I have a new coffee shop buddy ( british) that did some sort of college study on all of Thomas Hardy. She reads a lot. She wouldn't necessarily do it again, but she thought it was worth doing. Partly because he was very modern for his time. Sadly, the only thing I ever read by him was Jude the Obscure which I didn't love, but there were ideas in the bleakness that stood out. Too long ago for me to remember exactly what they were.

I think a great novel (or film or play) if bleak, has other pleasures. So, yeah, everyone dies in Hamlet, for example, but the meditations on action and personality and sanity and the exciting conflict and swordplay and bonus bits on acting make the journey a pleasure, even if what happens to the characters is a horrible tragedy.

Lolita is a great novel, even though it is about a horrible man doing horrible things and no one ends up happy or fulfilled. Nabokov's use of language and his observant eye on American culture and landscape and ultimately, his deeply caring view of his characters makes reading it a pleasure.

At least for me.

I found that books I was required to read for classes (mostly in HS) tended to be my least favorite from that author's works. For example, Moby Dick - I didn't like it, but it did lead me to read a number of other things by Melville which I did like. Ditto for Hardy - in HS I had to read The Return of the Native, which I disliked; in college we read The Mayor of Casterbridge, which I did like and went on to read most of the rest of Hardy's books.

I'm wondering if it was that the HS tended to pick the least accessible/enjoyable of an author's works or if it was the experience of having to read at a slower pace than my usual one and then pick over details in class (and not usually thematic details - at my HS it was mostly to check and make sure people actually read the book).

There's also the possibility that high schoolers aren't mature enough to appreciate Moby-Dick or The Return Of The Native.

but the meditations on action and personality and sanity and the exciting conflict and swordplay and bonus bits on acting make the journey a pleasure, even if what happens to the characters is a horrible tragedy.

So the art is the thing, in which to catch the conscience of the king.

OK, sorry, I couldn't help it.

I disliked them enough that I've never been able to force myself to go back and try them again from a more mature perspective.

This is an honest question: What is the appeal of bleakness?

I don't know if "appeal" is the right word, but if your experience had been very dark or bleak or cynical making then I think you would want to see that reflected in your art. That it would resonate as true, and anything less dark might look sentimental or false.

If you had survived the Bataan Death March it's possible that you might only want to watch romantic comedies starring Reese Witherspoon, but it's more likely that you'd see something of your life in The Pianist.

There's also the possibility that high schoolers aren't mature enough to appreciate Moby-Dick or The Return Of The Native.

I read Great Expectations in freshman year of high school, and I don't exactly remember how I felt about it, but I don't think it left a strong impression on me. And then I read it again in sophomore year of college, and I really liked it and could appreciate how damn funny it was.

And I read Moby Dick for a class junior year of college, for the record. Lolita too, actually.

I have no interest in James Joyce. Britney Spears's tube socks, also no interest. Stupid fights over nothing in which people won't apologize, dunce caps all round.

Wow, people, I go away for a day and we revert to kindergarten? What gives?! It's not even February, i.e. Our Regularly Scheduled Fight Over Nothing Month.

I disliked them enough that I've never been able to force myself to go back and try them again from a more mature perspective.

I think you're missing out. I've seen my own perspective on artwork change quite a bit since high school and have found that revisiting judgments I made then has often led to a reversal of my opinion. This may not be true for everyone, though.