Any thoughts on Clarice Lispector's work?
I've only read a couple short stories by her so I'm not one to judge.
>>7681387
It sounds interesting but I never even heard of her until a few days ago, so I haven't read any of it yet.
When would anyone arrange their books that way
What are some tips for writing battle scenes? Are there any resources or books you'd consider a must read in order to have a handle on how to write combat well?
>>7681348
War and Peace and LOTR are definitely must reads for writing battles worth a crap I'd say.
Not only are the battle scenes in both of those well-written, but both Tolstoy and Tolkien actually saw combat which lends authenticity that they knew what the hell they were doing.
Keeping your sentences as short and sweet as possible is advice I've regularly seen given when it comes to writing combat, and I'd agree with it. Poor flow sticks out in battle scenes more than most stuff, and if your sentences are going on too long it could make the reader start thinking that you don't know what the fuck you're doing and you lack the ability to write a battle concisely.
>reading the Mahabharata
>fight scenes are basically:
>and then Bhishma showered them with hundreds of arrows and then the Pandus showered him with hundreds of arrows and then Bhishma cut off their arrows and fired back with hundreds of arrows, which the Pandus cut off, and then they fired back with
>hundreds of arrows
My advice? Keep the physical descriptions concise and focus on the emotional and sensory aspects of the battle.
Just write like Ernst Junger would, it's the most realistic.
What are some great philosophical works of this century?
Of the few I've read, Objectivity (Daston, Galison), Alienation (Jaeggi) and Systematicity (Hoyningen-Huene) rank all among the must-read.
>>7681336
philosophy is dead bro
E S C A L A T E
H E I G H T E N
>>7681353
That was fast.
Have another one.
>He bought into the Fagles meme
Vernacular? In my epic Greek poem?
Who cares
>>7681298
The fact that you're memeing about this speaks more about you than it does Fagels. These ballads were heavily improvised by poets/bards using certain repetitive anchors so they would all communicate the same story in their own way. Fagels is doing the same thing here, continuing that very tradition by translating the epic poem in his own way. A lot of people will say Pope did not translate the homeric poems but wrote his own poem. In a sense though, he did the greatest tribute to the epic by doing it his own way. These poems are unique in that the adaptations and translations do not corrupt the essence of the poem. This is why translations, prose and poetic are equally acceptable.
No other stands to mind with the power of God's word in imagery, logic, and metaphor, save St. John the Ladder
What is similar?
What are you reading this month? Did you meet your January goals?
My list for feb
The Days Trilogy by Mencken
Harlot's Ghost by Mailer
Joseph and His Brothers by Mann
A Frolic of His Own by Gaddis
Middle C by Gass
Selected Poems by Nabokov
Object Lessons by the Paris Review
The Dying Grass by Vollmann
Apricot Jam by Solzhenitsyn
Winter Journel by Auster
Fantastic Women by Tin House
The Hanged Man of Saint Pholien by Simenon
The Collected Stories of Lydia Davis
Tenth of December by Saunders
Wolf in White Van by Darnielle
The Collected Stories of Colette
>>7681248
Excellent list, though I'm a tad worried you've set your expectations too high.
>>7681263
I'm pretty confident I can read all of these, only thing I'm worried about getting through are the Gass and Vollmann. I have a lot of trouble with Gass' prose.
I completely threw out my list after Catch 22 bored the fuck out of me. I still have an idea of what I want to do though:
Pornografia, Gombrowicz
Written on the Body, Winterson
The Tartar Steppe, Buzzati
Tao Te Ching, Tzu
The Name Of The Rose, Eco
Beloved, Morrison
The Frogs, Aristophanes
and then finish Catch 22 at some point
Donna T, too pleb I imagine, SH was, I thought, pretty pointless, but I really enjoyed the pic as an audio book for bed time.
What does lit think? Her third nvl won the Pulitzer.
>>7681211
After reading laudatory articles everywhere about The Secret History, I finally tried it last Christmas. Had to stop partway through. The book's terrible, the attempts at academic prowess are embarrassing, and the main characters are all interchangeable. I have no idea what all those fans are thinking.
>>7681440
pleb confirmed
secret history is a gr8 literary thriller on the same page as Eco's name of the rose
also Donna tartt best qt tart girl
>>7681453
>Eco's name of the rose
Italian Dan Brown.
>context is inherently lost in even the best professional translation
>learning every major language on earth is not a reasonable task to undergo
how to cope with this feel
>>7681187
Learn the languages of your favorite authors.
>>7681187
That is literally like three languages. I ain't got time for that shit
Discover authors who write in your native language? Don't live your life with the tastes of an undergraduate?
Which writers give the fewest fucks?
