Why read The Dream of the Ridiculous Man?

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The Dream of a Ridiculous Man

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Literary fiction

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Why read it?

1 author picked The Dream of the Ridiculous Man as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Brooks Hansen

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Another story we discuss in my mental health and literature class, and easily found in any collection of Dostoevsky, The Dream of the Ridiculous Man recounts one desperate and momentous night in the life of the titular depressive and proto-absurdist. His experience revolves around a faith-restoring dream in which (spoiler alert) the narrator shoots himself, is buried alive, pulled from the grave by a black angel, then flown through outer space to an alternate sun with an alternate earth where the local population is enjoying a shamelessly Edinic existence—that is, until the narrator contaminates them with his ego, causing them…

From Brooks' list on history, myth, and fantasy, as imagination sees fit.