~ 1864 ~
Notes from Underground, a novella by Fyodor Dostoevsky, first published in 1864, is a first-person narrative in the form of a "confession." The unnamed narrator is an isolated and embittered retired civil servant living in St. Petersburg, attacking contemporary Russian philosophy and rebellion against determinism. The novella is a challenge to and a method of understanding the larger implications of the ideological drive toward a utopian society. The challenge laid the groundwork for later writing, and the work has been described as "probably the most important single source of the modern dystopia." It has had an impact on various authors, works in philosophy, literature, and film.