So he spends the entire book summarizing various pessimistic philosophers, mainly "The Last Messiah" by Peter Zapffe. Why not just read the Last messiah?
He doesn't present any arguments why life is terrible, he just goes on (quoting The Last Messiah) as if it were obvious.
The book wasn't bad, but all these threads I see where people say this book ruined their life, asking for happy books which will remedy their ruined pscyhe, made me expect something more. But I realize now those people are just pathetic, and this book justified their worthless existence. Virgins in their basements pretending that they are virgins by choice, for some 'higher cause', as if they were helping humanity by not procreating instead of just being pathetic.
Anyways, thoughts on this book? Anyone else underwhelmed?
He made it clear that it is just a collection of negativity basically though and that trying to convince normies of what is ultimately an opinion is futile.
Charles Sanchez
did you shop a pepe silhouette into this is or that the real cover
Ryan Scott
not sure what you're even talking about, but no i'm not a degenerate frog posting faggot
Samuel Torres
It's not so much about pessimism as discussing why pessimistic writers and pessimistic philosophy aren't popular and aren't widespread.
He's not trying to say pessimism is correct. He admits he assumes it is and he admits he's biased but the point of the book isn't about that. It's about why people are so against that idea and why people who espose it are seen to be alt/crazy/weird.
Lucas Morgan
has Zapffe even been widely translated in English? I remember hearing about him through Arne Naess years ago and none of it was available in translation.
I like Ligotti's fiction but I have yet to read this. I kind of feel like I would rather have his ideas filtered through fiction.
Lucas King
>He's not trying to say pessimism is correct.
Come on now, he's an antinatalist he couldn't be more convinced that pessimism is correct and for the whole book he hammers on it being so.
Jacob Howard
No, unfortunately his essays and plays are impossible to track down in English. I believe he writes in a dialect that makes it difficult to translate, but I have read some attempted translations of bits of his work. Can't say if they're real, though, but I don't need them to be either.
I kind of want to write a letter to Knoseguard asking him to get his small press to publish a complete works. But I live in delusions.
The fact that "The Last Messiah" is considered by some as philosophy-as-lit and so not worth perpetuating as a style, and from others as degenerate reasoning and so a threat to human dignity, is shameful.
I really want to read his other essays and especially want to read his play about Jesus. But I also will not read it in his language because ... reasons.
Maybe someone in the know has a solution other than forging for a new language?
Gabriel Cruz
He realises that there isn't much of an actual argument for muh feels though.
Mason Turner
Here's an English translation of Zappfe's The Last Messiah.
that was a great read, much better than ligotti's entire book. thanks for sharing
Ryder Kelly
I see it now user, t-thanks.
Ethan Martinez
how could you not see it sooner, you mong? there's literally a single silhouette on that cover with a single head and don't even try to pretend you haven't seen that fucking frog enough times to map his god damn jaw to the golden ratio in your sleep by now.
Christian Nelson
>pretending that they are virgins by choice
B-but user, 1 Corinthians 7
Alexander Rogers
He's an anti-natalist and he states that at the start but no, he doesn't say "pessimism is objectively right", he tries to explain why he sees it as correct and, if it was/isn't correct, why people may find it so abhorrant. Perhaps I'm wrong but I remember the first part is more about tackling how people tend to argue with/dismiss pessimism out of hand with comments like
>y don't u kill urself then >it can't be wrong because people are essentially good >you must be depressed/crazy to think that
And then he goes on to tackle these arguments and explain how they're logically invalid. I think another thing he addresses is how many philosophies debate pessimism but also try to pin it on a source, such as Gnositicism's Demiurge, Buddhism's cycle of reincarnation, Schopanauer's great will and so forth.
The one time he really comes off as preachy is when he calls Schopanauer's ideas sheer faggotry becuase he "betrays his beliefs" at the end by saying "well hey by golly maybe life isn't so bad"
Personally, I don't really care if pessimism is right or wrong, I just found this book a good codex/reference point for pessimistic writing and liked his comparisons in it. Plus, it lent a greater context to his writing and I'm a fan of Ligotti's work.
Charles Ramirez
FFS I thought this board understood what literature was.
This book is not non-fiction. It's a long form written version of The Despair Code: unfalsifiable beautiful hopelessness. Ligotti does not actually believe in what he's writing
Benjamin Perez
i love Ligotti's Conspiracy like nothing else but Zapffe was fucking great
why the fuck was On The Tragic never translated to english? it would be one of the 20th philosophy classics
Mason Young
>people who use this website are bothered by this
James Taylor
I know, I have really searched but On The Tragic can not be found anywhere in English.
Really sad that Zappfe got so little attention.
Owen Murphy
Let's all write a letter to him. I will. I'd love to see that edition of his Complete Works on my hands.
Michael Jackson
You do know that Zappfe is dead, right?
And guys who were supposedly working on translation into English gave up, citing funds as problem.
Nolan Powell
No shit man I meant to write the letter to Knausgard or whatrever.
Robert Martin
And guys who were supposedly working on translation into English gave up, citing funds as problem.
There are no current plans for translation, user.
Parker Reed
i know, i've searched anywhere i've even searched for it in spanish, portuguese, french and italian but i found almost nothing but random quotes (and even those were quite insightful, it just made me angrier for not finding anything)
i'd jizz if Penguin Classics or whatever finally publish it in english
Christopher Myers
Sadly, that will probably never happen. Works of pessimists are not that popular and easy to sell.
What is your opinion on anti-natalism that Zappfe promoted?
Asher Morales
probably the best type of it,i agree with the notion that bringing children into the brutal absurdity of the world should be considered an act of cruelty
Jason Wilson
>Anyways, thoughts on this book? Anyone else underwhelmed? I found it boring. There is nothing special in it - as you said, he book is basically a summary of what other philosophers thought - any student of philosophy will find the book has nothing new to say.
Julian Williams
>virgin
Are you guys like, retarded?
I spent a good many month not being a virgin. Just because you chill for a while doesn't mean you're a fucking virgin again lmao
