Fyodor Dostoevsky revolutionized literature by creating battlegrounds of the mind and heart where faith and darkness constantly struggle for dominance. His concept of "the psychology of the underground" offers profound insights into human nature, revealing how our willfulness often overrides our reason in ways that defy rational explanation.
• Born in 1821, Dostoevsky's life was shaped by trauma—his father's murder, a mock execution, and four years in a Siberian prison camp
• His novels explore the "underground" psychology where humans choose willfulness over reason, sometimes acting against their own self-interest
• Notes from the Underground presents an extreme example of this psychology through its nameless protagonist who rejects redemption
• His masterpiece The Brothers Karamazov demonstrates how various characters navigate the underground in different ways
• Father Zosima represents the path out of the underground through his radical approach to responsibility and forgiveness
• Dostoevsky's work continues to influence modern culture, from films like Taxi Driver to our understanding of chaotic evil
• His psychology validates biblical insights about human nature while adding vivid color and complexity to our understanding of sin
• Unlike many modern narratives, Dostoevsky portrays the full spectrum of human morality, from the darkest underground to genuine redemption
If you want to begin exploring Dostoevsky, start with Notes from the Underground to understand his psychological framework, then move to Crime and Punishment or The Brothers Karamazov for his most complete vision of the human condition.
Send us a text

Support the show

Contact: [email protected]

Instagram: @subversiveorthodoxy

Host: Travis Mullen Instagram: @manartnation
Co-Host: Robert L. Inchausti, PhD, is Professor Emeritus of English at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, and is the author of numerous books, including Subversive Orthodoxy, Thomas Merton's American Prophecy, The Spitwad Sutras, and Breaking the Cultural Trance. He is, among other things, a Thomas Merton authority, and editor of the Merton books Echoing Silence, Seeds, and The Pocket Thomas Merton. He's a lover of the literature of those who challenge the status quo in various ways, thus, he has had a lifelong fascination with the Beats.
Book by Robert L. Inchausti "Subversive Orthodoxy: Outlaws, Revolutionaries, and Other Christians in Disguise" Published 2005, authorization by the author.
Intro & Outro Music by Noah Johnson & Chavez the Fisherman, all rights reserved.