About the author:
Gabriella Elina Imposti, Doctor Hab. In Philology, Full Professor of Russian Literature in the Department of Modern Languages, Literatures and Cultures, University of Bologna, Via Zamboni 33, 40126 Bologna, Italy.
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Abstract:
In this article the Liar’s Paradox is examined in reference to Dostoevsky’s novel Notes from Underground (1864). At first the concept of unreliable narrator is discussed and examined within the genres of autobiography and confession, where the narrator doesn’t tell the truth always, but sometimes intentionally lies in order to obtain the reader’s sympathy and admiration. Then the narrative strategies of the Underground Man are analyzed and a series of “extreme” narrative devices [Richardson, 2006] are identified, such as “epanorthosis”, “denarration”, “disnarration”. All of these narrative devices realize verbally the Liar’s paradox which traps the Underground Man into a vicious circle from which it is impossible to exit.