What is the English title of Dostoevsky’s 1864 novella originally published as Zapiski iz podpolya?

Dostoevsky’s 1864 novella originally published as Zapiski iz podpolya is titled Notes from Underground in English.

The work is divided into two parts. The first is a bitter philosophical monologue by an unnamed former civil servant, while the second recounts events from his earlier life, including an awkward dinner with former school acquaintances and an encounter with Liza.

Its narrator attacks the optimistic idea that human beings will always choose rationally when given the right social conditions. His insistence on irrational freedom became one of the novella’s most influential ideas.

Translations vary in small details, including whether podpolye is rendered as “underground” or “from the underground.” The standard English title is Notes from Underground, not The Underground Man, which describes the narrator rather than the book’s title.