/lit/ - Literature

>>5756724
The Legacy of Totalitarianism in A Tundra

It was the conglomeration of all current and future failures wasting their time where they could have been succeeding in making themselves a better person - more intelligent, learning a skill, finding a job, completing goals - and instead they sat in front of a screen writing paragraph after paragraph of memes.

At least 4chan is a solid containment for those who lie willingly in the wastes.

I'd hate to see what it would be like on the streets if your mothers didn't let you live with them.

>>5756724
Naked is top tier.

The end of the song of kali was fucking terribly depressing

>>5756724

The most emotionally stressful experience I had reading a book was Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit, rather embarrassingly. I wasn't in a good place at the time, young and deeply dissatisfied with my social skills. There's a whole passage where she more or less emphatically states that your first reaction to adversity in expressing your sexual identity is firmly determinative of all future outcomes. I found the prospect immensely distressing.

I was eventually able to reason that her level of insight into male sexuality, in particular, was highly questionable. She says that "Men want always to be the destroyer and never the destroyed", or very similar, while also acknowledging that she's never so much as kissed a dude. She adds some caveat "There are exceptions and I hope they are happy", which seemed a little churlish to me. Besides which, the whole paradigm of destroyer/destroyed seemed and seems to me a little fucked up, and at the least highly restrictive. So it was more a case of rejecting her authority on the subject in general than arguing my exceptional status regarding her pronouncements.

The portion of op's dad's diary covering when I forced him to be a cuckold faggot and watch me fuck op's whore mother.

>>5756724

Made me want to kill myself several times.

I'm very prone to swings in philosophical passion, tough.

>>5756733
says the guy un 4chan

>>5756744
This. Naked is a masterpiece.

Getting depressed by literature presupposes an optimistic outlook on existence, a boat to be rocked.
>>5756888
I found this mostly humorous and a nice cross-section of pessimism throughout the ages.

>>5756920
is there anything i have to read before naked? you two really got me hyped

>>5756724
This thing right here
Not depressive in the "oh em gee i'll cut my wrists" way but it has such a pessimistic look about the world that you have no other choice than to get depressed

>>5756733

>wasting time is inferior to (list of things that are also wastes of time)

Check this out first:
>>5756888

Then pic related.

>>5756943
The greeks

>>5756972
already done that

also: fuck you

>>5756733

Under the Volcano.
Stoner.
Catch 22.

I try to avoid the depressing ones, though.

>>5756724
Not a book but, My Old Man
Or something by that old Russian, Dusty

>>5756724
Jude the obscure.
Tartar Steppe.
Stoner.

>>5756944
The last chapter is pure genius though.

A Scanner Darkly closely followed by Stoner.

>>5756943
just watch it m8

>>5756985
>already done that
lol

Stoner by John Williams is one of the most depressing books I've ever read.

Stoner

>>5756724
Naked is OK

>>5756724

The Crying of Lot 49
The Long Goodbye
Everything That Rises Must Converge
What We Talk About When We Talk About Love
Madame Bovary

>>5756724

11 Kinds of Loneliness has moments that are devastatingly bleak

>>5756943
It's the movie in OPs pic.Not a book.

>>5758272
>I rarely understand the books I read

The Jungle by Upton Sinclair
God damn my man Jurgis could catch a fucking break
Also
Jude the obscure
Ethan frome

The Notebook, The Truth, and The Third Lie

There couldn't possibly be anything bleaker than Deadeye Dick, I had to put it down sometimes and take a breather for fear of losing my shit

>>5757857
My poor poor nigga jude

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro. To be clear I think it's a terrible book and I have no idea how it was shortlisted or won so many prizes and accolades.

It wasn't depressing because I felt sorry for any of the characters; they could've all been doused in gasoline and set on fire for all I cared. It was their inaction that was so depressing. Inaction and dull acceptance of their fates to an extent that makes my lip curl just thinking about it; it was almost disgusting. Still, it did leave me with a feeling of gloom.

1984

>>5758338
I really lost hope in humanity when I saw how much those books sold

Flow my Tears the Policeman Said.


>this

>>5756828
jesus christ. that sounds terrifying

>>5756724

A Hero Of Our Time

At the same time one of the best books I've ever read.

