Misanthropy

The misanthrope as a figure in philosophy and literature can be comic or tragic, an anti-democratic pessimist, or a defeated idealist. Everyone has an inner misanthrope, but only some people get fixated on the darker side of human nature. In this book Andrew Gibson examines both the archetype and the mode of misanthropic writing, from its origins in the ancients, to the relevance and prevalence in Modernist and contemporary French and Anglophone culture.Grounding his philosophical discussion within the material and political conditions of philosophical and literary production, Gibson moves deftly from discussing misanthropy in relation to internal sin, social alienation, and comic performativity, to consumerist culture and the horrors of colonialism. Whether discussing Moliere, Swift, Beckett, Twain, or Woolf, Gibson''s intelligent pessimism illuminates the eccentricity and persistent misanthropy of his troubled subjects with affection and empathy, developing a philosophy of the misanthrope, and ultimately exploring what kind of creature the human really is.