What the fuck is the point of reading this when Pynchon just makes three obscure pop culture references every page that I don't understand since I'm too young
Maybe I should stick to more straight forward books like Hemingway
you're fucking stupid
>What the fuck is the point of reading this when Pynchon just makes three obscure pop culture references every page that I don't understand since I'm too young
i'm guessing you didn't even try reading it. only /lit/ would give this impression of gravity's rainbow. or, maybe you're just too thick to understand the book and are trying to blame it on an abundance of references.
any way you look at it you're a fuckin mong who wouldn't be able to appreciate hemingway either
conclusion: stop shitting up my board
>>8288107
Early on in the book, he goes on an extended metaphor about an adenoid, which is a reference to a Chaplin movie. There are plenty of other references to historical people and the like that I simply do not understand, perhaps because I am not American
>reading reviews of this on Amazon
>it's recommended that you buy a SEPARATE book and read that first, as it explains all of the references
What's the literary equivalent of this?
>>8288010
Finnegan's wake
my diary t b h
>>8288015
>Finnegan's
>'s
Thomas Pynchon is now the author of your favorite novel. What changes?
It becomes an unreadable piece of garbage.
Nothing
I don't know. I haven't read Thomas Pynchon
>6050 word essay due monday
>can't stop reading Nietzsche
>8 hours of sleep due tomorrow morning
>can't stop checking the threads
>Nothing due any day
>Can't stop being stressed and feeling like I'm under pressure
>no friends
>no family
>no gf
>poor
>dumb
>ugly
>fat
>bad eyesight, bad hearing, bad balance
>dying within 60 years
>never going to contribute to humanity
>wondering if I should kill myself and get it over with
>just kidding about the suicide
Jesus Christ. Why are Rene Guénon and Evola such windbags?
They aren't even trying to be poetic, they just draw out their damn points for pages.
I could sum up the entirity of The Reign of Quantity, look
"By Quality and Quantity, I basically mean immaterial and material. Modern society, with it's Scientism and Social Progressivism has put such an amount of emphasis on the material that it's almost the apocalypse. We need to focus on Metaphysical Concepts nao."
I would understand if they were trying to be poetic. I would understand if they're trying to tell a story along with it. But they're just drawing out their sentences like a lazy college student trying to write an essay.
>>8287798
Hehe. Just another leftist unable to comprehend the word of the redpill.
>>8287800
simply ebin
>>8287798
>i have no imagination
What's your opinion on Haruki Murakami?
>>8287765
This man, in my country, he is nothing
hes a qt
His books aren't as bad as their reputation on /lit/
There still not that great, don't get me wrong.
How are some good poems that depict violence in stark and interesting ways?
I've already read Homer and Ovid
Sir Gawain and the Greentexter.
Some books of the Bible too (e.g. the Book of Job, the Psalms, the book of Lamentations, etc).
First World War poetry.
The Aeneid.
The Faerie Queene.
>>8287261
thanks! will check out the faerie queen
>>8287206
Leda and the Swan
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j4CJ7h3mX4Q
does this meme board actually hate pic related for e cred?
I havent read a single thing from him besides the sunset quote but I find his interviews and the such pretty soothing background noise
>>8286617
You know, reddit is probably more your speed.
>>8286621
There he is. There he goes again. Look, everyone! He posted it once again! Isn't he just the smartest guy around?! Oh my God.
I can almost see your pathetic overweight frame glowing in the dark, lit by your computer screen which is the only source of light in your room, giggling like a like girl as you once again type your little elitist reply up and fill in the captcha. Or maybe you don't even fill in the captcha. Maybe you're such a disgusting NEET that you actually paid for a 4chan pass, so you just choose the picture. Oh, and we all know the picture. The "epic" Greek guy, isn't it? I imagine you little shit laughing so hard as you click it that you drop your Doritos on the floor, but it's ok, your mother will clean it up in the morning. Oh, that's right. Did I fail to mention? You live with your mother. You are a fat fucking fuckup, she's probably so sick of you already. So sick of having to do everything for you all goddamn day, every day, for a grown man who spends all his time on 4chan posting about a how intellectual he is because of what he reads. Just imagine this. She had you, and then she thought you were gonna be a scientist or an astronaut or something grand, and then you became a NEET. A pathetic liberal arts NEET. She probably cries herself to sleep everyday thinking about how bad it is and how she wishes she could just disappear. She can't even try to talk with you because all you say is "START WITH THE GREEKS START WITH THE GREEKS" You've become a parody of your own self. And that's all you are. A sad little man laughing in the dark by himself as he prepares to indulge in the same old dance that he's done a million times now. And that's all you'll ever be.
>>8286634
Start with the greeks.
Serious Question. How much of a factor is talent in determining how good of a writer someone can be? Is writing something that can be mastered by everyone, or are some people naturally predispositioned to be amazing writers?
Talent will always be a thing. But discipline can get you far.