>>5758464
>tour de force
wow

>>5758710
Considering that you are spamming this, anyone have a link to it online.

Definitely Jude the Obscure

>>5756733
Something like the 60's, I imagine.

>>5756733
NO FUN ALLOWED!

>>5756733

>making themselves a better person
>being this deluded

>>5758797

It's on TPB but in a shitty 700mb avi rip.

>>5756724
what a great movie

anybody has similar recommendations? not necessarily as bleak, just as good

>>5758314

excuse me?

are you suggesting those books aren't depressing/bleak? because they're all really bleak.

>>5758314
>>5759093

but truly I am genuinely curious as to your response on this so I hope you respond eventually.

Lot 49 ends with the lead character losing any faith in the possibility of a semblance of coherency existing in the chaos of the world

The Long Goodbye is entirely concerned with the impossibility of any resolution coming along that could truly allow us to let things go or to overcome our overwhelming loneliness

Everything That Rises Must Converge is almost completely about the impossibility of knowing ourselves with any degree of accuracy until we are met with a violent revelation that often either leaves us destroyed or only imparts a fleeting knowledge

What We Talk About When We Talk About Love is about the inadequacy of love and the ultimate failure of what we usually consider as one of our only paths to salvation to cure our yearning for something more

Madame Bovary is about the very horrible realization that regardless of our persistent belief in an ideal form of life, it's not compatible with the cold reality that we are forced to inhabit

so yeah, how are these books not depressing?

>There are people that have read Stoner nonironically
Didn't know there were so many potheads here

>>5759332

'How to read classical Tibetan'

Things get harder as you age, therefore sad.

>>5758797
Found the film on youtube for anyone interested. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gMwzvAt84P8

With The Old Breed revived intense negative feelings in me, but I'm not sure that's the same.

One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich

>>5758272
>Tcol49
You didn't get it, didcha?
Go read Freud, then Lcan.

>>5758272
Madame Bovary isn't depressing. She dies at the end. That fucking bitch. It is a happy end.

Note from Underground
it didn't help that I identified totally with the MC

>>5758898
Video
(HD - Movies)
Mike Leigh - Naked (1993)
Magnet linkThis torrent has 2 comments.VIP Uploaded 07-24 2011, Size 3.08 GiB, ULed by mfccorrea

>>5756724
where the red fern gr- wait i-il be right back, i got something in my eye..

I find philosophy more depressing than literature. I find Nietzsche very depressing, not because he portrays himself as a depressed person, but that he frankly explains that suffering is necessary for self-improvement, and that no pity or sentiment should be associated with this suffering, but that it is the necessary experience for those wanting to improve themselves, despite the fact it will leave them isolated and misunderstood.

I found Less Than Zero incredibly depressing, because of it's shallowness and the utter emptiness of it all.
And also because I identify with Clay.

>>5759990
>Nietzsche
>very depressing

Do you even ubermensch?

>>5759990
Nietzsche was a fool.

Pain does exist to improve people, but not so that they become hardened beasts indifferent to suffering. That isn't improvement, that's brutalization. If anything pain exists to increase compassion, not smother it.

>>5760074
>but that he frankly explains

Don't be fooled by his rhetoric. Nietzsche was more romanticist poet than philosopher.

I don't know. I forgot all the books that harmed me because they are worthless trash; I only remember the ones that have made me happier. I don't read recent literature anymore. Neoclassical and Romantic art were already bad enough, but when it came to Realism/Naturalism there was no longer any art left, it was just dirty journalism fixated on the seedy side of life. My favourite art/literature is the Neoplatonic stuff of the late Roman Empire / Byzantine Empire, and stuff from the Middle Ages. The art that is really spiritual allegory and mythology.
For me Shakespeare represents everything modern/bad in art. I despise Shakespeare. His shit reminds me of the decadent shit of old Athens and Rome - the comedies that Plato complained about as being dreck for the masses.

>>5757882
Most of the book is, really

>>5758272
>What We Talk About When We Talk About Love

Wouldn't call this particularly depressing. Just a whole bunch of feels.

