Dostoevsky's first serious work. Very good. ( )

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A few comments and an interesting fact: Dostoyevski's underground man character, although conceived in 1864, presages by more than 50 years the alienation and disaffection that became so widespread in the 20th century, especially in the so-called "lost generation" that grew up between the two world wars. As such, it became the pattern for generations of other literary anti-heroes whose existential angst was to reverberate through literature for the next hundred years and beyond. Overall, still a great classic and one whose philosophical and literary influences still resonate today.Dostoyevsky is of interest for another reason that has only recently come to the attention of medical science. Based on the notes in his diaries, Dostoyevsky may have had the very unusual neurological condition known as temporal-lobe epilepsy. This form of epilepsy produces no motor convulsions or seizures as in the classical Jacksonian epilepsy that is so well known. Rather, the effects are on the person's mental and emotional state. In his notebooks Dostoyevsky reported experiencing visions and emotional states of such an intense nature, saying that that were so ecstatic that one would be willing give up one's life to experience it one more time, that it seems likely he did indeed have this rare neurological syndrome. It can produce intensely vivid imagery and visions, and ecstatic and euphoric emotional states. However, in some cases, it also produces uncontrollable rage and violence, but it appears that Dostoyevsky had the more pleasant and benign form of this disease. Having studied the excerpts from his diaries describing these experiences and compared them to contemporary patients who have been diagnosed with the disease, the evidence seems compelling to me too that he did indeed have this condition. How it ultimately affected his writing I don't know, but perhaps this will be something that will enable us to gain further insight into his writings in the future.

A genius of a book written by a mind that can effortlessly delve into the nuts, bolts and avagadros of the psyche.Regard this extract:Every man has reminiscences which he would not tell to everyone, but only to his friends. He has other matters in his mind which he would not reveal even to his friends, but only to himself, and that in secret. But there are other things which a man is afraid to tell even to himself, and every decent man has a number of such things stored away in his mind. The more decent he is, the greater the number of such things in his mind.After the Upanishads, it took around 2500 human years for man to explore the innards of himself; By a drunkard and a pathological gambler to be this original, before the world wars, before the pentium processors, before blogging, before any one single man had any guts to sit in a corner and think for himself about himself and his insignificance in the scheme of things, is what makes this book a precious gem. PS- My copy of the book is bound in an apt cover featuring the handsome self portrait of Kramskoy; Cant find it here. ( )

A genius of a book written by a mind that can effortlessly delve into the nuts, bolts and avagadros of the psyche.Regard this extract:Every man has reminiscences which he would not tell to everyone, but only to his friends. He has other matters in his mind which he would not reveal even to his friends, but only to himself, and that in secret. But there are other things which a man is afraid to tell even to himself, and every decent man has a number of such things stored away in his mind. The more decent he is, the greater the number of such things in his mind.After the Upanishads, it took around 2500 human years for man to explore the innards of himself; By a drunkard and a pathological gambler to be this original, before the world wars, before the pentium processors, before blogging, before any one single man had any guts to sit in a corner and think for himself about himself and his insignificance in the scheme of things, is what makes this book a precious gem. PS- My copy of the book is bound in an apt cover featuring the handsome self portrait of Kramskoy; Cant find it here. ( )