>>8286116
People tell me I have talent all the time, but my writing is still bad. If I wrote a book that had a phenomenal plot, every reader above the age of 16 would put it down for bad prose. How can I improve? How can I get to the level where I can express my thoughts beautifully and create art on a page? Taking classes are not an option as of right now, but I have all the free time in the world and all the motivation, I just need a direction to go in
>>8287551
Some general advice: read more, watch more, learn more, experience more, and write more. I empathize with you, but you have to realize that it's a long, steady process and real success only comes if you play the long game.
I want to detach myself mentally from the shackles that are human nature. I think if one is able to intellectually make sense of it all, their conscious may overcome their subconscious.
It is untenable that humans are conscious organisms ingrained with the biological imperative of having to spread their genes and continue their tribe (in-group, or faction or whatever) the same way all organisms on this planet function. Of course, complex psychological factors come into play and translate these otherwise basic concepts into complex, and sometimes, misguided manifestations. A 'normal' model for the biological human would be to have as many children as possible in an environment that fosters them until they themselves are capable of simulating the organismic process of genetic and tribal perpetuation themselves, adulthood. Human psychology, as incurred by the various environmental factors that afflict various parts of the world and different sorts of people differently, has resulted in some people wanting one child, while others, having several, and for different, partially incorrect reasons. Some tribes (another problem, as I'll mention later, is the coherency of the idea of the 'tribe), such as the People's Republic of China, has collectively decided the best way to perpetuate their tribal existence is through limiting the amount of offspring any given mating couple could have (the former one child policy, now two child policy). Some tribes have their alpha members recognise problems of their tribal perpetuation's method - India and its' highest level of politicians recognising the problem that is their uncontrollable population.
I believe the reason nihilists and antinatalists often seem so unhealthy and are susceptible to a change of mind is because they have not truly extinguished their tribal warrior spirit or their organismic incentive to spread genes. I want to purge these primordial feelings out of me
The problem that arises is firstly, the coherency of the idea of a tribe. The proverbial 'tribe' that psychologists so often use consists of an easily identifiable group of people with the easily discernible mutual interest of their perpetuation. The 'modern' tribe is up to the tribesman's interpretation - some consider 'nations' their tribes, some don't extend tribal status beyond their family, some are in a venn diagram of many tribes of varying precedents in priority. The problem I see with some tribal identifications is that they're patently wrong and the 'tribesmen' themselves know it, which in turn causes cognitive dissonance and inhibition from performing properly in society. Such examples of misdesignations can include excessive dogma towards a certain political ideology (notice how all diehard anarcho-capitalists are never actually financially successful), towards an ethnic group (whites; for example
>>8285295
- there is no 'white' tribe because there are many competing political (tribal) factions that are white, and it is also historically so. There is no 'white' tribal leader. Some white 'tribesmen' see others as the nemesis - white Americans and white Russians. The other problem is all of these people all have different associations and different ideas - varying to such extreme extents 'micro-tribes' are found as to how issues should be addressed. The English and Scottish loathed each other only a few hundred years ago; some would not be able to comprehend the fact their tribes 'merged (federalised)'). Modern allies that are seemingly tied by cultural heritage were heads against each other not so long ago. The idea of a 'Chinese' state only came when too many opposing tribes came in - before, the idea of 'China' was just 'all that was under heaven', and China would fall into many tribes - kingdoms with people that had no scruples about murdering, raping and torturing that of other kingdoms; yet now most provinces want to 'make China great again' - but what if China dissolves into something larger, or balkanises into many tribes in future? Is it biologically coherent for a Chinese man to think that he is 'perpetuating his tribe' if his descendants will be in many tribes that are varying from one another and have no relation to the idea that is 'China'?
Also, I'm not making this post because I hate children or hate nationalism or whatever. Quite frankly the opposite. I both love (and want) children, and I'm nationalist and an ethnonationalist, but I realise the incoherency and redundancy ultimately of all these inclinations and partisanships
>>8285295
Kys
Or go to a Buddhist temple.
>>8285295
I would die if the person in that picture was a guy.
Why would anyone take advice from s.o. who killed himself seriously? Isn't that pretty much the definition of failure at life?
>definition of failure at life
>life
life means nothing in long run, most people with """"full"""" and """"successful""" lives dont write masterpieces and they are soon forgotten even by their own children, while authors eternal fame lasts forever and ever
Everyone dies so I guess everyone fails at life. Suicides just control when and where.
Killing oneself is the ultimate form of book promotion.
What do you think of the series Forgotten Books?
I've seen their books of amazon but I never bought any. It looks like they also make them available for download on their website.
Actually looks pretty interesting. Makes you wonder why they are forgotten.
>>8284920
It's probably because they suck.
>>8284920
Most old books are forgotten.
