James Joyce's short story "A Painful Case" is an excellent character study, though of an unlikeable character. I was left to decide at the end if the central character was a fatalist, an ass, or both.
It deals with a man who likes to think of himself as tolerant of other people, though he quite clearly views himself as superior. Then, suddenly, a woman comes into his life who seems at first to break down his defenses against getting closer to other people. Alas, the second she makes a move he's put off. His bleak outlook is essentially a self-fulfilling prophecy.
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