>>7681138
Based Barrelkin Diogenes
>>7681167
Did he even write?
>>7681174
he didn't give enough of a fuck to, no.
Thoughts on Bukowski?
Those marks on his face, they resemble the man's character--a mixture of bitter resignation and love of one's fate. Drunken braggart, brute, he has inspired me to have sympathy for myself especially when I am at my worst. His sensitivity was drawn directly from abuse, his meat was tenderized. An eye on what is in fact, true of America. He was a lover of culture, but not its servant. His success was extremely unlikely, and ultimately undeniable. He outlived his more prestigious contemporaries, in more ways than one. Who would argue that his poems are not more relevant than, for instance, those of Ginsberg? Yet Ginsberg had his day and in those days, I imagine Bukowski was much like you or me, racked with doubt by and by of our own value, our own right to exist. I don't know if you could even call it heroic, maybe it is even cowardly how he persisted, and yet...watch the way his writing progresses from the first to last; it is marvelous to witness a man unfolding in letters like he did. When I needed one, he was my greatest friends. From my own life I remember a night, when my little brother (now dead) and I had gotten blind drunk, began shoplifting books at the Barnes and Noble, and when we were away I gave him a copy of "Love is a Dog from Hell"...he slapped it out of my hands and said Bukowski is boring! This was only because my brother looked to me for guidance and I think was confused by more lasting allegiance to a writer who was, if nothing else, consistent. And so it is today, with peers on /lit/ or elsewhere, who have moved on to the greener grass...and yet there is no shame in honoring the great. So my thoughts are, basically, like the thoughts I have of a dead brother---marvelous and warm, heart-wrenching. There are very few writers who have become a part of my life like that.
who the fuck keeps posting this shit? there's a bukowski thread like every other day now. fuck off already
>>7681411
He's very popular with young males who have just started to get into reading and so don't know any better. There's obviously many of them here.
Hey /lit/ I'm a crazy fanatic when it comes to fantasy books and I just finished the entire Middle Earth Trilogy books
>The Simarillion
>The Hobbit
>Fellowship of the Ring
>The Two Towers
>Return of the King
>Unfinished Tales of Numenor and Middle Earth
To any fantasy readers out there, what kind of book do you recommend for me. I'm basically looking for thick storyline along with lore. Any help will be appreciated.
>>7681122
Some of my favorite:
Brandon Sanderson's Series:
Mistborn [~6 books can't remember exactly]
Stormlight Archive [only 2 books so far but going to end up ~10 total]
Elantris [2 books]
Other Authors:
Malazan Book of the Fallen [10 books]
The Black Company [9 shorter books]
The First Law Series [3 books]
Game of Thrones [5 books so far]
Wheel of Time [14 books]
Fantasy is for plebeian shits
Do you reckon publishers lurk on /lit/?
>>7681121
I know they do, there have been tons of threads over the years by middle management or beginners at publishing companies.
Best one was a guy who was trying to figure out how to bring what amounted to dragon-furry porn that was tucked in an excellent book to his boss.
I really don't think so, and would be surprised if proven wrong
>>7681133
Is this guy legit?
Is The Name of the Rose a book that I can just begin reading with no trouble understanding? I know nothing about semiotics, and was just wondering if I need a crash course before reading.
Nope. One of the best-sellers of Modern lit dude, you think all these plebs would know anything about Semiotics?
>>7681100
I'd say you need a solid background on medieval history and scholasticism more than semiotics. Despite some esoteric elements this is definitely a very accessible detective story.
Started reading it a bit ago, and find it very enjoyable so far, and am learning a few things. It can be a bit heavy on theological history, but nothing too bad.
Hey /lit/, what do you do when a book is too hard for you?
pic related
>>7681084
Just work your way up I suppose, maybe try The Road or No Country for Old Men?
btw prepare to get mocked a lot in this thread. Sorry
>>7681084
Keep trying. I finished at my 3rd try.
Just start with easier books, keep coming back to it to give it another try.
A while back when I was in high school English, we had to read The Metamorphosis. After we all finished reading it, we discussed the symbolism and message. One major point my teacher made was that "the apple thrown at Gregor could easily easily represent the apple from the Garden of Eden". Another fantastic point made was that the book endorsed laissez faire capitalism.
Why are American schools so shitty?
>>7681066
All schools are shitty.
>>7681066
>the book endorsed laissez faire capitalism.
Kafka was a raving socialist; in fact, some of his friends stopped speaking to him because of how outspoken he was. So I'm fairly certain that that interpretation is quite incorrect.
>the whale represents god, insanity, society, mankind, endangered species, natural disaster, satan, poseidon, obsession, and love
>no, look it up
