made), and thus I would suddenly step forth into God's world all but on a white horse and wreathed in laurels.”
Ah, a world where EVERYONE would recognize how intelligent and brilliant we are!!!
“For example, I triumph over everyone; everyone, of course, is lying in the dust and is forced to voluntarily acknowledge all my perfections.”
And with this level of swelled self confidence we defeat Napoleon himself at Austerlitz - while displaying Byronic levels of “manfredian” complexity - and situating ourselves into the “smart set” of “beautiful and lofty” individuals at Lake Como - for whose sake the shores of Lake Como are transported to the Villa Borghese in Rome - for heightened cinematic effect!!! Dostoevsky’s heroes are the QUINTESSENCE of Hollywood-level dilutions!!! Fyodor would have laughed himself silly observing our surreal world - while shouting: “See, I told you so!!! I KNEW you will welcome delusions into your life willingly and happily - with open arms!!!”
Ah, yes, inviting ourselves to a party - to which we were NOT invited!!! Enduring the humiliation of a changed start time - AND lack of funds - AND the embarrassing yellow spot on the trousers - WHILE celebrating our own superior intelligence and social independence!!! Simonov, Zverkov, Ferfichkin, and Trudolyubov may look and sound successful - but they are non-entities who sold out to the system and conformed - while the Underground Man preserved his proud and dignified independence!!! At least he SAYS so!!! Narratives… Narratives… Narratives…
And so the Underground Man ensures humiliation after humiliation - while asserting that he is above it all on account of his independence and intelligence!!!
LOVE the description of the servant Apollon - named after the god of art and ALL that is “beautiful and lofty” (yes, Dostoevsky is having WAY too much fun at this point!!!) who is willing to live with the Underground Man for “seven roubles a month, grub not included.” I ALWAYS snort with laughter when I read this sentence!!!
And now, here comes ALL KINDS OF INTELLIGENCE!!!
"Lieutenant Zverkov, sir," I began, "let it be known to you that I hate phrases, phrase-mongers, and tight-fitting waists. That is the first point, and the second will follow forthwith."
Everyone stirred greatly.
"Second point: I hate gallantry and gallantizers. Especially gallantizers!
"Third point: I love truth, sincerity, and honesty," I went on almost mechanically, because I was already beginning to go numb with horror, unable to understand how I could be speaking this way ... "I love thought, M'sieur Zverkov; I love true friendship, on an equal footing, and not... hm ...
I love ... However, why not? 1, too, shall drink to your health, M'sieur Zverkov. Charm the Circassian girls, shoot the enemies of the fatherland, and.. and.. To your health, M'sieur Zverkov!"
Over the years, I’ve taught students who actually memorized this toast and delivered it at parties - JUST to prove that free will is as indispensable as air!!! Three cheers for the Underground!!! Devil take the Underground!!!
And, speaking of the Devil - now let’s go “there”!!! Where?!?!?! To the brothel, of course…
Maxim Vorobiev (1787-1855), St Isaac’s Cathedral and Monument to Peter the Great, St Petersburg, Russia, 1844.
