"Does modern life make us happy? "

Ruskin Park

A propósito do post anterior "Upstairs, downstairs": "The second half of the book proposes five realms of activity that challenge this mainstream status-standard: philosophy, art, politics, religion and "bohemia." In the book's funniest passage, de Botton imagines what mainstream tabloid headline writers might make of the failed lives depicted in tragic literature. "Oedipus the King," for example, is reduced to "Royal in Incest Shocker." "Reduced" is the key word here. De Botton's point is that a great tragedy, on stage or in fiction, can lend dignity and humanity to a life where all status has been lost or forfeited." Daqui