Notes from Underground & Scenes from the New World

by Eric Bogosian

"A born storyteller with perfect pitch." - New York Times

This volume features two of Bogosian's more unsettling works. Notes from Underground charts, in diary form, the life of an urban recluse who wants desperately to be "normal" but ultimately sinks into an abyss of his own making. Scenes from the New World is a play composed of three one-acts, probing modern life on the eve of the millennium.

One of America’s premier performers and most innovative and provocative artists, Eric Bogosian’s plays and solo work include suburbia (Lincoln Center Theater, 1994; adapted to film by director Richard Linklater, 1996); Sex, Drugs, Rock & Roll , Pounding Nails in the Floor with My Forehead ; Griller ; Humpty Dumpty ; 1+1 ; Skunkweed ; Wake Up and Smell the Coffee ; Drinking in America ; Notes from Underground and Talk Radio (Pulitzer Prize finalist; New York Shakespeare Festival, 1987; Broadway, 2007; adapted to film by director Oliver Stone, 1988). He has starred in a wide variety of film, TV and stage roles. Most recently, he created the character of Captain Danny Ross on the long-running series Law & Criminal Intent . In 2014, TCG published 100 (monologues) , a collection that commemorates thirty years of Bogosian’s solo-performance career.

Genres: Plays, Fiction, Drama

162 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 1993

About the author

Eric Bogosian is an American actor, playwright, monologuist, novelist, and historian. Descended from Armenian-American immigrants, he grew up in Watertown and Woburn, Massachusetts, and attended the University of Chicago and Oberlin College. His numerous plays include Talk Radio (1987) and subUrbia (1994), which were adapted to film by Oliver Stone and Richard Linklater, respectively, with Bogosian starring in the former.
Bogosian has appeared in plays, films, and television series throughout his career. His television roles include Captain Danny Ross in Law & Order: Criminal Intent (2006–2010), Lawrence Boyd on Billions (2017–2018), and Gil Eavis on Succession (since 2018). He also starred as Arno in the Safdie brothers' film Uncut Gems (2019). He has also been involved in New York City ballet production, and has written several novels as well as the historical nonfiction Operation Nemesis (2015).

Reviews

[Trin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Two plays by Daniel Molloy Eric Bogosian. (I don't know why this edition only names the first on the cover -- there are two, the second being Scenes from the New World.) The first is a dark, nasty, very effective piece of noir. I don't really understand how it could/would be staged, but it works as novella, evincing first sympathy and then horror. The second is striving for something I don't think it quite achieves -- the third act perhaps lets it down? -- but there's a metatextual element that's very interesting, asking questions about the culpability of the observer, and the type of person who seems to view all other people as NPCs.

The '80s really fucked people up, huh?

[Sugar · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quite enjoyed Underground, but wouldn’t revisit the New World.

[em]

i needed to buy this because the cover is too too good … i quite enjoyed the first half. he has a way of speaking/writing which is so mundane and everyday and randomly littered with really beautiful compelling phrases / profound relatable truths

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

hey uh, what the fuck?

[Theodora · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this while I was in the hospital over the summer. It's in journal form and it tells the story of a man's gradual decent into madness through his various awkward observations and socially deviant behavior. Entertaining, but not groundbreaking.

[Tara Lynn · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this for the first time as an accent piece to a study of adolescent pyschology back in high school. I remember thinking that it had the feel of Chuck Palahnuik meets Holden Caufield meets One Flew Over a Cuckoo's Nest.

[Heather Colacurcio · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not one of my favorites from Bogosian. I'm usually quite impressed with his plays, but "Notes From Underground" is lacking. Okay, but not as clever as his other work.

[Gina · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Notes From Underground" is a mock diary written in the early 1980s.
However, the second half of my copy contained the play "Scenes From the New World" which I think I enjoyed more.

[Tim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Saw "Talk Radio" & wanted to read some of his books.

[in8 · Rating 4 out of 5]

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