Are there many good modern authors who didn't study literature or the humanities in general at university? Or even some that didn't go to university?
>tfw stuck doing comp sci when I should have done arts
I'll start off I guess:
>vonnegut
>mccarthy
>>7741244
You should just drop out of uni all together. You need life experiences to write interesting literature and the average CS guy probably is the least likely to have anything interesting to say or write about
>>7741251
Then I will just be a NEET, and that's even worse
Ted Chiang is a CS-guy (his main job is technical writer) and he writes the best SF at the moment.
Lots and lots of great writers didn't study writing, like Conrad, for example.
Studying writing is for American children who can't grow out of their child-like society, or postmodernists who feel forced to navel-gaze more.
>>7741251
>You should just drop out of uni all together. You need life experiences to write interesting literature
Nice meme
>>7741244
>saunders
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Saunders
geophysical engineering who then got into tech writing. also had an LSD phase. what a guy.
>>7741274
So whats your book about?
>>7741296
That reminds me, /lit/'s current favorite memeface Gene Wolfe is an engineer by trade too, he was involved in the design of the Pringles can.
Literally a factory worker until his mid 40s when he took a creative writing course.
Pretty excited for his new stuff.
>>7741306
>the design of the Pringles can
>putting potato chips in a paper towel roll
why did they need engineers for this
>>7741342
Oh sorry, it's not the can, but the machine that presses the chips and packs them in the can without the chips breaking
>took comp sci too
nothing could have prepared me for how boring comp sci people are
i just wish i was in liberal arts, i took one elective in an arts subject and the people were just so normal and animated, walking into a comp sci seminar is like opening an airlock onto some freezing arctic waste
>>7741305
I'm not writing one. There are plenty of writers in the canon who lived massively sheltered lives, and a lot of writers lives are pretty uneventful, so saying you need 'life experiences' is pretty silly.
Heck, there are writers who didn't even live beyond their twenties, doesn't exactly allow for much accumulation of life experience does it?
Rimbaud wrote some of his best poetry while still a teen for example.
>>7741368
I know this feel. What did you do after graduating (unless you're still studying)?
>>7741384
still studying, going into computational neuroscience soon for postgrad so i can at least get to the interesting things and branch out
Comp Sci *will* make you too autistic to appreciate literature. There's a reason most writers studied literature and often went into journalism roles.
Donald Ray Pollock is a contemporary example you're looking for (mill worker).
Stewart O'Nan is another (engineer > creative writing course)
>>7741378
Yeah, but Rimbaud ran away from home and had all sorts of crazy adventures
>>7741395
>computational neuroscience
What does this involve?
>>7741368
Wow do I know this feel.
After dropping out of a creative writing program freshman year I transferred schools and switched to a pure math major.
I really was not prepared for how different the STEM students in my classes are. Their academic and extracurricular interests seem to fit within a much smaller scope. Makes it difficult to talk to/bond with them over anything other than our shared classes.
>>7741397
n-not if I read lots of books while I'm studying right?
>>7741244
>modern authors
This is an important qualifier. People have mentioned turn of the century authors, but pre uni education was a lot more patrish then.
>>7741497
You can read as much as you like. If the best part of your day, and the best part of your subconscious, is spent focusing on cold, autistic equations and mechanical functions then you literally will read less and less over time and eventually lack the focus or capacity to appreciate fiction. The fact you settle for Comp Sci and place muh job security first shows your predisposed to autism and STEM-induced mundanity of thought.
>>7741497
I know plenty of doctors (medical) that went into school very diverse individuals and who came out blasting their brain at work and then watching sitcoms at night whilst drinking to "decompress". Like 25 of em.
>>7741516
J.M. Coatzee studied mathematics (at the same time as english), same with many philosophers also, even if they didn't write fiction
>>7741516
>I'm an American English major who has to justify my shitty life decisions on anonymous alcohol-free beer aficionado forums
>>7741519
This.
Post-college life is fucking cancerous as hell and your mental health will deteriorate very quickly unless your virtuous and principles (like me) or unless you work some part-time shit-tier job and resign yourself to a life similar to Henry Darger.
