Aug 08, 2015 08:00 PM
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This novella, one of the earliest existential work came out in 1864 and reached me as a twin of The double. The confused anti-hero in state of inability is consistent with the ones in The Double and Crime and Punishment.
Underground in the title is the seclusion in which the narrator of this novella is confined because he is not able to gel up in the society and as apparent in the the second part, which consists of chain of events, that he could never fit well amongst his school mates either when they meet to celebrate a send-off.
The first part however is a monologue where the 40 years old narrator takes a dig at determinism by saying that constraining ourselves to 2+2=4 negates our freewill. And this acting out of free will is the reason that he is wallowing in the mire. Because he is a being with higher consciousness and if he were to take any action then all the options should be analyzed. These options are never simple, how much so ever simple they might seem. Leading eventually to no action taken by him. But then he does not like it, because in the second part he tries to humiliate his friends and forecasts doom for the girl whom he meets. Just to feel good for himself while he is aware of his miserable situation.
