Excerpt From Notes From the Underground written by Fyodor Dostoevsky

           Fyodor Dostoevsky’s 1864 novella, Notes from the Underground, is an good example of the style of Fyodor. This little book is full of different stylistic ambitions and is a great read. The chosen excerpt is the first passage the reader encounters. Quite the introduction for a character one must say. The book follows a cynical character who views life as a constant flow of setbacks. The author structures the book as a journal where the character/narrator of the story makes claims of being a pessimistic hermit. The latter half of the book explains what birthed his cynicism. In this introduction passage the first style choice we see is the use of repetition. In this passage Dostoevsky uses “I” 19 times. The over abundance of this helps the author paint the character as someone who lives in their own head. This benefits the author emphasis on the importance of the character’s thoughts throughout the story. This emphasis shows that the character fixates on the self and helps paint the character. By this use of repetition, it shows the fixation of the self. The character views life only in the framework of his own eyes and by using “I” nineteen times it further affirms the character’s arch.

            Also in this passage from Notes from the Underground, Dostoevsky draws attention to the spitefulness of the character. This is a very important set up for the character later in the story. For example “No, I refuse to treat it out of spite. You probably will not understand that. Well, but I understand it” (Dostoevsky pp.3). The main character chooses to ignore a disease that has plagued his life for some time, purely out of spite. The underground man (our main character/narrator) is very well aware of the issues that afflict him and actively cites them to the reader to create a better understanding of what the reader will approach through out the story. By drawing attention to a certain issue in the writing, this helps the author isolate their message to the reader and can help the author take more control of the reader’s experience.

            Fyodor Dostoevsky also uses Kairos with this passage. Kairos is the strategic use of timing one’s writing to change the perception of the authors words. By using this paragraph as the introduction to the novel, it strategically places readers into this narrator’s world. We can see some of this character development with the quote “My liver is bad, well then-- let it get even worse!” (Dostoevsky pp.3). This stressed point is important for Dostoevsky’s character development of the underground man by depicting his cynicism. This use of Kairos builds the careless attitude towards life for our character. Fyodor uses this style to depict how the underground man is in a sense of nirvana. The character shows throughout the novella why his life is miserable and using this jumping point with the Kairos move shows the path the author will take the reader through. By introducing this in the first paragraph, the author is then allowed to built on this concept throughout the novella. This contiguity of style moves allows the author to paint the narrative of the story and continue the reader down his intended path.