Notes From The Cafe

In 1864 Feyodor Dostoevsky published what is considered to be the first existentialist novel. The Underground Man is one of the most iconic characters in all of literature. One hundred and fifty years later, R.F. Georgy brings back the concept of an underground, Neo-Luddite to offer us a chilling image of the digital age. In the preface to Notes from the Underground, Dostoevsky states, "The author of the diary and the diary itself are, of course, fictitious. Nevertheless, it is clear that such persons as the writer of these notes not only may, but positively must, exist in our society." In Notes from the Cafe, Georgy introduces us to one such person with a unique observational perspective. The Cafe Dweller is the Underground Man brought back to life to offer us an unsettling commentary on the information age. In one sweeping attack, the Cafe Dweller declares, "Information paints no picture, sings no song, and writes no poem." Notes from the Cafe is a powerful intellectual indictment against science, technology, progress, and the dizzying pace of modern life.

Quotes from Notes from the Cafe:

"Information paints no picture, sings no song, and writes no poem."

"Hell is not other people. Hell is to be left alone to dwell upon a consciousness that reveals nothing. The living can escape the absurd and the dead have no need for it."

"Do you know that people like us are like dinosaurs? There is a war underway to get rid of us intellectuals. We are tolerated only in so far as we keep our criticism confined to the ivory tower. Those who hail the benefits of the digital age are celebrated as visionaries and the rest of us are marginalized as antiquated fools who do not posses the requisite sensibility to appreciate the modern world."

"What happened to us? Have you seen people text? They do it with such urgency and alacrity that you would think they are conveying something profound."