Just read Steppenwolf, and I have many questions, but one in particular I was wondering if anyone can lend some thots on.
It seems that Hesse is trying to offer insight and then a solution to the suffering of the Steppenwolf. The story of Harry/steppenwolf, is interrupted twice by instruction intended to provide insight into this "answer" once with the "treatise on the steppenwolf" and then again (after return the story which sees the introduction of Hermine, Pablo, and the Magic Theatre) by the final piece of instruction by Mozart.
I also am particularly curious about whether there is continuity between the "treatise on the steppenwolf" and its statements/insights & Mozart's statements/insights at the end of the book? Are they in the same vein or are they another example of opposing ideas?
This is confusing me, because I cannot determine if they are redundant, and why (if they are NOT to be understood as redundant) Hesse didn't just present his answer/insight as in a single piece instead of interspersing those two bits (treatise and then Mozart) with the intervening addition of Hermine/Magical Theatre stuff to the story.
What are your thots on this?
>>9249499
It's been a while since I read it. But I took the treatise as the "guide, and the Mozart part as the way Harry's brain "interprets" it. So in my mind they say the same thing, but the Mozart part shows how he can still seek out the intelectual while living in the moment and enjoying the everyday.
>>9249499
OP here, I guess I will say that it is my guess that 'Treatise' was intended provide insight into the Steppenwolf's nature, and the nature of enlightmenment (as a continuum extending from bourgeois, who know a single identity, through steppenwolf, who knows two, and ultimately the Immportals, who recognize the many indentities present everywhere).
Whereas Mozart's insight (that the three major lessons to be learned by the Steppenwolf are:
1. to learn the willingness to live in order to learn from mistakes, rather than die/suffer eternally in order to atone for mistakes;
2. the responsibility for shaping one's future (bc Henry gave up all locus of control in the Theatre and didn't understand it was actually he who determined Hermine must be killed)
3. to listen to radio music (in this, Mozart is pulling from two separate analogies he has defined earlier, where "music" is a means of reconciling opposing ideas which are eternal by decronstucting elements into indentities which can be seen in everything, just organized and presented differently (elements shared in Jazz and the music of mozart) and then "Radio" which is the distortion of these beautiful divine/spiritual ideas and into their actual manifestation in our lives (distorted by the crude machinations of speakers, grammaphone recordings, etc). Rather than get angry or despondent at the distortions of the divine that we encounter in reality, to learn to revere the divine ideas coming from the radio and have a sense of gallows humor at the distorted component of them.
------
Wat u think? Sorry Mozart's third proscription to address Steppenwolf's suffering is the most difficult to describe hopefully my understanding of it will make sense to you guys?
post your painstook prose here
oh, and remember not to be a leech
http://pastebin.com/cgeYf6iu
(I'll be back to crit)
>>9249452
I'm not sure what I'm supposed to get out of this
>>9249452
>prosefags
I was watching interviews with those famous writers (George R R Martin, Stephenie Meyer, E L James, Stephen King and etc) and i noticed that they all have something in commom, they all write about what they like and in the way they like. No formulas, guides, advices or this sort of thing, they all writed what they think was good and above it, what they like, and it ended up pretty well to they.
So, this is the "secret"?
>>9249421
>follows strict formulas and archetypes
>content evolves with time to better pander to their specific commercial audience
>oh, I'm just writing about what I like!11!!
yeah I bet
>No formulas, guides, advices or this sort of thing
nah Stephen King has a strict schedule of writing 2000 words a day
GRRM is influenced by his time in Hollywood and is a believer in show don't tell
What are some good DEEP ECOLOGY books?
>>9249367
ted kacynzski 'manifesto'
pentti linkola
>>9249367
>Deep ecology
Disgusting. Read Bookchin
What's some /lit/erature that has the comfy level of Harry Potter but a little more adult (no YA tier teen romance and a universe that's actually somewhat plausible) and not written with trash syntax?
I guess basically what I'm looking for is something where the protagonists occasionally have good tiemz together in between the dramatic goings on.
>>9249340
infinite jest
>>9249340
battle royale
In Search of Lost TIme
Who is looking forward to Peterson's new book, The 12 Most Valuable Things Everyone Should Know.
I have heard a fair bit of criticism of him on this board so I was wondering what /lit/ thinks of his writing.
http://jordanbpeterson.com/12-valuable-things/
>>9249281
watch his videos and read his book then form your own opinion first.
present that opinion here and then proceed to compare/contrast. you're being lazy.
>taking psychological advice from a man with clinical depression
>>9249294
OP here
Ive watched all his lectures and im part way through his first book
Just wanted to see what /lit/s opinion of his books is
Who is your favourite Greek tragedian?
>>9249244
the one who wrote about the kid with daddy issues that has to get into the machina
Ae, not very close.
