Depressing books that make you feel good

[blp]

This is in response to the non-depressing books thread. I'm not really trying to compete with that one or put it down, it just started reminding me of downbeat books I've read that have made me feel good and I didn't want to hijack it.

So list the depressing books that make you happy. And if you like, maybe we'll even devote a little analysis to this apparently paradoxical phenomena.

Mine top picks are Vanity Fair, The Charterhouse of Parma, Blood and Guts in Highschool and Nausea.

[Dark Muse]

Here are the ones that immediately jump into my mind, I may come back with more late when I have thought it over more.

Crime and Punishment by Dostoevsky
The Fall by Camus
Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
No Exit by Jean-Paul Sartre

And still currently reading this one, Steppenwolf by Hermann Hesse

[cgrillo]

I don't really know of many depressing books that make me feel good now, but when I was younger I used to enjoy the 'A Series of Unfortunate Events' books.

[Quark]

So list the depressing books that make you happy.

I've always liked those mid-nineteenth century novels of writer like Dickens and Gaskell who paint a rather depressing picture of industrial England. And it is a depressing picture they paint. Violent, dirty, unfair, the English city was not given much love from Gaskell or Dickens--even though they chose to live in the industrial and commercial capital (respectively) of the nation. Yet there's always uplifting moments in their stories that somehow manages to salvage a little bit of humanity out of an inhuman situation. Florence, the heroine of Dombey and Son, is mistreated or neglected for most of the novel, but overcomes everything with kindness and generosity. In A Tale of Two Cities, Carton turns unlikely hero and prevents the crowd from killing the story's protagonist. Even though the novels share a bleak outlook on society, they reserve a great deal of hope for the individual. So the stories are depressing and happy at the same time.


And if you like, maybe we'll even devote a little analysis to this apparently paradoxical phenomena.

Yeah, you're going to have to do a lot of analysis to show how Nausea is a "happy" book. Roquentin eventually accepts that the world won't respond to his needs, but that's as close as it seems to get to anything warm and fuzzy.

[Jozanny]

Slaughterhouse Five, Kurt Vonnegut
The Portrait of A Lady, Henry James
The Golden Bowl (ditto)
The Wings of The Dove (ditto)
Cloud Atlas, David Mitchell
The Joke, Kundera
The Unbearable Lightness of Being (ditto)
The Tin Drum, Grass
The Satanic Verses, Rushdie
The Man Without Qualities, Musil
Bleak House, Dickens
Germinal & Nana, Zola

I do not know that serious philosophical works make me giddy, per see, but I am an egotist enough that I want to leave behind something of similar depth, and so far it has kept me going, maybe with clenched teeth.

[Il Penseroso]

Most of the Kafka I've read, but in particular The Metamorphosis and The Trial.

I suppose my reason for why I feel happy even at the end of these depressing reads is because, even while recognizing the truth of the statements they present, among other things, there's the aesthetic pleasure they bring to mind, particulalry in the final scenes. For example, the hideous rejuvenation of Gregor's family at the end of The Metamorphosis (hideous because we know it costs Gregor's dehumanization), or Josef K's death at the end of The Trial. Both scenes bring a knot to my stomach, yet their power is reassuring in a way, to sense how the author creates beauty in the face of cruelty.

[dfloyd]

I always feel that what I have learned far outnumbers any momentary solemn mood

[justgeorge123]

Definitely the most depressing book I've ever read would have to be George Orwells 'Nineteen Eighty-Four'. At the same time, its defeated ending in Winstons 'love of Big Brother' is not a prospect in reality for those who are in Christ. As Julia said "they can't take it all from you" (I'm paraphrasing, but she was referring to their love for one another). By God's grace, 'they' can't take away a Christian's faith. Nothing can separate a Christian from the love of God.

Your thoughts?...

[sixsmith]

Slaughterhouse Five, Kurt Vonnegut

The Man Without Qualities, Musil




Joz, how highly do you rate Musil?

[janesmith]

I always enjoy Hardy's novels. Especially "Jude", "Tess" and "Mayor of Casterbridge". Although their overall themes could be considered dark and depressing I always feel inspired by Hardy's desire to portray the complexity of human social/sexual relationships.

[wessexgirl]

I always enjoy Hardy's novels. Especially "Jude", "Tess" and "Mayor of Casterbridge". Although their overall themes could be considered dark and depressing I always feel inspired by Hardy's desire to portray the complexity of human social/sexual relationships.

Me too. I love the old misery guts, and enjoying a bit of a blub :yesnod:.

blp, I find it interesting that you see Vanity Fair as depressing. It's never struck me like that, it makes me smile mostly. Thackeray's sardonic take on characters who for the most part are unlikeable, is excellent. Perhaps it could be considered depressing though as pointing out the venality(?) of human nature, particularly Becky Sharp, although I suppose Dobbin is ok, if a bit of a berk. Great book though.

[Jozanny]

Joz, how highly do you rate Musil?

I have not yet decided. He certainly follows the Austrian/Germanic modernist traditions, but he was somewhat slightly more agonized over his novel than Ellison, as Ellison published a full text, and Musil does not, but left notes of increasingly violent sexual episodes between the protagonist and the supporting female characters, including incest with the sister.

The editors of the English translation did their best, I am sure, as I purchased this heavy two volume edition in the days of real book clubs, but the last time I tried to integrate the notes into the finished manuscript, I had a hard time, as Musil had not edited and decided which scenes would conclude the book--and in those days he wasn't playing the alternate endings technique, as modern authors would.

I cannot say when I intend to reread it, or even if I will get the chance. Between my personal library of real books and my electronic editions, I obviously believe I am going to live another 100 years, and I write that totally deadpan.

[blp]

Yeah, you're going to have to do a lot of analysis to show how Nausea is a "happy" book. Roquentin eventually accepts that the world won't respond to his needs, but that's as close as it seems to get to anything warm and fuzzy.

Actually, honestly, I thought this was the most upbeat on my list. I read it when I was quite young, early twenties, was feeling totally freaked out about leaving home and was also involved with a druggy crowd among whom communication was often poor. I felt alienated at best and close to madness at worst. It was an enormous relief to read Nausea and find out that Sartre understood what I was going through so well. And of course, as the end makes very clear, this was his intention – to make an artwork out of his difficulties and show others that they were not alone.

Oh, and re my earlier post: phenomenon, not phenomena. [slaps forehead]