Archived threads in /lit/ - Literature - 49. page
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So I'm going to be taking my grad school admissions test in 2 weeks and there's a writing sections where you have to make an argument in 30 minutes.
Anyone feel like critiquing some of my practice prompts and giving me some tips?
I'll have my "I came here to laugh at you" macro ready.
>>8272376
This was done under test conditions in 30 minutes.
>Writing topic: Discuss a solution to the problem of AIDS epidemic in sub-Saharan Africa.
Despite the amazing efforts of individuals, countries and charity organizations such as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the AIDS epidemic counties to kill thousands in sub-Saharan Africa. This incurable disease spreads fast, has been shown to mutate and adapt to healing environments that the patient is subjected to and in the poor and malnourished population of sub-Saharan Africa paves the way for multitudes of opportunistic infections to take the life of the patient. One solution to curb the spread of this destructive disease is to enforce prevention policies through education and resources, and to follow that up with frequent STD testing. Additionally, medication for the already infected must be provided, newer medications that Western AIDS patients have access to have been shown to drop blood viral loads to undetectable levels, which would stop an opportunistic infection from claiming a patients life, as well as helping the patients work and be able to life a normal life.
Since the AIDS epidemic in the USA in the 80's and 90's, billions have been spent on education, especially sexual education, in order to stop the spread of the virus. It has been proven time and again that prevention is the best cure, and since then America has not had an AIDS problem. The same needs to be done with the sub-Saharan population in Africa. Unsafe and risky sex needs to be stopped, as well as any rituals or traditions that involve blood or needle sharing. A big problem with this prevention rhetoric however is why would the population follow the advice they've been taught. They've most likely been told hundreds of times about the risks of unprotected sex and blood sharing since AIDS became a problem decades ago and yet the virus still persists. They haven't been following the advice because proper resources and testing hasn't been available to them. If they were provided with resources like condoms, easy access to STD/STI testing and counseling they would follow the advice and we would see massive drops in infection levels; just like in the US when such resources and methods were employed. Additionally medications such as PreP have been developed that could actually allow a person to become "immune" to catching the virus. It's now cheap enough where all you need to get the medication in the US is a simple prescription. If the population over in sub-Saharan were to have access to this medication infection rates would plummet. It's much easier to have someone take a simple pill once a day then to remember to put on a condom before intercourse. Providing medication like PreP falls under giving the people of sub-Saharan Africa the resources and counseling that they need to fight the spread of this infection
>>8272384
In addition to prevention, the currently infected also must be dealt with and treated. There now exists medications that will drop the viral load in a patient infected with AIDS to undetectable levels, shielding him or her from opportunistic infection and allowing them to live a healthy life. Providing medications such like this to the already infected population of sub-Saharan Africa would take care of the other half of the problem. You would no longer see hospitals full of dyeing people, but rather an infected person would be able to work and provide for his family. This would greatly improve the economic situation in sub-Saharan Africa and would provide the countries with devestated economies and low GDP to be able to afford to provide the resources that their citizens need.
Despite the amazing efforts of individuals, countries and charity organizations such as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the AIDS epidemic counties to kill thousands in sub-Saharan Africa. A simple solution to curb the spread of this destructive disease is to enforce prevention policies through education and resources, and to follow that up with frequent STD testing. Additionally, medication for the already infected must be provided, newer medications that Western AIDS patients have access to have been shown to drop blood viral loads to undetectable levels, which would stop an opportunistic infection from claiming a patients life, as well as helping the patients work and be able to life a normal life.
Also they don't support indentation for some reason, and paragraphs are separated by a line break.
I'm looking for a book that will help me confirm my suspicions about discourse. I've been thinking that there is some innate, compelling force that demands contrarianism, but only contrarianism for egotistical purposes. For instance, the majority opinion is "Ulysses is great," so for vain, self-exempting ends individuals start arguing "Ulysses is shit" until that becomes the popular opinion, and then it repeats "Ulysses is great" "Ulysses is shit" etc. ad infinitum. Anyone know what I'm talking about? I guess I'm looking...
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>>8272348
>contrarianism for egotistical purposes
what is symmetry?
>>8272435
Say more?
>>8272470
Is reading actually a productive use of time, or is it secretly just as productive as 4chan except socially seen as more intellectual? Does frequent reading actually better oneself?
>>8272342
Depends on what you read
That depends if you apply the knowledge you glean from reading. Most people don't or don't have the opportunity, so for them one could say 4chan and literature are functionally, though not experientially, identical.
>>8272342
If you read intellectual literature, yes, if not, less so, but it is still beneficial.
Just bought this for 2 bucks.
What should I expect?
>>8272199
A lot of lengthy slice-of-life bullshit inexplicably lauded as a great work of english literature
Dickens a shit
>>8272199
there's some funny stuff in Pickwick
not enough to justify 800+ pages but what can you do?
