Dostoevsky's Dark Humor: The Toothache Moaner

 

Dostoevsky’s Dark Humor: The Man Who Moans With Toothache

“He knows better than anyone that, in so moaning and carrying on, he only lacerates, irritates himself and others in vain; he knows that the audience for his performance, his whole family, listens to him now with loathing, believes him not even for a second. Deep down they all understand that he could moan in a different way, more simply, without all the trills and flourishes, and that in moaning with such vehemence he is only indulging himself, moaning for sheer spite.”

Dostoevsky, Notes from the Underground

 

Dostoevsky's Notes from the Underground features a self-proclaimed "sick man," the narrator. He is sick in both body and spirit, and proud of it. Dostoevsky's works teem with sickness, but they also can be extremely funny in places. Dostoevsky is the supreme dark humorist of Russian literature.