The darkest book: Philosophy Forums

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The darkest book

parmen
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Posted 01/02/04 - 08:03 AM:	#1
Are there any books that have made you afraid. Not to say like a horror novel or something like that. But really afraid of some might-be truth about humans or the world or something. In that sense what is the darkest book you've ever read. I'll pprobably have to say crime and punishment.

Libertarian
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Posted 01/02/04 - 08:11 AM:	#2
Hmm... Probably The Bell Jar.
"Entia non sunt multiplicanda praeter necessitatum." — William of Ockahm

geoff23
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Posted 01/02/04 - 08:50 AM:	#3
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley. The scary thing about this book is that it depicts a world which consists of what many people think is Utopia. It is in fact the starkest depiction of Hell imaginable.
The poets did not win; the philosophers surrendered. (Umberto Eco)

zOOmz
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Posted 01/02/04 - 01:13 PM:	#4
Aztec by Gary Jennings. Also one of my favorite books. The way that it depicts human sacrifice and savagery of the Aztec culture and the invading Cortez and the Spanish brand of savagery makes it the darkest book for me. Two examples of the religion of barbarism. The might be truth is that this barbarism still exists in the dark nature of man today. Look at Saddam and sons and their human shedding machines as one example. All this dark horror is justified by the perpetrators today just as it was in the days of the Aztecs. z
got Zen? "Reality is that which doesn't disappear when you stop believing in it." Phillip K. Dick (thanks dimka)

Mazet
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Posted 01/02/04 - 01:58 PM:	#5
geoff23 wrote: Brave New World by Aldous Huxley. The scary thing about this book is that it depicts a world which consists of what many people think is Utopia. It is in fact the starkest depiction of Hell imaginable. I thought that world sounded rather pleasant myself, no joke. I mean, you're conditioned to be happy, and you do drugs if your not. You enjoy life pretty much, sounds pretty good to me. Some of those old how to be a housewife and etiquette book are pretty creepy.

CarbonFilter
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Posted 01/02/04 - 02:09 PM:	#6
The Lottery, by Shirley Jackson.

Paul
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Posted 01/02/04 - 03:09 PM:	#7
Perhaps Zamyatin's "We". I don't see how "Brave New World" can be considered that dark when it ends relatively positive -- happy exile for some, contented death for others. Nothing that ends with everything nicely wrapped up for the characters is truly dark, because there's no continuation of suffering or prolonged sense of hopelessness.
"We used to think that if we knew one, we knew two, because one and one are two. We are finding that we must learn a great deal more about 'and'." - Arthur Eddington

Nihilistic Locomotive
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Posted 01/02/04 - 03:31 PM:	#8
Darkness Visible, Golding; The Metamorphosis, Kafka;Heart of Darkness, Conrad.
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Gramm
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Posted 01/02/04 - 04:11 PM:	#9
Hitlers' 'Mein Kampf', Karl Marx's 'Communist Manifesto' Mao tse Tung's 'Little Red Book' The Bible, The Koran. Between them all they have butchered countless millions of innocent lives across many generations. They should all be burned.
Light is not diminished by being shared. Desiderata

Wax
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Posted 01/02/04 - 04:52 PM:	#10
American Psycho by Brett Easton-Ellis. A truly disturbing book. 50 pages on Whitney Heuston is enough to scare the pants of anyone.
Progress (n) advancement, progress (gradual improvement or growth or development)

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