After finishing Despair by Nabokov (a delightful but disturbing read) I suddenly realized: I don't like being submerged in the brain of a character I abhor. I had the same experience with Succession on tv: a brilliant series, but I despise all the people in it! Most fiction seems to center around people who are slightly evil, deranged or unhealthy (presumably that's what makes them interesting). For years I relished this immersion in the musings of mad minds, but as Epictetus says: ‘You become what you give your attention to.’
Anyhow, I’m looking for novels with (main) characters that are morally good, spiritually evolved, intellectually brilliant, … but that are still interesting. A few examples that come to mind: Alyosha Karamazov, Ulrich aka The Man Without Qualities, Asimov’s Hari Seldon, Herman Hesse’s Siddharta. I'm interested in novels with a touch of Buddhist psychology, but that's a bonus. It can be any genre, as long as the book contains personages that are wholesome and whose words and actions nurture, cultivate and expand the mind.
by botadeo