Notes from Underground by Dostoyevsky

Meeting at the usual place, the Shakespeare Hotel, 200 Devonshire Street, Surry Hills, Thursday 2 July 2026, at 7.00pm, we will be discussing Notes from Underground (1864) by Fyodor Dostoevsky.

This is the same work which is sometimes called Notes From The Underground.

It presents the monologue of an unnamed, alienated narrator—often called the “Underground Man”—who rejects rationalism, social harmony, and the idea that human beings can be explained or improved through reason. Instead, he insists on contradiction, self-sabotage and a love of cultivating resentment.

It challenges optimistic 19th-century beliefs in progress and rational self-interest. Some of the themes may resonate with those who have recently read Fathers and Sons by Turgenev.

Unlike a lot of works by Dostoyevsky, this one is quite short, and often described as a novella.

We meet in the Long Room, upstairs at the Shakespeare Hotel. This is a private room with a closing door, so very conducive to conversation. We talk about the book for about 50 mins, and everyone gets a chance to speak. The meeting then formally ends and almost everyone stays behind to talk more about the book or anything else.

Copies are easily available from local libraries and soft copies for free from https://www.gutenberg.org/