I don't have much interest in Sartre and Camus but one thing they did articulate is that many if not most people, consciously or otherwise, limit the intensity of their self-awareness in order to protect themselves from mental struggle and the boundlessness of their lives. They instead perform "roles" relative to their culture, economic status and so on which will allow them to live without having to confront at every moment the meaninglessness, obscurity and unaesthetic nature of their lives.
>>7741528
>many philosophers
Post them. Some studied modal logic etc but that's not necessarily autism-tier pure math.
>>7741516
>>7741519
It's a catch 22 though, in that if you drop out or go for "life experience", you'll have ideas and read a lot but might very likely be too broke to sustain yourself while writing, especially by the time you've gotten around to writing anything potentially publishable or profitable.
On the other hand, the workforce, even with decent paying STEM jobs, --is-- soul draining and will most likely leave you with no real time or desire to write.
>>7741531
Its not medical school, its residency that blasts you. Fuckin 80-90 hour weeks or 6 shifts on and then a "day off" which is really 10 hours in education.
>>7741516
>The fact you settle for Comp Sci and place muh job security first shows your predisposed to autism and STEM-induced mundanity of thought.
lmao i found the lit inferiority complex an endless source of keks
>>7741545
>muh life experience
It isn't about so-called life experience. You can go get drunk and travel and do other normie-tier shit whether you're a STEM-autist or a bohemian arts major. I personally have such a profound insight into the human condition despite never drinking alcohol, pursuing womenfolk, or ever really leaving my house. The reason for this is because I have dedicated myself to literature, art and the world of beauty and intellect rather than become a robotic individual whose vocabulary is a strange mixture of social buzzwords and obscure technical jargon. You know the brain changes according to environmental pressures.It's a very adaptable organ. If you insist that your brain mold itself to accommodate countless equations and formulae then it will respond with indifference when it registers a poem or a beautiful song. It's a proven fact and one reinforced merely by pointing out the backgrounds of famous artists.
>>7741559
>I personally have such a profound insight into the human condition despite never drinking alcohol, pursuing womenfolk, or ever really leaving my house.
You sound a lot more autistic than any STEM major I know.
>>7741569
It is a mistake on your part to equate density of thought and accuracy of articulation with autism. Perhaps your stunted intellect fails to accept that there are human beings in existence who are still invested in life and passionate about becoming more than a machine in human form.
>>7741583
No, that's exactly it, you sound more like a machine that's vaguely designed to sound "literary" or "intellectual" than an actual person. There's more than one kind of autism.
>wants good authors
>lists vonnegut and mccarthy
kek
>>7741587
Deterministic considerations aside, I am by no means a "machine" and my compassion, sensitivity and creative disposition proves that, and in my forthcoming memoir I make it clear that despite my reserved disposition and often expressionless face within me is Man in its truest representation, a being which possess the hard-earned capacity to experience every emotion a human being is capable of experiencing to every extreme of intensity, something only a few individuals are ever capable of doing (most of whom being artists of great talent).
>>7741590
>mccarthy is bad
When will this meme die?
Go read Suttree
>>7741614
>implying mccarthy is bad is a meme
>implying mccarthy's popularity on /lit/ wasn't the meme to begin with
mccarthy is literally r/books tier m8. one decent book doesn't redeem his sea of shit.
>>7741538
>soul-crushing dullness and difficulty of studying engineering spurred me to start writing
>finally graduated, slowly losing interest in writing or doing anything at all
I'm not sure the NEET life is good for me
>>7741619
McCarthy's body of work has a truly massive range of quality and literary merit. I would agree with you in that some of his output is reddit tier. I don't mean to suggest that a few amazing books make up for many more forgettable ones; rather that it is silly to dismiss McCarthy as a bad author and I suppose just as silly to claim the opposite.