>>9249244
I'd have to say Sophocles just because Oedipus Rex is still one of my favorites
Are the other two in the trilogy as good as this?
Because this was fucking good.
>>9249243
Atwood is trash
>>9249243
Care to share some details OP? I thought it was very weak. Not grilling you or anything, maybe some other perspectives on it would rekindle my interest in it
>>9249324
Brand names were cool (funny while also realistic considering the natural progression of capitalism), prose maintained interest in its slight sarcasm, really relevant and accurate framing of intelligences, pretty relatable if you have divorced parents. I guess the structure was appealing to me too, but I wouldn't say it was a highlight.
Just got up to Book 5. Can we get a discussion thread?
couldn't keep reading after he stole the pears. unforgivable
No, that hack heathen deserves no attention after the crimes he committed against dear Pelagius.
>>9249181
What have you learned from it so far?
>tfw only one person bought your book
h-hold me, anons
self publishing?
>>9249152
i hope that he ask for a refund
>>9249152
ya gotta step up your promotion game
How would /lit/ describe death in one sentence?
I'll tell you when I die.
It's exactly the same as before you were born, but longer.
>>9249117
Not bad
Could any postmodern work of the last century even rival "Moscow-Petushki" ("Moscow to the End of the Line")?
Its subtle yet powerful mysticism puts Rushdie to same. The portrayal of alcoholic state of mind makes Lowry go back to the writing table. Capturing the spirit of the times - Vollmann's good, but Erofeev is better. Gass intended to write a gargantuan poem that is all personal history, spite, dissapointment, impotent rage - well, it was a nice attempt, but Tunnel just seems bloated and clunky when compared to this work. At times slapstick comedy with sinister abyss hidden beneath, intense sadness and insanity: you mean Pynchon? Him too, but here it does not feel artificial or insencere. And talking about insincerity, sorry, DFW.
The only work that comes close is Recognitions, but it operates in a field so different, comparing them would be pointless.
>>9249068
Hah, you've got me sold. Are there multiple English translations or just Tjalsma's? And if so, which is the best?
Altazor
>>9249083
Shit, can't help you much with translations - read it in original. But it seems so, yes - except the few amateur ones, the only serious translation is by Tjalsma. From a quick glance, it seems alright, if a bit too strict. Unfortunately, it's one of the books that might lose a lot in translation - narrator's use of culturally-particular language, and I'm not sure that the temporal structure can be transfered to English - but hopefully nothing too bad.
I'm glad I convinced you. Don't read too fast - or multiple layers will go to waste!
Reminder that Claudius did literally nothing wrong
>took the throne from his overly bellicose brother
>married Gertrude to minimize potential upheaval
>manages to turn fortinbras from a rebel to someone fighting fir him
>tries to get his whiny bitch of a stepson to man up
>when hamlet goes crazy he immediately tries to figure out why
>he stops the play because it shows hamlet was trying to kill him (which was true)
>sends hamlet to England because he was a danger in the palace
>stops laertes' rebellion peacefully in seconds flat
Dude straight up admits to how shitty he is in the praying scene
>>9249065
Some of his actions are morally questionable but as a statesman he's perfect
To be, or not to be – that is the asking:
Whether ‘tis worthier in the mind to bear
The slings and arrows of unbound mishap
Or to take fight against a sea of agenbite
And by gainstanding end them. To die, to sleep –
No more – and by a sleep to say we end
The heartache, and the thousand worldly blows
That flesh is born to. ‘Tis an ending
Dearly to be wished. To die, to sleep –
To sleep – maybe to dream: ay, there’s the rub,
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come
When we have shed our living body,
Must make us stop. There’s the thought
That makes wretchedness of so long life.
For who would bear the whips and slights of time,
Th’ overlord’s wrong, the strutter’s cockiness
The wrench of unanswered love, the law’s sloth,
The brazenness of might, and the spurns
That forbearing goodness of th’ unworthy takes,
When he himself might his settling make
With a bare bradawl? Who would burdens bear,
To grunt and sweat under a weary life,
But that dread of something after death,
The shrouded land, from whose bosom
No wayfarer comes home, upsets the will
And makes us rather bear those ills we have
Than to fly to others we know not of?
Thus awareness does make chickens of us all,
And thus the inborn hue of a strong will
Is sicklied o’er with the wan cast of thought,
And undertakings of great worth and weight
Upon this heed their flood eddies and ebbs
And lose the name of doing. – Soft thee now,
The fair Ophelia! – Maiden, in thy beseeching
Bear all my sins in mind.
I have a couple of book cover options for my new novel, would love some feedback on them.
>>9248901
Judging it by its cover, looks like it's some trash pulp-thriller.
ITT: Books that will turn you into a Christian.
>>9248898
The Bible
The Man Who Was Thursday
>>9248910
lol you funny guy, God will smite you last