The Short Story:
Bobok, or in Russian, Бобок, is a short story published in Dostoevsky's "writer's Diary", and first appeared in 1873. The entire very short story mostly consists of dialouge between dead people in a cemetery and it is all overheard by a troubled writer who has lied down next to the graves. All of the dead people in the grave who are talking have all of the same mannerisms as when they were alive and they are all conscious of themselves and they are conscious of the other dead people, which means they start to talk together in a certain type of dead dialouge. The actual title of the book in its context is just complete gibberish and doesn't mean anything at least in the book. The nonsensical "Bobok!" is muttered by one of the dead people who is not conscious but for some reason they are saying the random mantra: "Bobok". At the start of the book the narrator has reported a certain auditory hallucination: "I'm beginning to see and hear certain strange things. Not exactly voices, but it is as if someone were right beside me saying: "Bobok! Bobok! Bobok!" What is this Bobok? I need some sort of diversion." Although the word Bobok could mean bean in Russian, (because bean is Боб), but other than that it is complete gibberish and is the same in the context of the book as well.
Synopsis:
The story starts off with a stream of seemingly random self interested and self referring polemics and points of views by the perspective of a troubled and frustrated writer called Ivan Ivanovich. The writing style that Dostoevsky wrote it in is rather random, sporadic, nonsensical, which may be a sign of the characters mental disturbance and or delirium, (which shows that the man may of hallucinated the dialouge in the graveyard or that he may of actually heard, but the point is that he is disturbed at the very least. The very first polemic he mentions is when a friend of his asks him if the day will ever come when he is sober. He isn't completely mad because he does have some self awareness of turning rather strange. Ivan Ivanovich goes out in a search of some fresh air and distraction when he chances on a funeral. The chance is that Ivan happens to be a distant relative of the person who is dead, who was a collegiate councilor and has 5 unmarried daughters. He joins the service but is then ignored by the immediate relatives of the family. He stands and observes as the funeral goes on, the smell, the newly arrived corpses, the cemetery, the mourners, and so on. After everybody leaves the cemetery Ivan stays on and sinks into contemplation. The man goes to a large stone grave and lies down on it, and to his surprise he ends up hearing the sounds of the dead people who has recently died and they are talking to each other. A variety of individuals, all disembodied continuations of their living personalities, converse and argue with each other. It seems that physical death is not final death and that here, according to the philosopher Platon Nikolaevich, "the remnants of life are concentrated, but only in consciousness" and continue for a time "as if by inertia". Despite their "dead" status, the corpses are not only able to hear each other but to smell each other, a state of affairs that Platon Nikolaevich explains as a stench of the soul meant to bring it to a new state of awareness. Although some of the people in the grave lead a sober attitude towards their demise and try to be rational, but most of the dead people exaggerate what they used to act like when they were alive, which includes all of their moral fallings when they were on earth. A new arrival called Baron Klinevich suggests that they entertain themselves and each other by revealing all the shameful details of their earthly lives, which is met with praise and enthusiasm and they end up doing so. All hell breaks lose between the dead people and then once Ivan Ivanovich try's to listen closer, he sneezes and then the dead people all go silent. Ivan leaves the graveyard and while in shock and distress he remarks: "Depravity in such a place, the depravity of the final hopes, the depravity of the flabby and rotting corpses and not even sparing the last moments of consciousness."
The Characters:
Ivan Ivanovich: Is the main narrator in the book who mirrors the underground man. He is troubled and seems to be going mad and also polemicizes everything he talks about.
Lebeziatnikov: an official with a "soft and saccharine" voice and he is the first person that Ivan hears. He is disusing a card game he is playing from his memory with his superior, General Pervoedov. Lebeziatnikov acts as a certain "guide" for the dead and how to live their dead life.
General Pervoedov: is the man who is in the grave right under Ivan. Contrary to Lebeziatnikov's voice his voice is "Weighty and authoritative". It is clear that he wishes to keep his dignity in the grave but the others insult him for doing so.
Avdotia Ignatievna: is a arrogant high society lady who insults and argues with all of the other people in the grave, (including the shopkeeper next to her), and who doesn't wish to keep any secrets.
The shopkeeper: The only participant in the dialogue who maintains a connection with the faith of the common people, and who therefore accepts death as a sacrament and interprets what is going on as the tribulations of sinful souls after death.
The newcomer: Is the person who can't accept that they died and is the one whom the narrator saw before he was buried.
Baron Klinevich: is the recently dead corpse who is from high society and who suggests that the dead should cast away all shame and tell each other their secrets.
Privy councilor Tarasevich: is a very high ranking official who, after he had died, was discovered to have stolen 400000 Roubles from a government effort to help widows and orphans.
Katish Berestova: a 16-year-old girl who only responds when asked with a giggle, whom the narrator describes as: "a cracked, girlish voice, but in that voice one felt something like the prick of a needle."
An engineer: A newly deceased man who just rant's on about gibberish most of the time, until the Baron Suggests that everyone be honest and abandon their shame.
Platon Nikolaevich is a deceased philosopher who (according to Lebeziatnikov) explains how the life of the conscious mind and the formerly living personality continues for a short time (usually 2–3 months but sometimes up to 6 months) after death, but now without any associated bodily reality, concentrated somehow only in consciousness.
Unnamed Corpse: is the one who says the word "Bobok!" and according to Lebeziatnikov says that the corpse comes alive every six weeks and says that.