Notes from Underground

“Notes from Underground” is a novella in two parts by Fyodor Dostoyevsky which was written in 1864, which is sometimes claimed to be the first existentialist work.
In his dismal novella the author concentrates on the emotions, feelings and thoughts of an unnamed narrator, whose biography is rather scant.
The only facts the reader is let to know are those of his having inherited some fortune, dismissed and retreated to “the underground”, which means that he doesn’t ever leave the four walls of his accommodation. The first part of this work is narrated in the form of a monologue and is devoted to the intellectual cogitations of the Underground Man, as the criticists call him, which have the most important philosophical issues as the main subject, including a rather harsh criticism of determinism. The second part is the story of the narrator’s life with several points, such as his obsession with a man whose behavior seems rather abusive, highlighted quite distinctively.
The main emotional theme of the whole work is a kind of passive spite.