Hello Benjamin, been a while. Very interesting take on Notes from the Underground. Back in the day I wrote a novella titled "Notes from a Reluctant Alpha Male" based on this story. Although, I must say that even though I own Joseph Frank's lifelong work on Dostoevsky, I have yet to gain any true insight to his inner workings and as you know, I am Eastern Orthodox. Eastern Orthodoxy is even more enigmatic and maybe that is its allure. Now, I sit in my flat in Kyiv and can't really stomach old Fyodor because of his "Russian soul" , Moscow as the Third Rome and savior of mankind arguments. That is now all out the proverbial window. Through the bombings, shellings and air raids, I do find that it has been my faith which has carried me through. But it is also faith in the Ukrainians as people that gives me hope and confidence. So I have faith in God and Man yet my existence could be terminated at any moment (rockets fell about a mile north just two nights ago). That will be the work of man and nothing to do with any God or gods although the Moscow Patriarchate argues that it is. Not sure what will become of my writing but I do know that without my faith, I wouldn't be enduring. "There are no atheists in foxhioles." holds true for me at the moment. Peace and Slava Ukraina!