/lit/ - Literature

Is there a character in Western literature that exemplifies better than Ethan Frome the tragic fate of all who abide by what Nietzsche called "slave morality?"

>marries a woman because he can't take solitude
>she's a harridan, he doesn't divorce her or ever express his distaste for her hypochondriac-al ways
>tries to cheat on his wife, fails
>tries to commit suicide with his mistress, fails
>spends the rest of his life being a dutiful husband to the wife that cares for his mistress in the wake of the sledding accident that didn't kill Ethan and Mattie

Explain to me how Ethan Frome is not a formally perfect Nietzschean tragedy.

What do you guys think of this? I thought the sleigh accident near the end was very well done.

I don't think it is the greatest book of all time or anything, but it is my favorite

I read it once a year. It was required reading in high school, and I've always been very impressionable - the narrator's love of Ethan and to a large extent Mattie made me fall in love with them myself

My good friend, maybe best, just gave me a first edition printing that he found in his grandparents' attic. It's the oldest thing I own, from 1911. Best gift I've ever received