Aziz Bakoush
In 1864, a very intelligent, revolutionary, and intelligent Russian young man published a novel he called “Letters from the Underworld.” Although he was suffering from health problems resulting from “epilepsy,” which he inherited from his father, the young man possessed high abilities in philosophical analysis and a keen outlook on things. He was one of the most important literary voices read and heard in nineteenth-century Russia. The state of financial destitution contributed to the deterioration of his social condition, especially after he was thrown into prison, and a death sentence was issued against him because of his intense opposition activities and his membership in revolutionary political groups opposed to the tsarist rule, but he obtained a pardon at the last minute, and the death penalty was changed to Exile for four years to Siberia. There, in his stifling Siberian exile, he would record the finest details of his psychological suffering and the extremely cruel and tragic phases of his life, including them with extraordinary splendor in his inspiring novel, “The House of the Dead,” which he published in 1861.
Although this young Russian man was very intelligent and a role model of excellence among his peers and a graduate of the College of Engineering, for some reason, he hated the military service that he would later be forced to perform immediately after graduating from university. Fyodor Dotsovsky was a troublemaker, had the ability to confront and challenge, and was extremely addicted to gambling, and this was a major reason for the remarkable deterioration in his financial condition. As is the case with inspired geniuses. He was able to make this miserable psychological and social situation one of the greatest incentives for literary creativity. Rather, it was the main reason that prompted him to write his searing novel, “The Gambler,” which is a novel unanimously agreed upon by critics and those interested in literature. It is a vibrant picture that reflects the fluctuations and woes of Russian society as a result of the political and social turmoil of the nineteenth century. He wrote his novel, The Gambler, under certain pressures, perhaps the most prominent of which was to pay off the debts he had accumulated. He succeeded in doing so to a great extent.
Perhaps this is what prompted UNESCO to designate 2021 as the Year of the Russian writer and novelist Fyodor Doytsovsky (November 11, 1821 – February 9, 1881). Celebrating the second centenary of his birth. It is a very important appreciation and celebration of a human model, not only for readers in Russia alone, but also for those interested in literature and life in the entire world.
In his novel “Letters from the Underworld,” Dostoyevsky presents us with a picture of Russian life at the end of the nineteenth century, when a citizen who had high educational qualifications and a distinct legal status in the social pyramid, like a university professor, had to work in a regular job, in order to secure a living. His day, while his awareness and awareness of himself, the surroundings, and life in society are much greater than his work, and the personal glory he achieves in his life. When you read Dotsoevsky at this particular stage, you know the hero’s true view of himself and the world around him. You realize how money becomes the focus of a person’s life, and what revenge may do to it. How does he deal with the problems of “Lisa,” a nice and attractive young woman whom he met by chance in one of the shabby rooms, who fell into the dark world of Petersburg, and kept dreaming of getting out of it? If pain is the central thing in the hero’s life, whether it is physical or psychological; The man was able to intelligently come to terms with his pain, make fun of it once, and inhabit its dramatic plot with life to the point of enjoyment. In this state, he is like a magician who dazzles and extracts from things and situations innovations that help him confront the world and overcome impure thinking.
Excessive awareness is a constant disease of the age, which makes some people invent their own individual adventures, live them in a different way, and also come out of them with different results. The adventure here is an adventure, revenge, but does revenge really happen or does awareness triumph and the hero does not hit his head against a wall in order to calm the raging bull inside him? ??? Or does he choose to be ungrateful?
Two feet??!
Half courage, half faith, and half certainty are words that drain the conscious human mind of an awareness different from its ordinary surroundings. An awareness that makes him himself between hatred and love, living in the wilderness, searching for a way to reach the light at the end of the tunnel of darkness of the soul.
Excerpts from Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s novel Letters from the Underground
“I could not be spiteful or kind-hearted, nor a scoundrel, nor an honest person, nor a hero, nor an insect. I now live my life in this corner, humiliating myself with a spiteful and useless consolation, which is represented by my saying to her: The intelligent person cannot be anything dangerous, and that only the foolish person can be anything.
