Notes from Under the Floorboards by Fyodor Dostoevsky - Rerun

Backlisted

Backlisted Podcast

Hobbies, Leisure, Books, Arts

4.7 • 1.1K Ratings

🗓️ 21 January 2025

⏱️ 75 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The 1864 novella that invented dystopian fiction. In an episode first published in November 2021, we are joined by authors Alex Christofi (Dostoevsky in Love) and Arifa Akbar (Consumed: A Sister's Story) for a discussion of one of Russia's greatest writers Fyodor Dostoevsky, who was born in Moscow on November 11 1821, 200 years ago this month. We concentrate on his pioneering novella Notes From Under the Floorboards AKA Notes From Underground (1864) and consider its impact and continuing relevance to modern life. Also in this episode John enjoys Dark Neighbourhood, the debut collection of stories by Vanessa Onwuemezi; and, having let it settled for a few months, Andy unveils his favourite novel of the 2021, Gwendoline Riley's My Phantoms. * To purchase any of the books mentioned in this episode please visit our bookshop at uk.bookshop.org/shop/backlisted where all profits help to sustain this podcast and UK independent bookshops. * For information about everything mentioned in this episode visit www.backlisted.fm *If you'd like to support the show and join in with the book chat, listen without adverts, receive the show early and with extra bonus fortnightly episodes, become a Patreon at www.patreon.com/backlisted *You can sign up to our free monthly newsletter here Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	This episode is brought to you by Sun Express Airlines.
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0:29.3	Hello everyone. My name is Nikki Birch and I'm the editor of Backlisted. You're about to hear an
0:35.2	episode which was first published in November 2021.
0:39.1	Not coincidentally the 200th anniversary of the birth of Fyodor Dostoevsky, the subject of this show.
0:45.1	We were joined by author Alex Christofi and critic Arefa Akbar for a discussion of Dostoevsky's novel,
0:51.8	Notes from the Underground, or as we christened it in homage to the
0:55.1	band magazine, notes from under the floorboards. Don't worry, all is explained in the podcast. This was
1:01.4	also our 150th show, to quote magazine again from the song, a song from under the floorboards,
1:07.5	time flies, time crawls, up and down the walls. Andy John and I felt this was a good moment
1:14.7	to share this episode again. Over the last few months, it has been reported that Dostoevsky has
1:19.8	become a TikTok or book-tok sensation with certain members of the public, in particular this novel
1:27.2	and crime and punishment. Clearly,
1:30.0	the author's bleak and sickly view of the world chimes with our historical moment that we're in now.
1:35.1	Andy claims that it was this particular podcast that kick-started the Dostoevsky Revival, but we may never know.
1:41.7	It's probably just a coincidence. But from an editor's perspective, I really
1:46.4	like this episode. It's a great example of what Battlister does best, looking at classic novels,
1:52.2	but really bringing them into the current context. And also there's some lovely things
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