Posted this yesterday, got no responses.
What's the best translation of the Kalevala?
>>9873102
wondering as well
Whichever one you get your hands on desu
>>9873102
Guaranteed to be insanely difficult to translate. The best translation would be in a register using archaic language. And that's aside from the impossibility of imitating the original cadence.
Just started reading the republic. Any works or characters I should be familiar with? Should I know who Thrasymachus and Lysias are, or will I know what I need to know by the end of the book? Is it even important to understand the text?
>>9873022
>is it even important to understand the text?
what
>>9873022
Checked. At the very least, read about Socrates trial before you begin.
>Recommended: 5 dialogues, Hackett edition
>>9873022
>Should I know who Thrasymachus and Lysias are
Not really. Who they are is not important. What matters is their argument.
How did one man, Lewis Carroll, singlehandedly birth an entire subgenre? The "innocent girl entering a fantasy world" subgenre, which went on to inspire countless of other works like the Wizard of Oz, or Spirited Away for a more recent example.
The imagery/aesthetic of his world (teacups, clocks, white rabbits, etc) looms heavily over storytelling/art even today, and resonates with people just as strongly 150 years after its release.
Do you guys like the world Carroll created? Please leave any personal thoughts on AiW/Carroll in this thread - it isn't discussed enough on this board.
>>9873017
The books were good. It's funny that he was partly inspired by the mathematics of his day. Cute girls is a good foundation to build on.
>>9873017
I think cute girls was already a thing in photography then
Also he spent plenty of time with cute girls so he had to make up entertaining thoughts for them and if he wasn't already imaginative they would have rubbed off on him till he was
>>9873158
The book was written as an attack against the mathematics of his day.
https://www.maa.org/external_archive/devlin/devlin_03_10.html
>read common philosophy for ten years
>nothing happens
>find chuang tzu and lao tzu
>read as many translations as i can find in 3 languages
>over and over
>'nothing' happens
>finally
yes.
Reminder that eastern """philosophy""" is utter garbage consisting of vague statements giving an appearance of value. That's why it's so popular with new-age and "spiritual" people, just like with zodiac signs.
Far eastern philosophy doesn't even have a proper concept of epistemology for God's sake.
>>9873023
Considering their lack of Logos, their achievements are great.
Doesn't Chinese philosophy just boil down to 'go with the flow'? Seems intellectually shallow to me.
Any books that will let me be like those genius productive people who seem to be constantly high energy and excelling at multiple things and getting lots done? I'm sure I could approach that if I stopped wasting all my time and had more morale.
Or are all these people doing bullshitty things?
>>9872961
No book will do that for you.
If you want to be hyperproductive to the point of self-nullification, as far as I know you've got 2 options: bootcamp or meditation (starting with a retreat, it has to be a radical change, otherwise you'll keep being a lazy shitface).
These are your choices.
>>9872961
Unironically, The Odyssey helped me achieve a higher energy state. I think it was the recurring description of Athena as the "tireless child of Zeus" (Fitzgerald). When I read that, i wanted to be like her. I repeat it like a mantra, and now I do everything, all of the time, without tiring.
It has been years since I read a fictional book. Mainly because I see literature as an obsolete medium. Film is just so superior to me.
Anyway, I want to get into plays. What plays do you recommend for a movie lover?
>>9872943
>>9872943
>Film is just so superior to me.
Because you're a brainlet.
>>9872960
>posts a picture of Maude Fealy
if a brainlet then either a lucky one or one with superior taste.
Why does Pulcheria refer to Raskolnikov's sister as "Dunya" and "Dunechka" back and forth like a hundred times in her letter?
Is she having a seizure?
>>9872917
She's uneducated. You can always spot ignorant characters in Dostoevsky's novels by repetitions in their dialogues.
>>9872917
I think it's a Russian habit to call someone with a bit differently sounding nicknames
>>9872917
She's a cis-gendered white heterosexual woman and she is unaware of her privilege to travel between forms of address so she does so with reckless abandon and little concern for the reader.
