/lit/, please may you share with me your experiences with plebs relating to literature? I need to feel worse.
Someone on /lit/ once posted an infuriating story about his younger brother telling him books are boring because "it's all been done before" and that "he could write better himself." Anyone have it screencapped?
> my little brother wants to write YA fiction
> I think it's kinda cool because, although I don't like YA fiction and I'm not part of its primary audience, as a writer myself I would like to talk to somebody within my family who is interested in writing and reading
> he asks for "big books" because he likes his shelf to "look nice" - this means that he will also take my Pynchon and my copy of Don Quixote just because they're chunky books and fill up his shelf more
> he wants to write sci-fi so for his birthday I buy him popular sci-fi works like Dune, A Scanner Darkly, Ubik and I Have No Mouth
> he doesn't read any of them
> he tells me his favourite book is Eragon
> he's 18
> he says he wants to write for a living but that he doesn't want somebody to edit his work/he doesn't want to edit his work; that he doesn't see any point to re-drafting work; he doesn't want to publish or promote work online; etc.
> finally read some of his first novel - a sci-fi about aliens who are discriminated against by humans (meant to reflect small town mentality regarding homosexuals) - and it reads like The Martian [i.e. "100 pirate-ninjas (yay) but I'm fucked (boo)" or something along those lines]
>>7941071
I wish to see this.
one of my faves
>>7941085
I'm sure whenever somebody tells me they've read 1984 that they're lying and just spent a few hours looking it up on Wikipedia. It's not even a difficult book, but it always seems like the book people lie about having read and it makes no fucking sense.
>>7941054
You need to be 18+ to use this site.
>>7941121
top kek. examples of nonsensical things you heard about it?
>>7941054
>be me in 8th grade English class
>look to my left
>girl is straight balling her eyes out
>"what the fuck is wrong you cunt?"
>johnny dies
>wew laddy
>Be me in high school (10th grade I think)
>"have you heard?" Friend asks
>"charlie bones is a 10/10 masterpiece?"
>"no. dombledor dies" (trying to get some kind rise out of me)
>"wizard books are for fucking cunts and wizards you cunt wizard"
>friend never wore his dumb fucking guild scarf (or whatever they're called) again
>me a few years ago walking down the sidewalk in mission district San Francisco (inb4 you're a fag)
>some dude with a greased mustache, high knees striped shorts, average t shirt and his face shoved into a book plowing down the middle of the sidewalk with no consideration for anyone else
>shit you not, this fucking guy is reading sinhartha
>my head turns into a nuclear explosion
>speechless as to what I just saw
> talking to a girl about Les Miserables, the stage show
> she loves it
> ask her if she's interested in the book
> "how do you even get singing in a book haha that's weird why not just go see the musical"
Some people were never meant for any intellectual capability.
>>7941133
Well, whenever I find someone who is very sure about the contents of a book, I tend to ask them questions inquiring further about what they thought. I'll ask them the name of the protagonist, for example, and if they tell me "it's been a while since I've read it, I don't remember" then I tend to think they're bullshitting (if they're unable to "remember" anything else about the book).
I had a "discussion" with someone who claimed to have read 1984 but had no idea what Room 101 was; what thoughtcrime and doublethink was; and they even got confused between 1984 and Animal Farm ("Oh yeah, 1984, the book that says everyone is equal but some more equal than others haha what a classic right???")
It makes my piss boil, anon.
>>7941074
my condolences, bro.
>>7941074
I can believe this, tumblr-tier millennials make for dreadful writers.
>>7941136
>8th grade English class
Yes, I'm sure you were reading Ulysses.
>10th grade
Yes, I'm sure you were reading Gravity's Rainbow
>few years ago
>San Francisco
>Siddhartha
>surprised
Honestly, you just did this to yourself. The true pleb is in your mirror, anon.
>>7941197
> tfw everyone turns their back on you, even your own back
>>7941149
I've actually met people who were both surprised that Les Miserable was a novel and that it was also a musical so I can somewhat believe this happened.
>>7941074
>my little brother is a stemfag
>he likes reading but not as much as I
>introduce him to Wolfe and Dostoevsky
>we talk about literature from time to time and call the middle brother a pleb because he doesn't read
>>7941085
>>7941136
>girl is straight balling her eyes out
>straight balling
>>7941085
I know this is fake. There's no such thing as a crowded book store
>>7941294
My local waterstones is often packed, but in fairness they also get a lot of fairly well known authors coming in to sign books; do book readings; a book club for the kids; and there's a coffee shop inside too, so I guess it makes sense that people will turn up to that.
It's nice that they have chessboards out for people /customers waiting too. I know it's not necessary but small things like that just make the experience of browsing in the shop more enjoyable.
>>7941294
> "crowded book store" gives the story away
> not the constant rape whistles, the african wizard or constant farting
>>7941237
Kek
>>7941054
I work at Barnes and Noble and this super cute girl came in once. She was buying the complete modern library publication of Leaves of Grass. I was like, "Hey, that's great. One of my favorite poets." I'm not even joking, she said, "Ugh, I know! I cry every time I read the Tintern Abby one." I was like, "Oh, you're thinking of Wordsworth." She looked at me disdainfully and said, "Nooooo, I'm not." Then she went to the Romance section. Went flaccid immediately.
