Close Readings Who’s afraid of realism? ‘Notes from Underground’ by Fyodor Dostoevsky
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Mar 2, 2026 
Adam Thirlwell, novelist and critic known for sharp fiction and witty criticism, joins to unpack Dostoevsky’s Notes from Underground. They trace the novella’s radical form and psychological intensity. Conversation covers Dostoevsky’s anti-realist tactics, his life-shaping mock execution and Siberian exile, and his fraught encounters with Hegel and the Crystal Palace.
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Two Part Structure Reveals Theory And Praxis
- Notes from Underground splits into a theoretical rant and a praxis section that reenacts the narrator's earlier humiliations.
- James Wood describes Part I as the narrator addressing a bourgeois audience and Part II as three episodes from age 24 that test his claims.
Dostoevsky Decomposes Realist Form
- Dostoevsky resists Flaubertian realism by decomposing form and emphasising inner life over impersonal detail.
- Adam Thirlwell calls the novella unstable and argues its radical decomposition is what makes it interesting and unique.
Postmodern Techniques With Metaphysical Weight
- Though the book has postmodern features, Dostoevsky treats its themes as metaphysically serious rather than playful.
- Thirlwell stresses that the apparent self-reflexivity carries deadly seriousness about human nature, not ironic game-playing.
