Archived threads in /lit/ - Literature - 780. page
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What book of Thomas Mann should I start with? The Magic Mountain or Doctor Faustus?
Not Faust. I'd actually suggest Death in Venice.
>>7824837
>>7824841
Thanks. I still have some books to finish, and after reading them I'll go to the library and probably borrow Buddenbrooks because they don't have Death in Venice. What about his short stories?
Can /lit/ recommend a better playwright than him?
>protip you can't
Thornton Wilder, Edward Albee, Arthur Miller, Federico Garcia Lorca, William Shakespeare, Oscar Wilde; those are just some names if you're going off of introductory-level plays.
>>7824830
Also, A Doll's House was pretty underwhelming as far as the ability of a playwright goes.
>>7824854
no one considers A Doll's House to be his greatest work. It's just his most famous. It would be like criticising Shakespeare with the assumption that Romeo and Juliet is his greatest play. I'd agree that A Doll's House is more significant in terms of social context than his abilities as a playwright. Hedda Gabler, The Master Builder, When We Dead Awaken, and Peer Gynt speak much more of his abilities. Not that I am accusing you of having judged him before reading anything else. I would be interested to know how much of his work you have read.
LITERARY GREENTEXT THREAD:
I'll start-
I actually met DFW once before his death; it’s a pretty interesting story.
>Thursday morning, March 11 2004
>Outside in a cafe in Claremont
>This lumbering muscular dude with a bandana on his head comes out of the café, I didn’t know who he was at the time
>He sits down in a chair a table or two away, and cracks open a book (I didn’t see which one it was)
>Enter a chad-looking student who notices the manhulk reading
>Literally shouts out at the top of his lungs
>IS THAT YOU DAVID FOSTER WALLACE!?
>Bandana ruffled, DFW gives the most threatening glare at the student I ever could imagine
>Rage-in-voice, he shouts back at the student something about leaving him alone because he was busy doing something
>Asshole chad student begins giving lip, says something about DFW being a hack and infinite jest being mediocre at best
>Really flustered, DFW stands up
>Yells at the top of his lungs YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND TRUE LITERATURE
>Actually begins charging at the student
>Nofuckingway.png
>Dude quickly ducks behind a table and some chairs
>Stopping the Dave when he is this mad is impossible
>Tossing the table over, David begins wailing on the student
>Effectively 250 lbs of pure Dave coming down on this poor soul
>Punches the student repeatedly in every exposed inch of skin with the accuracy of a star tennis player
>OKAY NOW IT’S TIME TO STOP THAT! I yell
>Now he turns to me, blood splattered across his face
>I piss myself in fear, he is foaming at the mouth
>Tfw you read the first letter of every line
>!
>>7824682
for the love of god don't even do this ironically fucking christ
>>7824657
WRITING THE MOTHER OF ALL POMO HERE JACK
Well meme'd, sirrah
Anyone read this? Should I bother ordering it?
>>7824644
I, too, would like to know about this.
what is this
>>7824677
it is book
This book sucked
>fantasy/scifi book is bad
stop the presses
>>7824891
It was Really bad.
What does it mean to "teleologically suspend the ethical?" I want to know so that I can make quirky, intellectual jokes to impress my friends using cool words like teleologically. Haha I like being part of a cool intellectual group it makes me feel really smart haha. Lol, Donald trump just teleologically suspended the ethical am I right guys? xD Lol it's funny because if you juxtaposed (that's a good, smart person word right?) the cool phrase like "teleologically suspend the ethical" with something like cats/Donald trump/comics it's like what!! that doesn't belong because one thing is like, dumb and the other is smart so haha that doesn't belong!! xD. So yeah what does it mean??? P.S. Pic related is my face when someone says "teleologically suspend the ethical" lmao! (also my favorite author he's a pretty smart guy and he probably knew what it meant to "teleologically..." *loses breath* haha what a long phrase xD)
Quite the dialectic you've got there. Highest form of aletheia(another greek word) really sheds light on the nature of shitposting as a whole.
>>7824540
The ends justify the means, basically.
Which book that you have read has the most to say? i.e. which book that you have read has taught you the most about the human condition/whatever?
>>7824504
>human condition
when will this meme die
>>7824504
I dunno. I don't read self-important garbage. I read genre fiction garbage.
More like a pop-sociological TV-series critique essay but whatever
http://www.ribbonfarm.com/2009/10/07/the-gervais-principle-or-the-office-according-to-the-office/
Also Myth of Sisyphus and The Rebel
Just finished reading Jackson's Haunting at Hill House. Does it deserve to be classified as a 'classic' novel? Books in the horror genre are always difficult to raise to that status..it seemed a little heavy handed with the main character's absurd ineptitude with human interaction. Thoughts? Other horror novels that are better quality?
