This Will Destroy You

Literature is the way we wrestle with grief, meaning and survival. In this book, Justin McDaniel, professor and former Buddhist monk, invites us on a sixteen-week course of radical reading designed to unsettle, transform and restore. Each chapter is modelled on his popular university course, which requires the class to read a novel in a single sitting, grappling with complex feelings that arise and then articulating them before they evaporate in the busyness and distraction of the outside world. Through a captivating range of modern classics from around the globe – by James Baldwin, Carmen Maria Machado, Yukio Mishima, Ottessa Moshfegh, Paul Bowles and more – Existential Despair explores the experiences that shape us and test us to our limits, from childhood to longing, sex, loneliness and death. Existential Despair is a rare opportunity to pursue an immersive reading experience that is so much more than entertainment – one that could save your life.