Post your bookshelves, I guess.
Sorry if this is too meta a discussion for /lit/, I don't come here very often.
I have recently started a small collection of books, always used my kindle before that.
To support myself while I study I took a job in a distribution centre for a number of charity shops, and one of the perks is that I can keep any interesting books that people donate, so I'm quickly building a collection.
Is there any good way to arrange them?
>time flies by bill cosby
patrician
i started crying when he talks about his son beating him in a race
what's on the bottom shelf? what are you hiding?
It's pretty obvious you are just collecting books for your shelf and not to actually ready them.
I don't get it? What's supposed to be so difficult about this book? Everyone says it's impossible to follow, but it clearly slaps you in the face with clues to what's going on. I thought it was a great piece of literature, but I fail to see how it's THAT challenging.
Am I missing something?
>>8104353
No, it's pretty easy. Especially since it's pretty short. It's just like the Infinite Jest or Moby Dick is difficult meme. People just say that because that was the only book they've read besides YA trash, they're retarded, or they want people to give them credit for reading "le difficult book!" To be completel honest, there aren't many books that are difficult to read. Literature overall doesn't compare in difficulty to hard science like physics. It simply doesn't require the same amount of thought, I'm sorry to say. I mean people will say "No! it's just a DIFFERENT type of thinking!" and yes it is, but this different type of thinking is a lot less involved and ends up requiring a lot less intellectual intensity. And I'm not saying that lit is inferior to science or anything. Literature is about humanity, and is able to capture emotions and to depict humanity in a beautiful, profound, and important way. Literature is more sublime than science, but please don't tell me it's just as intellectually stimulating.
>>8104353
No clue, but I'll cop it tomorrow based on your recs. Do I read sound of fury or as i lay dying first?
>>8104376
Either is good to start actually. Just read SatF, it's better.
Any Russian lit aficionados here?
What are /lit/'s thoughts about Pelevin, Tolstaya, Sorokin ,Olga Slavnikova, Lyudmila Ulitskaya.
It seems to me that a fascinating mix of strange authors came about after the Glasnost era that combine "weird fiction" with the old Russian novel. I know Sorokin is well received in the West , and for a good reason too, his books are amazing. I haven't read Pelevin yet, but he seems to be the Russian version of Pynchon.
That quote is very true
>>8104291
>That quote is very true
if that is the case, then all philosophical categories and intuitions are built in the human conscience, which may be incapable of talking about them, but able to live through them?
>>8104308
Yea. The experiences were there long before the terms ever existed.
Which parts should I edit?
Does anyone have any input that can help me? I'm doing this to the song slippin by dmx
Blank expressions behind a smile
More resent held when nigguhs tryna style
I keep my hopes up but is it worthwhile
Tears run long like the river nile
I deal with problems head on no time to face denial
Another lone soul in the jungle of the wild
They tryna take me for a ride but fuck a curisile
Yes I walk with God but do we walk miles
I'm tripping I'm stallin I gotta come up
Keep flippin ballin I can't give up
Money and my soul is what I can't give up
To my own standards I try to live up
Liquor stay invading my liver
Life always got something new to deliver
Another knife in your back
Another arrow pulled from the quiver
Is how I feel nowadays so who can I serve up for dinner
Where I’m from there rarely comes a winner
The heat I brung made dudes wish for winter
We ain’t the same killa
I’m from a different cloth
Im mixed wit different broths
I’m in with different broads
I vote democrat yet I rarely follow laws
That shit just not for us
>>8104260
Thanks for once again confirming that hip hop is a disgrace to both literature and music. My advice is to stop listening to the laziest and least creative genre in pop music history and fuck off back to your containment board
>>8104287
-Trump supporter
Would appreciate constructive feedback
>>8104260
>durrr ooh ooh aah aah monkey noises
>>>/trash/
fuck off back to africa and take your boo wop doo wop deebie deebie skeebie deebie shit with you. You are shit encrusted asshole of Western civilization.
In todays society, it is considered a legitimate critique to criticize a writers upbringing. Usually these authors are upper class, white, and "privileged" if you will.
This is a result of multiculturism. The mindset at the moment is to encourage outsider voices from the under represented in society.
