| Title | Year | Key Idea | |-------|------|-----------| | Notes from Underground | 1864 | Anti-rationalist manifesto; the “spiteful” man who rejects utilitarianism. | | Crime and Punishment | 1866 | Raskolnikov’s murder of a pawnbroker tests his “extraordinary man” theory. | | The Idiot | 1869 | Prince Myshkin, a “perfectly good man,” destroyed by a corrupt society. | | Demons (The Possessed) | 1872 | Political satire of revolutionary nihilism and ideological possession. | | The Brothers Karamazov | 1880 | Philosophical courtroom drama: God, free will, and the Grand Inquisitor. |
Not quite a novel, this is a rant by a bitter, retired civil servant living in the “underground” of St. Petersburg. He attacks the idea that human beings act rationally in their own self-interest. He argues that humans will, out of sheer spite, sometimes act against their own good just to prove they have free will. Key Themes: Hyper-consciousness as a disease, free will as irrationality, the “crystal palace” of utopian rationalism. Famous Quote: “I am a sick man… I am a spiteful man. I am an unattractive man.” fiodor dostoievski