Archived threads in /lit/ - Literature - 461. page

>Clive Barker is the new prince of horror
>t. Stephen King

>>9822418
If you're trying to distance yourself from King, Barker may not be your best choice

try Laird Barron instead

>>9822418
His short stories are his best horror work (I have not read his fantasy books). Just start with Books of Blood, vol. 1. He's very good.

>How does his style compare to King's?

That's a nice question that a better lit crit could answer than can I.

His style is not radically different from King's - it's not like reading Faulkner vs. Hemingway - yet Barker does have a distinctive voice, and a distinctive set of dramatic moves and motifs -- a certain existential horror which is likely familiar even to those who haven't read his work from the first two parts of Hellraiser movie series. A fear and fascination with the possibility of eternal damnation, likely arising from the tension of his being raised a rather pious Catholic, with all the smells and bells (or so I gather) and then becoming a gay man.

So, a gifted writer whose talent has been formed and shaped and racked, so to speak, on that particular table. This beautiful excruciation, gathered drop by drop in the blood bucket, not without screams and tears, informs his narratives and is the spirit behind them - the ink with which they're written - that distinguishes him from King.

>>9822361
>what are some points to keep in mind when trying to write realistic
research how people talk IRL enough to find out that the way they talk is a terrible fucking idea, tell the realistic to find a fire and to die in it, then think of the way people ought to talk and write accordingly

>revealing
the character reveals itself by interacting with the environment and especially with other characters

>what are some exercises
dialogue is the exercise because you reveal who the character is even to yourself the writer, indeed to write a dialogue is to (re)write the character

Study Henry James. He is a master of dialogue. Each section of dialogue must be set up very carefully so that everything they say is at once dramatically significant and realistic. Dialogue is the crest of a wave. It represents scenes of the greatest importance so is probably best done sparingly and with a a lot of context so that even the most seemingly mundane conversations are full of significance. Dialogue that does double duty (for example in narrating a story, or describing a person or building) is very good. But be sure it is also realistically done otherwise you'll run the risk of compromising the illusion of reality. At which point your story is dead.

>>9822391
How ought people to talk. This would be helpful to know for my personal life.

>>9822200
Great post 10/10

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>>9822200
>those digits

>>9822006
Of j. Alfred Prufrock? If so, yeah...like, the rest of Eliot and a lot of Pound. Maybe Gertrude Stein.

>>9821953
Fuck off, frog homo

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>>9821953
I have an interesting idea and I want to use it as an outlet for themes which have been in my life
>inb4 another armchair psychoanalyst writes a biography projecting negative views of lit stereotypes

>>9821953
I want to give people something they can enjoy

>>9821834
Untimely meditation is also pretty good. I think it is important because you get a good insight in N's earliest thoughts and you can see where he originally comes from

You move on to his music

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2afrV4f-9EI

>>9821834
>Wagner Edition
I always found his polemic poems against Wagner hilarious

> – Ist das noch deutsch?
Aus deutschem Herzen kam dies schwüle Kreischen?
Und deutschen Leibs ist dies Sich-selbst-Zerfleischen?
Deutsch ist dies Priester-Hände-Spreizen,
Dies weihrauchdüftelnde Sinne-Reizen?
Und deutsch dies Stürzen, Stocken, Taumeln,
Dies zuckersüße Bimbambaumeln?
Dies Nonnen-Äugeln, Ave-Glockenbimmeln,
Dies ganze falsch verzückte Himmel Überhimmeln?...

>>9821560
>nothing leaves me with same uneasiness & dread
He does the uncanny and eerie very well. I've found his most well respected stories a bit unsatisfying because they can be so cryptic and inconclusive. I probably need to spend more time rereading to get the most out of them though.

Anyway, definitely under-recognised in the pantheon of horror/weird short story writers.

>>9821605
I'm actually rereading his' Ringing the Bells' & it packs so much more the 2nd time around. Truly feels unfamiliar & hopeless. Shame he started putting out his collections so late in life.

I've only read two of his collections, but they became instant favorites that I obsessed over for quite awhile. I'm planning to read some more of his stuff in the fall/winter when I like to go nuts on ghost and horror stories.

If it's true they all did it with mind palaces like Joshua Foer wrote in Moonwalking with Einstein, then I'm not even going to consider it before I'm comfortable memorizing my grocery lists.

>>9821779
Read this.

That shit is straight up gnosis. If you were ever wondering what spiritual attainment looked like, there it is.

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>>9820933
You should watch this kino masterpiece.

The King in Yellow by Robert Chambers for sure

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