People who are 30+: do you remember thinking that literature was moving in a certain direction? Were you right, did you predict any trends?
And in general, did you see the world going this way (vis a vis technology, environment, socially, whatevs)?
vis-à-vis*
T'es con...
>>7763541
You literally expect me to press alt+gr? I have better things to do, like uh, browse /lit/
>>7763538
>People who are 30+
Yes, in lit I think I was right: increasing genre trends in mainstream lit and the exhaustion of postmodern experimentation. Society i was dead wrong never saw the girls liking japanimation thing coming in the days of akira and heavy metal, and i envisioned a more eugenic future with a secure middle class ... instead, whiny dysgenic trends in which the weak are rewarded for breeding, but only about 4,000 a year in tax refunds, much fewer opportunities, and a stratification into the soft and effete and the willfully ignorant. Everyone offended by everything and the parasitic legal world making institutions kowtow to bullshit things like barhroom access ... shit way for society to go. In the mid to late 90s movies were better, the traditionalist generation who understood the use of authority and lived through ww2 and korea where in charge, and the bullshit committee mentality of the boomers hadn't suffused the world. Everything went much worse than exected.
>>7764880
You're a crybaby.
And I'm not a robot.
>>7764885
Yep, the writing was on the wall with me, but it got worse ... on the plus side, phones do more than an old desktop computer that took up the whole damned desk, and you can get calls while browsing the internet rather than tying up a landline. So gotta take the rough with the smooth
>>7763538
tens of thousands of new lit is published every year. The big books are marketed well. No one can read enough to really keep up with the trends unless you're surveying blockbuster books.
>>7763538
Yes, I thought it about 10 minutes ago. I legitimately enjoy contemporary literature. Try using NYRB, Neustadt Prize, Man Booker stuff over the last 5 years. I've been reading classics since like '94, at some point you get sick of pushing yourself to more and more obscure works that you like less and less, and you begin to seek out stuff you enjoy (especially if you are never going to do scholarly work in lit). Getting into South American lit was the best thing i ever did.
>>7764914
this
I was so wrong about cinema. In the mid-late 90s and early 2000s I was a huge lions gate/cannes/sundance film buff and I thought that with CGI films could only get better and better. How fucking wrong could I have been.
As far as politics and popular culture, there is nothing new under the sun.
I am 53 years old next Fall and the internet (at least since the millenium) has really changed not only literature but society itself in a way I imagine it would be hard for most people here to appreciate. Even in 1999 the way of life seemed so less stressful and "pressured" as it is now. but in book terms back then I could name at least a dozen novels published any given year which had a marked effect on the culture and whose authors became household names. Now that has dissapeared, for better or worse. I see far more books being published but far fewer ones of any note. The world of technology, especially start-up culture and consumer-tech really has allowed a world wherein each individual exists as a solitary monad whose greatest virtue is the ability to consume in a way that is superior to his or her peers. Political ideology was fading in the 90s, when capitalism began to be viewed (and mocked quite a lot in the literature of the time) as the sole economic vehicle for successful societies. But even then life itself seemed fun! People still talked and got to know each other in real life! Maybe I'm just older now but so many people seem so isolated and so stubborn in their isolation. My nieces and nephews are all single and on some form of medication for mental health issues. I'm not sure if it's the economy, or culture, or whatever but there is a hostility in every day life now, not only towards other people but towards one's own desire to appear happy or carefree or uncomposed. As for contemporary literature, I have read tao lin's "eeeee eee eeee" and "taipei" and while the former repulsed me and is in my opinion evidence of a fame-hungry narcissist attempting to gain publication as young as he could for the sake of establishing an image, the latter was (despite its flaws!) quite a sad statement on the almost inevitably lonely nature of modern life. I just don't see where literature can go in terms of novelty. Besides MFA student writers churning out the same sort of thing I don't see much that is of interest, and no real demand for more authors or more books. I still remember buddies in college saying rather casually that they were planning on spending their 20s writing a novel and many lived fairly comfortable lives, getting their shorter stuff published and one or two publishing a couple of novels. They worked part-time but still managed to have a healthy social life, live in quite nice apartments or homes, and life a pretty nice life despite not pursuing a "career". But now I just don't see how that's a viable option. To be obscure in 2016 to me seems like a sort of death. If my nieces and nephews didn't have facebook or anything like that I doubt they'd have any friends at all. And once you sign up to these things I can only imagine the pressure on a person to live the sort of life worthy of placing on display to his or her peers. Market competition really does seem to have influences social competition in a way that is pretty sad.
>>7765004
>I am 53 years old next Fall
>goes to 4chan
That's like an 11 year old hanging with kindergartners.
>>7765004
>and no real demand for more authors or more books
Despite the fact that I still see works of quality (James, Yanigahara, Ishiguro just this year) this is very sadly true.
