Notes from Underground
Translated by Constance Garnett
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The opening
I
Underground
I am a sick man. … I am a spiteful man. I am an unattractive man. I believe my liver is diseased. However, I know nothing at all about my disease, and do not know for certain what ails me. I don’t consult a doctor for it, and never have, though I have a respect for medicine and doctors. Besides, I am extremely superstitious, sufficiently so to respect medicine, anyway (I am well-educated enough not to be superstitious, but I am superstitious). No, I refuse to consult a doctor from spite. That you probably will not understand. Well, I understand it, though. Of course, I can’t explain who it is precisely that I am mortifying in this case by my spite: I am perfectly well aware that I cannot “pay out” the doctors by not consulting them; I know better than anyone that by all this I am only injuring myself and no one else. But still, if I don’t consult a doctor it is from spite. My liver is bad, well—let it get worse!
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About this edition
- The words
- Constance Garnett's English translation, copied word for word.
- Left out
- The title page and opening pages before chapter 1
- Other material that isn't the author's, in 2 places
- The source library's header, footer and license
- Notes and pages added by translators, editors or publishers
- The source website's menus, layout and notices