>>7941324
> "Nooooo, I'm not"
I feel embarrassed just reading that. Wow...
> people say "I don't like reading"
> they spend most of their time on their phones reading texts, tweets and Facebook statuses
>>7941311
>Missing the joke that bad
>>7941324
Any other gems?
>>7941363
maybe your comedic timing was just bad huh
>>7941366
this one anon
>>7941074
> he says he wants to write for a living but that he doesn't want somebody to edit his work/he doesn't want to edit his work; that he doesn't see any point to re-drafting work; he doesn't want to publish or promote work online
I'm triggered. 6/10 made me respond and a little mad.
This doesn't really belong in this thread but it is a part of board culture I don't want to see go to waste.
>>7941269
absolute madman
>>7941370
Go read a joke book
>>7941054
In my 4 years in college I can't remember meeting a single English major that read literature. Genre fiction, every single time, and I don't even mean to disparage genre fiction. It was just always a huge disappointment for me after getting my hopes up that we might be able to discuss some of the books I've read. Worst case was when I met an English major who confessed--or rather just stated because he didn't appear to be ashamed--that he wouldn't read a novel longer than 500 pages because he could never be sure if the "investment" would be worth it.
Anyone else get a similar impression from English/literature majors?
>>7941508
I genuinely thought I was going insane because the few english majors I've met don't fucking read. I thought it was a joke until the girl told me that she was going through an english degree and didn't read much. How the fuck is that even possible?
>>7941161
I've read 1984 and I can't remember the main characters name or the girls name. Tho I remember O'Brien's name. I just gove zero fucks about the book.
well today I read the proteus chapter in ulysses and most of it went right by me so I guess I'm the pleb relating to literature
>>7941527
Couple of reasons, most related to inflation of higher education and simultaneous lowering of criterion as well as progressive ideology, so 'alternative literature' like feminism that skips over Le Guin and Woolf to read Margaret Atwood and Vampire Diaries and general trash. People picking their classes was a mistake.
>>7941527
Maybe we're both just stuck in the Twilight Zone.
>>7941566
>>7941576
>>7941592
she (and her friends) were hardcore feminists though and had read a few women authors but outside of that they didn't like to read much. It seemed strange to me to go for an English degree when one has such niche interests. I figured that sociology might be better for them since they're more attracted to a movement rather than underlying literature itself.
>>7941136
This post is going right over your heads
>>7941560
enjoy oxen of the sun
>>7941594
Feminism erodes the mind, and sociology does too, depending on the political views.
I'm so pissed that our national college is such trash, English has a dystopia course that deals only with the most basic pleb titles skipping over almost everything good.
>>7941602
To be fair, Proteus' language isn't too hard, it's just that you have to know your philosophy and Portrait pretty well to make sense of a lot that's happening.
Oxen of the Sun is linguistically but its subject matter is literal banter.
>>7941622
linguistically complex*
>>7941613
baka
>>7941622
I think another thing that makes oxen of the sun so tough is that it comes right after the relatively simple nausicaa
>>7941602
looking forward to it
>>7941622
yeah the language wasn't bad and I was mostly able to follow what was going on but I'm pretty unfamiliar with the majority of references Stephen makes, philosophically/historically/etc. Additionally it's been a while since I read Portrait. I have the oxford world's classics edition of ulysses so the notes in the back helped a lot. I think if I read it through again it wouldn't be nearly as bad
>>7941544
I just remember the part with the rats.
Goddamn I hate rats.
>Walk into bookstore
>Majority of it is overpriced modern genre fiction
>Go to back of store
>See some Zizek and West
>I guess hipster is better than pleb
>Grab 2666 and Master and margarita
>Go to check out
>Person and their mom get in line behind me and start talking
>“John Green said [insert title] was good.”
>this goes on for several minutes
>start checking out
>the casher and I smirk at each other over the plebory.
I was having some second hand cringe, but I have a feeling that the stranger's love for literature was genuine, albeit obnoxious.
>>7941968
i dont see why you look down on presumably a kid for liking genre fiction. it's better than not reading at all, which is the case for most kids.
>see this kid talking about his favorite superhero movies
>he doesnt even watch black and white art house films
>lol what a fucking pleb
>>7941968
This is thinly veiled bait because the books you checked out are almost just as known in one way or another as john green books, atleast master and margarita is, even housewives read it, it's russian entry level trash.
So you're the one i'd cringe for, but its bait so doesn't matter.
>>7941279
I know him!
>>7942790
>Master and margarita
>John Green book
I agree its entry level, but that's the point. I'm taking a break from Andreyev and Sophia Tolstoy to read some framework texts.
>>7942782
The person wasn't a child, she was approximately 17.
I realize that you were being ironic, but allow me to reply to your little analogy with sincerity. To answer your question, yes black and white art house films are almost always more patrician than J.J. Abrams' films. It is absolute trash for any person, child or no. That being said comic-books are perfectly acceptable for the rising youth.
>>7941311
Come on, you can't be serious.
Back in highschool some people saw me reading a book in English and they asked me if I really understand it, and started laughing at how they never opened a book and how bad their English is. They actually asked me to hand them the book and started reading like autists. It was so cringy.