>>7741627
decent-
suttree
ok-
all the pretty horses
/le-edge/-
child of god
no country for old men
garbage-
blood meridian
even worse than garbage-
the road
i haven't read everything by him but what i have read is pretty underwhelming
his work overwhelmingly appeals to poor white people/middlebrow yuppies looking to be cultured and people living in the areas he's talking about. he lacks universal insight and draw. he's like dfw, but with a different target demographic.
>>7741621
Many if not most people have some form of creative aspiration early in their lives. Most give up on them and resign themselves to a sated life of mediocrity. You're just doing the natural thing kiddo.
>>7741648
No, I really was writing purely as a form of escapism. I did expect that once the difficulty disappeared I would lose that driving force as well. I'm starting to think a shitty job might actually restore my motivation to write.
>>7741599
Yeah, nah, he's right. No non-autist has such a strongly misplaced superiority complex. The only people who would want to read a memoir of someone who locked themselves in their house and spent the entire book discussing how enlightened and advanced they are would be psychology students looking at a case study of your low-functioning aspergers.
>>7741244
Gene Wolfe was a STEM-nerd who once got paid by the government to shoot Koreans, He didn't need a formal education in the arts to become /lit/'s king of genre-fiction.
>>7741664
I have already received four messages of support after explaining the nature of my work, every one of which expressed a sincere desire to read it when I finally allow a suitable publisher to introduce it (and me) to the world. My confidence exists in equal proportion to my genius.
>"He was 21, and had just had his first short story published. His masterwork The Catcher in the Rye was 10 years in the future - but nonetheless Shirley Ardman found him “rather full of himself.”"
>>7741694
This post make me happy.
>>7741694
>autismspeaks
>>7741700
It's only natural that the words I choose to communicate and the order in which I place them causes others to experience a profound emotion such as happiness. Only individuals like myself, who truly value their chosen "path" and dedicate themselves to developing their talents as much as they are able can really do this. I have suffered so much as a result of my genius, while also experiencing those peaks of joy and contentment which are only known by those diagnosed as "bio-polar" that my range of expression is wider than the majority of human beings, including the people browsing this thread and reading this very post. I possess the ability to allow you to experience any emotion I desire and to whatever intensity I desire, even those emotions you felt yourself incapable of appreciating. All these potentials exists within me.
>>7741244
Danish writer Kim Leine. He's know to have said that he purposely pursued an interesting life rather than the safety of academia.
>>7741538
What are your virtues and principles that save you anon?
Honestly isn't all this shit a bit wack
Be a NEET ffs,
if you aren't able to sacrifice whatever is it you do now to NEETdom in order to write, surely you weren't cut out to be a writer
>>7741728
I am afraid that my virtue is beyond comprehension to anybody but myself and whatever noumenal figure (if any) has granted me the capacity to be as pure as I am. Many of the finest things about my existence are so profound as to be ineffable.
>>7741714
Please let this be bait. I don't want to even imagine someone autistic enough to sincerely believe their own self-aggrandizing drivel to this extent.
>>7741745
>self-aggrandizing
If you claim not to "aggrandize" your own existence then you are either a liar or a masochist. My life is the best movie I have ever watched, and the screenplay of this movie, in the form of the memoir I am currently writing the fifth installment of (out of six installments) will allow others to vicariously appreciate what it means to me be.
>>7741762
I think people are more likely to pay for the experience of not "appreciating" what it means to be you, because you sound like a fucking tool.
>>7741721
he sounds painfully boring
>>7741773
Your mode of communicate is barely as legible as that of someone belonging to the British lumpenproletariat.
>>7741721
Yes he waited until he was 45 to publish his first book. What a cuck.
>>7741721
thanks, friend
>>7741378
>There are plenty of writers in the canon who lived massively sheltered lives
Who do you mean in particular?
>>7741827
Why are dreams so weird?
How do they work?
>>7741848
probably similar to magnets.
>>7741827
He thinks Rimbaud, a kid who drank, drugged, sucked and fucked his way around Europe because he thought it was the only way to become a worthwhile artist, is a relevant example so it doesn't matter what he thinks because he's clearly retarded.
>>7741634
Absolutely bullshit critique.
