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Books about the outsider, who fails to adapt to society, generation / world...

Posted: 25 Feb 2020, 14:32
by taurus1
I am looking for books (movies) about the outsider, the dreamer/believer, a person with ideals, who fails to adapt to society, (someone with а rich inner world), trapped in the outside of his generation / world / society; ... dreaming of a different, better world (perfect world ...).
- addition (bonus):
...And his consequent (boosted/ growing fast) alienation, loss of soil (weightlessness), gradual decline, disappearance/ hiding from society; until final breakup.

The most similar to what I am looking for are:
The main character in "Marten Eden" (by Jack London). “The Memory Artists" by Jeffrey Moore (with Norval as the main character and Noel Burun partly). And also Chris McCandless in the film "Into the Wild".
I liked the idea of “Midnight in Paris” by Woody Allen about the Golden Age Syndrome too.

2. A film or a book about the last days of a person's life (time until the end of life).
Ex: "The Bucket list", but it is very sweeten and positive... :idea2:

Re: Books about the outsider, who fails to adapt to society, generation / world...

Posted: 26 Feb 2020, 16:15
by danicommissions
For number 1: can I check you've heard of / read 'L'Etranger' by Albert Camus? It fits your description pretty much perfectly. Other French existentialists from the time have a very similar premise, including Nausea by Sartre.

As for 2: The Diving-Bell and the Butterfly by Jean-Dominique Bauby comes to mind, which is a book he dictated by blinking when he was paralysed with locked-in syndrome. There's also Ways to Live Forever, a really beautiful novel aimed at a younger audience about a boy with leukaemia.

Re: Books about the outsider, who fails to adapt to society, generation / world...

Posted: 18 Mar 2020, 14:19
by mariana90
For number 1 I recommend "A Brave New World" by Aldous Huxley.

I'm stumped for number 2

Re: Books about the outsider, who fails to adapt to society, generation / world...

Posted: 22 Nov 2020, 18:03
by Eriny Youssef
Thanks for this thread, interesting topic.

Re: Books about the outsider, who fails to adapt to society, generation / world...

Posted: 22 Nov 2020, 19:14
by Bigwig1973
The first thing I thought of was A Clockwork Orange although it's a bit violent. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest might work if you view the insane asylum as incorrect and Jack's character as being right. If "Edward Scissorhands" was a book, that would fit as would Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. My apologies if the genres are a bit off from what you were looking for!

Re: Books about the outsider, who fails to adapt to society, generation / world...

Posted: 30 Nov 2020, 16:21
by JC gull
My brothers destroyer, by Clayton lindemuth.

Re: Books about the outsider, who fails to adapt to society, generation / world...

Posted: 30 May 2021, 02:43
by Dzejn_Crvena
IF CATS DISAPPEARED FROM THE WORLD

-book about the last days of a person's life (time until the end of life)
-set in Japan (translated into English)
-I read it last month and I loved it!

Re: Books about the outsider, who fails to adapt to society, generation / world...

Posted: 07 Jul 2025, 13:51
by Violet Devreaux
No Longer Human by Atsumu Dazai