>Once upon a time and a very good time it was there was a moocow coming down along the road and this moocow that was coming down along the road met a nicens little boy named baby tuckoo
i got JOYCED
that's the whole gimmick of portrait
The lecturer for my very first english unit at uni read this out to the class at the start of the first intro lecture. The class was mainly education students who had to do it to get their cushy teaching jobs and weren't impressed (most said their favourite novels were harry potter or some YA shit, I wasnt much better as I said american psycho). She told us we would learn to love Joyce, and I do.
>>9872913
I couldn't get past the first page.
Best Contemporary British literature please?
Short stories, novels, novellas - no poetry please.
Fuck British literature.
>>9872825
You how you're British you butter toothed white guilt self hating faggot ?
The Quran - cuck edition.
As british as they come.
>keep expecting and wanting miracle to happen
>it never does
this book hurts
>>9872616
It's suppossed to, anon.
>>9872616
a miracle would cheapen it
>>9872616
>But it was all right, everything was all right, the struggle was finished. He had won the victory over himself. He loved Big Brother.
That is the miracle. It is the best possible end for Winston and Julia.
I've never read Russian literature, but I've heard much praise for it here and from critics like Harold Bloom. Is there a specific thing that makes it good? Any recommended novels?
>>9872615
Have you never heard of any russian novels?
>>9872622
War & Peace and the Young Doctor's Notebook, although the latter was via the TV series.
I've also heard of Leo Tolstoy
>>9872615
Fydor dostoevsky - Crime and Punishment
The greatest novel of all time
In my group of friends nobody reads Pynchon, and those that do read him call him a leftist shill. There are leftist aspects to Pynchon but he is far more complex than left vs right.
If he were to examine the 2016 US election he would've probably hated both candidates. Trump for his immigration policies and Hillary for her pay for play schemes and shady ties to big business.
So what's your top 5 Pynchon?
I'll begin:
1. Against The Day - Epic and Underrated
2. Gravity's Rainbow
3. Mason and Dixon
4. Inherent Vice - Not usual Pynchon but funny as anything and engaging. Not all Pynchon has to be the deconstruction of systems.
5. Crying Lot of 49.
V is wildly overrated (I'm baffled by the amount of praise it gets. Good yes, but best Pynchon? Only because it is short does it get the praise), and Slow Learner is frankly rubbish.
Looking forward to your opinions goys.
Also, does anyone think he has got any more books left in him?
Pynch...
Only Read CoL49, IV, V, and I'm halfway through GR right now. So far I'm finding GR to be a much easier read than V. Looking forward to reading M&D next and then probably AtD if I'm not all Pynch'd out.
>>9872521
yeah haha *rips bong* like, Pynchon would totally have been a Bernie Bro like us!
Is it worth reading a book if I have to stop several times a page to check the meaning of a word?
>>9872432
Hnnngggg
>>9872432
what bird decided to nest in her hair and so you think she shaves her pits
>>9872432
Thats what I did when I started reading Les Mis in high school. Sometimes getting through a page would take me 10-15 min. I've encountered a few books in which that was only the case for the first few chapters. After those initial chapters the book became much more manageable in terms of vocabulary.
It's up to you whether it is worth it or not. Once you become more familiar with the new words you'll see them repeat and multiple examples so it does help with learning them. Come back to the novel if you feel you aren't ready but I would advise to read it.
http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science/2017/08/evolutionary_psychology_is_the_most_obvious_example_of_how_science_is_flawed.html
>Stop Equating Science with Truth.
Hey, at least we aren't short of material to work with in future literary works. The angles you can analyse or issues in our postmodern society that are worthy of critique are endless.
Science tells us that only one race - the human race - exists
fuck science
>>9872409
I don't get it. If the science is at fault and is being used by ((males)) to perpetuate unequal systems, why not review the epistemology used and counter it with their own methods. That would show them the biases of their rationality. Instead of this, we get dumbos like this guy telling us of the historicity of science and calling everyone racist and sexist.
Are you implying evo psych lowkey doesnt attract the highest amount of pseuds?
What is the best book by this Soren Kierkeegard?
Also, do you agree with the quote in this video? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RAIf-rsoPXg
>>9872368
Life is just despair tho. So yeah, agreed. Dont know any kierk books. Just read kneecha.
his journal deus
>>9872368
Can you just post the fucking quote? I don't want to open a video.