Which Literary Work Should I Give My Presentation On?

[DoodleJump!]

I was poised to tell my professor I wanted to present on Faust, but then he announced that whoever did Faust would have to present on Friday. This friday. I have way too much stuff to do to be able to do that, so I went with Notes from the Underground. It also turns out that all the authors have an equal number of students assigned to them, so it's all good.



yesno: I loved the Faust references you pulled, are there any quirky ones for Notes? Granted, I haven't read it and am not obligated to do so for another 1 1/2 week.

[yesno]

yesno: I loved the Faust references you pulled, are there any quirky ones for Notes? Granted, I haven't read it and am not obligated to do so for another 1 1/2 week.

That's kind of dumb for him on Faust.  I'd frontload the easy book.

I haven't read any Dostoevsky for years, though as with Faust I have a pronunciation story. I was yelled at for "mispronouncing" Goethe by a German art student.  I was yelled at for mispronouncing Dostoevsky by a former Russian Air Force officer who lived in Arizona and worked repairing APUs, which are a kind of airplane engine that is just used to generate power when the plane is on the ground.  This is not a very good story.  I guess it would be a better story if I could remember whether the dude has been a Soviet defector or something.  We always said he was but I think we were just making stuff up to make life more interesting. 

Notes from Thee Underground is a Pigface album.  This gives you a launching off point to any number of 1980s and 90s industrial rock superstars. Shonen Knife is on it, too.  They shout "Fuck it up, Pigface." Unfortunately it's a terrible album.  (You have to image how cool Pigface was to a 12-year-old industrial music fan in suburban New Jersey. Gub is good, and Washingmachinemouth is very good (and overlooked) by that band, by the way.)  I suppose you also could reference the entire genre of "Notes from" and "Notes of" literature.  I'd check to see if Notes from Underground was first, though.

[nec13]

I know that Notes from Underground heavily influenced Paul Schrader's screenplay for "Taxi Driver." If you have read the Dostoyevsky book and have seen the film, you will see some similarities between Travis Bickle and the protagonist from Notes from Underground.

[dnk]

I just read NOTES FROM UNDERGROUND for the first time for a class last week.

Riveting, I know.

Good luck with your presentation, though!

[masterofsparks]

I know that Notes from Underground heavily influenced Paul Schrader's screenplay for "Taxi Driver." If you have read the Dostoyevsky book and have seen the film, you will see some similarities between Travis Bickle and the protagonist from Notes from Underground.

More than The Searchers? I'm asking honestly since I've never read Notes from Underground.