But haven't most writers throughout history in any given age been the product of an upperclass upbringing? Can wealth really be a valid critique of a persons work if most revered works in the western cannon been from "privileged" writers?
Also, doesn't history prove to us that, even if a writer comes from poverty, that they're works will be accepted by the academic community anyway?
In short, should wealth be really be considered a valid critique of a writers work?
>>8104074
bump
>>8104074
>In short, should wealth be really be considered a valid critique of a writers work?
no
should it be an important consideration for the context of their work when discussing it
yes
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Authenticity_in_art
It's not a matter solely of upbringing ("You are rich, therefore your art has no worth/greater worth"), it's a matter of how that upbringing relates to the work of art. Can we as a society trust a rich white man from Manhattan to write artfully and truthfully about a ghetto black from Chicago? If we can trust them to do it, then should we even allow/encourage them, since that kind of encouragement could just as easily be spent on actual ghetto black writers? If the aim is to encourage outsider voices, how can you justify the perspective of the rich white man in this case?
And you're right, historically writers have not been judged by their origins but by their work alone. But in today's world, could you take a Rockefeller writing fiction about ghetto thugs seriously? Only if it was artfully written, you'd say. But then your concern is not with "the truth" or "authenticity" but with "beauty" and "artfulness." You can see how either side will justify itself.
>got into lit. because I was lonely
>discovered my interest in art history, philosophy, classicism, modernity, cultural studies, rhetoric and poetry
>feel infinitely more lonesome from seeing how illiterate everyone in my life and community is
I've realized the only solution is to begin applying to ivy-league schools as a hail-mary applicant and begin a blog writing articles on these subjects to solidify my comprehension of the material plus some responses to sensational articles published in related disciplines to manifest into material a portfolio to show for all my intellectual endeavor.
Anyone else having similar experiences?
If you do that, keep in mind you probably suck ass way more than you realize. You're gonna be missing all these little "tells" that show you're a Real University Guy. Get someone in the know, on the inside, to vet your applications and anything you write. Also read a lot more than they do.
my only friends are dead authors but thats not because I'm smarter than everyone around me and no one is interested in reading what I like rather it's a quirk or defect in my own personality. It's easy to form connections and discuss common interests with people but to care for someone, to commit myself to loving a friend or a girl is something I'm not able to do.
>>8104024
I completely relate. I don't think it's a defect, I just feel we haven't yet met anyone that we sincerely believe can captivate our attention in the way that love suggests. I've had a lot of transitory friends and lovers. It's pretty common for young and intelligent people to be less stationary.
>>8104023
I have people for all of this. It's been well considered. I basically just want to convert my introverted proclivities into something extroverted. And, be it that writing jobs for undergraduate students are tantamount to slave labor, this allows me to keep my day job and develop my skill-set while studying things I find fascinating without the commitment of additional coursework or financial investment. I don't "suck ass" at writing either.
I really struggle to follow whats going on unless its Keats. Every poem from Homer to Goethe I get completely lost or feel like i'm not experiencing their full potential.
What should I do lit? Is there some interpretative technique I should use? Do I "get gud"? Is it just about experiencing the prose and ideas the author is weaving and I should just relax? Should I just read more poems and get used to how they are written?
Pic related, not sure if its strictly a poem but its my personal final boss
>>8104007
You are inexperienced and also have low intelligence.
>>8104007
>their full potential
They don't have it. Poetry is literally shit.
how did the new Delillo book treat everyone
>>8103954
>reading trust fund baby bullshit
>>8103957
what other contemporary stuff is worth reading
this is for underworld. should I even read it?
Anyone else like this book, and Jean Genet? Only other thing I've read by him is Flowers of Evil. It's actually pretty hard to continuously read his work, as I find it takes a rather painful amount of concentration to stay with the thread.
Nevertheless, I also find it to be pretty ridiculously talented writing. I'm a complete heterosexual, but in Genet's writing I am able to really get a grasp of the pleasure of what it means to be homosexual, and to appreciate the bodies, forms, and sexuality of other men. Beyond that, his ideas, style, and elaborations seem extraordinarily sensuous and original. He has so much bravery in his writing, he delves into each idea, cracks it open, and really harvests it for all that it's worth.
