hello /lit/
im looking for a book about a man who lives forever and has hones all of his skills perfectly
strange request i know
Read it years ago but 100 Years of Solitude may partially fulfill this
Doctor Faustus
He lives foreverin hell
>>7505522
Not at all.
>>7505521
Perfectly? I don't know, however: The Dark Tower series may be good for you.
El Inmortal by Jorge Luis Borges. It's about a man who lives forever and wrote two very important books, which I'm not mentioning because spoilers.
>>7505572
Oh fuck, the spoiler was that he wrote them... Well, read it anyway.
>>7505551
It's been a while- doesn't one of the Aurelianos live for a long time and practice alchemy and other skills?
>>7505572
Came here to say that.
The Aleph. First story.
It's interesting how inmortal people are shown - nothing really matters for them anymore.
>>7505521
groundhog day.
no, but seriously, if you're not above genre fiction after you get done with borges, you can fart around with anne rice. i know i know, but you got fuckin immortals living forever with powers beyond human ken and all that. i mean, a fantasy is a fantasy.
Blood & Gold by Anne Rice.
Genre lit but Rice was no slouch back then. Of course you'd have to read the prior books to fully understand the characters you're dealing with.
>>7505521
also, you might possibly be interested in melmoth the wanderer. not much honing from what i remember, nor is he technically immortal, but it deals with the subject.
The Koran.
i believe there's an immortal in the epic of gilgamesh
OP here,
first thread on /lit/ you guys are p cool
all these suggestions, whats a good one to start?
>>7505709
definitely borges, conclusively the most interesting and shortest of these suggestions, then anne rice if you want something simple and entertaining in the same way watching a tv show is entertaining.
>>7505720
>borges
but i cant read enchilada
There's a bit like that in Permutation City by Greg Egan. It's a small piece of Peer's arc. Lots of other interesting ideas about our relationship with time.
OP HERE TRYING TO FIND EL INMORTAL IN ENGLISH
IF NOT WHAT ELSE SHOULD I LOOK FOR
>>7505735
just download an epub/mobi and download calibre and read it on your pc
>>7505672
Melmoth wasn't immortal though.
He had a very long lifespan but he wasn't immortal.
>>7505910
Oops, I misread your post.
>>7505584
Yeah but his mom lives even longer and doesn't master shit.
>>7505521
That's Edward Cullen; though his skill is creepiness.
wouldn't be possible even if your character was highly capable. skills are always evolving and to be considered perfect they'd have to be in comparison to each generations highly skilled. so if you became a chess master in one century, you'd lose it in the next while becoming a karate master and vice versa. one century you are a great lover of women and the next you don't even know what fisting is.
This cycle would continue in perpetuity and applies to every aspect of life: language, business, sport, arts, etc.
Being immortal 1.5 stars
>>7506383
youngling detected
>>7505572
Obviously you're talking about The Bible and Infinite Jest.
I think the Lazarus Long novels of Heinlein? I think that's what they're called. Yeah, read those.
>>7505530
He also hones none of his skills and just fucks about causing /mischief/ for 24 years
>>7505572
I came here to say this.
>>7507427
OP here, is there an english version or can you read spic
My Name is Legion and the first Amber series deal with this. It was one of Zelazny's favorite themes
Sort of what you're after, the manga Akumetsu. A dude gets the ability to clone himself, and when his clones die their memories are uploaded to the next generation of clones. So he creates dozens of clones and each one is tasked with perfecting a specific skill, like french cooking or stunt driving or demolition, and then they all commit suicide and the second generation of clones is made, and every single clone has all of those skills.
>>7505521
I dunno I quite liked David Endings the Belgariad it's not focused on the eternal scientist and wizard Belgariad but does talk about this theme
>>7505521
The Kane stories by Karl Edward Wagner.
