>tfw
>you go into a bookstore
>they don't have any of the books you want
>go to front desk and request they check in the back for any extra copies
>faggot comes out with only one of the books you wanted, but he also brings out a few books he """recommends"""
>kindly tell him to fuck off and then proceed to buy the book I wanted
Why do they do this? I know which books I want.
>>8657175
Maybe there are people out there who appreciate a recommendation.
>>8657175
>Why do they do this?
It sells more books in general and allows people to consider books they would otherwise probably overlook. It's in a bookstore's best interest to get people to buy more books. What's the mystery?
>>8657214
How to interact with people.
>The son of a wealthy lawyer, at 25 he marries a girl, after a long courtship, against his parents wishes because she was "lower-class."
>No one from his family attended the wedding, so, "Stevens never again visited or spoke to his parents during his father’s lifetime."
>Goes to work for a law firm at 29, becomes a Vice President.
>His first poem is published in a magazine at 36.
>Eventually goes to work for an insurance company at 37.
>Doesn't publish his first collection of 85 poems until 44. It doesn't get a great reception.
>After the birth of his daughter, he takes a 9 year break from writing.
>Becomes Vice President at the insurance company at 55.
>Publishes his second poetry collection at 55.
>Publishes a third collection at 57.
>Publishes a fourth collection at 58.
>Publishes a fifth and sixth collection at 63.
>A seventh poetry collection and a collection of essays is published at 67.
>Given the Bollingen Prize at 70.
>An eighth collection at 71.
>Given the National Book Award for Poetry and Frost Medal at 72.
>His collected poems are published at 75.
>Given a second National Book Award for Poetry and the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry at 75.
>Offered a faculty position at Harvard but turns it down because he's still Vice President of the insurance company. He's still working.
>Dies at 75.
>I forgot to mention, he remained faithful and married to his wife, even after her mental state and, by consequence, the relationship deteriorated.
>Remained staunchly politically conservative throughout his life.
Is this not the dream? How is this not the dream?
>>8657154
>>Remained staunchly politically conservative throughout his life.
Why do you consider this good? The world is not perfect; there are several things one needs to correct in the world. To remain conservative shows either that you are a) afraid of changes or b) that you believe that some changes are important, but you personally don’t know how they should be made.
I admit that there are many propositions of change that doesn’t seem very appropriate or safe in the long-term. There are some good quotes about it:
>Every society honors its live conformists, and its dead troublemakers. ~Mignon McLaughlin, The Neurotic's Notebook, 1960
>The average man is a conformist, accepting miseries and disasters with the stoicism of a cow standing in the rain. ~Colin Wilson
>New opinions are always suspected, and usually opposed, without any other reason but because they are not already common. ~John Locke, An Essay Concerning Human Understanding
>>8657172
I'm not really interested in getting into a political discussion and was merely posting facts from Wallace Stevens' life that I admired. It simply stood out to me considering his success in an industry/artform/scene that tends towards progressivism, so I included it in the post.
>>8657154
>marrying a pleb
Am I the only one here enjoying Gallic War ?
>>8657153
>enjoying
It's 2016 CE, wake up.
>>8657170
No, it is better to dream.
to sleep, perchance >>8657191
> Henry IV - Shakespeare & Marlowe
> Macbeth - Shakespeare & Middleton
> Measure for Measure - Shakespeare & Middleton
Harold Bloom's entire career has been BTFO'd. Anglo supremacist culture on suicide watch. Anglo romanticization of lone genius BTFO. French literature reigns supreme. It takes at least 3 anglos to write the quality of one Montaigne or one Rousseau.
"B-But muh Milton!" top kek, don't even fucking try.
>>8657101
I'm so proud to be a white man
French are the niggers of Europe
marlowe had marginal contributions to henry vi, NOT to either part of henry iv (the later and far superior plays).
Likewise, Middleton's contributions to Macbeth are literally shit tier and the worst parts of the play.
why does his work translate so well and resonate for westerners?
>>8657081
I think from the get-go even in Japanese his work has been called American minimalism rendered in Japanese form. consider that a few of his fave writers include Raymond carver and fitzgerald.
I know rubin (one of his regular translators) has studied extensively in Japanese literature and probably does a good job with nuances considering the language barrier. also consider that murakami has done quite a few translations of American literature into Japanese.
there are probably lots of reasons.
thematically, I think he resonates well with economically developed nations because of the rampant use of technology and a lot of his book deal with feelings of isolation amid modernism.
also I think his themes of learning to live with unresolved issues is popular because life doesn't always have closure to our little stories and I think people anywhere will find a degree of affinity with this.
>>8657081
I've hated his work and I'm a westerner.
Murakami, this guy just can't write a novel without his protagonist's walk at some point turning into a brisker stride or something like a full-on run. It's like, enough already.
