Записки из подполья

Notes from Underground

C2 · Proficient · fiction · 163 scenes · Premium story

Dostoevsky's 1864 novella in the original Russian, unsimplified. A retired clerk of forty, writing from his corner, argues that consciousness is a disease and that man will go mad rather than be reduced to twice two makes four. Then he tells what happened when he was twenty-four: an officer who did not notice him, a farewell dinner he invited himself to, and a girl called Liza.

Read Записки из подполья in Russian

Characters

The Underground Man (Человек из подполья) — The narrator
Liza (Лиза) — The girl from Riga
Apollon (Аполлон) — The servant
Zverkov (Зверков) — The schoolfellow
Simonov (Симонов) — The schoolfellow
Ferfitchkin (Ферфичкин) — The schoolfellow
Trudolyubov (Трудолюбов) — The schoolfellow
The Officer (Офицер) — The man on the Nevsky

Vocabulary from this story

подполье — the underground
сознание — consciousness
сознавать — to be conscious of
наслаждение — enjoyment
злость — spite
злой — spiteful
печень — liver
чиновник — official
проситель — petitioner
взятка — bribe
сабля — sabre
угол — corner