Case in point: Querelle of Brest is basically a puff novel about a raging homosexual sailor murderer, and yet it manages to be so full of brilliant ideas and descriptive and imaginative flourishes.
I think I originally found out about Genet from an interview of Kerouac in Paris Review's Art of Fiction, and then I also saw him mentioned by Mailer. Shit can be painful to read, but would love to hear the comments of other people who have read him.
It's kind of hard for me to pinpoint what exactly makes me like it so much ... I think it really is mostly due to the way he shows so much fearlessness in just elaborating about weird, original shit in his own unique way, not necessarily amazing ideas, but just really giving a unique perspective on things. Glad to give examples if anybody's interested. If you hate Genet, glad to hear that as well ...
>>8103882
>I'm a complete heterosexual, but in Genet's writing I am able to really get a grasp of the pleasure of what it means to be homosexual, and to appreciate the bodies, forms, and sexuality of other men.
nigga u gay
>>8103887
Yeah, I saw that comment coming, but ... you have to seriously read it yourself to see what I'm talking about. It's not like I get a hard on when reading Genet, but he is so open towards his homosexuality, and he reveals it in such an original way, that it's impossible not to respect what's going on in those scenes. I mean, in QoB, there's a scene where Querelle gets rammed by Nono, this sort of weird stereotypical brothel owner, and it's the gayest fucking thing in the world, he shoots his load into Querelle's ass and then leans over to rest on his body; all while essentially not giving a fuck about what's going on and that being part of the reason why he is so very masculine and homosexually attractive in the first place ...
"Querelle faced about. He had not been able to catch sight of Norbert's prick. ... Norbert felt himself to be alone. With one finger he lightly, unemotionally, freed his cock from his short pants and held it for a moment, heavy and at full size, in the grip of his hand. He looked at his reflection in the glass opposite, and guessed it must be the twentieth time in this room that such a performance had taken place. He was strong. He was the master. Total silence reigned in the room. Norbert disengaged his balls, and for a second let go of his cock so that it flipped up against his belly with a smack; then, advancing calmly, he placed his hand over it as if he were hanging on to himself."
>>8103919
>actually being this gay
>disengaged his balls
>his cock flipped up against his belly with a smack
>actually being this gay
>actually reading this
Time to kill yourself anon.
>Total silence reigned in the room
Best translation?
>>8103879
>translation
>tfw you will never be a supportive boyfriend to Franz as he comes out of the closet to his father
>tfw you will never witness his Dad going berserk while Franz climbs under the living room crouch yelling "I'm just a cockroach, I roach for cocks, I'm just a cockroach, I roach for cocks" over and over
>>8103879
Why does he look Indian?
ITT: Characters who did nothing wrong
>>8103862
Pearl was best girl.
>>8103862
Obligatory
Why don't we have a sticky for recommended translations of major works? Seriously family, it'd be pretty useful.
>>8103762
I don't know, last time I was wondering this is when I asked about which translation of the Odyssey to read. So I decided Fitzgerald.
>>8103762
Everyone Else > Constance Garnett
>>8103769
Good arguments to be made here, almost none of them for Fitzgerald.
He's anachronistic with language to the point of obscurantism. More importantly, not only is is Lattimore the superior scholar, but also the superior poet -- he produced in his own right and was once seriously considered for the pulitzer.
Go with lattimore in the future
How to make a Deal with a publisher?
>>8103757
Submit a letter to an agent first.
>>8103757
If my ideas were very interesting, but my prose somewhat lacking, would an agent be interested in that?
as soon as they let you in their office hit your knees and reach for their cock
is this /lit/s version of kino?
>>8103700
We don't speak retard around here, kiddo.
>>8103700
If "kino" means "overlong and repetitive," then yes.
>>8103739
>overlong and repetitive
something that happened over the course of 100 years should be decently long.
K. learned what he was accused of, right?
>>8103689
He's dead.
Also I have that exact edition and it's probably my favorite cover art.
>>8103699
But he acts like he knows
Or at least that he knows he's not actually being persecuted for anything