readers advisory for all discussion

Hi all.

I've been reading a lot of books written in the early 20th centuary and have always been interested by the modernist philosophy of "nothing matters" bleeding into the literature, like T. S. Eliot and William Faulkner. So I was hoping some one could point me in the direction of a book with the same kind of nihilism or sterility, but in a modern context (something a la Fight Club).

Thanks.

Apathy and Other Small Victories might be up your alley.

Have you read Nathanael West? He wrote in the 1930's, so he's modern but not contemporary like "Fight Club," so I'm not sure if he's exactly what you are looking for, but he does nihilistic dark-comedy like no other. Miss Lonelyhearts & The Day of the Locust

Oh, and Play It As It Lays by Joan Didion might have the mood you are looking for.

well, obviously anything Bret Easton Ellis has ever touched...

there is The Dice Man, which i have never read, so i can't vouch for its quality - it has always looked like a terribly dated work to me, but it is about someone who bases every decision on a dice roll, because what does it all matter etc etc.

Grendel is of course perfect, but not what one would call "modern".

Music for Torching is a maybe, it is like "what if revolutionary road was even more horrifying?" and is full of the dangerous effects of suburban boredom.

Everything Matters!. jasmine should pipe up about this one - i haven't read it, and it looks like it could go either way.

Fires.this one probably qualifies as well. it has been a long time, but i remember getting some nihilistic vibes from it...

I should be able to give a ton of suggestions but I'm drawing a pretty big blank. For not so modern nihilism you can try The Stranger or Journey to the End of the Night. Both of them have a very nihilistic protagonist.

Nothing, this is technically a YA book, but it's very dark and nihilistic. It's sort of what happens when a whole class of children are made aware that life is pointless.

I know I have more to offer, hopefully my memory will start working soon.

Hubert Selby Jr. isn't quite modern but he might be an interesting read for nihilism too. Last Exit to Brooklyn and Requiem for a Dream are the only two I have read though.

Parts but not all of Trainspotting might fit too, the book is definitely more nihilistic than the movie was.

And I haven't read these but from what I've heard they might do too, Cows and The Wasp Factory.

Blindness by José Saramago might fit the bill. It's certainly bleak.

I haven't read this yet, but The Canal by Lee Rourke looks like it might work.

okay. Apathy and Other Small Victories I second it's a great book although I think he kind of finds meaning at the end.

I haven't read Everything Matters! but I'm inclined to recommend it because I love currie, his other book God Is Dead I have read and is also about what we do when nothing matters such as worship children ect.

Nausea is in the older group you are already reading but it is really about nothing mattering.

Prescription for a Superior Existence: A Novel is a book that is kind of about the absence of truth and what you do when there is no actual right answer in the world, which then makes everything a little bit meaningless.

The Pets I think is there in a different kind of way also The Mighty Angel. these both exist in kind of an anti-narrative area where meaninglessness is expressed more in the banality of the story and that there isn't a grand drama being played out. the pets is about a guy hiding under the bed, the mighty angel is about an alcoholic who keeps going to rehab then picking up vodka on the way home.


honestly meaninglessness is kind of a pet project of mine, but I tend toward the existential, what is meaning without objective meaning narrative themes, but I have more depending on which types of narratives you like. I've never read faulkner so I'm not positive how his stand up with the themes.

also Spurious and Am I a Redundant Human Being? both of which I haven't read yet.

and Eat When You Feel Sad and Shoplifting from American Apparel if you want to sort of look at it though minimalism.

The Trick Is to Keep Breathing and The Only Good Thing Anyone Has Ever Done: A Novel both look at it through depression.

Good ones Jasmine, I think anything by Tao Lin is probably good for nihilism, he takes the emptiness of the modern world to a very absurd level. I haven't read Shoplifting from American Apparel, but can recommend Eeeee Eee Eeee.

yeah listen to greg, a lot of the stuff I'm recommending he was the one to recommend to me in the first place.

London Fields by Martin Amis. Everyone is awful, it's fantastic.

Stuff by Dennis Cooper and Michel Houellebecq might work for you too.

Dead Babies. probably anything by amis. what a meanie.

jim thompson, of course.

Gerald's Party by coover.

Unholy Loves: A Novel by oates.

The Cannibal by hawkes.

pulp crime novels & nonfiction criminal investigations by colin wilson (Lingard, The Glass Cage: An Unconventional Detective Story, Schoolgirl Murder Case). for such an admirer of the potential of human greatness, he sure had his dark moments when contemplating the opposite.

Faggots

horror by john shirley. ugh, not a fan.

and just for fun, how bout some edward gorey.

Richard Stark, his books are crime but the main character is a pretty creepy sociopath.

did any of these suggestions sound good??

or not?

Very wrote: "Apathy and Other Small Victories might be up your alley."

You have to read Malice in Blunderland by Jonny Gibbings - just so dark and funny. AMAZING book

No Longer Human will give you a voice from the east.

this one about western hipsters/travelers finding and taking over a small town in sw china even has a subject heading of urban fiction, though it's pretty rural. more nihilism than you can shake a stick at Harvest Season: A Novel ps. they are harvesting one of the most nihilistic drugs around too

How is TS Eliot or Faulkner an example of 'nothing matters'? Hmm..

Hey, as you were looking Gibbings is doing his book for $1.24 (77p) on amazon. Not sure what the deal is but on twitter he's been doing this 'help me piss off some folks' - this seems to be a theme (He signed 200 books with cocks) lol

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Malice-in-Blu...

Hey, as you were looking Gibbings is doing his book for $1.24 (77p) on amazon. Not sure what the deal is but on twitter he's been doing this 'help me piss off some folks' - this seems to be a theme (He signed 200 books with cocks) lol

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Malice-in-Blu...

Not sure if you're still searching for books like this, but you can check out the ones by Chuck Palahniuk.

What about Kerouac?