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Hello writing people.
I have a question for yall. I have to analyze some shit and it got me thinking: How do writers go about writing stuff? Do you have the idea and the meaning you want the piece to have before you start writing, or does whatever you're writing acquires meaning in the process of writing/after it's done.
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>>7847198
What shit do you have to analyze OP?
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>>7847216
Cat in The Rain by Hemingway.
I was gonna go about doing in in a particular way, but now that I'm thinking about it, it's not gonna work. But yeah, I got to a point where I was wondering what difference does it make if the idea was there before the text or it appeared after the text. And can there really be any meaning under the surface in the second case?
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>>7847198
It varies from author to author. Some people go for a mood, some people go for multiple meanings, etc, etc.
In all likelihood tho
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Death_of_the_Author
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Is this any good or should I watch the movie and save some time?
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reddit thinks its good
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>>7847115
Start reading it and if you don't like it 1/3 way through, drop it.
Or just read it all anyway, it's a short book.
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>>7847115
It's decent. Sorta entry-tier but not bad.
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wtf is up with James franco making all these shitty movies from classic books. what do you think about this? is he a pseud. I'm not taking this to the movie board. those guys are fags.
lol I actually have this book with with cover. it was $2 kek
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>>7847071
with this*
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He's probably going through that realization that many celebrities go through: that people don't see him as an artist, just an entertainer. This usually leads said celebrities to try more "serious" projects. I don't know why he thought As I Lay Dying would make a good film, though, lol.
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he probably has an interest in books like most of us here but books are hard to adapt into movies because a lot is missed out on and so all his movies seemed to be over dramatic in a "hollywood" kind of way in order to make them seem more exciting and they turn out bad.
Anonymous
The philosophy of Lovecraft 2016-03-24 18:52:04 Post No.7847056
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The philosophy of Lovecraft 2016-03-24 18:52:04 Post No.7847056
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The philosophy of Lovecraft
Anonymous
2016-03-24 18:52:04
Post No. 7847056
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In Thomas Ligotti's The Conspiracy Against the Human Race he writes: "Lovecraft is perhaps the most felicitous example of someone who knew ravishments that in another context would be deemed 'spiritual' or 'religious.' Yet from childhood, he was undeterred from a precocious atheistic materialism (or nihilism, pessimism, cosmic indifferentism)."
and
"Whereas Lovecraft was uninterested in the human race except for its scale in proportion to an indifferent universe full of monsters, Blatty has proven himself as someone who is 'involved with humanity' and sensitive to its suffering. To overlook this fact is to miss the point of his work. That he is dependent on religious salvation to justify human suffering cheapens his writing for the unfaithful as much as it should give it value for believers. Perhaps no one since John Milton has made such an attempt to excuse human misery in religious terms."
The opening bit from The Call of Cthulhu:
"The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents. We live on a placid island of ignorance in the midst of black seas of infinity, and it was not meant that we should voyage far. The sciences, each straining in its own direction, have hitherto harmed us little; but some day the piecing together of dissociated knowledge will open up such terrifying vistas of reality, and of our frightful position therein, that we shall either go mad from the revelation or flee from the deadly light into the peace and safety of a new dark age."
Does Lovecraft have any essays or interviews where he explicitly talks about cosmic indifferentism?
It seems a lot like basic nihilism, but I would still be very interested to hear Lovecraft's take on it. Nihilism is always interesting because everyone has a different way of reacting to it. I would be especially interested in Lovecraft's view of God(s) .
Some quotes I have almost gave me the impression that he believes in a God that has abandoned humanity. I think that is an interesting idea if he did mean it literally.
I know there is already a Lovecraft thread, but this is different.
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>>7847056
his essay on supernatural fiction?
the sentiment is obvious though if you've read his stories
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>>7847112
* he did not believe in a god at all, not even in the abandoned sense...
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>>7847112
>>7847152
>essay on supernatural fiction
Thanks, I found it here. I pretty much was able to gather a lot of the information for his stories, but sometimes it is nice to see the authors comments.
http://www.hplovecraft.com/writings/texts/essays/shil.aspx
>he did not believe in a god at all, not even in the abandoned sense...
Oh well. I was hoping for the other, but that definitely did seem the most likely answer.
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Is blood thicker than water?
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at what temperature?
Michael
Critique of Content - A Misguided Arbitration (Short Story) 2016-03-24 18:19:39 Post No.7846962
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Critique of Content - A Misguided Arbitration (Short Story) 2016-03-24 18:19:39 Post No.7846962
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Critique of Content - A Misguided Arbitration (Short Story)
Michael
2016-03-24 18:19:39
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So I previously posted my short story in the past for critique. I mostly got complaints about the grammar, etc. So I've gone back and edited my short story to the best of my abilities. I'm mostly looking at critiques for content, but grammar critiques are acceptable too, as long they're constructive.