>>8272199
Good characters.
Is he the voice of our generation?
I appreciate old memes.
It's like sifting through dusty library stacks.
>reverse google search
>click on the blah blah word did you mean
>Mira Gonzalez
>"i'm not needy i just can't be left alone even for 1 second otherwise i will have a panic attack"
>>8272106
new muchstache tao is beter
could somebody recommend some books or philosophy on just being a good person.
last year I've been in doing nothing but stealing,doing drugs and lying to get what I want.
used to turn to christianity but now I praying does nothing for me. since I recall "God is dead"
Just an Anon trying to become positive
thx in advance
>>8272069
Just don't take advantage of someone for your personal gain to their detriment.
It's pretty common sensically delicious, in my opinion.
Read Musashi
Put yourself in a mental state where you rely on the kindness and love of others to not kill yourself. Enough drugs might do the trick.
What does /lit/ think of the Culture novels?
>>8272031
They're nae bad, only read Player of Games and Use of Weapons tho
>>8272031
i once compiled a list of SF futures and what you could expect if you lived in them. Banks' Culture was the only one i could find where you wouldn't be raped, murdered, tortured or enslaved.
Where to start with Iain M. Banks? My local library has a ton of his books but I have no idea what to read first.
Post your favourite YA novels.
catcher in the rye
vurt
the virgin suicides
city of god
any murakami
infinite
the razors edge
Sideways Stories from Wayside School
>>8272016
Fuckkk yesss
>Back in the living room, I turned on the television, a thirty-two-inch Sony widescreen with surround sound and an integrated DVD player. There was an episode of Xena: Warrior Princess on TF1, one of my favorite series. Two very muscular women wearing metallic bras and miniskirts made of animal hide were challenging each other with their sabers. “Your reign has gone on too long, Tagrathâ!” cried the brunette. “I am Xena, warrior of the Western Plains!”
>>8271964
He's a relatable writer 2bh
is that a lil microphone peepin out behind his ear?
>>8271964
I don't get the fascination with this guy. His prose is mediocre and other than that he's just a nihilistic pervert. You'd have a hard time throwing a stone in a critique thread without it hitting a Houllebecq.
Leighton Baines confirmed for browsing /lit/
>>8271927
>Unironically supporting Neverton
kystbh
>>8271927
He should be using his spare time to learn positioning, and not be caught off everytime a paceynigger plays on that side of the pitch.
>>8271927
If i was a successful athlete i would be banging underage teenagers instead of reading meme gibberish
But no im neither successful nor an athlete
The more I read this man the more I'm coming to realise that he is a complete fraud and hypocrite.
The world-historical irony of Nietzsche is that he invents the concept of ressentiment to attack Christianity and socialism as the ethic of the powerless deflecting their hatred of the powerful into a metaphysic that will give them ultimate victory in the future, when this is essentially Nietzsche's own project as well. His whole philosophy is shot through with ressentiment.
Nietzsche was an outcast from society whose works were ignored during his lifetime...
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I'm sorry.
>>8271879
>He never knew any women other than his sister and probably died a virgin
Easy there big nuts, he was involved in a love triangle.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lou_Andreas-Salom%C3%A9
>>8271879
>A complete fraud and hypocrite.
Savage.
But isn't philosophy just one large intellectual war between frauds and hypocrites?
Anyways, I took the things I liked about Nietzsche with me and threw out the stuff I thought wasn't useful. Don't take it too seriously.
Are there any writers on /lit/?
Do you write an outline when working on a story, or just wing it once you have a general story in your head?
What works better?
I usually wing short stuff. Longer works I definitely have a loose plan.
>>8271840
i start by winging it, lots of shit falls out, i put it in an outline, voila
>My son is scowling at a piece of paper.
>“What’s that?” I ask.
>“A semantic map!”
>“A what?”
>“I have to write a story and I’m supposed to map out everything that’s going to happen so that my teacher can mark it. She says it’ll stop me writing the wrong things.”
>(He’s aged ten and yet she’s already destroying his pleasure in writing just as someone once destroyed...
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prose = words in their best order; poetry = the best words in their best order
>>8271816
Who decides what is best?
poetic prose
my dick = in ur moms ass lmao
What are some books that can help me understand the process of creation and distribution of art from a "material" point of view? That is, books that can help me understand the circumstances surrounding the creation of art.
For example: If the topic is music, it can be a book about something very specific (e.g. how some small venue or label helped shape the music culture of a certain place) or something broader about the sociology of music, mass media, music industries, etc.
It can be about any field of art.
About creation: Art and Visual Perception.
damn that painting is hot
Benjamin on Mechanical Reproduction is a (maybe the) classic, and is interesting in the context of contemporary digital reproduction.
Is the Taming of the Shrew the important Shakespeare of our time?
>>8271624
this is a sfw board
>>8271629
>>8271639
Why did you put a penis on my image, anon?
