In Case You Still Think My Job Is Very Easy

I have an idea for a new project, so I’m reading a lot of primary sources right now. The 1,096-page-long novel I just finished will work really well for what I want to do. However, it was a huge sacrifice to read it. The main characters were first tortured very graphically by Francoists, then even more graphically by the Stalinists, then really really graphically by the Nazis, and then some more by the Nazis, and then by the Soviet troops during World Word II. At some point, the protagonist went on a trip to Jerusalem, and I was afraid now he would now be tortured by the Zionists, but that, at least, didn’t happen.

Jokes aside, because of these endless and very detailed descriptions of torture, mutilation, rape, and killings, I’ve been having nightmares and panic attacks for the entire time I’ve been reading the book. And now that I finished it, there will be two more in a similar vein. So let nobody say that I haven’t sacrificed enough for the cause of literary criticism. I’ll be a nervous wreck after I’m done with these readings.