What are some good resources for learning Old English?
>>7731817
read first
>>7731897
then read this
http://www.oldenglishtranslator.co.uk/
best website for translation
>Monsieur Valjean! Could it really be you!?
>'You think I'd miss this party?'
Holy shit.
Does this book get good at any point?
literally stephen king tier
overrated on lit
>>7731783
according to imgur, it's widely known as a doubleplus ungood novel.
read Zola, Stendhal, Proust, or Balzac instead.
What books do I read in order to understand what makes a great book great? Alternatively, what critics do I read?
>>7731776
Not him thas fo sho
>>7731776
In all seriousness the only way is to read the classics + a good chunk of western philosophy. Anything less and you are faking it
>>7731823
this.
Maybe its off topic, but Im rereading some of Platos dialogues and was really entranced with the segments of the Protagoras and Phaedrus when Plato decides to write about Greek cosmology and mythology at length. It might not be great writing, but it still has an amazing sacrosanct stink that imo makes reading the classics so engaging. I got the same from the Inferno and some of Milton.
Hello friends. I'm looking into early American lit.
Can anyone recommend some introductory (preferably shorter) writing by any of the following:
>Ralph Waldo Emerson
>Nathaniel Hawthorne
>Louisa May Alcott
I'm interested in prose, essays, poems, anything you think is good and/or characteristic.
>>7731739
have you considered some of the early political writers? like Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Paine? how about Charles Brockden Brown?
>>7731739
Hawthorne Tales & Sketches. Whatever emerson book is in print (he writes essays, so they are all short).
Dunno anything about Alcott's daughter
>>7731739
Kate Chopin
>A Farewell to Arms
>They never rip off their arms and throw them away
>reading abridged novels
>one flew over the cuckoo's nest
>isn't about bird migration patterns
>Naked Lunch
>It isn't about an indecent ham sandwich
LOL
This is so me thanks for posting this OP
best thread on /lit/ in the current moment
_lol
What is /lit/'s opinion on Jhumpa Lahiri?
Sure, she's not patrician. But The Namesake is probably the comfiest book I've ever read.
>>7731663
i dont read terrorist, sorry op.
she's the best short story writer in america. that's pretty patrician.
>>7731672
she's a fukken postcolonial writer bro, not even a borderline postmodernist. mind the formally conventional prose
>tell me Guido, why ismainstream literaturedecades behind every other art form, ha?
"The main problem in any democracy is that crowd-pleasers are generally brainless swine who can go out on a stage & whup their supporters into an orgiastic frenzy--then go back to the office & sell every one of the poor bastards down the tube for a nickel apiece. Probably the rarest form of life in American politics is the man who can turn on a crowd & still keep his head straight--assuming it was straight in the first place."
What did he mean by this?
>the2016presidentialelections.webm
>>7731537
sanders, trump, clinton, the list goes on...
What are some essential anti-depression/peace/tolerance/acceptance books? Is Buddhism a good place to start?
I just want to be happy. I want to deprogram my inferiority complex, my anger, and my anxiety. I want to learn to love the world and its people and myself.
Peaceful nihilism.
My Twisted World
Cured my terminal cancer.
Buddhism has been working for me. But only with a healthy amount of strenuous excersize and sleep.
You need to push both your mind AND your body, don't get meme'd into thinking some ideology will cure you.
>>7731436
siddartha is a must read OP.
Make your own /lit/ inspired news
http://www.breakyourownnews.com
>>7731411
Hi guys, been writing for a while (3+ hours a day for more than 5 months) and noticing that I'm developing two distinct styles. Will these coalesce as I "find my voice" or are there other writers who have more than one style? Has anyone else gone through this?
FYI one's like a Will Self / Sam Lipsyte funny funny style and one's a Carver ripoff.
>>7731402
Will Self isn't funny, he's sardonic. Carver isn't great, a rip off will be worse. What have you published?
>>7731402
>no "stretched [my/his/her] legs" under Rowling
Sage in all fields
>>7731424
Sardonic people can be funny though can't they, I think we both know that Will Self is funny. I like Carver, what do you think of him? Nothing yet, I want to create something that is sincerely mine and not shit before I send something off.
Is it possible for a book to make you a "worse" person for having read it?
People will list fictional works that made them better and more well-rounded human beings, it's generally accepted by most that books can have that effect. In addition to the entertainment value, you can have a greater understanding of an otherwise alien point of view, improved sense of empathy, historical context for real world events, exchanges of different ideas, and an understanding of complex relationships.
But my question is, if it is possible to be a better person for...
Comment too long. Click here to view the full text.
Attacking bad books is not only a waste of time but also bad for the character. If I find a book really bad, the only interest I can derive from writing about it has to come from myself, from such display of intelligence, wit and malice as I can contrive. One cannot review a bad book without showing off.
>>7731349
I think it depends on how you look at it. Think of The Catcher in the Rye and the guy who shot John Lennon. On one had you can say the book made him worse but on the other hand you can say he misinterpreted it and he was a bad person to begin with and that if it was not that book it would have been another.
I'd agree more with the second one.
(Without trying to start a religious debate) Think of all the people who have killed for their gods. Most recently we have Muslim extremists. Lots claim that...
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is there a patrician version of this chart??
>the idiot
>michael lewis
>daniel kahneman
into the trash it goes
ITT: Great books about Nihilism and Solipsism.
Can we find an alternative for this word?
There way too much me in the word. Twice as much as there is in you. Please help.
ITT: alternatives for the word meme
>he fell for the 'memes are bad' meme
Joke
"Jest" is the word you are looking for.