Ingenious Pain Andrew Miller

prompt: One major themes discussed Alain de

One of the central philosophical components of Friedrich Nietzsche's varied stance is the fact that pain is integral to providing meaning to the human life. This basic tenet is echoed in Andrew Miller's Novel, Ingenious Pain, which chronicles a protagonist who is born with a marked inability to perceive suffering or physical pain -- whether it is his or that of someone else (Barnard). Although the life of James Dyer -- the protagonist -- is highly eventful and full of action, it is curiously devoid of much meaning from Dyer's perspective, until a change encounter with a woman named Mary bestows upon him the capacity to feel pain. The sudden transition for the young man, and the fledgling empathy he eventually develops as a result, eventually overrides his life and leads to his death. Yet in the process, Dyer's...
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