Speaking with regards to the book as a whole (not that I’ve finished yet), I think Notes from the Underground could be used as a little “branching-off”/subtopic in the Kafka lecture. The Kafka stories were explained to us by showing that Kafka liked to explore the relationship the individual has within the “three pillars”, family, state, and church, that comprise society as we know it. The proposed "Dostoyevsky branch" of the Kafka lesson would be the individual’s relationship with himself. Early on in the book, Dostoyevsky’s character mentions how he cannot bring himself to find a “character” for himself because there are all these “opposite elements” floating around inside him. The reader sees how the main character’s biggest conflict is the one he has with himself and that’s what drives the “story” in Part I. We see how his inner strife affects his daily life and indirectly those around him. All while he is interacting with the pillars of his society, he is always interacting with his psyche.
No comments:
Post a Comment