/lit/ - Literature

What is the justification for books like I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream? The novel itself and even the general style of it seems to be moderately popular for some unfathomable reason.
No real plot, no story-arcs, no character developments, no characters themselves, no message, no meaning, no underlying purpose, it's just an entire book that's meant to illustrate how much the author can make a cast of characters to suffer in the most excruciating agony because the plot demands it.
There is literally nothing salvageable from these types of stories, so why are they like The Thing and have an actual small cult following?
This truly mystifies me, the entire book is monotonous, and if it got any more edgy and grimdark it would be a parody of itself. But it's not a parody at all, it's entirely serious - and for some reason people really like to read short stories and novellas that are literally nothing more than the author saying "EVERYONE EVERYWHERE SUFFERED IN TOTAL AGONY FOR THE REST OF ETERNITY AND IT WAS SO HORRIBLE, THE END." in the longest, most drawn out way conceivable.

I really cannot fathom this shit /lit/
Just why?