Archived threads in /lit/ - Literature - 1788. page

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What's the purpose of a preface?

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I'm new to the book world. I've been at the library many times but I don't know what authors to look for. I used to watch a lot of films, and the ones that got to me recently are Funny Games (1997) and and Nekromantik. I'm looking for books in this style. Tense, descriptive, macabre, preferably about death. Very abrasive books. The equivalent of Harvey Milk. Preferably german authors since most of the books at the library I go to are written in german. However they could be others besides german. Can you guys help me out?

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Has anyone else here been ostrichsized as a direct consequence of their intelligence. Since I was a child I have known that I am "different" in some vague existential sense that I have been unable to articulate until recently. But after years of routine rejection, dismissal, humiliation and underestimation I realized that I am simply fated to be counted among that post-posthumously esteemed minority of artists and other geniuses who often suffered in obscurity their entire lives before death granted them the adulation they so obviously deserved in retrospect. Does anyone even relate to what I'm saying here?

Are there any good books about this sort of thing?

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DUDE BOOZE LMAO

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This reads just like a John Green book. or is it the other way around? How is this not YA?

- takes place at a school
- centers around a dysfunctional family
- socially awkward kids
- schoolyard fucking around
- DUDE WEED LMAO

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Any recommendations on books that teach you how to actually write poetry. I want to master different meters and develop an ear strong enough to pick out what is what from a few lines.

If you don't have a recommendation, pick a book near to you and write down a sentence or an assortment of words from the work and I'll try to produce a small metric piece about it.

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Are the Pevear and Volokhonsky translations just a meme due to marketing, or are they really the best Russian to English translations for Tolstoy and Dostoyevsky?

I feel like most people just say they are the best because they are the most recent, and they have had large amounts of money dropped on them for marketing in order to help that assumption.

I read that the Maude translation was approved by Tolstoy himself, and that P&V often simplify and modernize the text.

Thoughts? Is Garnett good enough for most people? Are we being duped by P&V?

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So now that it is accepted fact across all peoples that Wittgenstein ended Philosophy, where do we go from here?

How should we live now?

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Can we talk about this? Have enough people finally slogged through it to hold a discussion?

Reading Jerusalem was one of the most satisfying literary experiences I've had in years. The dense, contemplative "day in the life" prose switching between characters and centuries every chapter, jumping to a jarring 400-page adventure novel establishing and exploring an entire cosmic mythos based on the inside jokes and imaginations of a couple thousand flat-squatters, basking in the extended picture of a band of children running around pinching pockets in the halls of eternity, only to reel itself in closing with a grand parade, and return the reader to even more dense, experimental, and laborious text that seems more a feverish love letter to Moore's personal heroes than a cohesive narrative. All of this condensing past a snapshot of crime and punishment in Northampton into a conclusive art exhibition and series of smoke breaks that wraps up the entire experience in a bow.

I can certainly see how people could be repulsed by his writing, given that Moore spent about 4 or 5 pages talking about the comic book hero Herbie Popnecker in the middle of what was essentially an ambling description of a woman walking around town yelling at people, but I enjoyed it wholeheartedly.

Do you think Moore succeeded? Where does jerusalem rank next to the meme trilogy? How long did it take you to get through the Lucia Joyce chapter?

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What's wrong with using Microsoft Word as your word processor? Why are some of you so adamant about using more expensive ones for your writing purposes? What gives?

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What are some good /lit/-based YouTube channels?

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Alright, so I'm a petty person and I forgot about this thread but was looking at it in the archive and saw this asshole had responded to me saying Gravity's Rainbow is better than Mason & Dixon with

>>9129927
>Beethoven may as well stopped after the 5th symphony
>all that is important is that people know I can casually rank books and non chalently metaphorically knock them out of existence with whimsy because it makes my intellect appear extremely supremely legit if it seems as if I have read 2 difficult books, and can say one was not as good as the other
>Shakesphere is not that good you know *at cocktail party, guest in circle says "what" and moves in closer* Shakesphere only really needed to write 1 play, his best one, I have read more than that though you know, but if I were you I wouldnt even read his 2nd 3rd or 4th best works... because I read them, and I think they are not that good, certainly not as good as his best, unfortunately, I actually visited his grave once (friends of the family) and I banged on the dirteth that layseth betwixt my bronzzedd feat, and pounded the Earth screaming "William, o' dearest Will... why, musteth you hath piqueth so soonth!" I chanted towards the heavens, and swear I nearly saw a ghost... in fact that would have been the 4th most inspired ghost I would have seen, hardly worth writing home about. So anyway, what do you ladies do?

"well I-"
"wait before I forget, let me tell you about this one time I went polar bear hunting on skis, here hold my drink for a second, I have to act this out"


Fuck you, asshole. I'm not saying you shouldn't read M&D or that it's not great, just that it's overrated here. Not only that, but I didn't even read your entire post, so fuck you and your attempt to be funny.

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Greentext the plot of your new novel, it's not like is going anywhere.

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>finishes book
>wonders why he wasted time on something that doesnt benefit him in any single way
>well.. my bros at /lit/ say its good so its a time well SPENT! :)))

drop the book and start doing something more productive

drop the book and go live life

dont fall for the reading fiction meme

DONT DO IT

DROP THE BOOK

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> his book deal has fallen through and now they refuse to publish it

What will happen next, /lit/?