History Literature / NotesFromUnderground

* {{Hikikomori}}: Possibly the most famous example in western literature.

%%* HookerWithAHeartOfGold: Liza.

%%* NoNameGiven: The narrator.
%%* PhilosophicalNovel: A famous example.

* StrawNihilist: The UrExample.

* HookerWithAHeartOfGold: Liza.

* NoNameGiven: The narrator.
* Main/PhilosophicalNovel: A famous example.

* UnreliableNarrator: 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.

* TakeThat: 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. (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 NoCelebritiesWereHarmed version of Turgenev in his later novel, ''Literature/{{Demons}}''.)

* TakeThat: 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. (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 a philosophy in Russia.)

* UnreliableNarrator: We're not actually supposed to agree with the Underground Man, 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.

* DownerEnding
* ForegoneConclusion: A minor case, since the second half of the book is a flashback.
* {{Hikikomori}}

* MindScrew

* Main/PhilosophicalNovel

* UnreliableNarrator

Deals with themes of existentialism (it is considered one of the first existentialist novels), free will, and the modern disconnect from others.

%%* DownerEnding

%%* {{Hikikomori}}
%%* HookerWithAHeartOfGold: Liza.

%%* MindScrew

%%* UnreliableNarrator

''Notes from Underground'' is an 1863 novel by Creator/FyodorDostoevsky about an unnamed social outcast living in St. Petersburg. Depressed by the city and his own inadequacy, this mysterious Underground Man begins to write a rambling, philosophical journal -- the Notes from Underground.

* DownerEnding

* {{Hikikomori}}
* HookerWithAHeartOfGold: Liza.

* MindScrew

* UnreliableNarrator

* NietzscheWannabe: The UrExample.

* FanNickname: A quite popular one, as most scholars refer to the narrator as the Underground Man.

* FoeYay: Between the Underground Man and the soldier he stalks for a while.

* AuthorTract Noticeably averted -- the author's opinions fell just about opposite of the Underground Man's. Dostoevsky was actually using the character as an example of what he saw as the degradation of the human condition.

* FanNickname A quite popular one, as most scholars refer to the narrator as the Underground Man.
* ForegoneConclusion A minor case, since the second half of the book is a flashback.

* FoeYay Between the Underground Man and the soldier he stalks for a while.
* HookerWithAHeartOfGold Liza.
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold Debatable on the "heart of gold" part, but he does seem to regret everything he's done.
* LonersAreFreaks The narrator is really terrible at making friends, partly because he's abrasive and rude, and partly because he has major social anxiety.

* NoNameGiven The narrator.
* SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism Played straight and then invoked. 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.

->"...what is man without desire, without will, and without wishes if not a stop in an organ pipe?"

* UnreliableNarrator

Deals with themes of existentialism (though it predates the actual movement), free will, and the modern disconnect from others.

* UnreliableNarrator

* NietzscheWannabe

''Notes from Underground'' is an 1863 novel by Creator/FyodorDostoevsky about an unnamed social outcast living in St. Petersburg. Depressed by the city and his own inadequacy, this mysterious Underground Man begins to write a rambling, philosophical journal -- the NotesFromUnderground.