Misanthropy, Literature and Freedom

"What's your favourite book?" she asked him.

"I don't really have a favourite one. It depends on the subject and what sort of mood I'm in."

"Stop avoiding the question and give me an answer I can use or I shall beat you severely."

He switched on the kettle. "Bad day at the office?"

She dumped her bag on the sofa and wandered back into the kitchen. "Since when are there any good days of 'work'," she said. "I'd walk out of the place tomorrow if I had a financial alternative to starvation.

"I just want something to read that I can lose myself in and not have to think about that crappy dump until tomorrow. If I don't use literature as a mind altering substance for relief from the insanity of humanity, I will have to develop a drug habit or become an alcoholic."

"Hmm. How about Peter Hoeg's Miss Smilla's Feeling For Snow, or anything by Charles Bukowski, or any of Richard Stark's Parker novels, or Les Miserables if you have more than a few hours to spare. Or if you want humour to lighten the load how about any of Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum books, or Carl Hiaasen's stuff," he said.

"Janet Evanovich sounds good, but I think I am up to speed with all her books unless she has sneaked another new one out. I'll have a look on Kindle at Carl Hiaasen see where he's up to with his 'stuff'. He'd love you - Hi, I'm Carl Hiaasen, I write 'stuff'," she snorted. "How come almost everything you like is dark and bleak?"

"Because I'm a dark and bleak sort of person, a soulless misanthrope," he said. "I don't do light and fluffy."

"You like Janet Evanovich's books," she pointed out.

"Yeah, but I only read them to contrast the bleakness of Knut Hamsun, or old Louis Ferdinand Celine. At least that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it," he said.

"Do you think literature can make you free - is the pen mightier than the sword?"

"Of course it can. But only you as an individual, literature can never make 'society' free. Reading it won't change anything on its own, not unless you act on what you've read and work to make your own life better. But if you write something which makes you money then you can use that money to pursue your own type of happiness - in my case, our case, solitude," he said, glancing at the timer on the microwave. "Almost done.

"Literature as a proactive, creative thing can improve your life. Literature as something you simply consume and react emotionally to won't change anything. It's like buying another new iPod. It's simply a cost, beyond an emotional buzz there is no real gain, no real improvement in your life. If you create a new iPod or its equivalent you can get wealthy and translate that wealth into happiness if your smart enough. Although, I guess if you used an iPod to create something like a podcast then you could maybe use it creatively, proactively instead of reactively. It doesn't really matter whether it's literature or anything else, you need to be proactive not reactive. To have a positive focus on what you want to achieve, not to simply react negatively to what others are doing all the time."

She considered that for a while before asking, "So why do you like all these 'bleak' authors?"

It was his turn to consider, looking for some common denominator in what he liked. "I guess it's because they all write about having a life, not just a job or a career, but an actual life that is worth living. Most people just get conned into sustaining the myth of the unholy trinity of education, job, death. That your only purpose for existence, according to the sadistic elite, is for you to generate wealth - and not even for yourself but just for them. All my favourite authors, or their characters, are usually banging their heads against the brick wall of that mindless conformity. Even Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum isn't conventional.

"But the problem is that if you go the same route, and butt up against mindless conformity in reality, life can be pretty bleak. The petty-minded vicious stupidity of people who have got more power than they have the intelligence, integrity or courage to deal with has always being a potentially lethal obstacle to happiness for us out-of-step minorities. All the petty bureaucratic types would much rather force you back into mindless conformity than face the terrifying possibility of having to actually think and make a decision for them self, it's what the sadistic elite rely on to keep their system of exploitation running - fear.

"You'll never shake enough of the masochistic masses free of their fear for long enough to make the system collapse, so all you can do is to step off that conveyor belt of conformity and live your own life. The sadistic elite hate you because you won't tug the forelock and pander to their insane greed, and the masochistic masses hate you because your 'different' and anything different terrifies them and so they would rather destroy you than confront their own fears.

"We are like Frankenstein's monster with the pitchfork bearing villagers pursuing us to our doom, goaded on by their rulers. An all encompassing fear fest. And then we die. And then the cycle starts all over again with the next person or persons that terrify them.

"Hell, yes, I'm bleak. I have little to look forward to except a lifetime of banging my head against a brick wall of the insanity of human fear and greed unless I get lucky and win a lottery somewhere and get enough cash to sidestep the hell hole of 'society'. Because the stuff I want to create is never going to appeal to the masses, only a tiny group of my fellow misanthropic or introverted individualists. And so it's hard for me to see a way to fund my freedom. Life's a bitch and then you die - or some politician has you killed, but either way your just as dead."

The microwave pinged.

"And hear endeth the misanthropic word according to Ayn Galt, or John Rand, or Misery Guts, whatever label or name you chose to hang on my version of 'The Truth'. Having made my 'speech' to the world... well, you, I'm off to have my tea. Coming?"