>>7824459
>it seemed a little heavy handed with the main character's absurd ineptitude with human interaction. Thoughts?
never read dostoevsky
>>7824459
First of all OP, I want to unironically congratulate you on reading this source text, and also to state for the record that I have not read it (then why the congratulations?)
You don't sound too impressed with the book OP, but it opens up a multimedia discussion, mostly in movieland but I'll nod back to /lit territory.
If you haven't yet, you ABSOLUTELY SHOULD watch an old B/W movie based on what you've read, simply titled "The Haunting". It was directed by Robert Wise, an old popular Hollywood bigshot who later did The Sound of Music and the first Star Trek Movie, so he could work across multiple genres.
However, there are several other SIMILARLY-TITLED movies worth totally avoiding. The above film adaptation was later redone as an absolutely terrible CG-shitfest circa 1999, I think Catherine Zeta Jones was involved. Avoid avoid avoid, only watch the above.
On the other hand, there are a pair of similarly made-then-remade movies, with redeeming qualities. "The Haunted House on the Hill" is an unrelated work with Vincent Price, with high-camp value. It was later remade with Chris Kattan among others (the release dates, basic premises and titles among all four of these films are confusingly similar), and although also "cheap", it has some inspired/spooky stop-action art going on. Try these, maybe, but ABSOLUTELY NOT the wretched one above.
Finally, the OP got me thinking about female horror writers (Mary Shelley? Shirly Jackson?), but also of the Hellraiser novella The Hellbound Heart, which hews closely to my lit/tv crosspost. In the latter case, the author Barker actually directed a culturally important film deriving from his own novella. I'm not aware of any other career writer who has ever shepherded an original film work in such a unique way, usually it's handed off to someone else adapt, or at the very least direct.
Yes, I certainly thought while reading it that it had the potential to translate well into film. I was unaware that there were any adaptations, I'll have to check that out further.
The novel is quite dependent on the main character's inner monologue to drive the anxiety, claustrophobia, and paranoia that makes this a true example of 'horror' fiction, so again, would be interesting to see how that works in the medium of film.
It's an easy read, if you want to delve into the source text. It's short, simple, and frustrating.
It also has some half-hearted themes regarding suppressed sexuality that don't hold quite the same significance to today's reader as they would have in the 1950s.
What do you do when you're 30 pages into writing a short story and realize only 10 pages of it are usable?
>>7824435
Throw away 20 pages.
>>7824439
P much
>short story
>30 pages
>>7824439
superior tunnel coming thru
Nah, too edgy. Don't know if that was on purpose or not.
>>7824332
Okay. Why? Please explain why you feel this is better without using buzzwords.
>>7824350
He probably only read it (reddit?) and not Gass's. I haven't read either one myself so I have no opinion on this atm, but I doubt he's actually read both.
>Facebook URL on the back of the book
>>7824276
>not solely subsisting on books published before
the advent of the internet
>>7824276
>go to B&N
>intend on buying Fear And Loathing
>finally find it under Current Events of all things
>pull it off shelf
>movie poster is the cover
>mfw
>>7824795
>implying old things are the only good thing
Is there anything that I should read before The Tunnel? I heard that it has a fair amount of references, and I don't want them to all go over my head. In addition, how difficult is it in comparison to the other meme books?
>>7824249
this film is good
Let the memes begin!
Consider reading more about Gass, and looking into his essays.
What do you books / essays / topics do you listen to while running?
>>7824189
to the sound of my throbbing cock.
I listen to the History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps. Unless a new Common Sense by Dan Carlin episode has come out. Then that takes priority.
>>7824189
>Running
but /fit/ said cardio will kill my gains!
I nominate American Beauty. Pic related.
INT. BURNHAM HOUSE - MASTER BATH - MOMENTS LATER
Lester thrusts his face directly into a steaming hot shower.
ANGLE from outside the shower: Lester's naked body is silhouetted through the fogged-up glass door. It becomes apparent he is masturbating.
LESTER (V.O.)
(amused)
Look at me, jerking off in the shower.
(then)
This will be the high point of my day. It's all downhill from here.
Post /lit/ approved screenplays.
>>7824112
No they are not, cinema is a childish waste of time.
>>7824117
epic, my friend
upboat
American Beauty is a really embarrassingly stupid screenplay. Just imagine what kind of asshole could watch, or even read, that bag scene with a straight face.
Anything Paddy Chayefsky wrote is patrish tho.
Excuse me if this is considered a redundant question here, but I'd like to know; what are some more books of this style?
I.E an engaging and readable story elevated by particularly elegant use of prose?
>>7824081
Book of the New Sun
Sons and lovers
The razors edge
>>7824097
That's that book about conmen right?
