I find myself wishing for a single word to express this concept.
I sometimes refer to the concept while reading. I think: "this book has insight through horribleness." It requires a certain twisted perceptiveness on the part of the author, but to be sure the author is not usually writing truth.
It differs from "insight through analysis," "insight through description," and related concepts. I am never sure if I should report on books which offer insight through horribleness. Jack Henry Abbott is a (dead) author who has insight through horribleness.
Sometimes the best an author can do is hope to incite provocations.
It’s difficult to provide “insight through analysis” and the like on intelligible terms if the concept aimed it is out of analytical reach.
Of course, the reader is left to negotiate between true horribleness and necessary, insightful horribleness.
We had a troll on a mail list ten years ago. I characterized his views as “Important and Wrong”. (Like communism) I also would like to see a medal (just below the purple heart) for no-fault injuries (primarily deaths) which lead to improvements in process. But I think these are merely related ideas.
inciteful?
Tough fluff.
“misanthropology”
Yeah, just caught the typo.
“Epinfamy”, rather.
Couldn’t you just translate the phrase into German and then mash all the words into a single long one?
Thomas Harris was the author of Red Dragon, The Silence of the Lambs, and Hannibal Rising. How about Harrisonian? Or if you want to focus on the ‘Star’ of the trilogy, Lecteronian?
Appalladigm
Can you clarify what you mean by “insight through horribleness”? Do you mean that they are morally horrible or terrible writers or maybe they say something that triggers an insight in you even though their own insights are so banal that it might be considered horrible to waste everyone’s time by writing them down? I guess I’m a bit confused about who is having the insight and also about which meaning of the word “horrible” you intend.
i think you mean this in a naked lunch sort of way. no?
Anagnorisis — a revelation into the true nature of things, usually through tragedy. We could broaden the technical, literary meaning of anagnorisis to include the truth that is revealed, not just to the tragic protagonist, but also to the readers.
There is a classic poem by Aeschylus that expresses insight through horror:
“He who learns must suffer. And even in our sleep pain that cannot forget falls, drop by drop, upon the heart, and in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom to us by the awful grace of God.”
Minh_Ly@brown.edu
The author is a mystagogue.
I would call it wiliness. The author writes what he want us to believe, without believing it himself.
When Tyler writes this type of post, I go check out what Roissy said recently.
Sophistic?
Then there’s the flipside, “horribleness through insight”, which is when you have the epiphany that nice guys finish last and start acting accordingly…
“Couldn’t you just translate the phrase into German and then mash all the words into a single long one?”
How about “schrecklichwissen”, ie. “horrible knowledge”?
Also “Casuistry” – “the use of clever but unsound reasoning, esp. in relation to moral questions”
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