>>5760075

this. nobody ever says this and it is dead on

>>5759573

>he thinks Bovary is a bitch

way to misunderstand Flaubert's intention fella

>>5760143

>title story features characters in a room drinking gin until the sun goes down and they continue sitting in the darkness while drinking gin silently after an afternoon speaking of their past abusive relationships and their inability to make things work
>not depressing
>just feels

are you serious?

Ougai Mori

>>5759557

I wonder if any of you actually care to explain your views on the book or if just citing theorists is your way of understanding books. Any novel that ends with a character who ends up spending her nights getting drunk and driving on the highway with her lights off is likely going to be fairly bleak in my book

>>5759573
You didn't feel for Emma? Man, I nearly cried when she died. I do wish Charles would've kicked fuck out of Rodolphe, though, but I guess it wasn't in his nature to do so.
I felt for both characters, really.

>>5760192

Anyone that doesn't feel for Emma and realize that the tragedy of the novel is her inability to stop herself from trying to live an ideal life that she realizes is impossible is likely someone pretty virginal. That's why they always yell about how she's the worst person ever because she has an affair.

>>5757882
>>5760118
Yeah,it's great but it hits hard
They say your understanding changes when you read it after your 40s.Eventually I'll see

>>5760411
Have you read it in portuguese? If so, would you recommend reading it in the original?

The final bits of Lolita. The murder scene was so pitiful, and the scene in which Humbert finally reaches Dolores in her new home with her husband was fucked.

>>5760191
If your idea of depressing is suppression via alcohol then surely Bukowski or Hemmmingway are depressing?

"Herzog" by Saul Bellow is quite bleak.

Hemingways 'The sun also rises' kinda made me sad in the end.

>>5758764
I actually got an Everyman's copy of this from a thrift shop but haven't got around to reading it.
>Translated by Nabokov
I might be sold now

>>5760097
Plato said homer was bad for the masses
You saying the lliad and the odyssey is dreck?

There have been many that depressed me, but one that I thought was a terrific book and is never discussed here is Beneath the Wheel by Hesse.

The title refers to the protagonist being crushed by the dharma wheel, so you can imagine it is not really the most uplifting read.

>>5756888
Meh. To me it was so over the top that I found it humorous. also nice trips

Various sections of Les Miserables hit me hard.

When Jason drives past Caddy in TSATF as well.

>>5756724
The Road by McCarthy was pretty bad. And for some reason Bukovski (for example Post Office) strikes me hard. Probs because I am a conformist middle-class european who feels pity for such an existence...

King Lear
Blood Meridian
The Trial
Ulysses

The God Emperor of Dune.

Reason why: It really struck home the idea that the villain is necessary for the development of the world.

>>5756724
off thetop of my head I think A Scanner Darkly was pretty rough. idk The Road, maybe. Jesus Christ give me a minute to think about it.

>ctrl+f "tess"

God damn it /lit/.

>>5762953
>Ulysses
How is Ulysses depressing anon?

>>5760074
>implying Nietzsche was opposed to compassion
'magnanimity to the vanquished'
suffering is not to brutalize us but to give us the opportunity for greatness. Odysseus would just be some random faggot if he didn't have to go through all that shit.

>>5756724
Kafka-the trial was pretty depressing.

I found this Korean novel called "I Have the Right to Destroy Myself" at one of those terrible overstock bookstores in high school. one of those books that made me truly wonder why I even bother reading fiction when writers can just be lame, shadowy edgemasters most of the time

>>5760074
that's not at all why nietzsche thinks suffering is valuable

>>5763514

More melancholy than depressing. It represents the destruction of the english language as oppression, yet a departure from the symbolic self in all its familiarity. It is the death of an abusive loved one, bittersweet and marked by too many contradictions to bear.

>>5760442

No but my idea of depression is someone wanting to die. I think that makes sense, don't you? Doesn't wanting to be killed on the highway by a stranger because the one thing you felt made sense in the world disappeared could be construed as depressing? I don't see how you guys don't think someone giving in to complete paranoia and obsession only to lead to crushing feelings of isolation and meaninglessness is not depressing

A history of beastiality
Jens Bjorneboe

All 3 books

quran and bible

>>5764306
khek

>>5762332
yeah

>>5756920
author please