Archived threads in /lit/ - Literature - 28. page

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I wanna have a discussion about Self-Inserts within literature, and also other medias.

Is self-insertion in of itself a bad thing in story-telling? Many famous and renowned works over the years had writers self-inserting themselves to a degree (for example Stephan King with numerous of his protags as writers) and obviously can lead to the horrid path that is of Mary/Gary Sue.
When I'm thinking of story ideas, I self-insert as a temporary stand-in until I can think of a better character to fulfill that role. This lead me to further think on the concept of using self-insertion in stories. Is it more "acceptable" if it was completely told in a strictly 1st person perspective to also allow the reader to place themselves in the character's shoes. Would it be fine to self-insert if instead of a Mary/Gary Sue, it was the polar opposite where it was acknowledgement of one's own faults and trying to create a story or character development around it, though I feel that can also lead to a Mary/Gary Sue of the opposite spectrum (my life sucks, everything is my fault, etc).

What are your guys opinion on this? Is there any works you believe does it right?

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I just finished this book, it's also my first Gaddis. I've heard that some people consider this one of Gaddis' weakest works. I personally enjoyed every page of it. What are all your thoughts on it?

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picked up this doorstopper today, lads. The only book on my to-read list available at my local used book store.

What am I in for? Anyone gotten through this and the sequel?

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What was his fucking problem?

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How do I into Cicero? He has a ton of scattered writings and letters, a bunch of lost writings, and the most readily available books are abridged and selected anthology type stuff.

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Orgy of the Will by icycalm thread

I've been reading this from the start. I've always known icycalm was a genius, but like any other (sub?)human I would fuck up, misunderstand things, etc.

One thing that I never fully understood until recently was his extremely confident and optimistic view of the future. For those unaware, he states that in the future there will be thousands of clones of icycalm himself ruling the universe. It sounded ridiculous but years later I was brainstorming about something else and suddenly I believe that not only is it a possibility, very plausible, even probable. This revelation made me understand all of icycalm's philosophy more clearly.

Two main points.

1. Alex Kierkegaard writes about how genes are everything, how he has the best genes, how genes are everything, how power and "alphaness" is equivalent to spreading your genes, etc.
So why is he a seemingly childless genetic dead end? Is he a big time sperm donor? Has he planted dozens of bastard children all over Eastern Europe and the 3rd world? Why does he never talk about this? Is it because he is afraid his descendants will be hunted down in the human/subhuman war? Ha ha.

He mentions that his memes are more prolific than any humans genes, but you would be wrong if you thought that this is the answer. The memes arose from his spectacular genes and excellent genes are required to understand the memes.

2. What did he mean by the following? How does he plan to do it? Is he talking about killing all the subhumans? If so, why does he say "the 'so-called human race'" instead of saying subhumans? How does he plan to do it?

"There is so much sickness and decay on this planet that I cannot in all good conscience do otherwise: after all, the almost complete annihilation of the so-called "human race" is my task; theoretically at first, and once the theory is done moving on to the practical stage."

The key to understanding these two points, to understand the blog, to understand Alex, to understand the future is...

Not gonna tell ya. I think there is a reason he avoided mentioning it. Maybe he is afraid of the ressentimental prematurely figuring it out and thwarting his plan. Or maybe he is going to explain it near the end of Orgy for dramatic effect.

Let's just say that in the year of our Lord ####, humans discovered an ancient weapon and named it XXXXXX. Modern XXXXXXX allows us to utilize that weapon and if you're young you will probably see it put to great use within your lifetime. The future is bright and glorious. And it's going to happen *exactly* like icycalm says it will. This is no exaggeration or joke or metaphor. There's nothing you need to do, beloved reader, just sit back and enjoy the show.

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hi lit!
What is the BEST book you have ever read.

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alright lads this past summer i got a taste of the working world and i more or less decided that i either need a get rich quick scheme or i need a way to completely circumvent the working years of my life. yes im an entitled fuck or whatever but i dont care.

how do i write the next Goosebumps series

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Why doesn't Bast just borrow $10 So he can pay J R back and stop doing all his dirty work?

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>wanted to get into literature
>reading gives me headache

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Guess who this essay was on:

Imagine a sign sitting in the middle of a town square with nothing on it but three scribbled loops. Every day for years, people walk by this sign and give no reaction to it. People might attempt to interpret the sign in different ways, but without an established practice wherein all rule-followers exhibit the same behavior towards the sign, there is no rule for the sign. But imagine one day that a person sees the sign, and then walks in the same sort of loops which are depicted on it. Once he finishes his three loops, he goes on his way, as if it had all been perfectly natural. Imagine that a large group of people saw him do this, and in turn initiate a practice of walking three loops every time they passed the sign. Perhaps we leave this village and come back fifty years later. Everyone now walks in loops when they pass the sign. When we ask them why they do this they might say something like “because that’s what the sign says, you idiot!”

The sign had no meaning until people agreed on a meaning. Before this agreement was reached, there might have been numerous interpretations and speculations about the sign’s meaning, as if an interpretation itself could assign meaning. But this would be like trying to put an object inside an empty box by speculating about what’s inside it. To be perfectly clear, what I am saying is that meaning is not a matter of interpretation or opinion. To merely think that the sign means something is not enough to assign it meaning. And if you argue that it was the original Looper’s interpretation that assigned meaning to the sign, then you should consider what sort of meaning this would be in the case where no one had adopted the practice of looping.

It wouldn’t be any sort of meaning, because even the original Looper’s interpretation has no bearing on the meaning of the sign. We might imagine that the Looper didn’t even see the sign when he first passed by, but instead was being chased by a wasp, and that he only walked in his loops to avoid being stung. In this case, meaning originated without any possibility of originating in an interpretation. The onlookers just simply understood his looping to be in accord with the meaning of the sign. There was a practice that was picked up, and when the practice finally cemented itself, so did the meaning of the sign.

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Yes, now it can move onto the location needed, for the result we and you, and us, wish to be, for I will not allow it in my mind, at this point. But it is there. Still, motionless, in fact. But it moves when nothing else might. Closed eyes and whispered prayers bring it up in the middle of a body rolling to the right, under blankets, purchased without thought. To be awoken by nothing but a sound. But it is good, now. It is simple. The screen glows and reflects, the shifting husk sleeps beside, to be met with it, when broken from it's own.

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I'm in the middle of this and I'm REALLY not enjoying it as much as I have his other works. Why does the plot seem so... aimless? How would you rank Fitzgerald's novels?

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Hey this is pretty good.

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Has anyone ever approached someone about the book they were reading?

I saw a high school girl on the bus today reading hegel, I don't know if it is socially acceptable to talk to someone while they are reading but I think if someone approached me about literature we could become great friends... Any of you had a good outcome?