Why did sci-fi take off so much more, artistically, than fantasy did?
Obviously Wolfe is pretty good, but most fantasy is autistic or Tolkien worship.
Sci-fi has way more literary value
But that's wrong
>>9067063
I want you to fully appreciate how wrong you are. I want you to sink like a pebble into the ocean of your ignorance. But I will be forever disappointed, for a pleb such as you can never grasp the beauty of language, the soaring heights of human expression. Someday, perhaps, you may leave your turgid little life, eyes fixed to the muck as a compass is fixed to the North, and look to the heavens for just a moment. In that heartbeat, if you are lucky, you may perceive at the back of your mind the sensations we patricians experience all our lives. And you will weep, and I will weep beside you.
you sure you're not operating under a false premise here? i have read very little fantasy, but in addition to wolfe, i can also think of mervyn peake, john crowley, david lindsay, even ursula le guin (i've read a bit of her sci-fi but none of her fantasy) who are lauded as literary fantasy authors. i can only imagine there are plenty of others i've never even heard of.
What went wrong? He could have been the Cormac McCarthy of fantasy
I got meme'd on when I bought this.
>>9067069
>reading a comic book written by an author
Nearly as foolish as reading a novel written by a comic book writer.
>>9067058
Because he's a shallow thinker and fell for the escapist trap.
He really is one of the smartest guys in genre fiction, but alas, he sold out.
Just finished this today and I loved it. Auster's blend of metafiction + detective fiction works really well imo. He also manages to deploy lots of postmodern techniques while maintaining straightforward, accessible prose. The humor reminded me of Beckett or Kafka in the best way and especially the conversations with the young and old Peter Stillmans in City of Glass were hilarious.
I've definitely seen this mentioned before but I'm a little surprised it's not more of a meme here. Seems right up /lit/'s alley. What do you guys think of it? What else by Auster is worth reading?
>>9066827
Book of Illusions
my diary desu
>>9066827
Great book, one of my first readings in english and quite much worth it. Also, you nailed this piece's gist: simple prose, metafiction and tame postmodern bumfuckery. I never got around any of Auster's other novels, though.
How difficult is this to understand?
Is the companion very useful?
>>9066773
Well, it can either be very difficult to understand if you take Pound seriously, or not seriously at all if you realize that he's essentially an over-academic meme lord hopped up on his own 20th century goodreads list and just enjoy him for the music of his pieces (which is stilted at times because muh Eastern poetry). Yes, the companion is always useful.
They're just words. If you can read a word you can understand the Cantos.
>>9066773
If you're a turbopleb and don't already know them, learn Greek, Latin, Occitan, Italian, French, German, and Chinese.
Then read the entire Western canon starting from the Greeks.
Then read the Eastern canon.
Then read lots of history, including the Renaissance, the US founding fathers, and Chinese history.
Then, publicly announce your support for your local fascist party. Get redpilled on the Jews. Read Nietzsche.
Then, and only then, will you truly be ready.
Shouldn't take more than a couple of decades.
Is this chart reliable?
>>9066741
only thing reliable about this chart is that the creator had his head so far up his ass he was marveling at his tonsils
>>9066741
>Attempting to systematize artistic merit
top kek, mate.
>>9066749
A lack of accessibility isn't artistic merit
Has anyone here learned Ancient Greek successfully? How long would it take me to teach myself? What are some good textbooks/resources for the language?
>>9066700
bump
Don't know attic (or any greek for that matter) but i would advice you to learn modern greek first, as it is more accesible and will make attic easier. Way i go about learning is watching tons of movies and tv on the language, even if i don't know what's being said. (Or you could rewatch shows you like dubbed on greek, to speed this part up). The alphabet you can google and learn on an afternoon. Once you develop an ear for greek, it'll be easy to guess how words are written even if you haven't heard them before, google translate is really useful on this stage, combined with step one.
Do this, and then study grammar. Remember babies learn by listening, and then by reading
>>9067711
> learn modern greek first
Don't do this. Despite the name, modern Greek is to Ancient what Italian is to Latin. It will deceive and mislead you. I know this because I speak modern Greek fairly well, having learned it as an adult, and I from what I've seen of Attic and Homeric Greek I can tell it's something else entirely and significantly harder. So, I can't advise concerning learning ancient Greek but, unless you have an interest in modern Greek culture and literature (19th century and later), don't bother with modern Greek.
Hey /lit/, this is the sun, say something poetic about him.
fuck the sun
>>9066653
the eye of god
ouch! that's hot.
Mommy said I could have one book from Folio Society for being a good boy, any recommendations.
Can't go wrong with Ulysses
The Bible Moralisee obviously
That huge bible
Reminder that
>>>>>translations
are not real literature.