>>7765010
34 here, /lit/ and /fit/ are continuously useful regardless of age. You can really get some good stuff out of it if you actually look at stuff people recommend and read up on it. You just cant spend all your time in DFW/Pynchon shitthreads
>>7765010
shut the fuck up
worst contribution to a thread I've seen on 4chan 0/10
>>7765010
not everyone is here for homework help
if you use the catalog, this is the best place for lit on the internet
>>7765004
I pretty much agree... the 90s felt so different (i am on the cusp of 39 ... so I suppose i am a bit closer to millenial expectations in youth ...). The worst change is the job market. Before i had my masters in 2001 I walked into a college and was promised a full time job after twenty minutes of talking to the guys in charge, to start after I graduated. Before that, the effects of 9/11 or something were felt and it became "special part time" - one class less, no office hours, one fifth of the pay. So i got a job teaching high school and worked there at night ... Now you can apply until you are blue in the face, and walk into places, but it is all about applying online, where charisma and talent are obscured by HR departments with no reading comprehension. Definitely so much harder to be considered for positions now. It took me ten years to land a full time college position after that, and no interviews in 2 years after losing it unfairly (i made the mistake of reporting an underage stalker ... that ended just about as expected- clearly it was my fault for not maintaining appropriate student teacher distance and failing to get her mental health help, of course ). I almost made it in the door before things fell apart, but not quite. I made 17,000 dollars in 2014, my education cost 120,000 ... i would have been better off just buying a house back then and working full time an extra six years. At least my childhood was wonderful. Online apps let companies reach a much wider range of applicants everywhere, but it makes landing a job for the individual or even getting an interview harder, in my opinion. On the plus side, even the twenty people who know my name would never have heard of me without the ubiquity of the internet, so there's ease of notiriety ...
>>7765225
Notoriety*
>>7765010
It takes one to know one
48 here. I'm the son of a writer, have worked all my life in either theater or photography and am now in a library. And my answer, OP, is that I don't pay attention to that shit I just read what looks interesting. Trends? Literature moving in a certain direction? Nah. "Whatevs" as the kids say. Socially, like most old people over 40, I think the world is going in the wrong direction. Honestly, I think losing our family connections is one of the most disconcerting things. Family is like our own personal history. Of course there are reasons to get away from your family in some cases, but overall I think the concept of family togetherness is fading.
But I don't think literature has changed much, it hasn't "gone downhill" and there aren't "exciting new trends". A well written story or history transcends that stuff. And we used to tie an onion to our belt, which was the style at the time. You could get two onions for a quarter back then.
>>7765235
no, too much cultural context and he prefers to use his native language
not a fan of foreignness
serious threads accrue seriousposters, with smatterings of memeposters, which make me laugh
it's fine, i don't need to pop into the harry potter or unthinking misogyny or selfpromotion threads
>>7765004
>The world of technology, especially start-up culture and consumer-tech really has allowed a world wherein each individual exists as a solitary monad whose greatest virtue is the ability to consume in a way that is superior to his or her peers.
Pic related, screencapped a few weeks ago.
>>7763538
I think Butters was the only user who was over 30
>>7765250
Nice.
>>7765256
http://courses.arch.vt.edu/courses/wdunaway/gia5524/baudillard.pdf
Full chapter.
>>7765260
Very kind.
>>7765240
>48 here
>Nah. "Whatevs" as the kids say.
>stock simpson's reference
The phrase "top kek" is thrown around far too loosely, but this, this is at the top of the keks.
>>7765262
Hint: they're all written by the same person.
>>7765235
The sharethread right now in the catalog is probably the best thing on the internet for literature right now. Who cares that there are threads bandied about with the term redpill every day when you get stuff like that and the worst lit country thread.
>>7765272
>nephew sends me a facebook message
>type lol back
>he asks if im being sarcastic or ironic
>>7765004
If it makes you feel any better about the youth of today, I work part-time and have a healthy social life, a pretty nice apartment, and what I would call a good life. We're not all emotionally stunted shut-ins.
>>7765274
Nah - if i talk to myself, I do it under my own name. Right, marc? Assuredly so.
>>7765299
I'm not really 53 dude I was just projecting and planning to maintain the character I'd adopted for the rest of the thread to get a bunch of precious (You)s which would make me feel less depressed about my life.
>>7765305
lol okay. Think about what your hypothetical /lit/izen uncle would think of that, and then go outside or something
>>7765309
Nah I'd rather just wallow in misery until I freak out and an hero.
>>7765318
>an hero
been a while since i've seen that
you really are old arent you
>>7765344
I'm new and I see it relatively often.
>>7765260
Thank you.
>>7763538
I only read old books, so I have no idea where today's literature is heading
>>7765260
Great read, thanks
>>7765004
now you can study engineering and it is more socially acceptable, that's way better than studying english language and literature as far life goes, since you read books every day.
>>7764976
why would you hav ever started reading things you didnt enjoy in the first place bro. But yea south american literature is dope af
>>7766454
>why would you hav ever started reading things you didnt enjoy in the first place
University is pretty good at forcing shit right into your mouth
