/lit/ - Literature

What are the essential works of pessimism? Is Just ordered 'The Conspiracy Against the Human Race', on Amazon, and was wondering what else would go well with it as an extended reading course for the coming winter.

>Stendhal syndrome is a psychosomatic disorder that causes rapid heartbeat, dizziness, fainting, confusion and even hallucinations when an individual is exposed to an experience of great personal significance, particularly viewing art.

Name the book that made you laugh and weep at the same time.

I hit a road block.

I wrote a neo-noir detective novel with existential overtones. It's about the relationship between two detectives who are partnered together on a murder case. One is a laid-back, dark-humored subscriber to the Absurdist philosophy who thinks of the case as a game, a thought which appalls the partner's sense of moral rightness despite his history as a dirty cop. The latter eventually crumbles under the pressure of the case and allows an old drug habit to destroy his marriage.

I think it's great for what it is; a pop-philosophy flavored thriller with a downer ending, but when I described it to a friend of mine, they looked at me weird and said, "So it's True Detective?".

And that fucked my world up because now I'm comparing my first draft against an HBO show I never watched and I'm positive I'll be called out for plagiarism.