Archived threads in /lit/ - Literature - 1207. page
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>You can do what you want but you can not will what you want
What did he mean by this?
You may approach an action anticipating a particular reaction, but it may not result in what you were expecting.
>>7618969
You can't choose what to want, but you may do what you want.
Seems perfectly clear to me.
Everything that happens to you happens because you want it to happen to you. - Alan Watts
How true is this?
Totally false
>>7618797
You have to have experience with mind altering drugs to understand this
"Everything that happens to you happens because you want it to happen to you", father said as he forced his penis into my anus.
It's very short and I'm just looking for feedback. Anything you have to say will be read.
Start:
Dad and son sit across one another in the booth.
“How do you feel, dad? You’ve been silent since Pittsburgh”, says Ethan looking down at his half empty coffee and over the sodden tea bag stewing in boiling water on his father’s end of the table.
Behind the arts section of the New York Times a voice of once perfect diction and timbre lilts, “I’m fine. You know me. It’s the other stuff I’m worried about.” Harold reaches around the page to dip the teabag softly.
“The kids will be glad to see you and Martha will be glad to have someone else around the house.”
“I can’t stay with you. I’ve been on my own too long. I need the privacy.”
“Could you put the paper down? What are you even reading in there?”
Harold fold the paper down revealing his cool green eyes diffracted behind rectangular bifocals, “There are all these plays, these art critics, these galleries. Gone. An entire web of connections and references that have no external meaning anymore.” He takes a sip of the tea and begins to read from one. “Like sitting alone in an empty industrial plant while a man shouts at you through a loudspeaker about efficiency ratings. Mantrap, an adaptation of the 2023 Audrey Koch short story by Stanislav Verdeloski opening in the Sontag Memorial Theatre, speaks in the same tone as its absurdist author but with the dehumanization turned up past 13. This heightened level of engagement the audience feels…”
“What’s the point?”, interjects Ethan. He doesn’t look at his father but down at his spoon swirling around the last of his coffee. “It sounds awful. Why would anyone want to experience that?”
“You said you wanted to talk”
“But that’s not talking. You’re going to see your family. They’re all looking forward to seeing you, that you weren’t in the city when it happened. It means the world to them.”
(Cont'd)
>>7618614
(Cont'd)
“The world has more going on than this. This is a grain of sand under a boulder.”
“You’re lucky. You should feel blessed. Any of the others would be glad to be you. To be reunited with your family, your whole family.”
“How am I to feel joy in the face of such terror and pain? It’s worse to survive it, its as if I shoulder the weight of 25 million… And you speak to me of comfort in the face of such realities.”
“Your family is fine, I’m here. The kids will be there. You’re not the only one who felt the loss. The whole country has”
“The country knows nothing of struggle. It knows only excess, comfort and convenience. It thinks the millions that died a thousand miles away is a struggle for them. They know someone who knew someone. For them that’s hardship. Well things are going to get worse.”
A girl 17 years old wearing a yellow and white dress comes to the table carrying two platters. “Who had the poached eggs ?”
Harold motions to himself
“And you must have had the omelette with bacon and cheddar.”
“Thank you” says Ethan.
“Y’all have a good meal”
“Thanks” Harold mutters as she walks away.
“We’re gonna hit them back, dad.”
“I’m surprised we haven’t already. I expected it to be over within the hour when it happened. The power went out and I heard the sound and I thought it was over. If it doesn’t happen within the next week we might be okay. It might not happen.”
“They deserve what’s coming to them.”
“So do we.”
“Fine. That’s enough talking for now. Just eat your fucking eggs, dad.”
The silence continued long after the eggs were eaten.
Painful
>>7618988
I'm sorry. I hope I can get better.
Was it autism?
You must be autistic if that's all you can say about the book.
>>7618299
You must be autistic if you complain that the obvious autism in Book of Disquiet is not the only thing that draws autists to it
Did the discovery of autism reduce many literary characters' problems into a simple neurological thing? Hamlet, Underground Man, and Holden Caufield are all figures literary critics love to analyze and explore their meaning or whatever but all of that becomes pretty pointless when you find out they all just have autism.
What secondary literature would you recommend on Iliad/Odyssey?
Cambridge Companion to Homer
Homer's Trojan Theater: Space, Vision, and Memory in the IIiad
The Wrath of Athena: Gods and Men in The Odyssey
Why is it impossible for a Christian 4chan /lit/ poster to like or even just not detest books in the vain of Fight Club or American Psycho.
It's not a question of aesthetics or literary preferences it seems that they just dislike the idea that others are attracted to them because of their rather outsider themes and worldviews they represent.
Does these novels sown together with parchment intimidate your Judeo-Christian sensibilities? We need to talk about this.
