Can Dostoevsky’s “Notes from Underground” Still Kick You in the Gut? : The New Yorker.
This article by David Denby from The New Yorker appeared this morning, giving an overview of Dostoevsky’s famous novel “Notes from Underground.” I remember reading this when I was younger and being thoroughly confused yet mesmerized.
The reason I post this article is to show how such works like these can really be relevant to readers today. In particular, this passage resonated with me:
Predictors of human behavior, as the underground man says, generally assume we will act in our own best interests. But do we? The same question might be asked today, when “rational-choice theory” is still a predictive model for economists and sociologists and many others. When working-class whites vote for Republican policies that will further reduce their economic power—are they voting in their best interests? What about wealthy liberals in favor of higher taxes on the rich? Do people making terrible life choices—say, poor women having children with unreliable men—act in their best interests? Do they calculate at all? What if our own interest, as we construe it, consists of refusing what others want of us? That motive can’t be measured. It can’t even be known, except by novelists like Dostoevsky. Reason is only one part of our temperament, the underground man says. Individualism as a value includes the right to screw yourself up.
Would-Be-Editor 