Existential Despair

A Guide to Sad Books

Imagine a class that meets for eight hours once a week. There are no devices, no prep, no exams, just one book to read in silence and discuss with the group at the end. This is the popular course called ‘Existential Despair’ that the former Buddhist monk and Guggenheim Fellow, Justin McDaniel, has been running at the University of Pennsylvania.

In this book, McDaniel draws from his celebrated classes to guide readers through sixteen novels that unsettle, transform, and restore. Each chapter models McDaniel’s unconventional approach: reading an entire novel in one sitting, grappling with discomfort, and practicing deep concentration free of distraction.

From Baldwin on struggling with limitations and Kawakami on loneliness to Saramago on the future and Heti on parenthood, McDaniel takes us on a tour of world literature from the past century with bracing candour and erudite analysis. This Will Destroy You is an elegant defence of the value of great literature, showing us the profound wisdom and solace that only fiction can give; re-enchanting us with the practice of reading as a means of wrestling with loss, meaning and survival in the face of life’s hardships.

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