CONTENTS Preface Acknowledgments ABBREVIATIONS PART I CHAPTER ONE The Anatomy of Pessimism PART II CHAPTER TWO “A Philosophy That Is Grievous but True”: Cultural Pessimism in Rousseau and Leopardi CHAPTER THREE “The Evils of the World Honestly Admitted”: Metaphysical Pessimism in Schopenhauer and Freud CHAPTER FOUR “Consciousness Is a Disease”: Existential Pessimism in Camus, Unamuno, and Cioran PART III CHAPTER FIVE Nietzsche’s Dionysian Pessimism CHAPTER SIX Cervantes as Educator: Don Quixote and the Practice of Pessimism CHAPTER SEVEN Aphorisms and Pessimisms CHAPTER EIGHT Pessimism and Freedom (The Pessimist Speaks) AFTERWORD BIBLIOGRAPHY INDEX