“What can a normal person talk about and feel the greatest pleasure?
“The answer: to speak for himself.”
“I swear to you, gentlemen, that hyperawareness is a disease – a real disease.”
“I am absolutely convinced that hypersensitivity, or any kind of awareness, is in fact a disease.”
“A normal human life does not require of him more than the awareness of an ordinary person, that is, half or a quarter of the awareness that an educated person enjoys in this century.”
“I have always gotten used to finding myself surrounded by problems that are not my fault.”
“It is difficult for me to sit idly by, so I tried to break my chains, and you can believe this. If you looked at me, gentlemen, you would know what I mean, and it would become clear to you that it is true… I created some adventures for myself, and I created a life, because I wanted to live in any way, and how much I was annoyed and annoyed for no reason.”
“I tried once, or twice in fact, to love, and I assure you, gentlemen, that I suffered a lot, and deep down in my heart I did not believe in my torment, but rather weakly mocked it, but I was actually suffering, and I was suffering real torment, and I was jealous.”
» Peace of mind is the most important thing »
“Oh, gentlemen, if you knew that I am considered an intelligent man, for a simple reason: that all my life I have been unable to start or finish anything.”
“I had to not be simple, but rather a person who responds to everything that is good and beautiful.”
“I have the right to live comfortably and die with dignity, and these are very charming and beautiful things.”
“I have a friend, for example..ah.”
“There must be something more precious to every person than his own interests.”
“However, man is so inclined towards logical systems and results that he is even willing to deliberately distort the facts and deny what Hutsa feels in order to justify his logic.”
“Boredom may lead you to do anything, of course. Boredom, for example, is what drives a person to stick golden pins into people’s bodies.”
Quotations from the novel Letters from Underground
“And you know that man is a fool, or that he is not really a fool, but rather he is ungrateful to the point that you will not find anyone like him in creation like her.” “Isn’t it better, gentlemen, to throw all these appearances aside, scatter the reasonable to the winds, and send these logarithms to the devil?”
“A person, in any place, at any time, and in whatever way, prefers to act by his own choice, not as his mind or interest dictates, and a person may choose what is against his interest.”
“All that deters a person is, simply, independent choice, no matter what that independence costs him and whatever its consequences, and choice is of course… Only Satan knows what choice is.”
“In fact, I believe that the best definition of a human being is: the ungrateful one who follows both.”
“In short, one can say anything about the history of mankind, anything that can come to the mind of a disturbed imagination, but the only thing we cannot call this history is that a prisoner was detained.”
“In reality, all human actions consist of only one thing, which is proving to himself at every moment that he is a human being and not a piano key.”
“Man is actually a funny creature.”
Quotations from the novel Letters from Underground
“The truth is that a person is inclined to suffering sometimes in an impulsive way that is outside the norm.”
“And perhaps you will laugh again, so laugh whatever you want, because I am able to tolerate your ridicule more than I am able to claim that I am full when I am hungry.”
“We are looking into matters seriously. If you do not pay attention to me, I will deny your knowledge and will retreat to the hole from which I came out in the ground.”
“All I mean by all of this is that it is better for a person to do nothing! The best thing is to remain in a state of perceived continuity, and thus welcome to the interior of the earth.
“I had an idea, and I wanted to achieve it at any cost.”
“Every person has memories that he does not want to reveal to everyone, but only to his friends, and he also has other things that a person is afraid to tell even himself. Every decent human being has such things and stores them in a deep place in his mind.”
“I am trying to test whether a person can, even with himself, be completely frank and not be afraid to tell the whole truth.”
“Writing is a type of work that makes a kind-hearted person honest.”
