All right then. (Though I do think The Last of the Just is very sad as
well, even in the minimal sense you mean). The saddest book I have read is
Crason McCullers, The Heart is a Lonely Hunter.
On 4/27/07, Dominic Fox <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
> My tutor at university once recommended that I read _The Good Soldier_,
> by Ford Madox Ford. It's about as sad as you can get while still
> remaining in the register of "wealthy white people and their marital
> tribulations". Great story anyhow. Donleavy's "The Saddest Summer of
> Samuel S" is also gloriously mournful.
>
> I would want to distinguish "sad" from "devastating", "traumatic", etc.
> - it isn't merely an understatement, but a kind of category error to
> describe the enormities of warfare, natural disaster etc. as "sad",
> although sadness can arise alongside trauma and devastation. But sadness
> inheres in the normal, or in the effort to uphold normality.
>
> Dominic
>
--
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