Quotations and Literature Forum

OK, a few of us mentioned Catcher in the Rye so I'm posting the opening:

"If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you'll probably want to know is where I was born and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap."
- J. D. Salinger

1984 is classic in this subject ! i never critize it.
also baudrillard is very pessimist, and hard to read his books. and sometimes chomsky too.
also werther by goethe.

did you read "unbridged journals of sylvia plath" ?

okay...............
"Mechnock the Devil" by Anne Rice is good, its not very depressing by people who like depressing books usually like it.
almost anything by Robert Cormier is good, but if you want specific books i would go with:
"The Chocolate War"
"Beyond the Chocolate War"
"I Am The Cheese"
"Tunes for Bears to Dance To"
"Heros"
"After the First Death"
"Tenderness"
"We All Fall Down"
"In The Middle of the Night"
"Eight Plus One"
and all of his other books. they are all deeply depressing, some end well and some don't.
ARG! movies would be so much easier to name.

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"In my time, nightmares walked among us, skewering victims in plain sight...This to make us laugh. And now nightmares are trapped inside the heads of humans...I wonder whom they angered so to merit such a fate?"

Emile Cioran has written the most bitter and pessimistic books I've read. Here are some quotes from his works:

"It's not worth the bother of killing yourself, since you always kill yourself too late" The Trouble With Being Born (De l'inconvénient d'être né, Gallimard 1973)

"The desire to die was my one and only concern; to it I have sacrificed everything, even death." All Gall Is Divided (Syllogismes de l'amertume, Gallimard 1952)

"Nothing proves that we are more than nothing."A Short History of Decay (Précis de décomposition, Gallimard 1949)

The House of Sand and Fog by Andre Dubus III is definitely a pessimistic (depressing) book....and an excellent read.

"Prozac Nation", can't remember the author. Its a true story about someone suffering from depression. its really gripping even though it doesnt sound it... and it certainly makes you think

i think "le jeux sont faits" by sartre is a little pessimistic book even i cant compare with slyvia plath's books.

"bonjour tristesse" by francoise sagan

and

"carmen" by prosper mérimée

well, i havent thought that some theory books can be pessimistic until now

take a look,
"Les Stratégies Fatales", by Baudrillard
and also
"The Power Elite" by C. Wright Millls

hmm.. actually i havent read any optimistic sociologue

but i cryyy y pessemism!!!!!!!!!!!!! lets be optimisim a bit

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IF YOU CAN DREAM IT YOU CAN DO IT

it is no point to complain for this, you could open another title.

good idea.. but thanx for it

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IF YOU CAN DREAM IT YOU CAN DO IT

I'll add Anna Karenina and Lolita.

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Liz