Notes from Underground 2.0

Notes from Underground 2.0 presents a modern reworking of the major themes of social alienation and individual freedom found in Fyodor Dostoevsky's groundbreaking novella. In these pages we hear another iconoclastic first-person voice. The narrator's blog reveals a man by turns outrageous, self-conscious, shrewd, and vindictive. Yet ultimately he becomes a sympathetic and more authentic person as the result of his need for human contact and validation. (Or quite possibly he doesn't.) The plot here only loosely corresponds to that of the original Notes from Underground, although Dostoevsky's two-part structure is duplicated. Part I is an erratic monologue revealing the unnamed character's history and personality; Part II sees him pushed out of his habitual online existence and into a physical confrontation with an extraordinary woman--a woman who shatters his beliefs about himself and his world, using methods that are ingenious, comical, and even transcendent. At the end of the novella there is a short "Afterword" written by the author addressing the intention and strategies of this contemporary revision of a timeless classic. Steven Q. Fletcher holds a PhD in literature from the University of Virginia. He is the author of the novel The Disciple of Beauty: A Philosopher's Tale of Love, Tragedy, and Transcendence, of which Literary Fiction Book Review said, "This novel is so much more than simply a fictional treatise of one man's life; it is a poignant search for meaning in the brief flicker that constitutes a lifetime; it is a whirlwind immersion in all the great works of literature that devote themselves to the fundamental questions; it is a philosophical rumination on love and life and surviving them both; it is a witty and ofttimes humorous exploration of the human condition."

Author:

Steven Q. Fletcher

Publisher:

CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform

Publication Date:

Apr 24, 2017

Number of pages:

150 pages

Language:

English

Binding:

Paperback

ISBN-10:

1514383179

ISBN-13:

9781514383179