On The Neurotic Personality Of The Basement Man In "Notes From The Basement"

Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky(1821?1881)was a well-known Russian realist writer and a prolific writer.He wrote nineteen novels and left a great many notes,diaries and letters.The writing life of Dostoyevsky was divided into two periods,before his exile in Siberia(1849?1859)and after that.Notes from the underground(1864)was the third work created after the exile to Siberia.Because of its profundity and complexity,Notes from the underground is still concerned today.Based on previous researches,this article will explore the neurotic personality hidden in the underground man through textual analysis and in light of Karen Horney's neurotic personality theory.This article consists of the introduction,the body,and the conclusion.The body is divided into three chapters,which mainly cover the basic structure and defense strategies of the underground man.The first chapter mainly analyzes the neurotic personality structure of the underground man.According to Karen Horney's neurotic personality theory,the core of the neurotic personality is basic anxiety.Basic anxiety comes from early life,especially the parent-child relationship in family culture.The underground man was abandoned by his parents from an early age,causing him to fall into the anxiety of lack of love and security.Under the influence of basic anxiety,a morbid need for love and power was created.In order to better understand the neurotic personality of the underground man,I distinguish between normal anxiety and neurotic anxiety,normal needs and pathological needs.The second chapter specifically explains the defense strategies of the underground man's the interpersonal communication and the resulting inner conflicts.Under the influence of basic anxiety and basic needs,the underground man will approach others,oppose others,and stay away from others in the interpersonal communication.Karen Horney named three different interpersonal defense strategies.Because the three strategies appear in different situations,when there are more than two strategies at the same time,it will lead to inner conflicts of the underground man.These irreconcilable conflicts are important factors to form the neurotic personality of the underground man.The third chapter mainly explores the inner psychological defense strategies of the underground man.The inner psychological strategies have a great relationship with the interpersonal communication strategies.The frustration of the interpersonal communication makes the underground man begin to continuously detach from himself.It leads to loss himself in system of the idealized image.He creates his pride system and leaves himself immersed into self-condemnation and self-degeneration.At the same time,by establishing a psychological inner defense strategy,the underground man meets the needs of love and power in his imagination.This chapter focuses on psychological inner defense strategies of the underground man and the course of his self-degradation.