Selected quotes from the novel Letters from Underground
“I spent most of my time at home, and I used to read a lot, and I tried to stifle everything that was deep within me through external impressions, and I did not have any of these external impressions other than reading, and reading, of course, helped me a lot, as it always excited me and gave me pleasure and pain. However, I was bored with it sometimes, as one is inclined to movement above all else.”
“I had no source other than reading. I mean, there was nothing in everything that surrounded me that could attract my attention or make me respect it.”
“My way of salvation was to love things, which consisted of me resorting to (all that is good and beautiful) in dreams, of course.”
“Either I am a hero or I am absolute filth, there is no middle ground. But that is what led to my destruction.”
“I was feeling annoyed little by little, because at least I would come home and decide to give up the idea of hugging people.”
“I could not make friends with people, as they did among themselves. And so I hated them all, abandoned them, and retreated into my wounded pride.”
Selected quotes from the novel Letters from Underground
“They did not understand even the most necessary things, were only fond of everything ordinary, and did not like depth of thought.”
“I hate empty phrases and talkative people… and I hate silly stories like young people and those who tell them, and even those who tell them in particular, and I love truth, frankness and honesty.”
“I love friendship in which friends are equal.”
“No matter how bad family life is, your father and mother are not your enemies, right? They show their love for you even once a year, and you feel at home no matter how bad the situation is.”
“I knew a man who was a father, and he was very strict. He was strict and frowning, but he would kneel on his knees for his daughter and kiss her hands and feet and would never tire of seeing her.”
“If love is lacking, dignity is regretted.”
“Honorable people live happily even if they are poor.”
“A person, Lisa, only remembers his misfortunes, and he does not remember any of the days when he was lucky.”
“Habit can make a person everything.”
Quotations from the novel Letters from Underground
” love ? Love is everything. It is a precious jewel, and it is a girl’s most precious treasure. A man will exhaust his soul for this love and face death for it.”
“How can he love you if he sweats so well that every person can have you at any moment? He will be nothing more than a pimp in this case.”
“No one will shed any tears, regrets or memories for you. No one, no one in the world will visit your grave, and your name will disappear from the face of the earth as if you were not born.”
“I always tell myself: The problem with me is that I exaggerate my understanding of things.”
“There is nothing to apologize for”
Quotations from the novel Letters from Underground
“We have all lost our connection to life. We are all cripples. We have lost our connection to life to the point that sometimes we cannot help but feel disgusted with real life as a heavy burden. We all agree that life as we find it in books is much better.”
“Why do we make so much noise sometimes? Why do we deceive ourselves? What do we want? We ourselves do not know this, and the truth is that we would be worse off if our ridiculous prayers were answered.”
“I am not ashamed of my poverty, on the contrary, I am proud of it. I am a poor man, but I am honorable. A person can be poor and honorable, as you know.”
“I…I want to get out of that place to be better.”
“I was looking for peace of mind, ready for it and to feel that no one could worry about me, ready to sell the whole world at the lowest price for that. »
“If I had to choose between two things: for the world to collapse and be destroyed, or for me to drink a cup of tea, I would choose to destroy the world and ruin it as long as I get a cup of tea.”
“I could not love any human being because love, and I repeat that, for me meant tyranny and control…and I still believe to this day that love means the tyranny of a man and his right to control the woman he loves and who loves him and grants him that right of her own free will. Even in my dreams, I could not imagine love other than a struggle.”
Quotations from Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s novel Letters from the Underground
“A woman can only be sent with love, the love that is considered her true salvation from any calamity, and which is considered the source of her moral goodness, and she cannot find that in anything else.”
“And here I actually find myself facing this question: Which is better: cheap happiness, or sublime torment? Well, which is better? »
“We do not know where we can find true life, what it is, or what it is called. Leave us without books and you will see our confusion, how we will lose ourselves in a maze, and we will not know anything to hold on to, love, hate, respect or despise. It will be difficult for us to be human beings, human beings with real flesh and blood, with our own flesh and blood. We are ashamed of that and consider it insulting. We do everything we can to be normal human beings in theory. »