Who is the greatest living author /lit/? Is it him?
>>8927944
joseph mcelroy
william h gass
joshua cohen
adam levin
thomas pynchon
william t vollmann
pick one
>>8927944
Considering that Pynchon has only released one good book in the 21st century, yeah, it's probably Murakami or maybe Vargas Llosa.
>>8927966
embarrassing post
stacks, recent purchases and whatnot
post 'em, r8 'em, h8 'em
these two beauties just came in, histories of herodotus & history of peloponnesian war by thucydides and city of god, on christian doctrine and confessions of augustine, both printed in '52 and surprinsingly in great condition, paid roughly U$ 3,50 each
I just got these in the other night.
>>8927061
How much did that cost you, $3000?
The last thread got ruined by /pol/. Is this guy worth reading?
He is for writing purposes.
>>8926776
Yes. But read Schopenhauer and Freud first
>>8926776
Moreso than Freud but fuck no, and don't read Freud either. Try "The Rise of the Meritocracy" instead.
Is this guy actually worth reading? So far he seems like a total meme, "lmao i'm totalitarian af bro".
>>8926481
He's pretty bizarre for sure. But you can't read occultist or esoteric literature without expecting that. He can have some good insights into the value of symbolism or deeper meaning in traditional society and myth. His criticism of modernity has some good parts too. Hyperborea on the other hand...
To fully 'get' him you need a base understanding of Hindu metaphysics and theology and knowing something about Hermeticism, Sufism and Christian mysticism would help too. Whether you take his political ideas seriously or not, it can be pretty interesting to read a guy who could basically be leading a Nazi occultist team in Indiana Jones.
>>8926481
He is pretty great
>>8926606
>To fully 'get' him you need a base understanding of Hindu metaphysics and theology and knowing something about Hermeticism, Sufism and Christian mysticism would help too.
This is the kind of answer I get when I ask about any sort of philosopher or writer. "You need to read X, Y, and Z first".
Maybe I should just fuck off and start with the greeks, I dunno.
>Whether you take his political ideas seriously or not, it can be pretty interesting to read a guy who could basically be leading a Nazi occultist team in Indiana Jones.
Aye, he is quite the novelty.
>tfw you realise that Hitchens went the "all religions are bad" route just so he could freely insult Islam without being called a bigot
I do that all the time
>>8925642
Is this literature?
>>8925642
that's not what he did. Islam is most dangerous now, but in WW2 times it was Catholicism, and a certain sect of Buddhism. All religions are irrational and crazy, so not entirely predictable. But all religions can end up dangerous or practically harmless, over time. Don't trust Quakers.
What's your day job, writer-kun?
Sitting at home reading.
Getting fucked by lots of nigger dicks.
>>8925839
He said job, Milo, not hobby.
When did you find out that you were doomed to be a Salieri rather than a Mozart?
22 here
>>8924995
>one of the greatest composers of his generation
>appointed director of opera and court composer to the emperor
>personally tutored schubert, liszt, and fucking beethoven
>spoke half a dozen languages
>banged his leading sopranos
yeah i would settle for that desu senpai
>>8925010
But he was a mediocrity. I think you missed the point. He was a performing monkey. Never to scratch the surface of the great Mozart.
>>8925010
Only able to recognize genius but not BE genius
You guys complete your reading challenge for Goodreads in 2016?
>set goal of 30 books
>only read 15 before coming back home from dad's house in Florida
>It's December 20th
>try to pad my "read this year" by sitting around Barnes and Noble in the kids section reading as many books as I can find, like Gary Paulson, Shiloh books, etc.
>3 YA novellas from the library
>24 books total by December 31st
Trying to get a head start this year on novellas so that come December I can really assess how many long novels I want to read so I don't end up in a similar situation.
Oh, and I'm reading 40 this year, I hope.
I wanted to read 50, but I only finished 33. I am aiming for 60 this year, already finished 2.
We're all gonna make it.
Had 50 down for '16, did 77. I put 60 for this year, and so far have completed 0.
