The Grinch who stole happiness SHARE His Highness of Pessimism, Arthur Schopenhauer Don’t get your hopes up “In the Presence of Schopenhauer,” by Michel Houellebecq (Polity Press) Every volume by Arthur Schopenhauer, and in particular “The World as Will and Representation,” should carry a warning label: Not to be read before the age of 30, especially by those maintaining a “Romantic” outlook on life. Why? because the German philosopher (1788-1860) isn’t out to bolster our illusions but to dispel them. In other words, no dangling carrot of false hope. In “The Pessimist’s Handbook” he writes: “For the safest way of not being miserable is not to expect to be happy.”