>Tenth grade "honors" English class
>full of mouth-breathing abortion survivors
>finish reading Macbeth, out-loud as a class (which is hell, because 2/23 people in the class can read above the 2nd grade level)
>have a "Socratic seminar," the concept to which every English teacher in my school masturbates on a daily basis
>teacher is an SJW cuck and turns the entire discussion into a discussion of how sexist it was for Shakespeare to portray Lady Macbeth as a manipulative woman
>entire class agrees
>I never took an honors English class again
I came out of that class hating every book we read in it
>>7944212
I despise people who are proud of the fact that they don't read.
>>7944233
I have this exact experience on a frequent basis as an undergraduate student of English literature at a prestigious university. There are people in the department who have made entire careers out of tabulating the various ways in which great writers of the past are sexist.
>work at half price books
>couple comes in, girl is searching all over for john green shit and fifty shades books
>guy says "yeah man, i just don't have the attention span to read anything but car magazines haha"
>in a fucking book store
>>7944398
people like this exist
>>7944396
It genuinely makes me sad and angry, anon. Academia is trying to make people feel bad for enjoying the greatest works ever put to page.
>>7944233
>>have a "Socratic seminar," the concept to which every English teacher in my school masturbates on a daily basis
as a hs teacher, this is painfully true. socratic seminars are seen as enveloping everything the common core standards require of students. i do not like socratic seminars. students do not like socratic seminars. socrates did not like socratic seminars. maybe that last one is a stretch but you catch my drift.
>>7944398
>shit books aren't books
>>7944398
>Men being dragged to things they do not enjoy by their gfs (An honoured tradition in the west) are plebian
>>7941161
I don't really remember character names but bags of letters as I read them. I don't read the names out loud, ya know.
>with normie group at bar
>one normie goes on about how he's been reading dennis lehane, crime fiction, hemingway
>sez o, reading thrillers and cheap fiction just isn't the same now that he's experienced deep, heavy Literature
>ask what book provoked the change
>vapes
>"like I said, hemingway"
>>7944409
>Academia is trying to make people feel bad for enjoying the greatest works ever put to page.
Quite right, but academia, at least within literature, is doing worse than this. Modern academia is engaged in the active erasure of the very culture which elemented it. In fact, students today are taught to dislike their own culture. The tone of a lecture on any given text is always, "yes, it's great, it's x, y, and z -- but it's also awfully problematic." The ubiquity of leftist dogma in modern universities has a self-perpetuating effect, where the only opinions which are tolerated are those which reaffirm the department's pre-existing liberal and progressive inclinations, and hence the only ideological progression which is possible is a gradual but inexorable shift to the left.
This is especially true as any even remotely conservatively minded person, or even less progressively minded person, is trapped in the spiral of silence (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spiral_of_silence). This means that would-be objectors either fall in line with the ideological majority, or they silently suffer through their course. But in either case, the dominant narrative is not challenged. Consequently, the field of literature becomes less attractive to prospective students with conservative or non-progressive inclinations. And so the narrative dominance is not just maintained, but exacerbated.
This is the real evil of modern academia. It has ensured that the entire cultural heritage of English literature, which is one of the world's richest, is being passed on to a generation that does not even like it. The people who receive a literary education and are meant to act as custodians for knowledge and understanding the great literary works of the past are ideologically conditioned to despise the very thing they're meant to venerate. Therefore I fear for the future of literature and literary studies a few generations hence, if there is not some substantial challenge to the status quo.
>>7944476
I would agree with the majority of what you have to say, but I'll point out that the people in academia and politics who label themselves as far-left, progressive, liberal, etc., are generally authoritarian and regressive.
>>7944481
The problem is not so much the ones who openly advocate Marxism or other far-left ideologies. In fact these people are quite benign, because they come appropriately labelled and can therefore be avoided, if one so desires. The problem is sooner the normalisation of these ideologies, and their inculcation into the curriculum and atmosphere of the department. That is to say, when these ideologies lose their labels, and start to pass unquestioned -- this is the real harm. When someone who does not identify as a leftist nevertheless begins to spout post-structuralist or radfem nonsense, this is proof that there is something far more insidious and dangerous at play here than, for example, a lecture by some avowedly Marxist critic like Eagleton (or what have you).
>10th grade English
>every week we have a vocabulary lesson on commonly used non-English words and phrases
>teacher unironically pronounces hors d'oeurve as "horse de-vor" and bourgeoisie as "bor-gee-o-see"
>>7944521
There's no way this is true. Nobody can be that stupid.
>>7944528
completely true. he also chastised me once for reading the trial because it was "too hard"
>>7944412
What are socratic seminars
>>7941074
fuck, waht
I'm so triggered I cannot even edit my previous line.
>>7944233
>tfw my English class in high school was essentially the same people for 3 years, everyone in 3-4 AP classes.
>always had great discussions, everyone understood the material and had their own valid interpretations.
>whenever the class tumblrina tried to bring up misogyny in Hamlet/Othello/etc. her points were refuted by multiple people
This was in Southern California too, just an hour out of LA. That shit made English one my favorite classes in high school.
>>7944521
>hors d'oeurve
it's "oeuvre"
t.baguette
>>7944212
This was your cue to become their senpai and teach them how not to pleb. You failed miserably.