Is true love the only feeling that we cant truly rationalize? Did any philosopher talked about this? Hume maybe?
>>8657059
I'm redpilled.
'True love' is a jewish Hollywood fiction made to emasculate the white man and make him easy to control. It's a way to get women power and subsequently have liberal beliefs (women feelings) pervade all aspects of society so that the white race can be eradicated, i.e. by lowering birth rates and importing immigrants.
In reality women cannot truly love, as they are too shallow to be truly ethical or loyal. true love exists only between white male nationalists fighting for a cause in the trenches.
>>8657078
Kill yourself faggot
>>8657198
>t. numale woman worshipper
How do I start with the Gnostics?
>>8657009
Bump for interest. The only authors I know are Crowley and Jung.
>girl I'm interested in comes from a super Gnostic family
>her and her mother are both named Sophia
>>8657366
Wtf I want a gnostic gf now
Read PKD op
>>8657369
hehe
OP start with the Gospel of Thomas, then do the Gospel of Philip
>They werent watching the Television box, Their Eyes Were Watching God!
Southern Gothic is for hacks
>>8656990
That's a brilliant book though
>>8656990
>Southern Gothic is for hacks
shut it shit heel
bunch uh neet whitefolk in this heah thread
Where2startwithphilosophy?
I hear "start with le greeks" is there any specific place to start? kthx
>>8656971
Hitler
Evola
Schopenhauer
Elliot rodger
Unabomber
Breivik
Homer
Plato
Epictetus
Ulysses
Archimedes
Thanks for this
reading this right now, enjoying it
>>8656961
>What does /lit/ think?
i'm probably an alcoholic
why are my ears so itchy?
i'd better post my sister's birthday present tomorrow. maybe thursday
i want a new laptop but i'll probably wait until the new year
i want a wank
that's what i think
brb going to have a wank
What is the general consensus on this man here?
Whenever I feel down and need a happy pickmeup I just imagine myself as sysiphus. He was happy after all. When i really vividly getting into the idea of the pain of eternally pushing that rock, a huge grin just can not be taken off my face.
Not a hack/10
>>8656896
He is the best looking figure in 20th century philosophy, his books are so-so and his philosophy is pleb tier.
He would be mostly forgotten by now if he was as ugly as Sartre.
Dislike him. Second-rate, ephemeral, puffed-up. A nonentity, means absolutely nothing to me. Awful.
Is there really any upsides to the way the media censors books? I struggle to find any justification as to why governments do this.
Critical thinking is a threat to power. Books can contain ideas which encourage critical thinking. In modern times, a more effective technique has been to condition the people so that they can have almost every resource that they need at their disposal and not know how to use them. This is done via a seemingly innocuous but covert form of psychological warfare (television, advertising, news organizations).
Any of the upsides to censorship prior to these times can probably be found in Plato's Republic.
Bit harder to censor people who have access to the internet, unless you go with the Great Firewall route. Didn't Erdogan in Turkey try to block access to Twitter? There is only an upside if you are the one controlling the information.
>>8656948
Kadyrov in Chechnya keeps trying to shut down the Internet, but he's so obsessed with Instagram, it doesn't last very long.
The government doesn't have the right to jurisdiction in books or on the Internet, news media is a different story because they've proven themselves to be biased anyway.
What's the best book cover you've seen? Oh wait, it's this one
Terry Pratchett has a lot of nice looking hardcover... covers.
>>8656861
This makes me angry because there are three brothers and only two on this cover
Where were you when you realized Dylan Thomas is the best poet of all time?
It is a winter's tale
That the snow blind twilight ferries over the lakes
And floating fields from the farm in the cup of the vales,
Gliding windless through the hand folded flakes,
The pale breath of cattle at the stealthy sail,
And the stars falling cold,
And the smell of hay in the snow, and the far owl
Warning among the folds, and the frozen hold
Flocked with the sheep white smoke of the farm house cowl
In the river wended vales where the tale was told.
Nice, OP.
I hadn't read this poem. I like it a lot.
>>8656857
These are only the first two stanzas. The full poem goes on much longer. Look it up, "A Winter's Tale".
>>8656850
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5u9Zz5l15E
>Spineless protagonist spends the summer with rich retards
Is this really the best American literature can produce?
>>8656791
Taking the bait, but the novel is not about liking the characters. It's about giving a portrait of the American Dream: its lure and decadence as well as its tragedy and shortcomings.
>>8656794
Is the American dream about working in organized crime in order to fulfill the obsession of stealing another man's wife? Cause if not I don't think it's 100% applicable.
Main theme: cuck/ cuck theory
Secondary themes: desire , wealth , obtainment.
Laced with: romance , betrayal , fetish and money