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Literary Devices
Definition of Allusion
In literature, an allusion is an unexplained reference to someone or something outside of the text. Writers commonly allude to other literary works, famous individuals, historical events, or philosophical ideas... read full definition
In literature, an allusion is an unexplained reference to someone or something outside of the text. Writers commonly allude to other literary works, famous individuals... read full definition
In literature, an allusion is an unexplained reference to someone or something outside of the text. Writers commonly allude to... read full definition
Part 1, Chapter 2
Explanation and Analysis—Beautiful and Sublime:
In Part 1, Chapter 2, The Underground Man introduces the concept of the "beautiful and sublime," alluding to—and lightly satirizing—a philosophical idea that was often referenced in cultured circles in 19th-century Russia (and beyond):
[...] at the precise moment that I was most capable of becoming conscious of the subtleties of everything that was “beautiful and sublime,” as we used to say at one time, [...I] instead did such unseemly things [...]. The more conscious I was of what was good, of everything “beautiful and sublime,” the more deeply I sank into the morass, and the more capable I was of becoming entirely bogged down in it.
Related Themes:
Part 2, Chapter 5
Explanation and Analysis—Crying at Literature:
In Part 2, Chapter 5, The Underground Man imagines the terrible fate that will befall him if he duels Zverkov, conceding that he would lose the duel and ruin his life in a parody of fictional stories he's read before. Everyone has left him after he embarrasses himself at the dinner, and he imagines a terrible fate for himself because of this:
Unlock with LitCharts A+Fifteen years later when they let me out of jail, a beggar in rags, I’ll drag myself off to see [Zverkov]. I’ll find him in some provincial town. He’ll be married and happy. He’ll have a grown daughter. . . . I’ll say, "Look, you monster, look at my sunken cheeks and my rags. I’ve lost everything—career, happiness, art, science, a beloved woman—all because of you. Here are the pistols. I came here to load my pistol, and . . . and I forgive you." Then I’ll fire into the air, and he’ll never hear another word from me again. . . .
I was actually about to cry, even though I knew for a fact at that very moment that all this was straight out of Silvio and Lermontov’s Masquerade.
Related Themes:
