Underground Man

E532148

Underground Man is the bitter, introspective, and self-contradictory protagonist of Fyodor Dostoevsky’s novella "Notes from Underground," often seen as an early embodiment of existential anti-heroism.

All labels observed (1)

Label Occurrences
Underground Man canonical 2

How this entity was disambiguated

Statements (49)

Predicate Object
instanceOf antihero
fictional character
literary character
novella protagonist
unreliable narrator
age about forty years old
appearsIn Notes from Underground NERFINISHED
associatedWith existentialism
philosophical fiction
psychological realism
centralThemeRelation alienation
free will
moral responsibility
rational egoism
self-consciousness
suffering
countryOfOrigin Russian Empire
createdBy Fyodor Dostoevsky NERFINISHED
describedAs alienated
bitter
hyper-conscious
introspective
isolated
nihilistic
paranoid
self-contradictory
spiteful
firstPublicationYear 1864
gender male
hasPartInPlot encounter with the prostitute Liza
humiliating dinner with former schoolmates
influenced later existentialist literature
literaryPeriod 19th-century Russian literature
literarySignificance early existential antihero
narrativeRole first-person narrator
narrativeStructureRole speaker of the underground notes
occupation former civil servant
originalLanguage Russian
philosophicalPosition opposes utilitarian rationalism
questions the idea of enlightened self-interest
relationshipToLiza emotionally abusive
relationshipToSociety hostile
withdrawn
residence St. Petersburg NERFINISHED
selfDescription sick man
spiteful man
unattractive man
symbolizes conflict between reason and will
modern alienated individual

How these facts were elicited

Referenced by (2)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Notes from Underground narrator Underground Man
Notes from Underground mainCharacter Underground Man