>lacks universal insight and draw
Give me examples of things that fulfill this requirement. Also please explain why McCarthy is held in regard by educated critics like Harold Bloom with notoriously high standards if his work only appeals to people trying to seem cultured.
I'll give you credit for actually giving reasons for your dislike, that at least is better than what most of /lit/ does, but your reasons are still shit.
>>7741882
Bloom is the definition of a pseud who tries as hard as humanly possible to appear cultured.
>>7741895
You're going to need to defend that with some kind of argument
>>7741406
representing neural structures with computer software
basically replicating the brain with a computer
its an approach to artificial intelligence
and it overlaps with neuroscience and language studies, spatiality/imaging
>>7741634
I doubt you've read all those books if you really hate McCarthy. If you did you probably read them with the intention of shitting on his work which doesn't allow you to see his merit.
>>7741902
240 pages of proof right here.
>>7741908
Hey Mom, Dad, this is Anon, he studies computational neuroscience!
Umm, I don't think so.
This is the prime example of a cuck thread for cucked up Humanishits cuckbois. How dumb can one be to actually pay for a piece of paper that tells the world that you're a dumb guy who paid for a piece of paper that tells the wolrd that you've mastered a fucking hobby and paid big money for it? And for what? To work as an enlightened McDonald's clerk? Holy cow, it's delusions of grandeur mixed with plain stupidity, you jests!
Hah, I'm so glad I've dodged that shit and went straight into STEM and now I'm a fully fulfilled man with a great job and peer respect and US$ 120k in my paycheck.
I'll live a good life at you're expense.
>>7741976
poor attempt at pasta.
>>7741976
Well there's always the fact that nobody likes you in real life and thats why you come here
>>7741516
>making pragmatic life decisions is a bad thing
>bitter opinions on a canadian milk bag forum
>>7741559
You're the guy who's writing that gigantic memoir, aren't you?
>>7741990
Pragmatism is a bad thing if your goals in life are artistic rather than materialistic.
>>7741559
I deride your profound insight!
A man with a profound insight into the human condition might do well to translate that skill into being able to sell his opinion and himself as something/someone to be respected and ruminated upon rather than come across as a conjecturing pompous thesaurus none too dissimilar from high school neet who's escape from the reality of being a friendless dildo is to convince himself he's very clever. You've failed on that count pal so I'm left to assume you are the aforementioned friendless dildo
Houellebecq went to school for farming.
There a plenty of new modern day authors who did not study a lot of writing or the humanities. The problem is today is so tech dependent that even if you publish an ebook or even a physical copy of a book its much much harder to find newer authors. society either A) does not want to waste time reading ebooks because real books are more natural to hold. or B) they dont want to read actual books because "reading is old" "we just use the internet" type of thing these days. so either way authors are kind of stuck in a shitty niche unless you get discovered by Tumblr or the internet like Jhon Green.
but a good modern day poet is > Hayden Mills (picture related) he does mainly Ebooks
>>7741762
this is actually boring now, I was entertained by the first few posts you are certainly skilled at convincing people you are this ignorant but the joke runs dry pretty quickly. My advice is get a new shtick to entertain yourself
>>7741366
Oh I thought you were actually making a really good joke, saying they used his likeness for the Pringles face.
>>7742015
Not necessarily. You can work and be artistic at the same time, perhaps even work to retire early and live a meager life dedicated to your art. It's not two poles on a map buddy
>>7742030
Pic related is an agricultural engineer.
>>7741516
That's hilarious. You don't even understand what he's studying, do you?
>>7742043
seems like you're the one without a sense of humour if you don't enjoy memoire-kun
>>7742054
If you can go 30 - 40 years of working hard and ignoring your artistic ambitions just so you can retire and somehow "dedicate" yourself then you are a fucking loser cuckold.
>>7741983
wew lad
>Don't go to Uni
Done
>Be NEET
Done
Now what, /lit/? How do I gain life experience? I have money to travel and do other shit.
>I'm 24 btw
>>7742505
an hero
