The apology and confession of a minor mid-19th-century Russian official, Notes from Underground is a half-desperate, half- mocking political critique and a powerful, at times absurdly comical, account of a man's breakaway from society and descent 'underground'. Written in 1864, Notes from Underground is the first and strangest of Dostoevsky's masterpieces, brilliantly violating literary conventions. In this magnificent new translation, Pevear and Volokhonsky capture for the first time in English all the stunning idiosyncrasy of the original.