Archived threads in /lit/ - Literature - 1139. page
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Is there a point in writing a novel nowadays?
There are so few people who will read it and it's so difficult to actually write something which progresses literature or makes a point that is worthwhile. And what is the point of writing if nobody will ever read what you write? I'm sure there will be plenty of responses to this thread that are some variation on "Just do it for yourself" and all that jazz but let's be honest with ourselves, if you were to "write for yourself" you wouldn't write in the first place would you? Even Kafka...
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If it is good enough someone will read it.
You have to separate your anxiety from your talent, at least you are suppose to.
>>7646909
"I can't go on, I'll go on." - Beckett
Does no one see Delillo's irony through Bill Gray? The novel is both useless and potentially useful, even within the margins.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0DTePKA1wgc
>>7646909
>I love to write but I feel like there's no point in taking the time and pain to work on a novel if nobody is going to give a shit about it or if it is going to just be a mediocre piece of vanity that make no contribution.
Write a novel because you want to. Write it for yourself.
without sounding too pretentious, i think this is one of my biggest problems in life: i want to be a logical thinker and be objective about things, and yet when i try, it seems to lessen my enjoyment in life.
for instance, if i'm really enjoying anything, like a movie, or a walk in a park, it seems to break the spell when i really try to analyze why i enjoy it. its like when you have fuzzy feelings for someone you love, and you just reduce it to chemical reactions in the brain.
have any authors written about this conflict, of wanting to be logical but also...
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>>7646734
please have sex
You should check out the recommended books. They all address exactly what you're feeling. Every one of them.
I go through the same thing
alcohol and weed will do
>that part in The Pale King where DFW gets a closet bj from his Iranian guide while on his IRS tour
So unexpected
>>7646719
You obviously haven't read the book, do so before trying to participate.
>>7646731
yes I have actually. you are perverting it to sound queer
what are some examples of good sex scenes in literature?
>>7646410
lolita couch scene
his flamingo paragraph was a copout
>>7646414
MODS
>>7646410
check out the poem Goblin Market.
http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/174262
Are these books worth reading? I've never played the games or anything, but I've had friends recommend the book series to me.
I'm always pretty skeptical of any series that is made suddenly popular by an adaptation because people who don't read books then often give the source material undeserved praise.
>>7646285
Short story collections are kinda okay, rest is shit, translations are shit, video games are better.
Sapkowski copied Elric!! Disregard friendo
![0978037540070_500X500[1].jpg](https://i.imgur.com/xAbNHIM.jpg "0978037540070_500X500[1].jpg")
I just finished Beckett's trilogy (Molloy; Malone Dies; The Unnamable). I think I have just read the single best portrayal of the mind, of the human, in the known world.
I've read a small portion of criticism when researching scenes/words while reading (unfortunately I didn't not have a reader or footnoted copy but the beauty of a smart phone came in handy). Can anyone point me into a direction of the current conversations about this book (no biographical/historical crit).
I want to know this too. I've flipped through countless collections of secondary material and have been left unfazed by all. Starting to get the impression that he's really done it -- that there really could be nothing of value for anyone to say about the text itself.
>>7646214
I read the first 40 pages of this and got bored.
>>7646436
Same
All books exist to convey some sort of idea, if nonfiction (philosophy etc) can convey a larger number of more complex ideas more clearly, then doesn't that make fiction intrinsically less valuable in most instances?
>>7645870
>All books exist to convey some sort of idea,
Not necessarily.
>if nonfiction (philosophy etc) can convey a larger number of more complex ideas more clearly,
Can it?
>then doesn't that make fiction intrinsically less valuable in most instances?
Define value.
>>7645870
>All books exist to convey some sort of idea
Not precise, the idea as a tool or the idea as a means
>more complex ideas more clearly
some times reading pure philosophy is not the easiest way to understand that point of view.
>intrinsically less valuable in most instances
Fiction is viewed as an exercise in aesthetics, in the same sense a painting should not be compared to a mathematical diagram. This is not an intrinsic...
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>>7645870
you're completely disregarding the role of books as an entertainment medium and their ability to convey "more simple" emotions like joy and sadness.
this overeducated hack sullied war poetry forever with his "feel bad for us" nonsense
>>7644351
High quality thread, anon.
>>7644351
fuck off
What's a good classic literature magazine? Just something with articles relevant to literature from the 19th century back. I know there isnt a lot of new content, but I'm sure you know what I'm looking for. Any ideas?
You faggots must have some ideas.
I'd like to know this as well.
wow, i left this thread for dead. glad to hear someone else wants this too.
Greetings fellows!
Could you fine gentlemen give me a shortlist of the basic and most porminent historical philosophers and their works/best translations?
Im looking for a sortof encyclopedia of world philosophy, ideas, opinions, theories and thoughts. To gain general knowledge and broaden my outlook on life, see things from different perspectives etc.
Best regards, /k/.
Someone post the 11 philosophy charts. Those serve as a great jumping off point plus allow you the ability to branch out into the many given sub fields.
>>7645993
I would personally try to find local group in the area the are enthusiast and join them in the discussion.
at least I tend to learn far more through the active discussion I join in rather then just self reading which serve mainly more common ground in the discussion.
>>7646020
Bumping for this
Was this a bit of a let down for anyone else? I was expecting a bit more out of it.
Fuck off.
>>7645617
I just finished this book last week and I liked it. I really did. I just didn't find it as good as I'd like to find it.
>>7645629
I wasn't in the mood for it. You have to be in the right mood for these things.
I'm looking for the most fucked up books you know. I mean like, something that's eloquently written, not like reading a brutal goregrind lyric sheet. I mean like, something that's deep, that makes you ask yourself a lot of weird, disturbing questions. Something that makes you uncomfortable, but can also get a laugh out of you. Something brilliant. Something sexual, but not a porno, and no main female love interest, unless the love interest is homosexual, please. Thanks.
>>7644864
Painted bird
The rape of Nanking
Hogg
>>7644864
Blood Meridian
You sound edgy as fuck and you are reading for the wrong reasons sage.
>go to /r/books
>j.k.rowling releasing new info on Harry Potter
>terry pratchett
>"so many books, so little time" I read that now I can't choose a book how do I choose a book /r/books?
>Go Set A Watchman
Holy fuck I hate this planet.
>>7644791
What the hell are you talking about?
>>7644791
>go to /r/books
r/literature, r/badliterarystudies
Is there something base-level cringeworthy about getting into eastern spirituality?
Has anyone here read the Hagakure? How was it?
What makes eastern religion seem so superior to western religion? Is it just the inclination that people in the west are so drenched in consumerism and hyper-sexualisation?
Why do we assume that most eastern societies are any different?
>wastes his time reading about religion
>le noble eastern people
>le peace, love, and nature
>>7647479
That most people turn eastern spirituality in a product that has to be consumed, there was a essay (not sure if was zizek) on how eastern spirituality is perfect for the consumerist western because it strips him of all responsibility.
let me search for it.
/lit/ help a newbie out. I'm not able to come up with a decent motivation for the villain in my thriller novel. Since the motive of the villain is the main reveal kinda at the end, a weak motive makes it a weak story.
So the villain is basically evil masquerading as good. For many years he was a forest ranger after retiring from the army and tried to protect animals and stop poachers in a remote African country. However, at one point he just got fed up, stopped being good and started killing poachers and made it seem like animals were killing it in a sorta supernatural...
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>>7646713
Make him a liberal. They're truly frightening and mentally ill :D
Your villain is Ganondorf and Kurtz from Heart of Darkness
>>7646718
Holy shit, I've seen apocalypse now but never read this. I'll be back after I skim through this.
