Saltus divides humanity into those who accept life as a pleasing gift and those who look it in the mouth, and sides elegantly with the second. He traces the genesis of pessimism, devotes a chapter to Schopenhauer as its high priest, examines the borderlands of happiness and the great quietus, and asks directly whether life is an affliction.
A stylish introduction to nineteenth-century pessimism from one of America’s most decadent prose writers. Download the free EPUB.