Why does /lit/ recommends this to people? I started reading (up to page 100 now) and it's very boring and mediocre. It's not even funny, if that's what it's supposed to be. Do you guys like it just because Ignatius is a parody of a intellectual NEET?
>>8202186
What country are you from?
>>8202209
Wondering this too. If you've spent any time in the southern US, you'd probably like it more.
>>8202186
You don't seem to have the right mindset for it, stop reading and come back when you're more seasoned (if ever).
>endorsements on the cover
Why do Americans do this? It's revolting.
It's not funny? I'll take this either as bait or as you being a newfag that just wants to create threads and be given replies.
>>8202212
Not him, but I read it in French translation, never went out of France, and it works fine.
Only the parts with Jones feel weird (it's translated with outdated white slang from the 60s, almost unreadable for modern readers).
>>8202216
Burgess is British
>>8202243
It's NOT the case, though. I'm Brazilian too and this is one of the funniest books I've read in my life, together with Memórias Póstumas.
I'm betting more on the probability that maybe you're not actually understanding Ignatius' thoughts/dialogs, the irony, the characters, etc.
>>8202243
Are you reading the original English novel (not a translation)?
If so, you may consider reading a translation instead. It's quite hard in English, and you can't get the irony if you struggle to understand the words.
>>8202277
I'm reading it in English. Also, I'm fluent in English and have read 130+ novels in the language, so the problem is not the language. I guess it's just not my thing.
>>8202277
Interessante. Realmente talvez tenha uma profundidade nos chiliques dele que talvez eu esteja perdendo. O que preciso saber pro livro ser engraçado?
>>8202283
Still consider a translation. It is the kind of book that really can't work out of your native tongue (too alien, too subtle), even if you are fluent.
A similarly bad idea would be to read "Tristram Shandy" in English.
>>8202232
>Only the parts with Jones feel weird (it's translated with outdated white slang from the 60s, almost unreadable for modern readers).
Well that's a god damn shame, because Jones' dialogue is some of the funniest in the book. Is the 60's one the latest edition in French?
>>8202286
>>8202287
Eu não estou nem entrando no mérito de profundidade (aliás, não acho que seja profundo), só estou dizendo que as falas e a "filosofia" do Ignatius, bem como seu comportamento em relação às outras pessoas são engraçadas demais.
Infelizmente não sei lhe dizer o que te falta para apreciar o livro - eu diria vocabulário, mas você já disse não ser esse o problema.
De qualquer forma, é só um romance. Se você realmente não gostou da leitura não está perdendo TANTO assim.
>>8202305
Sorry, but I wouldn't. I don't like translations and I'm very confident in my grasp of English. I'd much rather learn to understand the nuance in the writing than to just read the translation.
>>8202317
Acho que é isso mesmo. Poucos escritores da língua inglesa conseguiram me prender direito (Joyce, DFW, Gaddis e mais uns gatos pingados). Talvez eu volte nesse livro daqui uns anos pra ver se algo mudou.
>>8202312
I think the translator's goal was to use outdated 60s slang when the book was released in the 80s (because the action is set in the 60s).
It made sense for 80s readers who were familiar with this 60s slang, but now it feels embarrassing.
I don't think there's a more recent French translation (the one we have is excellent for the rest). Anyway, merely wanting to translate "Whoa!" is destined to fail.
>>8202320
You can't "learn" certain nuances when you don't understand they're there in the first place.
Try to read Tristram Shandy and see if your confidence is justified.
>>8202186
>It's not even funny
I've only read 20 pages and it's hilarious, are you perhaps a nigger?
>>8202305
>subtleties of language in confederacy of dunces
puh-fucking-leez. the book is a simple caricature driven oblomovesque. it's not fucking complex. my god, the plebs on this board.
>>8202186
I recommend it mostly because of the way the coloreds are depicted in it.
It gives me great pleasure.
>>8202363
>comparing tristram shandy to confederacy of dunces
pleb overload
>>8202243
>just like with Gatsby
you are just a pleb, amigo.
>>8202880
>has only read 20 pages
>but already has a finished opinion
>spouts /pol/ clichés
>all in one sentence
/lit/ in a nutshell
>>8202243
>doesn't like A Confederacy of Dunces or The Great Gatsby
>>8202919
The language itself is not subtle. The irony is subtle. And it's harder to grasp it if you have artificial fluency in English.
>my god, the plebs on this board
Go choke on your katana.
>>8203133
dude, fuck off. confederacy of dunces is fucking simp food and you're a god damned pleb. stop misleading based OP
Read it for the geometry and theology.
>>8203138
ugh
>>8202927
>>8202969
I feel sorry for you, americans. Things like Gatsby and this are considered great literature where you're from. Now compare this to a Borges, a Bioy Casares, a Cortázar, a Vargas Llosa, a Lugones, a Macedônio Fernandez. Fuck, even Márquez. And I mean in their original language, not butchered to adapt to your barbaric simpleton language. Joyce, Pynchon, Shakespeare and a select few are the only ones who deserve any praise.
>>8203335
Woah! Us simpuhl nee-gros ain no nuthin bout you fancy mothers! Woah! How the weather up dere on that horse o yours??
First 100 pages are the funniest in the book after that it just goes on repeat.
>>8202186
I feel it's overrated myself. However, taken as a very clever situation comedy, it's great. Not great literature. Also, it the author was still alive, it wouldn't be that popular.
>>8203343
Hehe. You got me. This made me laugh.
>>8203335
This.
>>8202186
Fuck your shit OP
brazilians posters on /lit/ are just like aussies on /pol/
fucking leave
>>8203335
what is "muh prose" in brazilian?
>>8203335
Joyce writing starter pack. Don't use an editor and publish your first draft.
>>8202186
You need a certain amount of maturity and experience to enjoy the book.