Editing Notes from Underground (section)

=== Political climate ===
In the [[1860 in Russia|1860s]], Russia was beginning to absorb the ideas and culture of Western Europe at an accelerated pace, nurturing an unstable local climate. There was especially a growth in revolutionary activity accompanying a general restructuring of [[Tsardom of Russia|tsardom]] where [[Liberalism in Russia|liberal reforms]], enacted by an unwieldy autocracy, only induced a greater sense of tension in both politics and civil society. Many of Russia's intellectuals were engaged in a debate with the [[Westernizer]]s on one hand, and the [[Slavophiles]] on the other, concerned with favoring importation of Western reforms or promoting pan-Slavic traditions to address Russia's particular social reality. Although [[Alexander II of Russia|Tsar Alexander]] [[Emancipation reform of 1861|emancipated the serfs in 1861]], Russia was still very much a post-medieval, traditional [[Serfdom in Russia|peasant society]].

When ''Notes from Underground'' was written, there was an intellectual ferment on discussions regarding religious philosophy and various 'enlightened' utopian ideas.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Wanner|first=Adrian|title=The Underground Man as Big Brother: Dostoevsky's and Orwell's Anti-Utopia|publisher=Penn State University Press|year=1997|pages=77}}</ref> The work is a challenge to, and a method of understanding, the larger implications of the ideological drive toward a utopian society.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book|title=Existentialism From Dostoevsky to Sartre|last=Kaufmann|first=Walter|publisher=Meridian Books|year=1956|location=New York|pages=52}}</ref> Utopianism largely pertains to a society's collective dream, but what troubles the Underground Man is this very idea of [[Collectivization in the Soviet Union|collectivism]]. The point the Underground Man makes is that individuals will ultimately always rebel against a collectively imposed idea of paradise; a utopian image such as The Crystal Palace will always fail because of the underlying irrationality of humanity.