Notes from Underground and The Double

Exploring themes of isolation and societal corruption, this work features a bitter retired civil servant in St. Petersburg who grapples with disillusionment. The narrative unfolds in two parts, combining memoir and philosophical discourse, allowing Dostoyevsky to critique contemporary ideologies like nihilism and rational egoism. Alongside this, "The Double" presents a psychological study of a clerk haunted by a doppelgänger. Both stories showcase the author's talent for delving into the darker aspects of the human psyche, making them significant contributions to literature.