the last book I ever read (John Kennedy Toole's A Confederacy of Dunces, excerpt two)

from A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole:

“I refuse to ‘look up.’ Optimism nauseates me. It is perverse. Since man’s fall, his proper position in the universe has been one of misery.”

“I ain’t miserable.”

“You are.”

“No, I ain’t.”

“Yes, you are.”

“Ignatius, I ain’t miserable. If I was, I’d tell you.”