Archived threads in /lit/ - Literature - 4174. page

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They are all the same, try any of them or none of them it doesn't matter either way. I have read some of This is It, some of The Book, and some of Become What You Are. I have never finished any of his books because they are all the same. He just restates his zen philosophy in a variety of different ways but when you get that he is pointing a finger toward the greater truth and that he actually cannot impart that truth directly to you, then there really is no point in finishing his book. He even admits this in his writing several times.

>>7791532
Thanks. I'll pick up his two most famous books The Way of Zen and This is it second hand to see if it holds any sort of value to me and if it's new from his lectures and essays.

>>7791540
No problem. Remember that Alan is only a guide. He is a good guide but he is still just a guide. He can't give you the answer. The nature of reality continues whether you are conscious of it our not. The end result of zen Buddhism is awareness.

>>7791460

To a Void

The ass who could also fly a plane very well

Go back to your sepulcher, Jean-Jacques.

>>7791416
But Rousseau was right about everything.

>>7791410

wow enlightening post OP I'll be over here cultivating my garden

Can I just die now instead?

>>7791367
50% chance of an afterlife are some good odds.
I'd have to choose immortality though. Then I could spaghettify myself flying into a black hole.

Once you have afterlife the concept of dying just doesn't make any sense. You're just extending your life--you continue to live, but in another dimension.

The odds too are unrealistic: after all, there's more reasons to think that there is no afterlife. And immortality as a concept only makes sense if the Universe too will expand indefinitely.

But given the choice, I'd go with the latter: I'd have all the time in the universe to do batshit crazy stuff ranging from the degenerate (sticking my member into anything that moves without worrying about the consequences) to theoretical (single-handedly advance physics and mathematics to the point where I invent the time-machine and teleportation, pioneer the ultimate theory of everything etcetera).

>>7791310

Meh.

>>7791314
I guess yeah, strictly speaking it's of little importance alone. Just another example of the fickle and volatile nature of the progressive crowd to add to the list.

literally don't care about either side

>>7791266

In order to write well, you must be well-read.

There is no other way.

Two good ones I always reccomend

John Gardner's Art of Fiction (read this first)
Lajos Egri's Art of Dramatic Writing (centered around plays but it applies to all stories)

From there its just practice and being well-read. Always challenge your current reading level and study everything around you, not just books, ex. people, plants, general environment, etc. Just like an artist would.

>>7791281
Well, I'm working on that one.
>>7791286
Thanks, I've read what Gardner could find online, but I'll check out Egri.

Know any good ways to practice? Do you just write, or is there a good way to get criticism? The crit threads here seem to be focused on very small exerpts.

>external light source
>casting shadows with your body
>can't read literally under the covers during the winter
>can't effortlessly switch between books
>can't effortlessly look up words

the only downside is you can't show off what you're reading

i bet they'll come up with something to change that though since it's literally the only downside

I've also used an e-reader for about 5 years, precisely because I can download books for free, but that doesn't make it better than reading an actual book. I always prefer to have the real copy if I can get my hands on it, either through the library or by borrowing it from parents.

all trolling aside, there's something restraining about actually holding the book. You don't get the same urge to look for something else.
E readers are to books what browsing youtube is to listening to a CD on a long car ride. With CDs you listen to every song in the full, because it's that or silence. Monastic.
to be honest, I think e readers are a mark of lack of control of the impulses, caracterised by a childish temperament and foul anal leaking.

I love that movie, didn't even know it was a book. Feels pleb

>>7791204
Somewhere comfortable where it's not too loud so you won't get distracted reading.

The Eddas, Voluspa or any number of sagas

>The Penguin Book of Norse Myths: Gods of the Vikings
is a good introduction.

> Prose Edda
is the most accessible of the original sources

>From Asgard to Valhalla: The Remarkable History of the Norse Myths
is a good overview of the impact of Norse myths on Western culture

http://sonic.net/~rteeter/grtbloom.html

>>7791208
Thats exactly what Im looking for, many thanks!

>>7791208
this is really beautiful. Thanks a ton OP.

>>7791176
Other than BEE I never even heard of them, and I think he's a hack so if the rest are anything like him they're shite too.

They're pretty good. Jay is better than brett

Anyone read Tammy?

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>>7791162
Make it about these epik dooobs.

>>7791166
Woahh

>>7791166
Nice doobs

Over the backyard fence,
Where wonder waited
To transform trees to warriors;
But as I grew taller,
The fence seemed smaller,
And no longer
Could wonder suffice.

We sang obscenities underneath
The up-turned sprinkler
In our summer fort,
Believing we were sinking
In some Great War.
But she told on us,
And requiem turned
To what is.

I waited to know, to feel
What was truly real
Between the Ads and fads
Which pulled at my strings and
Never settled to perfect tune
But who am I to presume
That I know more or better
Than any other begetter
For truth hides
In our sacred lies.

1. It's about an Irish pilot
2. He believes he'll die while flying
3. He's fighting some kind of war, but isn't invested
4. He identifies more with people from his home parish (Kiltartan) than Ireland as a whole
5. He rejects nationalism thus; he stands with the poor and the neglected
6. He doesn't think the war matters to his folk
7. Yet he chose to become a pilot anyway because, YOLO
8. Life seems pointless to this intelligent, nihilistic young man

You may quote me.

lol define "literary value"

Has anyone ITT recommended a little something called My Twisted World yet?

Written by one of the most incendiary minds of the 21st century, its scintillating critique of contemporary womanhood has left a fist-shaped hole in the feminist movement.

http://www.altx.com/manifestos/avant.pop.manifesto.html