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  1. The New York Review of BooksTim Parks13 min
    12 reads3 comments
    9.8
    The New York Review of Books
    12 reads
    9.8
    You must read the article before you can comment on it.
    • Ruchita_Ganurkar3 years ago

      Insightful thoughts in this article. The thought of pessimism holds us in the same loop of negativeness. Perhaps the best way to understand our engagement with pessimism is to observe those occasions when it does not attract us when we put it aside with distaste or boredom.

      Life is chaos, a long sequence of uncontrollable disasters, but this idea is expressed with great control and elegance, suggesting heroic adaptation, appropriation even, rather than capitulation

      • Karenz3 years ago

        No thanks—isn’t enough cleverness to sell me this idea. And cleverness can be as boring and snobbish as pessimism!

    • jeff3 years ago

      Really excellent article! Super smart exploration of the aesthetic attraction to pessimism. Cleverness and subversion are always a great pairing.