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--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ClassicNote on Notes from UndergroundThe Underground Man, as the protagonist is generally referred to, introduces himself in the opening of the first chapter. A footnote by the author informs us from the start that this protagonist is a fictional character but that people like him must exist in the present cultural setting. The footnote lays out the goal of the first part of the novel, which is to explain how such individuals come into being. The Underground Man begins by stating that he is sick, spiteful, and unpleasant. He explains that his liver is diseased but he refuses to see a doctor out of spite even though he respects the medical profession. He is forty years old and used to work for the civil service, but was a very rude official and tortu
There would really be no new adventures to undertake, since everything that could be done would already be listed in tables of actions. The Underground Man cites the example of a person who speaks of following natural law and criticizes those who don't see their real advantage, but then does something that seems completely opposed to his interests. The claim that the Underground Man advances in this chapter is very similar. A little later he goes so far as to say that consciousness itself, no matter in what amount, is a disease; this disease itself is bestowed upon human beings by culture. The mouse, the Underground Man claims, is almost always !offended, partially because it can never bring itself to take any action in response to an offence. For spontaneous "men of action," a wall in their way is soothing because it means that there really is nothing more that can be done. The Underground Man explains that he discovered early in life that he would commit base acts while he was closest to experiencing the "beautiful and sublime," a phrase often used by Russian philosophers of the time and based on the aesthetic philosophies of Edmund Burke and Immanuel Kant. Instead, culture spreads a disease; it corrupts us by openi!ng our eyes to our own baseness. At this point the answers to all questions will be known and the crystal palace can be built. Thus, while he accumulates malice due to not paying back the offence, he at least feels himself justified in wanting revenge. Each of these features, furthermore, may be called into question. There are people who preach reason and enlightened action, but they always betray their own ideals in the end. Radical liberals of the 1860s were fond of the idea of "rational egoism," expressed by N. On the surface, this argument appears correct.
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