Which is the most depressing book, almost suicide inducing, you have read? Also dark.
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Which is the most depressing book, almost suicide inducing, you have read? Also dark.
The Sorrows of Young Werther
Though I am not yet finnished with it, right now I would have to say The Jungle is about the most bleak and depressing thing I have read.
Also Three Lives by Gertrude Stein I found to be quite depressing
My most depressing recent read is probably 'Triomf' by Marlene van Niekerk, about a 'white trash' family in a South African township.
King Lear
Anything by Hardy or Zola, though L'Assommoir for Zola, and probably Tess for Hardy.
The Golden Notebook by Doris Lessing. Every male character was in some way evil and all the women's lives were tragic, good writing but it was depressing to pick up.
Knut Hamsun - Hunger, it takes dostoevskys humiliation from notes, to a whole other level.
Osamu Dozai - No Longer Human, was a downer to. suicide was a big theme in the book
Dostoevsky - Notes from Underground, the original and best written.
I know I am quibbling, but what do you mean by depressing? As a mental health term, depression is regularly misused in the popular lexicon. Depression is an illness, where the mood is extreme, and I do not think literary works even with a stark, or bleak vision, induce major depressive states. Certain works may be sobering for certain readers, but a depressive mood is triggered by other things.Quote:
Originally Posted by cfgs
Mark Twain is pretty bleak about the human race, and Huckleberry Finn is considered, when closely read, to make a fairly cynical assessment of the human condition. I have not reread it in a long time. Cloud Atlas is also powerfully stark, though the book amazes my intelligence.
See, I may be in the minority here, but I couldn't help but feel Dostoevsky had some fun with his narrator in Notes. The character possessed a kind of insane genius, but I didn't find it particularly moving or moody.Quote:
Originally Posted by armenian
Among Dostoevsky's novels I would choose The Brothers Karamazov in terms of pathos over Crime and Punishment or Notes. I tend to associate moving/pessimistic things with winter landscapes, and the stifling heat of C&P obviously didn't evoke those feelings for me.
I think that 'depressing' has pretty much taken on a non-medical usage now.Quote:
Originally Posted by Jozanny
Just as "oh that drives me mental" doesn't mean literally drove me mentally ill. Language is constantly changing and i'm happy to go along with it.
Talk about a generation gap. I think the phrase is charming Tallon, but this is the first time I've heard it. I'm insecure about using it though, since aging with cerebral palsy IS making me mental:DQuote:
Originally Posted by Tallon
But back on topic, most dark works I enjoy I tend to find comforting, Doris Lessing included. I am a huge Lessing fan--do you think GN is as strong as her later material? Or is that asking too much?
Agree on Werther and Zola( Germinal :bawling: ), totally disagree on Dostoevsky; there is a difference between depressing and maybe sad.
You can also try Yesenin's poetry.
On Zola--
I have not read all of his oeuvre, but of what I have read, he doesn't seem to have much faith in our capacity for correction--but maybe this is particular to French world-weary cynicism?
I haven't read any of her other works. I do plan to read some of her science fiction, she is a very smart lady and shares my views on the literary merits of science fiction.Quote:
Originally Posted by Jozanny