“I don't want to be happy; I want to be myself.”

Notes from Underground (1864), is often considered one of the first existentialist works, exploring themes of free will, alienation, moral ambiguity and the conflict between individualism and societal norms.

Alienated from society and paralysed by a sense of his own insignificance, the anonymous narrator—a bitter, self-aware, and deeply conflicted man—tells the story of his tortured life, describing, with blistering irony, his refusal to become a worker in the 'anthill' and his gradual withdrawal from society, his sharp and relentless inner monologue dissecting human behaviour, societal norms, and the illusion of rational progress.

Notes from Underground serves as a critique of 19th-century Russian society while also posing deeper questions about the nature of existence, morality, and the individual's place within the world.

Fyodor Dostoyevsky was a Russian novelist, journalist, and short-story writer renowned for his profound explorations of psychology, morality, and the human condition. Born in Moscow, his tumultuous life was marked by early literary success and followed by arrest and exile due to his radical political activities. He is widely regarded as one of the world’s finest novelists, penning classics that include Crime and Punishment, The Idiot, Demons, and The Brothers Karamazov. He had an immense influence on 20th-century fiction and his ideas have profoundly shaped literary modernism, existentialism, and various schools of psychology, theology, and literary criticism.