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unidentifiedflyingobject's picture

The appropriateness of Sorrows of an American

I still can´t decide how much I liked the Sorrows of an American as a novel. I think the closest I can come is to say that I liked and appreciated it, but I had a difficult time feeling really strong empathy for the characters. I also think it´s a little forgettable, that is, it didn´t leave me with any really strong feelings or any powerful message--in fact, it didn't even leave me with a strong feeling that life is anticlimatic.

I think selections from Hermann Hesse's Glass Bead Game, or maybe from Robert Pirsig's Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, may be more beneficial for this course--both books mix the art of the novel with philosophy and the Glass Bead Game's theme of understanding how all subjects relate to each other are particularly relevant concepts in the course.

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