>>7944636
what does "t." mean? please tell me i keep seeing it
>>7944233
>entire class agrees
This always pissed me off.
>>7944521
Oh man this reminds me of my high school English teacher. She would constantly mispronounce vaguely difficult words, but she was always so sure of herself and unwilling to accept that she was wrong. And because this was in Switzerland, none of us could call her out on it because
>muh english degree
compared to our couple of years of English lessons.
>>7944667
It's like
>Mr.
or
>Mrs./Ms.
but for transsexuals (that's what the "t" stands for)that have trouble identifying in a normal way.
It's just his/her/it's way of signing off and there's not a whole lot you can really do about that.
>>7944476
Good post, lad.
>>7944476
This is why I am collecting a physical library of all the classics I can, to have when they eventually ban them.
I'll also make sure my children get STEM educations and will teach them literature and art on my own (God let them be willing). We will then carry this beautiful heritage through the generations, until a more reasonable political climate comes.
Help increase our chances of success by doing the same.
>>7941074
This ruined my day. Thank you, anon.
It surprises me when people talk about feminism and racism being discussed in their high school English classes. It hasn't quite been a full decade since I graduated, and I took a whole slew of English electives, and I can't remember a single case of that stuff being brought up.
It scares me to think how quickly centuries of cherished work can be written off as offensive.
>>7944584
this
please someone answer, wtf are you talking about
>>7944476
this.
>>7944797
Cooperative argumentative dialogue
>>7944783
>to have when they eventually ban them
They won't have to ban them. Which I believe is the point of the poster to whom you're responding.
Good call with the STEM educations, but keep in mind that if you force your Maoist woman-projecting daughter into the bourgeois male-dominated sciences she's going to resent you, shitlord. Better instead to try to instill a love for mathematics and curiosity about the natural world from a young age because god fucking knows your children won't get that from secondary school (or at least the won't if they go to school in America). I'm suggesting that you also include some STEM in your education of them if you want them to be interested in STEM.
>>7944803
Oh yeah, of course. Looks pretty fucking dumb, especially if it's done by sjw and young students.
>>7944476
>>7944518
>>7944783
Bloom is the path. Bloom is the light in the darkness.
In Bloom we trust.
>>7944751
>>7944667
It's the finnish acronym for "Regards"
T. Knower
>>7944476
>>7944518
>>7944783
>>7944788
>>7944809
https://www.wikiwand.com/en/School_of_Resentment
>>7944817
I know that Bloom gets shat on her for being a Romantic and a dinosaur, but it is hard not to get excited about ordering the texts he champions in The Western Canon. I actually wish I loved reading as much as he does.
>>7944667
its ylilautanese for regards
t. me
>>7941074
>> he tells me his favourite book is Eragon
Well that's
>> he's 18
Oh shit
>>7944837
I wish I loved anything as much as he loves literature.
>>7944631
This was my experience as well. was great fun watching the smart asses in my class shit on the opinionated bitches
>>7944783
>having kids ever
Yeah I'd rather not.
>>7941121
I haven't read it and am not ashamed; I'm sure it's uninspired garbage just like Animal Farm
>>7941376
Nice.
>>7944756
This picture makes Bloom looks like a harrowed old divine who has seen some shit and has reluctantly but fatalistically given up on restoring the fallen world.
>>7944939
>looks like a harrowed old divine who has seen some shit and has reluctantly but fatalistically given up on restoring the fallen world
well that's what he is, so...
>>7944809
Yes of course. I won't force her to do anything. I will try to develop a love of learning and truth seeking though. I will try to guide them down the right path.
>>7944667
terveisin
>>7944476
>mfw you're right
>mfw we're doomed
>>7941294
>he's from freedom country
>>7944398
Wait, was this in South Africa?
>>7945226
Do they have Half Price Books in South Africa?
I want to know if it was the one is Austin. Anon, have you been ringing up my books?
>Went to Christian high-school
>Have to read Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers for senior theology course
>book is cancerous on literary and theological levels
>Chistian 50 shages type shit
>Other students like this book
>Teacher loves it
>Girls all want a guy like the main character
>They want the dude who abducts a hooker, keeps her on his farm and has sex with her subjugates her to his beliefs
>No one thinks critically regarding this book
>I talk to some people about removing the boom from the curriculum due to poor literary quality and an apparently poor understanding of what Jesus wants from us
>Told that the message of the story is good so they're going to keep it
>future students are going to be subject to this cancer
I still get furious about this book five years after the fact because no one seemed to care about the quality of a work as long as it's for Jesus. Jesus deserves better and it makes me furious that people would let Christian themes make up for sub par work.
>>7944831
>https://www.wikiwand.com/en/School_of_Resentment
>art critic and dissident feminist Camille Paglia defended Bloom
There may be hope yet.
>>7941074
>he says he wants to write for a living but that he doesn't want somebody to edit his work/he doesn't want to edit his work; that he doesn't see any point to re-drafting work
>>7945374
>Jesus deserves better and it makes me furious that people would let Christian themes make up for sub par work.
as a cradle atheist, I'm happy to read this, and I agree. the historical Jesus seemed admirable enough, I wish his followers were more like him/you. Speaking culturally (perhaps this is just in the US, but) christians are the most boring, self-serving echo chamber the world has ever known. sorry to reference something so plebian, but if you've seen the South Park episode about christian music, that's a good, shorthand example of what I believe we're both irked by.
as an outsider, that's the christianity that's usually visible to me--the self-satisfied, willfully artless plebs (and also the fringe nutcases get a lot of press, I guess.) this board shows that people interested in Aquinas, theology etc still exist, but they still seem to be a minority view within the suffocatingly large christian culture. At least to an outsider like me.
