>He's only read Swann's Way out of In Search for Lost Time
>He's only read The Inferno out of The Divine Comedy
>He's read Lolita but not Pale Fire or Ada
>He's read the Stranger but not The Rebel or The Plague
>He skips the whaling chapters in Moby-Dick
>He skips the digressive tales in Don Quixote
>He barely reads poetry and literary criticism
>He barely knows philosophy outside of The Greeks
>He rattles on about "good prose" but can't tell you anything about a story's character development or themes
>he think ada or the rebel are good
ada is cringecity: population tryhards
pale fire and lolita are great but that's about it for ''great" in nabby's oeuvre.
the rebel is straight up trash.
>He's only read The Inferno out of The Divine Comedy
people do this??
>>7562695
can you explain what makes them bad or cringey
> story's character development or themes
Any articles/essays/books/tips on how to develop understanding and appreciation for these things? Or is it just something you pick up the more you read?
I feel like I don't read enough literary criticism. I'm thinking of buying Auerbach's Mimesis, Benjamin's Illuminations and Barthes's Image Music Text as a sort of 20th Century starter pack. What do you think?
>>7562704
>he can't understand why Ada is cringetastic
back to reddit
>>7562704
meh it'd take a while to explain my problems with the rebel. i just think camus is mostly wrong about everything or wrong in his reasoning when his conclusions happen to be right.
>>7562712
try Theory of Prose by Skhlovsky too
thanks for reminding me to order mimesis
>>7562712
Learn to think for yourself.
>>7562695
What about Pnin and Speak, Memory?
>>7562711
It's just as vague as people asking how you appreciate "good prose". Every story does it differently, but some general questions are can ask are: What makes these characters change? How do these characters truly relate to each other? What are their places in the story? What is the story "really about"? What concepts is it trying to explore and what conclusions does it make? Are there any literary devices that can help you unravel it such as allusions and symbolism, and does something about the setting or style have to do with it?
These questions can be very complicated for some works of literature, but I imagine that asking them about such works as, say, anything on the /lit/ starter kit, could be relatively easy. When you read more, as you become a more thoughtful and sensitive you'll just naturally pick up on these things, but you shouldn't forget to read good literary criticism in order to find out about different ways to read.
>>7562738
those are ok, speak memory is very enjoyable, and pnin is alright, but he does the pnin thing a lot in most of his minor novels.
i like his short stories a lot.
>>7562682
Did you not read Invitation to a Beheading?
>>7562744
I'm at crossroads slightly. A part of me recognises the more I read the more competent a reader I'll naturally become. Another part, however, is wary that if I'm not proactive in doing the things you mentioned regularly I'll slip slowly into laziness.
Thank you for this response, I was expecting a condescending shitpost reply so this is a pleasant surprise.
>>7562734
Yeah and that's how you do it m8
I haven't read a single one of them. What do you think about that, huh?
>>7562786
that you're a pleb and should kill yourself, you worthless piece of shit?
>>7562682
Wow, he must be a real loser.
Who is he?
>>7562786
I resent that there are people actively posting on a literature board when they haven't even read The Divine Comedy, Don Quixote and Moby-Dick. These are the absolute fundamentals. Read more and lurk more, faggot.
>>7562788
Oh, i'm sorry, i didn't realize this board was such a congregation of patricians.
Would you might telling me a bit about your views of those separate works and why they are important to literary history? This should be easy for someone as patrician as yourself.
>>7562682
The Plague is more popular than Stranger, its literally school lecture
>>7562806
How can they be the fundamentals if /lit/ tells you to start with the Greeks? If you started with the Greeks and went on chronologically from there, you would have went through a large portion of the canon by the time you had got to Moby-Dick.
>>7562820
you're not required to go chronologically. the greeks meme is only really applies with philosophy. you can and most people do skip from the greeks to somewhere around the enlightenment. and no one reads in chronological order because they're not autists.
>>7562682
>He barely reads...literary criticism.
I've yet to be really convinced this is worth doing. Isn't it just some milquetoast person's opinions on something great? I'm not saying it is without some merit, but why read it when I could just be reading. Could someone suggest a paper that they thought was really worth reading or something to help convince me otherwise?
>>7562834
read the anxiety of influence or something
>>7562765
Not the guy from above, but you may enjoy susan wise bauer's "the well educated mind." It's kind of a crash course in literary analysis in dofferent genres (novels, drama, history, poetry, autobiography) with recommended reading lists for each section.
It won't make you a pro, but would be a great next step beyond asking questions like those which were suggested just above.
>>7562820
Nobody reads the whole canon chronologically. There's also so much debate on /lit/ about the literary value of Roman works that few people even go to Rome after starting with the Greeks; they just jump to other time periods or themes they want to pursue.
I started with Greece and am working through Rome now, and it's taking ages. 8 months since I kicked off with Edith Hamilton's "mythology" and I haven't even moved past the roman republic.
Imo pursuing a chronological path of the canon is best done in a big burst that gets you through the Greeks, and then as a lifelong aim alongside your more "normal" literary interests. There's just too much content to "get it done" before you can just "move on" from it.
>>7562682
>he finds little to no enlightenment in his own readings and resorts to caring about the habits of others across a Polynesian Japanimation Internet forum
I've spent 6 years reading literary criticism. It's all retarded.
>>7562889
What are your criticisms of it?
>>7562695
>ada is cringecity: population tryhards
I like you. I wish we could be friends.
>his favorite author is someone who he has only read in translation
>>7562715
>meh
Welcome to Cringecity: population tryhards
>>7563850
did you have a point or did you just want to write what i wrote
I've read Despair and Bend Sinister but not Lolita
>he thinks he understands Gravitys Rainbow as well as I do
>>7562714
>cringetastic
>implying you don't belong there
>>7562682
>He rattles on about "good prose" but can't tell you anything about a story's character development or themes
Those themes are:
Science Fiction
Feminism
Mind Control
Character Development
and Deep Plots.
I found the plague to be so so incredibly boring. Does that mean I'm pleb?
>>7564656
>all that evident lack of testosterone
>there are people who like old hags over 13-year-old girls
how'ds it feel to b' tasteless?
>>7562812
All of Camus is, he's always been an irrelevant HS/UG freshman hackcity that is only still relevant because his vague prose and dry themes appeal to teenagers.
