Themes of "Notes from the underground"

Hi all,

I will be brief to ensure that I do not look like I am cheating for my ISU project. But I need to choose a book to read on my own that has a common theme with a book I am reading in class, and a movie. My idea here is Frankenstein and then Notes from the Underground, as I am told that Notes is an excellent portrayal of obsession and downfall/insanity (I know that downfall and insanity are different, but I think I will make the point that htey are on the same path... One is just further along than the other, and it depends where you start on that path) .... Before I commit to the book and make it my final choice, I wanted to double check on here:

Any opinion? Is this book containing of the theme I am looking for?

Note: I do not want much detail here, because I don't want to look like I am cheating. Realistically I just need a yes or a no answer on the topic.... Waste of time? Or good read for my theme?

Thanks!

You're on the right track but not exactly. I'm not going to help you cheat but Notes From Underground is a bit deeper than just obsession/insanity. The narrator of Notes From Underground is far more disturbed than Victor, I think. Notes From Underground tackles ideas such as the free will/happiness relation. That humans, given free will, are unhappy due to it. As far as insanity goes, the Underground Man certainly isn't a stable individual . . .

At the risk of sounding like I'm cheating (which I am not), I will respond to this discussion by saying that, whether I see the obsession/insantiy tie better, or the free will/unhappiness relation better, I think I could easily pull that out of Frankenstein as well... I mean, Victor certainly isn't the happiest man in the world given the choice to create the second monster or not. I can see that relation quite well, and I believe I could prove it from his thoughts of horror re: the situation.

Thanks for the help/point in the right direction to the yellow brick road! Appreciated.

I would go with Paradise Lost... Shelley makes a pretty direct link with her novel and Milton's.

Or if you can do poetry, I would go with Conrad's "The Ancient Mariner" or Blake's "Marriage of Heaven and Hell"

a lot of books deal with the issue of alienation and the creation/creator dilemma...