>>7944783
Enjoy your Jonestown.
>>7945642
historical Jesus entreated people to live lives of abandon
>>7941161
do you remember the protagonist names of every book you have read? what seems like a more likely explanation is that they read it in high school or something so it was a long time ago
>>7944476
I agree to an extent but I don't think it's as all encompassing as you might think. This is purely anecdotal but I had an undergrad English class entirely on Milton. 80% of the course was Paradise Lost and nothing else. To be fair I did have a prof who was clearly struggling in the current environment, but he still taught a fairly rigorous course on modernism.
>Sitting before class in uni
>Engineering class
>STEMfags everywhere
>Overhear 2 guys talking about philosophy
>Some guy mentions that Aristotle was sentenced to drink hemlock and he did it anyways instead of escaping
>The other guy says "wow hes dumb"
>>7941054
>Group of acquaintances start talking about what books they're reading.
>Someone asks me
>I say Moby Dick, one girl says "I'm never going to read that, I heard it's racist"
>confusion
>Other girl starts talking about how she wonders why anyone reads old books and that new books are always an improvement
>stay so salty about it I complain about it a year later on a Burmese shadow puppet forum
>>7944874
nah dude, it's a pretty fantastic book.
>>7941054
>college orientation
>college has a "common book" every year
>this year it's A Farewell to Arms
>have to tell another student your major and something about yourself
>after telling Asian girl I'm an English major, she asks me what I read
>"Well, I've read A Farewell to Arms."
>ask her what she usually reads
>"um, mostly manga"
>then we have to share what we learned to the whole group
>Asian girl tells everyone I've read the common book
>the upper class student in charge of overseeing the group says "Well look at you" in the most "stop being such a show-off" way
>later in an English class, where I'm the only English major because it's one of the only English classes everyone is obligated to take
>professor asks the class to raise their hands if they've read The Grapes of Wrath
>that awkward feeling when I told everyone I was an English major on day one and I haven't read The Grapes of Wrath yet, but apparently everyone else in the class had to read it in high school or something and most of them probably hated it
I just don't see the appeal and the constant need to bash anyone who doesn't like to read books when most of the people who do that just read useless literature like Maze Runner, Harry Potter, The Hunger Games, John Green, etc... And then call themselves ''avid readers'', those books are merely just entertainment and will do you as good as reading any mindless article on the internet. I just hate the people who treat non-book readers as ignorant and inferior thinking that pieces of paper with printed words are literally the only way to gain knowledge, specially when they read such useless fictional crap as mentioned, some people will read just about anything in order to seem interesting and more cult, they say they will like the piece when in reality they have just been under the influence of suggestion, that is, of the popularity of the author and the need to fit in with other mindless people who want to look interesting too. I have nothing against books and book-readers but absolutely hate this attitude. If you really want to gain true knowledge and not ''how to do a Wingardium Leviosa'' then read a real educational book and stop bragging about how you love to read novels, entertainment is entertainment and just that so if you really think books are the only way to overcome ignorance then you've been living under a rock..
>went into Barnes and Noble
>browse the classics section looking for something to read
>settle on a dual language version of Canterbury Tales (middle english/modern english)
>take it to counter
>cashier is legit 9/10 QT with great smile and flowing blond hair
>very friendly and starts a conversation about how she studied middle english in college and read this and how it's one of her favorite books
>stand there awkwardly mumbling vague syllables and looking at my feet
>she gives me the bag with my book in it but keeps talking about literature and college
>slowly edge further and further away from the counter
>she's still talking at me from across the room
>even more embarrassed
>mumble "well i've gotta run, bye"
>leave
wait actually she was patrician as fuck and someone please kill me
A not-serious question I ask the girls I go out with is, 'if you went to school with Harry, what house would you belong in?"
10% say Ravenclaw
20% say Gryffindor
70% say Hufflepuff
>mfw Slytherin pussy is a myth
>>7947120
True, but the vast majority of those people who don't like reading books aren't exactly broadening their minds elsewhere.
>>7947146
Autismo is not patrician.
>>7941085
Classic. Fucking classic pasta. Lmfao
>>7947155
ive fucked/dated chicks who identify as slytherin
salright
>>7947222
Are they all edgelords riddled with piercings and tattoos? Because all I attract are basic girls. Boring as hell.
>be me
>18 years old, in 12th grade IB English
>teacher constantly praises everyone for making commentary that I would expect a 12 year old to make
>have a girl in our class who is a "published" "poet"
>she actually self-published a shitty book of poetry on Amazon
>mfw my teacher praises her for her supreme literary skills every day
>>7947296
Holy shit, I'm reading some of the poems in here that I never saw, and they're far worse than I had seen before.
Here's a gem:
"We Are Beautiful"
You can dye your hair
You can change what you wear
You can put on make-up
But you need to wake up.