Posts deriving from these sentiments are crapping up this already rather messy board. Let's talk.
I'm Eastern Orthodox and I thought Fight Club was a solid film.
>>7616714
boy, you have no right talkin about literary aesthetics when you can't even grammar.
>>7616743
I like the scene where he's confessing and the one listening is Death and not a priest. Incredible movie and that final Danse Macabre is simply perfect.
>Last chapter's name is also the book's title
This isn't /v/, fuck off.
Joyce you hack.
>>7616347
thats your biggest problem?
>chapter's name fully describes everything that will be in the chapter(even the twists)
How to best write the first sentence paragraph, and which book begins the best?
WELCOME, READER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Personally I like the weather to be established within the first few lines, along with a detailed physical description of the protagonist.
My book begins the best.
"I got dad’s ashes on my jeans today."
Write what's on your mind
Sad brown motherfucker
Poor guy. Hope him well
I love the woman sitting across from me, and I mean to build a life with her.
>>7617549
My body is sore from all the sledding I've done in the past two days. This is an abnormal weather phenomenon, but at least it makes for great sledding. And people say global warming isn't an issue.
how old were you when you accepted this was a masterpiece?
i disliked this in grade 8
i hated it in 10th grade
and i acted like I was above it in university
reading it now ... it's an obvious masterpiece
(maybe this is an argument for not teaching great and complex works of literature in highschool? it'll just turn people off them...)
He's a nonentity to me. Nobody takes him seriously - Sad!
>>7617336
>i disliked this in grade 8
>i hated it in 10th grade
>and i acted like I was above it in university
>reading it now ... it's an obvious masterpiece
This was literally me but with Catcher in the Rye.
>>7617336
Sorry I read literature, not dated Slice of Life genre fic
>Impressively, the Syllabus Explorer has gathered 1,ooo,ooo+ syllabi published on university websites, then extracted and aggregated the data found in those documents, all for one reason: to determine the mostly frequently-taught books in university classrooms.
http://www.openculture.com/2016/01/the-open-syllabus-project-gathers-1000000-syllabi-from-universities.html
Here’s the top 10 list
1) The Elements of Style, by Strunk and White
2) Republic, Plato
3) The Communist Manifesto, Karl Marx
4) Biology, by Neil Campbell
5)...
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>>7617163
That's pretty varied, ideologically speaking.
>>7617163
>Frankenstein
sign of academics desperation to reach apathetic students
>Leviathan
One of the few works for which a cursory glance on Wikipedia is enough. I think I read it in 8 classes.
>the prince
Is it being taught as satire yet, or is that an unpopular analysis
>>7617163
>Toni Morrison’s “Beloved” ranks first, at No. 43, followed by William Gibson’s “Neuromancer,” Art Spiegelman’s “Maus,” Ms. Morrison’s “The Bluest Eye,” Sandra Cisneros’s “The House on Mango Street,” Anne Moody’s “Coming of Age in Mississippi,” Leslie Marmon Silko’s “Ceremony” and Alice Walker’s “The Color Purple.”
absolutely disgusting
how would you approach this woman?
i wouldn't
Why would I bother her while she's reading? That's really annoying and would probably make her not like me.
>>7615960
Different than approaching this woman I assure you.
Got a question on optimal reading order for the Greeks
I had a really constructive conversation with an anon (impressive collection of Greek books, said he hangs around /lit/ a lot) the other day and if that anon or any other experienced in the Greeks could reply, that would be swell.
I'm about to dive headfirst into the Greeks and wanted to check this reading order made sense.
Note: I won't be reading all the secondary material, but I'm just checking it's in a spot where it would make sense to read it.
Note: I will mark stuff I will...
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pic related?
Protip: Don't start with the Greeks. That's a meme
>>7614890
I mean, that was one of the sources I used for creating the order I have now, but I'm asking more specific questions, you know? Cheers for the image mate but yeah, already seen it and used it :)
Books you HAVE to read in their original language?
journey to the west and three kindoms
>>7614156
Who cares
>>7614156
Just poetry. Nothing else.
The Bib is making its comeback tonight, 00:00 GMT, and to celebrate we're having a sharethread.
Post your requests (please check other sources first though, do some work yourself!) and share whatever else you want. Some of us will be downloading and sharing whole collections (NYRB/Dalkey) so look for those as well.
Old thread is here, with some shared books: >>7582051
>>7613526
I doubt you guys have the entire NYRB/Dalkey catalog
>>7613528
We have whatever's been digitized. Why, do you have it all?
>>7613526
https://u.pomf.is/ncylao.torrent
Sharing my 4.5 gigs of mostly bibliotik with some collections.
