The Diary of a Madman Themes

If you're thinking, "Duh, what could be a more obvious theme than madness in 'The Diary of a Madman'," well, yeah, it's obvious. The devil is in the details, though. In fact, the depiction of madne...

Poprishchin isn't just a madman, but also a fool. It's not always so easy to tell the madness and the folly apart at the beginning—skipping work because you're thinking about Spanish affairs: foo...

"The Diary of a Madman" takes place in the capital of the Russian Empire of the 19th century, also known as the capital of rank-obsession, where your social standing relative to the nobility more o...

How do you make sure no one reading your story has feelings of pity for the protagonist? Make him mad and foolish. That might not be enough, though. How about making him a bigot with a long list of...