You cannot achieve beauty
But you can be beautiful
If you just be you.
"originality is prettier than society"
It wouldn't be bad if she was actually interested in literature/poetry or progression; she's so fucking smug and self-satisfied about everything.
>>7947321
does she have image issues? (read: Is she fat?)
>>7941527
You go to a shit school.
>inb4 "i go to an ivy league" lies
>>7944396
Oberlin is not actually prestigious
>2 years ago, be at shitty community college because I am an idiot
>English professor talks about his poetry, but doesn't show it to anyone in class
>look him up
>his poetry reads like Tao Lin's
Oy vey.
>>7944396
Also, you're a moron for not looking into your profs before you decided to go there.
>>7947366
What the fuck did I type? *She's kind of stuck in pic related I guess.
>>7941149
>> "how do you even get singing in a book
Pleb bitch can't even handle Pynchon
>>7945642
You're correct about Christians these days, the quality of any kind of artistic work within any churches was always so awful, and it strikes me as funny. The same religion that inspired people in Europe to build large, beautiful cathedrals, create masterful paintings and write much of the literature that makes up much of the Western canon has fallen so far in quality. Instead of cathedrals, mega churches are eyesores. Instead of works like the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, reproduction prints of white Jesus are hung on the walls. Instead of proper literature, shit like The Shack.
European Christianity is dead for the most part, and American Christianity might as well be patented by McDonald's.At least I can keep rereading Paradise Lost.
>>7947013
Lol, haven't read much Aristotle, but I know that basically the same thing happened with Socrates. Or is it part of the joke that they confused Aristotle with Socrates and didn't understand why he chose to be executed?
>>7947366
excuse me friend but that girl is a years old and you're going to jail
>>7944667
newfag loser
>>7941508
>>7941527
Everyone I know either doesn't read, or only reads shit assigned in class, or reads shit assigned in class and acts like they're better than people who also only read shit assigned in class, or there are the rare few who have heard of meme authors like Tao Lin but cannot understand his poetry or anything. I have become a meme in some classes by referencing Pynchon to professors just because I know others won't know Pynchon, even though he is (I'm pretty sure) not obscure by any means
>>7947120
This is so meta
>>7947390
>tfw your teacher says they talk about you to other classes
>English major
>no one around me seems to read
>girl mentions author I like
>get too excited and try to talk about literature
>conversation goes half-decently, but she keeps getting distracted by other people talking
>give up a little and go home to jack off to lesbian prolapse porn
>>7947155
>70% say Hufflepuff
Are 70% of girls fat? Actually they probably are
>>7947425
My professor actively tries to make fun of me for being pretentious or something, but I'm generally just floating on 18 or 19 layers of irony to be honest family
>>7941527
Barely any of the English majors at my school read. The only ones who ever do are women who pick up modern stuff like Gaiman and Sedaris. I know it's confirmation bias, but this is the main reason why I look at engwrt/englit as a girl's club. I don't hate it desu. Guys never have anything interesting to say. I just women weren't such huge pussies that they feel afraid to assert any questionable interpretations.
>>7947446
>Education major w/language arts concentration
>be genuinely excited about things i like
>rant to girl i meet in first week of classes about things like how great James Joyce is
>mfw engaged to her
Enthusiasm is the best
>>7947482
I never ran into issues if people being as aggressively stupid as most of /lit/ makes their undergrads out to be, but it certainly was a girls club. My sophomore year I was one of four guys in the English AND Creative Writing department of something like 60 or so students. It was nice because I always had a girlfriend, and if we wanted to add a third we never had a problem with that either. Due to the lack of dudes (1 guy for every 2 girls) at the school in general, you could cut the sexual tension with a knife.
>>7947492
Yeah, enthusiasm is great, unless you only talk to useless vapid cunts like I doHave a date with this girl this weekend. Hope it goes well; she's pretty cool
>>7947026
Good ending.
>>7947120
The purpose of /lit/ is to develop a weird hobby that augments your already solitary life and makes you feel superior to functioning, socially normal people. You sound like the kind of person who beleives that if sonething makes someone happy, and harms no one, there's no problem. What are you doing here?
>>7947554
beautiful
reee plebs etc.
>>7942790
You managed to criticize a book (M&M) without talking about the quality of the book.
Congrats you hipster doofus
>>7944631
>>7944845
Somewhat similar. We don't have AP classes, but we had a "scholarship group": I was the STEM nerd, we had a Catholic, communist indigenous guy, a libertarian golden-child, a quiet artist-photographer-type from England, a mild tumblerina, a deeply religiously Protestant guy with an obsession with Dostoyevsky. It was the first and last time I was in a room with people who actually enjoyed reading and debating and talking literature to the death, despite our various backgrounds.
The fact that there are people that like and laud Harry Potter, ASOIAF, etc should make you feel bad about being amongst such pathetic plebs.
>>7947468
>18 or 19
Lmao what are you doing kid
I out down my 56th one this morning and I know I've still got a long way to go
>friend of mine holds the strange belief that everything that can be thought of has already been thought of.
