>What's happening is part of a phenomenon I wrote about a couple of years ago when I was asked to comment on Rowling. I went to the Yale University bookstore and bought and read a copy of "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone." I suffered a great deal in the process. The writing was dreadful; the book was terrible. As I read, I noticed that every time a character went for a walk, the author wrote instead that the character "stretched his legs." I began marking on the back of an envelope every time that phrase was repeated. I stopped only after I had marked the envelope several dozen times. I was incredulous. Rowling's mind is so governed by cliches and dead metaphors that she has no other style of writing.
>But when I wrote that in a newspaper, I was denounced. I was told that children would now read only J.K. Rowling, and I was asked whether that wasn't, after all, better than reading nothing at all? If Rowling was what it took to make them pick up a book, wasn't that a good thing?
>It is not. "Harry Potter" will not lead our children on to Kipling's "Just So Stories" or his "Jungle Book." It will not lead them to Thurber's "Thirteen Clocks" or Kenneth Grahame's "Wind in the Willows" or Lewis Carroll's "Alice."
>Later I read a lavish, loving review of Harry Potter by the same Stephen King. He wrote something to the effect of, "If these kids are reading Harry Potter at 11 or 12, then when they get older they will go on to read Stephen King." And he was quite right. He was not being ironic. When you read "Harry Potter" you are, in fact, trained to read Stephen King.
>Our society and our literature and our culture are being dumbed down, and the causes are very complex. I'm 73 years old. In a lifetime of teaching English, I've seen the study of literature debased. There's very little authentic study of the humanities remaining. My research assistant came to me two years ago saying she'd been in a seminar in which the teacher spent two hours saying that Walt Whitman was a racist. This isn't even good nonsense. It's insufferable.
This was written more than 10 years ago. It's only getting worse. Why the FUCK would you study English/literature in college?
Yes Bloom sensei!
Bloom: boo hoo i'm an old cranky man and no one's reading the boring-ass books i like, i can't believe people are having fun reading stuff that makes them passionate how dare they :'(((((
>>7662815
I'm sure thats how you genuinely feel
Hey /lit/. Couple of weeks ago my girlfriend left me. I'm not taking it so well. Went to the doctor's and was diagnosed with Major Depression. Are there any books that you have found that have helped you through a similar situation? Or even a book that has brightened your outlook on life? I'm not a seasoned reader and I have very little sense of direction when it comes to choosing books. Help me /lit/, you're my only hope. I don't know how to hold these feels.
I was reading Catcher in the Rye when I broke up. It made me feel less lonely. It even cheered me up.
First of all, don't let them poison you with meds unless you literally can't make it out of bed. Second, I recommend Notes from the Underground so you can feel like you have some company in your misery. Also, don't worry; time really will sweep the feelings away. Some things you just have to endure.
>>7661222
Thank you anon. Will go to the used book store and buy it if I don't already have it.
Reminder that genre fiction and literary fiction is a false dichotomy.
Thanks Seras
>>7660936
It lies on a spectrum and people's tolerances vary between them
youre right, it's a trichotomy
Literary Fiction, Genre Fiction, and Nonfiction
Thoughts?
Mann is great. It's a comfy novel, reminds me of The Castle by Kafka, but much more erudite.
All the characters are pretty clear representations of different aspects of German society at the time Mann was writing it, but still fully-fleshed out.
Make sure to read Death in Venice first.
>>7660746
Its excellent. Intriguing games with pace & time. At points it felt like it was slipping into dullness, but then Mann hits you with another incredible powerful & evocative section. I actually read Mann because I was interested in his influence on Mishima, which this more than illuminated.
GOAT. Mann is a god tier author.
Sup /lit/
If I start reading Socrates, Plato and Aristotle, what can I expect to learn?
I've never read any actual philosophy before so it's completely new to me, but I'm interested in reading into ancient greek philosophy and figured this would be a good place to start. I consider myself reasonably intelligent but I don't have as much knowledge as I'd like.
What order should I read their literature in? What's the best pace to read at? Again, quite interested in what I will actually learn or gain from reading them.
Start with the pre-Socratics
>>7659709
Skip the other two, Socrates' books are all you'll need
>>7659709
>reading Socrates
In all seriousness though, you need at least a background of the presocratics: plato.stanford.edu/entries/presocratics/
>in the end, all literature decompiles into memes and psuedomemes
>>7659615
You should read Roland Barthes. He goes in the same direction when it comes to modern literature. The trick is that you as the reader have to decide what to do with all those memes.
>>7659615
I can't wait f.am
Mark Hamill writes literature?
IJ is the worst meme book I have read so far. 1/3 in but it's highly unlikely I will finish it.
Joe Rogan podcast tier philosophy and cringe worthy jokes. There were nice moments, but it's not worth to continue on for them.
>>7659530
>1/3 in but it's highly unlikely I will finish it.
>Justifying laziness.
