"Heart of Darkness" by Joseph Conrad (Everyman's library, first published 1902)

4 broodings in the 1st 2 pages. Maybe it is too symbolic, but I prefer it to Hemingway's Old Man. "We live, as we dream - alone", said Marlow. "All that had been Kurtz's had passed out of my hands: ... There remained only his memory and his Intended - and I wanted to give that up, too", "to [Marlow] the meaning of an episode was not inside like a kernel but outside, enveloping the tale which brought it out only as a glow brings out a haze". Belief despite evidence to the contrary.