My favourite:
>Thus, as 'Morgoth', when Melkor was confronted by the existence of other inhabitants of Arda, with other wills and intelligences, he was enraged by the mere fact of their existence, and his only notion of dealing with them was by physical force, or the fear of it. His sole ultimate object was their destruction. Elves, and still more Men, he despised because of their 'weakness': that is their lack of physical force, or power over 'matter'; but he was also afraid of them. He was aware, at any rate originally when still capable of rational thought, that he could not 'annihilate' them: that is, destroy their being; but their physical 'life', and incarnate form became increasingly to his mind the only thing that was worth considering. Or he became so far advanced in Lying that he lied even to himself, and pretended that he could destroy them and rid Arda of them altogether. Hence his endeavour always to break wills and subordinate them to or absorb them into his own will and being, before destroying their bodies. This was sheer nihilism, and negation its one ultimate object: Morgoth would no doubt, if he had been victorious, have ultimately destroyed even his own 'creatures', such as the Orcs, when they had served his sole purpose in using them: the destruction of Elves and Men. Melkor's final impotence and despair lay in this: that whereas the Valar (and in their degree Elves and Men) could still love 'Arda Marred', that is Arda with a Melkor-ingredient, and could still heal this or that hurt, or produce from its very marring, from its state as it was, things beautiful and lovely, Melkor could do nothing with Arda, which was not from his own mind and was interwoven with the work and thoughts of others: even left alone he could only have gone raging on till all was levelled again into a formless chaos. And yet even so he would have been defeated, because it would still have 'existed', independent of his own mind, and a world in potential.
1/2
2/2
>Sauron had never reached this stage of nihilistic madness. He did not object to the existence of the world, so long as he could do what he liked with it. He still had the relics of positive purposes, that descended from the good of the nature in which he began: it had been his virtue (and therefore also the cause of his fall, and of his relapse) that he loved order and coordination, and disliked all confusion and wasteful friction. (It was the apparent will and power of Melkor to effect his designs quickly and masterfully that had first attracted Sauron to him.) Sauron had, in fact, been very like Saruman, and so still understood him quickly and could guess what he would be likely to think and do, even without the aid of palantiri or of spies; whereas Gandalf eluded and puzzled him. But like all minds of this cast, Sauron's love (originally) or (later) mere understanding of other individual intelligences was correspondingly weaker; and though the only real good in, or rational motive for, all this ordering and planning and organization was the good of all inhabitants of Arda (even admitting Sauron's right to be their supreme lord), his 'plans', the idea coming from his own isolated mind, became the sole object of his will, and an end, the End, in itself.
Faramir and Samwise have the best quotes.
>And Morgoth came.
ITT: we post the HONEST list of our top 10 favorite books. (so don't include obscure russian writers just because you think it makes you look smart, it doesn't).
Here's my top 10 in no particular order:
1. Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince - J.K.Rowling
2. Stoner - John Williams
3. The Black Company - Glenn Cook
4. Assassin's Apprentice (the whole trilogy) - Robin Hobb
5. Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
6. Game of Thrones - G.R.R.M
7. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban - J.K.Rowling
8. The End of Faith - Sam Harris
9. Malazan Book of the Fallen - Steven Erikson
10. The Old Man and the Sea - Ernest Hemingway
Nice bait.
>>8284173
Why is this bait? This is my honest top 10 books, i.e the top 10 books I enjoyed reading the most.
I don't fucking know
Also the problem with these lists is that it assumes the standpoint of the novel; most of my favourite writers are lyric poets who don't have a "book" to read per-se.
If you are looking for contemporary, Christian, literary fiction, look no further. This book was written by an academic scholar of the Medieval, and takes place in Medieval Russia (among other times). The author is right up there with McCarthy, Gass and Krasznahorkai.
It was written in 2013, but only translated in 2015. The book uses Church Slavonic for quotes of the Bible and Liturgy, and to convey that, the English translation uses Middle English (which standardized middle English spelling, as you see with contemporary editions of Chaucer in Middle English) for Church Slavonic passages.
This is truly a beautiful book, here is from a review by the American Conservative
>What kind of novel makes you want to enter into contemplative prayer after reading from its pages? I’ve never heard of one. But Laurus is that kind of novel. It induces an awareness of the radical enchantment of the world, and of the grandeur of the soul’s journey through this life toward God. It is so strange and mystical and … well, to call a novel “holy” is too much, but Laurus conjures on every page an awareness of holiness that is without precedence in my experience as a reader. Holiness illuminates this novel like an icon lamp.
>By saying that, I fear that I will make the novel sound pious and devotional. It very much is not. This is an earthy novel, filled with the sounds, smells, violence, superstition, and fanaticism of the Middle Ages. The achievement of Vodolazkin, who is a medieval historian by vocation, is to make this faraway world come vividly to life, and to saturate it with mystical Orthodox Christianity, such that even the leaves of the trees are enchanted. Most Americans who read Laurus will take it as a work with a strong current of magical realism; the handful of us American readers who worship in the Eastern Christian tradition will recognize it as simply Orthodoxy, where the border between wonder-working and everyday life is porous.
I don't want to spoil the book for those who haven't read it, I'll only say it is the journey of a man from a grave sinner to becoming holy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XP0J2eDPIjU
Prose sample
>>8283524
>up there with YeCarthy
Go suck on a pirozhok, tovarish.
>>8283538
I'm not Russian