/lit/ - Literature

>>12499854
Walden is pretty good. Doesn't exactly fit all the criteria but I'd consider it a decent fit. Also, Walt Whitman's poetry focuses on those themes a lot as well.

>>12499958
thanks! they sound great. after a quick google both look to be transcendentalists, which seems to me to be a fairly optimistic movement. is transcendentalism worth getting into beyond these two?

>>12499854
Dandelion Wine, Bradbury
*this is actually a subtext in many novels, human beings managing to fuck things up regardless. From Leo Tolstoy to Thomas Hardy. Any novel that's beautifully written, really.

>>12499854
Beside the point but that painting is one of my favorites. Van gogh was a genius

This is a mixed bag because it's set against the backdrop of war, but ultimately the series is about friendship and can be very comfy.

In Praise of Folly by Desiderius Erasmus

>>12500109
beautiful title, will definitely check it out. i agree with the subtext thing. I'm currently reading Mort à crédit which is about as depressing and vulgar as you can get and even there i feel like there's an almost hidden love for life in the book. after this i definitely want to read some books that are a little less secretive about their love though
>>12500118
absolutely agree, its one of my favorite van gogh's, he made it for his niece. i think the blossom meant a lot to him. he wrote his brother about them:
>"The weather here is changeable, often windy with turbulent skies, but the almond trees are beginning to flower everywhere."

>>12500241
Yeah, I read it Englished as Death on the Installment Plan. The French puts me in mind of St. Ex who in despite of basically comparing a malfunctioning airplane to a broken down love affair manages an intense love of the desert and the overall surround of flight in Southern Mail. Also the beautiful stories in Wind, Sand, Stars. This may seem over the top but why not Rabelais? There's certainly no lack of love and exuberance and he can be very touching when he wants to be, as in the conclusion of Gargantua. I found his love for life.. profonde.

>>12499854
>beauty
>joy

>life
>humans
>existence

Words that no one in their right mind would ever put together. Like "holocaust" and "nonfiction". Holy crackers.

>>12501463
retard

>>12499854
Reading Plato fills me with optimism and the type of beauty you are talking about

>>12499854
How Green Was My Valley, Richard Llewellyn

Cannery Row by Steinbeck

>>12499854
>What are some great books about joy, the beauty of life, existence, humans, and everything in between?

>>12499854

Zorba the Greek

>>12499854
Siddharta by Hesse