Reading Dostoyevski’s Notes From Underground Through Georg Simmel’s Criticism of Modernity / Georg Simmel’in Modernlik Eleştirisi Üzerinden Dostoyevski’nin Yeraltından Notlar’ını Okumak
This study reads Dostoyevski’s Notes From Underground through the lens of Georg Simmel’s critique of modernity. Simmel, the 19th century sociologist, felt the pulse of modern life based on the daily flow of large and small interactions between people. He argued that modern life, which is a dynami...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Cyprus International University
2023-02-01
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| Series: | Folklor/Edebiyat |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.folkloredebiyat.org/Makaleler/1986348121_1-berna%20fildi%c5%9f-haluk%20%c3%b6ner-%2001.pdf |
| Summary: | This study reads Dostoyevski’s Notes From Underground through the lens of
Georg Simmel’s critique of modernity. Simmel, the 19th century sociologist, felt
the pulse of modern life based on the daily flow of large and small interactions
between people. He argued that modern life, which is a dynamic and sophisticated
community, is moulded by the monetary economy of metropoles. However, he did
not unconditionally embrace modernity as he believed that the quantitative nature
of money influenced not only economy but the entirety of life. He particularly
criticized the blockading of modern age by quantification via the elements of
computability/quantifiability, scientificness, and rationalism. A contemporary of
Simmel’s, the 19th century writer Dostoyevsky also excluded himself from the age
he lived in and made this evident in his literary output. For example, the protagonist
of his Notes From Underground published in 1864, known as the underground
man, pours out furious and sarcastic criticisms throughout the novel based on his
experiences and observations of Saint Petersburg. These criticisms stem from the
transformation caused by the modern age and its reflections on modernizing Russia.
Although Dostoyevsky and Simmel lived in different decades of the 19th century
in different countries, and wrote in different genres, their overlapping spatial and
social impressions offer a profound and comparative insight into that age. |
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| ISSN: | 1300-7491 2791-6057 |