>ask him about when this transition between discovery and non-disovery occurred
>he says somewhere around the 1900s
>ask him about the thinking up of the less refined versions of things, for example a "lesser TV" or a "more complicated refrigerator"
>says that the thinkers of these ideas just didn't act out and never invent these objects
>ask him about the negation of ideas, or ideas that simply can't be built upon by knowledge we currently have (ie. a hyperdrive because the scholarship just isn't there)
>says that these thinkers are just not in the position to enact their idea in the physical world.
>ask him that is an idea is unenactable, unrealizable, and ununable than how can you prove that it was ever thought of.
>says that there are 7 billion people in the world, someone probably already thought of this conversation.
>ask him that if all of this is true than the only thing that could prove his hypothesis is God
>says that God doesn't exist
>convince him that his idea can't be proved without God
>he is so stubborn in his beliefs that he will not let his conclusion be challenged
>tfw I convinced my friend to join the Hold Roman Catholic Church within a tea time.
>>7947554
While it's true that the community polarizes itself, claiming that's all that's going on is lazy.
I didn't develop the hobby of reading good literature before coming to lit. It was the other way around for me. And before I came here, I got the sense that the people around me were really thoughtless about what they read, but simultaneously eager to impress and it made me uncomfortable talking about them. So, I come to these threads partly because I'm curious about seeing these beliefs out in the open. It's not just because I like bandwagoning.
It's not a new idea that the admission of taboo views+beliefs is often the first step to forming a hive mind (see Howard Becker), but it's foolish to just totally discount the validity of the original views.
>>7947206
>she was the autismo
>>7947501
GET PUT NORMIE REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
>>7941508
Help a clueless pleb out here, what's the difference between literature and genre fiction? I've gone through some obligatory fedoracore stuff like Hellbound Heart, King's It / Long Walk, Battle Roale, Hannibal novels, American Psycho, Frankenstein, Dracula. What should I read to be patrician? I hear good things about 1984 but isn't that genre fiction? If not what transcends it to literature?
>>7948408
>obligatory fedoracore stuff like […] Frankenstein, Dracula.
>What should I read to be patrician?
Better stop altogether m8
>>7948408
Genre fiction means shitty fantasy and science fiction. Authors who fall into the category are Rothfuss, Sanderson, Erikson, Abercrombie and alike.
It can also be a dismissive term used to disregard all science fiction and fantasy, unfairly including Peake, Wolfe, Chesterton, Tolkien and other fantasy writers with a high level of quality.
Frankenstein and Dracula aren't fedoracore, they just have the bad luck of being inspiration for fedora stuff.
What to read next? Idk lurk here and check out authors who seem interesting.
>>7941968
>walk into fancy bookstore in Saratoga, NY
>always busy
>figure I should pick up a new books i've been meaning to read
>pick up 4 books; none of them new
>go to check out
>$80
>my fucking face
never buying new books again jesus fucking christ
>>7944476
doesn't happen in history :^)
>>7944521
>horse de-vor
i say "whores de-vor" on purpose to trigger people
>>7948201
>>ask him that if all of this is true than the only thing that could prove his hypothesis is God
Why?
>>7945642
>the historical Jesus seemed admirable enough
I dont mean to go off topic, but this notion of a historical Jesus or a secular Jesus existing either historically or philosophically is fucking retarded. There is one Jesus: the Jesus of the Gospels.
but you are right, a lot of christianity is happy with shitty art so long as it is about God or Jesus. It's disgusting to me
>>7947377
there's a good book about combating this called "Love the Lord with all your Mind"
>Reading Grapes of Wrath because we need to know about oppression and discourses and shit
>Again
>Mention in class that I referred to the Bible while researching the chapters between the story of the Joads because we sure do loving beating all those dead dogs
>Half the class loudly groans faster than I can say Galatians
>tfw everyone thinks I'm Christian now
>tfw electronic copy of Popul Vuh and bookshelf section of collected Buddhist sutras weeping silently at home
I have nothing but contempt for these people.
>>7947425
>tfw professor likes your writing so much they ask you to write them a recommendation letter for their promotion
>>7947501
serious question: where do you even meet decent girls other than online?
>>7947382
the latter
>>7948499
You're not far off then
>be in university library
>queuing to get a book from the stacks
>iPod in
>girl comes over and taps my shoulder
>says her friend thinks I'm cute but is too shy to approach me
>I say thanks and ask where her friend is
>she looks over to a group of girls, one of who is talking to another girl and occasionally looking over and smiling
>she's wearing a Joy Division shirt
>pull a constanza and put my earplug back in
>she walks away
>feel like a piece of shit when walking home
>>7948536
REEEEE
>>7941085
The Communist Manifesto was a nice touch.
>>7941136
Gold
>>7948536
kek.
I would have spaghetti'd all over the library.
>>7948536
Why?
>>7948562
>she's wearing a Joy Division shirt
>>7948536
>>she looks over to a group of girls
honestly fuck her for putting you in that situation
>>7948567
Yes but she has a pussy
>>7948567
I would rather be her friend than yours
>>7948594
Says a lot about you m89
>>7948587
>honestly fuck her for putting you in that situation
What situation? This ain't fucking prom night, Carrie.