Also this story is on Wattpad, which requires a login. It isn't anything too hard to sign up for but if it's a problem for you, I understand. Please refrain from complaining about it in the comments, you will be ignored.
Thank you and here's the link:
https://www.wattpad.com/230500684-a-misguided-arbitration
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what makes you think your story deserves its own thread?
moreover, why does it merit having a cover?
and jesus, you really expect me to create a wattpad account just to read your precious little story?
who the fuck do you think you are?
the arrogance is incredible.
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>>7846978
Who says I'm arrogant? I think you are mistaking professionalism with arrogance...
>>Back to the cheeto bag you go.
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>>7846987
>professionalism
>I previously posted my short story in the past
Keep it up, son.
I finished this 2 weeks ago and though I enjoyed it I don't understand the hoopla around it. To me it seemed like the book was about
1 deconstructing how people romanticize/catastrophize romantic feelings
2 mocking artsy people who do nothing but drink and smoke weed
3 pointing out how cruel people can be towards one another i.e. humans as inanimate objects
what are your thoughts on the book and is it pynchon's best?
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>>7846902
It's more-so about the animate vs the inanimate.
Think of the different incarnations of V. and of the machine that speaks to Benny, I forget the name of it.
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>>7846902
Of Pynchon's big 4 (V., Gravity's Rainbow, Mason & Dixon, Lot 49) I would put it only behind GR, and its actually close between the two.
I know the term gets thrown around too much, but this truly is a 'sprawling' novel- set in places from New York to Africa to Europe to Egypt. It's crazy imaginative and its bizarreness got us all amped about what would be one of the most promising literary careers of our time.
V. is funny. It's a detective story about obsession, and as you pointed out the inanimate. But more than anything it's a fun fucking ride. I plan on rereading it soon
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>>7847203
>V. better than Son & Xon
anon pls
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MFW reading Proust on iPad Kindle is only sane way of reading Proust.
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>>7846892
Im sure it is exactly the Way he intended it to be read
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I read the first book on my phone and on my computer, just the way books should be read in the 21th century...
y dont you join the 21th century loser
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>>7846892
You should have moved on from reading it to summarizing it.
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I'm on page 157. I haven't picked it up in 3 months. I remember vague details of what I read so far. Should I start over or continue? If I start over, I doubt I'll ever finish it.
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>>7846806
>he fell for the meme
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>>7846806
Skim what you've read so far; give it an hour or maybe two.
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Try putting it down and coming back to it later. Maybe read something else.
I recommend The Infinite Jest by DFW
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Where do you get your steaming hot cups of ideology?
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>>7846740
the trashcan
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>>7846740
From my corporate sponsors
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>>7846740
Fukuyama and Huntington.Sometimes Jared Diamond
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AYYYYYYY /lit/, should I buy this book?
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>>7846710
You develop your own sense of taste and wean yourself off the teat of /lit/'s approval unless you want to DFW and Blood Meridian for the rest of your natural life.
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>>7846723
I just want to know if I'm about to buy figurative shit or not.
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Btw, the alternative is the trial by kafka.
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What's the best chapter?
My suggestion: Chapter 30: The Pipe
Just half a page, yet is so full of imagery and philosophy that nothing else competes. It is so concise and dense in its development of Ahab.
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94: A squeeze of the hand
Dat fellowfeeling mmmmmm mmm
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The Funeral is great, but I haven't read MD recently enough to know for sure. I remember liking The Whiteness if the Whale too.
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>>7846719
of*
Anybody got good recs for soviet history?
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>>7846650
Pic related was very enjoyable. I have heard criticisms of "pop history" but peer review seems to treat it well.
Also, Gulag Archipelago.
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>>7846650
"purely" historical:
Stephen Kotkin "Stalin: Paradoxes of Power
Simon S. Montefiore "Court of the Red Tsar"
S.S. Montefiore "Young Stalin
The Kotkin is my favorite biography of Stalin, so thorough.
Historically-informed (infused?) fiction:
As the other anon mentioned, "Gulag Archipelago" (which i have not read) or indeed any other book by Alexander Solzhenitsyn, the ones i have read and can recommend are:
"Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovitch"
"Cancer Ward'
"The First Circle"
Although not a historical novel per se, Mikhail Bulgakov's "Master and Margaret' is definitely a soviet-era novel in theme and tone, although in a covert kind of way.
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look in your trash bin where all you leftists belong
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Hey guys I want to get into existentialist works. With who should I start with? Kierkegaard? Sartre? Heidegger Or? Im lost! Thanks!
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>>7846609
Existentialism is a Humanism.
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>>7846609
Start with the Greeks.
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>>7848157
not him, but how does one start with 'the greeks'?
could you refer me to a guide or something?
Which books will help me improve my grammar?
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Finnegan's Wake, desu.
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Oxford Dictionary
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Grammar for Nazis