Just admit it, you're intimidated by the size and hoped to kill two birds with one thread, you want to justify your giving up and also start an epic meme bait thread.
>>7659533
Your time and energy are finite. Infinite jest has mediocre value if any, it doesn't justify the time and energy invested.
>>7659540
Okay then, pick up another doorstopper and read it and delete this shitty thread.
"I will explain; the enjoyment was just from the too intense consciousness of one’s own degradation; it was from feeling oneself that one had reached the last barrier, that it was horrible, but that it could not be otherwise; that there was no escape for you; that you never could become a different man; that even if time and faith were still left you to change into something different you would most likely not wish to change; or if you did wish to, even then you would do nothing; because perhaps in reality there was nothing for you to change into."
What did he mean by this?
Why does he always have this look like he just got a load of cum shot up his ass
>>7658906
Stop shitting up this board with your le epic John Green meme
>"Rape's gift to us lies in its loud reminder that there's nothing casual about sex at all. This is a gift because human sexuality's power and meaning increase with our recognition of its seriousness."
I have a teacher convinced the phrase "in the ether" is actually "in the ethos". Please confirm this is a malapropism and I am not crazy? Or am I just an idiot.
>>7662658
Your teacher is retarded.
>>7662658
Pretty sure that "in the ether" is from ether theory.
Are you sure he's not just meaning a different phrase where he's correct? There's no fucking way he's that stupid.
Who /Library/ here??
>tfw every library in the state is on a network so you can literally order any book you want
>tfw can't go to my library because I'm afraid of poor people
I wish I could bring a gun or something
>>7662592
>not being poor
My library gets shittier all the time. They never have any books and if they do, they're always abridged. Any time I get tempted to ask a librarian to order the book I want, I take one look at them and then just walk out instead. One of my librarians looks like Ursula and they all have the same awful personality as her. Angriest bunch of cunts I've ever met, and they've all been working at this library for at least 30 years.
I only recently found out about that ebook loaning service so now I don't have to see those angry cunts as often, but last time I went to renew my library card, I got lectured because it took me too long to pull my license out of my wallet (it got stuck against a plastic card holder since I never pull it out).
Anyone similar writers? /li
>>7662493
don't read women writers, their inferior
>>7662505
women like Megan Boye, Gabby Bess
>>7662523
No.7662505
why inferior?
Just finished "miss wyoming", disappointed as fuck. By some art fag with a degree in conceptual art, its boring af.
Compared to books dealing with same themes; Broom of the system, COL49, Point Omega, it is straight up YA tier: flash backs that actually explain the story, a climax and a happy end. I'm just disgusted, I couldn't enjoy it, all the way thinkin " this is pleb shit."
tl;dr; Has PoMo ruined me and my taste? Is Coupland shit or am I a jaded elitist?
started on Bolano's short stories: this I can enjoy.
pic related,its Susan Colegate
bump I assume Coupland is pleb tier?
What's PoMo? How was The Broom of the System? As far as I know, you're the only person who has ever read it.
>>7662552
I'm not OPie but I'm about 100 pages into it now. It's bretty fun so far but DFW was clearly an undergrad having a wank when he wrote it.
what are some of your favorite nonfiction books?
I looked in the sticky and nothing caught my fancy.
I'm interested in more contemporary nonfiction.
Right now I spend a lot of time reading older non-fiction.
Yet I did start out reading fiction mainly.
Currently I'm reading Charles Mackay's Extraordinary Popular Delusions. If you had any interest in sociology or economics, it is a great read which summarizes many European-wide delusions concerning early cases of commercial crises and even an explanation of the obsession with the Philosopher's stone from the 800s until a millennia later.
Another book I'm reading that is technically non-fiction is Euclid's Elements which is basically the essentials of Geometry and mathematical thought.
I don't know man, what are you interested in? The non-fiction I read is economics, mathematics, and history.
>>7662119
"The Stranger Beside Me" (1980), from (the "recently" passed) Ann Rule. Summary is explicit...
>The tiger: a true story of vengeance and survival
>my left foot
>death be not proud
Are there any books that deal with conspirary theories/theorists in a mature way? Attempting to understand them. Fiction would also be fine.
>>7661842
Foucault's Pendulum
>>7661842
The Crying of Lot 49.
Sorry for the meme, but really.
>>7661845
I'm not learning italien
Publish the more retarded, simple and meant for laymen book you've ever read
pic related
anything by donald trump, it gets even worse when robert kiyosaki joins him
A girl I went on 4-5 dates with recommended it to me. I told her it was shit and that she was a fucking pleb and I never saw her again. Good riddance.
![51koRKz3zGL._SX332_BO1,204,203,200_[1].jpg](https://i.imgur.com/WX7Q2gd.jpg "51koRKz3zGL. SX332 BO1,204,203,200 [1]")
>>7661593
![Slide2[1].png](https://i.imgur.com/RFj8pam.png "Slide2[1]")