Learn a language or stay in your native reservation forever
ok fine i'll just just learn every language brb
translations are real literature, they are just never accurate. if you would like to read what fitzgerald thought khayaam's rubaiyat should be like (a story with a plot rather than a loose unconnected collection), you will still be reading literature, and, despite it not being an accurate translation in any edition, some of his editions are better literature than others. translation has occasionally improved a work's literary value (nabokov springs to mind), making them higher esteemed than the "real literature" but that does not either make the original less "real literature".
excuse me for not knowing English, French, German, Russian, Latin, Greek, Old Norse, Spanish, Arabic and even more languages
Post recent books you've finished.
Book one of Appolonius' On Conic sections.
Brilliant. I loved the 70th proposition on conjugate sections. It tied everything together wonderfully, brought an autistic tear to mine eye.
Book four of Keynes General Theory: The Inducement to Invest
It went over the investment rate and the peculiarities of it as opposed to other terms defined in Book II. He ended the book with a helpful review of what independent and dependent variables are in his system. Apparently, the only dependent variables are employment and national income measured in wage-units. So if the interest rate changes, which is highly static and inelastic under Keynesian theory, then these two dependent variables drastically change, not to mention they can affect the investment rate, which is inimical to the growth of marginal efficiencies of capital if it is above, but helpful to the growth if below, with the marginal efficiencies of capital being correlated with the interest rates.
Post what you've recently read and your thoughts.
Thats actually my favourite book about cones
>>9066296
Is it?
It's much better than On Conoids and Spheroids by Archimedes.
inb4 'is it autism'
>>9066285
> Appolonius' On Conic sections
been seriously considering buying the volume 11 of britannica great books. it has the 13 books of euclid's elements, 10 works of archimedes, apollonius on conic sections and nicomachus of gerasa's introduction to arithmetic. your post probably sold me the book.
finished ulysses today. fantastic book. Penelope was so good and so was the ending of the book. finished first book of chronicles too, very very boring.
tomorrow will start history of civilization by oliveira lima (renowed brazilian historian from 1900~)
In your best prose, write about the beauty of the female body.
ass n titties ass ass n titties
bags filled with flesh, blood, shit, and bacteria. nice.
>>9066185
>too white
>not trans enough
your pleb taste never ceases to disappoint me lads
Scenes from The Simpsons which perfectly describe books.
Pic related, Don Quixote.
I really like this thread idea but don't watch The Simpsons.
>>9066163
my diary desu
>>9066163
same i dont watch the simpsons
i dont watch much of anything really so i cant contribute
bump
Do you agree with Marx on this?
(it's a real quote, btw)
>tfw the Islamisation of the West will put off communism more than anything else so I'm forced to support right wing populist nationalism
>>9066155
>Abolition of the family! Even the most radical flare up at this infamous proposal of the Communists. On what foundation is the present family, the bourgeois family, based? On capital, on private gain. In its completely developed form this family exists only among the bourgeoisie. But this state of things finds its complement in the practical absence of the family among the proletarians, and in public prostitution. The bourgeois family will vanish as a matter of course when its complement vanishes, and both will vanish with the vanishing of capital.
>>9066155
lmao this is why i'm a fucking Marxist yo
Critique thread.
Critique and get critiques.
Don't be a faggot.
>>9065999
Your an faggoot.
3/10
Hey guys I know a lot of people say there can be too much alliteration but I'm honestly addicted to it and I really like putting it heavily in my shit. Am I coming off as tryhard?
(Probably, but should I care?)
Dear Katie
Please tell me
You don't hate to read.
Please tell me
If you have a selfie
With the Eiffel Tower
You don't think you know everything
About France.
Please tell me
You know Hungary
Isn't a town in Poland.
Please tell me
You know there are differences
Between boys and boys
And there are differences between fun and fun
Just as much as there are differences
Between being funny or ridiculous.
Please tell me
You have more ambitions
Than to find an idiot
Who buys you drinks
And in exchange
You let him have sex with you
From time to time.
And please tell me
What can cure
My brutal hangover.
/lit/, advice on political handbooks on pragmatism/realism? I'm looking to get into the political scene quite soon here, but I'm trying to read as much literature on past political figures to get an idea of what's required to be successful.
are you trying to imitate past leaders or what? try educating yourself on the contemporary political situation by reading some history of politics and economics and the theories that pertain to them.
>>9065971
>political scene here
don't
>>9065971
Statesman doesn't really offer pragmatic suggestions.
Might want to check out machiavelli's discourses, which are like the prince but more thorough and 5x the content. That's a decent start for political philosophy, but you'll need to know modern history/politics if you're going to be able to apply anything you learn.
Also may want to study some classical rhetoric