>>7948602
a lot of people, especially the kind of people who browse a bookshelf with headphones in, can only really be themselves when there isnt a lot of social pressure. like if there was only the one girl and her friend you could go over and have a conversation and be yourself. but having to manage socializing with all those new people at once and at the same time try to talk to the girl who liked you is really hard
girls only do that kind of thing to make fun of people. they figure either they'll be a loser who will either come over or not and they can make fun of him or hes a chad who will make them all giggle and they can gossip about him then. its a win-win scenario for them
>be me
>35-year-old NEET
>never leave my house
>spend a considerable amount of time filling an old notebook with essays and musings on eugenics, fascism, the red pill, and a beta uprising
>2 days ago
>parents sneak into my room to check the size of my clothes
>find manifesto stashed in my dresser
>parents confront me at dinner
>mother sobbing
>father calling me a degenerate scumbag
>already mad at me because I bought $300 worth of horse figurines with his debit card a few weeks before without his permission
>lectured on how my ideas are somehow unamerican and evil
>says he should kick me out
>orders me into my room
>haven't left since
>>7948631
this is either really good bait
or the saddest state a person could live i at 35
>>7941161
I can't remember anything from that book, though desu I've read it over 10 years ago. But even on recent books I've read I remember very little details such as full names and rom numbers.
>>7948678
Horse figurines are a meme.
>>7948424
>>Genre fiction means shitty fantasy and science fiction
not exclusively. romance, crime, western, spy thrillers; all are or recently were hugely successful genres. thought of another way, these are the books that actually sell and keep the publishers in business. stories to entertain readers while at the beach or riding the bus.
genre fic is tailored to readers because a certain kind of story appeals to them, usually something they can mentally insert themselves into and become the protagonist. authors can follow a particular format and be successful, which means the authors can use a format and crank them out to make a living. these are hacks, but so what?
literature is writing by an author that wants to write without cliche, to write something they hope is original, choosing words and how they go together as a craft rather than the utilitarian spitting out of a narration, and usually with some insight or comment on what it means to be human or a member of a particular culture. Literature may not be written to entertain, and may even confront the reader.
I should add that genre written by a talented and sensitive author can be literature, but that is an exception, not the rule. then again, most authors with literary aspirations fail to write anything worthy of the title anyway. so there's that.
you're allowed to read both, but you're expected to know the difference.
>>7941161
I can't blame them for not remembering, 1984 is horrible; and even if i can remember everything you mentioned, i still can't remember the MC's name or his girl's name.
>>7948817
1984's protagonist is called Wilson Winston "Varicose vein" Smith Junior.
>>7947468
>>7947875
explain this to me, i want to be apart of whatever is happening here
>>7949755
They are forming a discourse on the methods by which society produces the comedic acts of irony which presents itself through the form of awkwardly worded posts which seemingly mock yet inform the reader by which I mean me as I am posting to you ironically not to inform but I am informing regardless!
>>7947468
YOU ARE LIKE A CHILD
WATCH THIS
SUCC
U C
C U
C S
you can have as many layers of shit irony as you like but it's quality not quantity. one consistent, cohesive layer of irony is as sufficient as one needs
>>7948720
Callback to Wizard People, Dear Reader?
>harry conjured many a wine out of nowhere spell, and was sucked into the world of miniature equestrian aficionados
>>7948424
>Peake, Wolfe, Chesterton, Tolkien and other fantasy writers with a high level of quality.
Who would be the science fiction writers that have "a high level of quality?"
Also, could you recommend a Chesterton work?.
>>7947343
>mentioning Tao Lin on 4chins
You dun goofed
>>7944518
You use the left-right spectrum, a flawed system as a single persons political views can be a mixture of ideas not solely "leftist" or "right wing". The opinions you describe, which are so radically different from the label the political spectrum gives the person you describe, are not proof of this persons ignorance, but rather a sign that you and the system you employ to label a persons political stance are flawed
>>7947875
I mean that was like a week ago I'm on 67 now biznatch
>>7948529
By accident, in class. When I first met this girl she looked like an idiot, in the sense that she looked like she graduated from constant amphetamine use in her teenage years to using slightly less drugs and pretending to be mature about it. Turns out my judgment was about spot-on, but she has the potential to be /lit/ and she seemed somewhat interested when I was talking about post-ironic film once
Basically my advice to you is to just do nothing at all and let yourself fall into knowing decent qts, without actively doing anything yourself to find them. This is, of course, shitty advice, but Chance has been favoring me pretty consistently my entire life, so I don't really know what to tell you, famalam
>>7951255
My layers are layers in the sense that the layers of a 7-layer dip are layers. They still essentially form a cohesive whole
>>7941161
I don't remember room 101,was that his prison cell?
>>7941269
that side glance on the right
who /quantum irony/ here?
>>7951743
It's where they were tortured and broken by their worst fears.
friday night time to shit post my dudes
>>7945374
First one to really piss me off
>>7941599
No, it's just bad
>>7947321
>You can put on make-up
>But you need to wake up
masterful
>>7948590
the downfall of all men summed up in one sentence
>>7941161
The name of the protagonist isn't a thing you definitely remember though, I can't remember the names of a lot of characters in films but I've still watched the films. Sometimes i've tried to remember the name of a character in a book for ages only to look it up and realise they never had one, it isn't always important. I've genuinely never met anyone who pretended to have read a book though I'm sure it happens a lot.
>>7941269
The first rule of simple rimming is to take her underwear off.
