Dear coffmanfyi-ga
The author is Fyodor Dostoevsky. From 'Notes from the underground
Part II: The Story of the Falling Sleet' or 'A Propos of the Wet Snow'
The quote slightly varies because of the translation.
The first one is "We have really gone so far as to think of 'real
life' as toil, almost as servitude, and we are all agreed, for our
part, that it is better in books"
The second is "Why, we have come almost to looking upon real life as
an effort, almost as hard work, and we are all privately agreed that
it is better in books."
It is described as a psycho-analytic journal in which "The Anti-hero
concludes his journal with this entry: 'We have all got out of the
habit of living, we are all in a greater or less degree crippled. We
are so unused to living that we often feel something like loathing for
'real life' and so cannot bear to be reminded of it. We have really
gone so far as to think of 'real life' as toil, almost as servitude,
and we are all agreed, for our part, that it is better in books.' "
Source: Fordham Preparatory School.
Perspectives in Western Literature
http://www.fordhamprep.org/piantiea/website/Notes%20RQs%202.htm
Introduction page
http://www.fordhamprep.org/piantiea/website/PERSPECTIVES.htm
Purchase and read reviews of the book at:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN%3D067973452X/foreverbabbingtoA/103-1692082-4547822
On line the text is available at
http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/toc/modeng/public/DosNote.html
Click on Chapter X
A good resource for Dostoevsky is
http://www.kiosek.com/dostoevsky/contents.html
A literary analysis of the novel can be found at
http://www.novelguide.com/notesfromtheunderground/
Please ask for clarification of this research, or if the links do not
work, before rating the answer.
answerfinder-ga
Search strategy
Variations on the words including - life "is better in books" agreed
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