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/lit/ - Literature

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18488350 No.18488350 [Reply] [Original]

So I'm planning to read this book. The story for it sounds interesting. However, since it's a much older book, I'm curious to know what exactly the context was for this being written. Can anyone provide me with an explanation or will this version of the book give me that without spoiling anything.

>> No.18488391

i dont know about notes but a lot of dostoyevskys stuff is very heavily influenced by the rise of nihilism in popular culture and and revolutionary fervor in 19th century Russia

>> No.18488415

>>18488391
I see, was he for nihilism or against it?

>> No.18488477

>>18488350
That book actually gets you up to date funnily enough. The book opens with a kind of philosophical essay. I'd recommend jumping straight in and see if you find it confusing or not.

>> No.18488496

>>18488415
He was against nihilism. Honestly, this book is fairly self-explanatory unless you for some reason decide that main character is an author's self-insert. I guess some people still manage to confuse author with literary hero.

>> No.18488534

>>18488477
Ah I see. So I can just jump right into the actual story and skip the introduction?

>> No.18488549

>>18488415

Dostoyevsky was for nihilism. To pay off his gambling debts, he agreed to be a subject for a time travel experiment and was sent into October 1994. He spent a year or two learning English and then wrote the script for the episode of The Simpsons when Homer does the voice of Poochie.

>> No.18488552

>>18488534
Yeah. I did, back when I was a gaming teen memelord. Dostoevsky is one of those writers for everyone imo.

>> No.18488578

>>18488350
Read the wiki of "What is to be done?" by Nikolai Chernyshevsky. Notes is, in a way, Dostoevsky's response to it

>> No.18488674

>>18488549
Did Dostoyevsky also write the episode with Sneed's Feed and Seed (Formerly Chuck's)?

>> No.18489276

dude its a really short book that needs no context. just read it.

>> No.18490044

>>18488578
this

>> No.18490204

I have the edition that your picture shows. The intro presents the context decently

>> No.18490211

>>18488578
The intro to that edition addresses this

>> No.18490356

>>18488350
Remember that this book was written in response to "What's to be done?" a popular socialist tract that talked about mankind living in perfect equality in a glass castle.

>> No.18491468

>>18488350
Dostoevsky was one of the engineers working on early nuclear bombs (actually, nuclear grenades, as they could only make those at the time), but the perspective of using them against other people worried him so much that he declined to continue. Government sent him to Siberian prison camp for that. There, the whole city was built underground because of the cold weather. He kept notes. Today, underground rave parties are called underground because of this book. That's the context.