Monday, June 05, 2006

Depression

Some made the long drop from the apartment or office window; some took it quietly in two-car garages with the motor running; some used the native tradition of the Colt or Smith & Wesson; those well-constructed implements that end insomnia, terminate remorse, cure cancer, avoid bankruptcy, and blast an exit from intolerable positions by the pressure of a finger; those admirable american instruments so easily carried, so sure of effect, so well designed to end the american dream when it becomes a nightmare, their only drawback is the mess they leave for relatives to clean up

These are from 'To have and have not' by Ernest Hemingway, I guess it is to be expected from an author who later does the same thing, but this time uses a shotgun. I was trying to figure out which was the most depressing literature I've read, I guess it has to be 'Love' by Toni Morrisson (even though there were quite a few close contenders like 'Mrs. Dolloway', 'Catcher in the rye' and it even beat 'Desperation' by Stephen King). 'Love' is about a dying resort town and the two women who live there, but really the book is about depression.

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