This book introduces the reader to the ways in which happiness has been explored in philosophy and literature for thousands of years. The multidisciplinary approach of this book will appeal to a variety of readers from literary studies, critical theory, philosophy and psychology and anyone with an interest in happiness and theories of emotion.

Jeffrey R. Di Leo is Professor of English and Philosophy at the University of Houston-Victoria, USA. He is editor and publisher of the American Book Review, founder and editor of the journal symploke, and Executive Director of the Society for Critical Exchange and its Winter Theory Institute.

Introduction 1. The Brave New World of Well-Being: Happiness as a Commodity from Huxley and Alain to Pharrell and Oprah 2. Happiness, No Thanks!: Psychoanalysis, Philosophy, and the Critique of Happiness from Freud to Zizek 3. The Happiness of the Text: Morality, Writing, and the Pursuit of Pleasure from Gide to Barthes 4. Real Happiness is Revolutionary: Badiou, Antiphilosophy, and the Metaphysics of Happiness from Spinoza and Pascal to Mallarmé and Beckett