Notes from Underground by F.M. Dostoevsky as a Relevant Text in the English and Irish Literature of the 20th Century

About the author:

Ekaterina А. Markova, PhD in Philology, Senior Researcher, A.M. Gorky Institute of World Literature of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Povarskaya 25 a, 121069 Moscow, Russia; Teaching Assistant, The Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia, Miklukho-Maklaya 6, 117198 Moscow, Russia.

ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5954-1440

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Abstract:

The influence of F.M. Dostoevsky’s Notes from Underground on the English and Irish literature of the XXth century has been mainly connected with existentialism. The interaction of ‘self ’ and ‘the other’, the unique character of one’s being, inability to find the truth objectively — all these themes of Dostoevsky’s novella are relevant for D.H. Lawrence, G. Orwell, J. Fowles, I. Murdoch, S. Beckett and other modern writers. The article shows how particular literary texts of these authors react to Dostoevsky’s novella. Original interpretations of this writing are associated with certain genres and movements (dystopia for Orwell, confessional novel for Fowles and Murdoch, absurdist fiction for Beckett), as well as individual styles of certain authors (Lawrence).