Since books vary so considerably in length, a better metric would be to set a goal of pages read or something.
Your thoughts on Junky?
I think it's one of his best, don't really care about cut-up technique
My first by him, and also my favorite.
>>8923230
It's his best work, I believe. Cut-up technique was just an attempt at what the prose poets of the 19th century accomplished, but alot worse. Had he attempted what Baudelaire and Rimbaud did, he might've had something, but maybe not, maybe he didn't share that level of talent.
Anyways, yeah, it's good, and the best confessional Beat novel.
>>8924901
>Cut-up technique was just an attempt at what the prose poets of the 19th century accomplished
What did he mean by this?
Alright everyone, we've 'found' a whole mess of new poems by Rupi Kaur and would appreciate the help of everyone in getting them all out to her fellow fans. Blast these out on insta, facebook, twitter, whereever and whenever you can
Fresh new poems by the songbird of the web, and all in an easily digestible and passable format. It'll be awhile to post them all up, but they're a coming
Is that actually anything I can do to overcome intense death anxiety?
What books have helped you reify the immensity of death?
>>8921108
Meditations - Marcus Aurelius
Reading accounts and studies of near-death experiences helped me slightly. Science dictates that these are caused by chemical releases in the brain, but the calm and peacefulness reported by most of the people is slightly comforting, if nothing else.
There was one where a guy left his body and floated upwards indefinitely, and he described a pair of boots left on top of the hospital building that he shouldn't have had any knowledge of. Things like that make you question shit.
>>8921113
Thanks. I'm not that familiar with Roman literature, so I will definitely get a copy of this.
Welcome to the third story! All are invited to join in at any time, or to come and go as you please. Thank you all for participating, and I hope this one succeeds as well as the last two.
>The Death of Ivan Ilyich by Leo Tolstoy
>22,391 words
>Reading time: 1 hour 52 minutes
>About the Author (starts in bottom right)
https://www.docdroid.net/AVfW8lZ/leo-tolstoy-gale-contextual-encyclopedia-of-world-literature.pdf.html
>Poll
https://www.strawpoll.me/12018267
Discussions start in this thread and will finish on Sunday. The next reading is The Man Who Would Be King by Rudyard Kipling (14,298 words). Discussion for it will run Monday through Thursday.
>ebook
https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Death_of_Ivan_Ilych
https://mega.nz/#F!tVUyAAya!MhE3co1AQ3tXjLS-iX4CTw
>audiobook
https://librivox.org/the-death-of-ivan-ilyitch-by-leo-tolstoy/
>supplemental materials
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7YtxQXfkVM - talk by Tolstoy expert
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJVpJ588ASc (3 parts, more related to death than the story)
>ebook for next reading
https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Man_Who_Would_Be_King
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/8147
>Many stories will be pulled from The World's Greatest Short Stories (Dover Thrift Editions) which is $5 on Amazon.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0486447162/
Old threads:
>>8898002 Bartleby, the Scrivener - Melville
>>8889062 The Necklace - Maupassant
Well that was depressing. I definitely shouldn't have read it in one shot which made it worse.
Will write up a longer post after watching the supplementary material.
>>8919723
How the fuck do you guys manage to read that in less than two hours (1:52, no more, no less)? Do you read like a machine, do you never read a line twice, never stop to ponder upon what you've read? I read this a while ago in three sittings, I think. I stopped on purpose to think and let it seep through. Even in one sitting it would have taken me probably twice as much as those two hours. Dunno, I just can't read something through like a train eating track, phrase after phrase, paragraph after paragraph, until the end.
>>8920106
That's how you read dumbass. If you're constantly stopping you must be dyslexic
Post /lit/ pics
>>8919241
I like these threads, even though they are sometimes removed. My contribution:
If you put aside John Galt's insanely long speech, what did you think of the book?
>>8919129
it was big
It could be so damn arrogant some times.
Twilight tier.
hey /lit/ what are some good books about pigs?
Pig by Brett Mizell, Reaktion Animal Series
>>8918196
Animal Farm
>>8918196
Charolette's web