Notes from Underground (w/ Dr. Kaitlin Shirley)
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Show Notes
This week, Matt and Cameron delve into Notes from Underground by Fyodor Dostoevsky, along with Dr. Kaitlin Shirley, who earned her PhD in Comparative Literature at the University of Texas, Austin. Her dissertation, entitled “Dostoevsky and the Rousseau Trap: Considerations on the Man of Nature and Truth. And on His Proposed Reformation,” analyzes many of the themes in Notes which we will be discussing in this episode.
Dr. Shirley has some really interesting connections to make—especially to the literature that influenced Dostoevsky as he was writing Notes—which, among many other things, made chatting with her a blast! We hope you enjoy listening as much as we enjoyed making it!
Major themes: Toothache, Poor Liza, An Unquenchable Thirst to be a Dick.
29:08 - We all make mistakes in the heat of passion, Jimbo. Only now in the throes of editing have I realized that Matt was not talking about the U.M. believing himself to be unbotherable, and my response is a total non-sequitur.
We would like to extend our sincere thanks to Kaitlin for sharing her time and knowledge with us. You can find her on Instagram @dostoevskyordoesntshe, on Twitter @dostoevsky_txt, or on her Dostoevsky or Doesn’t She website.
The music used in this episode was “soviet march,” by Toasted Tomatoes. You can find more of their work on Bandcamp and Youtube.