As you've probably heard by now, Dostoevsky wrote Notes from the
Underground in part as a response to Nikolai Chernyshevsky's
novel What Is to Be Done?. Of course, Nikolai wrote his novel in
response to Ivan Turgenev's Fathers and Sons, which is also
referenced in… Notes from the Underground. Oh, and Vladimir
Lenin was so inspired by Chernyshevsky that he wrote a political
pamphlet called What Is to Be Done? Dostoevsky's tombstone
reads: "Verily, Verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat
fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die,
it bringeth forth much fruit." This is a biblical passage from
the Gospel of John as well as the epigraph of his final novel,
The Brothers Karamazov. Dostoevsky has a streak of poverty in
his later life (due to a gambling addiction) and wrote some of
his most famous work as quickly as possible simply for the
paycheck. Example? Crime and Punishment.