Archived threads in /lit/ - Literature - 4387. page

read all three of those, while reading the canon.

reading pomo without a good grounding in the classics is a rookie mistake

>>7680882

I didn't write it down but, yes, I do have a solid grounding in the classics: from Homer to Guimarães Rosa I have covered a great deal of works.

The question is I'm brazilian and, besides the complexity of the plot or the massive number of names to keep track of, I find it sometimes difficult to keep the reading act fluid as, even with a dictionary by my side, there is a ton of words I've never seen before and the syntax is upside down, forcing me to reread sentences quite often. That's why I've enjoyed TCoL49: it's dirty short and, after reading GR's first thirty pages, pretty straightforward and, dare I say, "simple". I'm, now, after a lighter but still postmodernist read, something between challenging and not so overwhelming. Something like the books I've posted and, trust me, I'd love to buy them all but my monthly bux are shortned by other purchases and I must chose only one. That's my issue.

Thanks for your reply nonetheless, Anon.

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I get where you're coming from, but the best advice I can give you is just not to see "Postmodernism" as a single entity to tackle.

Invisible Cities could not be a less similar book to Gravity's Rainbow or The Recognitions. "Postmodernism" means very little outside of an academic viewpoint.

Read what you'd like, and don't lead broad terms like Modernism and Postmodernism guide you. Some movements, many of the early European modernist movements, many that were consciously 'movements' are more closely related.

But "Postmodernism" is mostly a term retroactively applied to works. I don't think I've ever read a (good) author saying they set out to write something "Postmodern". People like DeLillo who are so often labeled "Postmodern" claim it doesn't even mean anything. In my view, "Postmodernism" seems to surface in all sorts of cultural thought and literature today. In many ways 'Family Guy' is a distillation of Postmodernism, but you're not going to watch that to prepare for reading John Barth. The whole thing is just silly at this point.

Whether or not to read Gravity's Rainbow is a separate issue. It's a tough book, but not because of how "pomo" it is. Because it is a dense historical satire with cryptic use of symbolism and lofty questions. But if you want to prepare for it, you'd be better off reading up on political and philosophical views of War and the military industrial complex - reading Paul Auster's metafictional detective stories will be every bit as useless to reading Gravity's Rainbow as watching 10 seasons of South Park because it's "pomo".

Literature lovers and professors are just going to think you're an asshole if you keep dropping that 'p' word too - so learn to quit it sooner rather than later.

Happy reading !

>>7680858
>>never know if what you're writing is good or shit
Everyone who reads it will.

>>7680858
>it's only a 3 minute song

Only if you listen to genre music.

>>7680858

>working this hard for a milquetoast bait

lol

Don't bother trying, I'm not sure if it's possible without insane willpower.
It's easier to feign it by blocking yourself off from other people. Nobody can tell you you're a self absorbed prick asshole if nobody is around you, and you can more easily ignore your own glaring personality problems.

Electroconvulsive therapy + heavy doses of LSD and a lobotomy if possible

>>7680843
It's not shameful nor egotistical. It's merely a natural projection of yourself onto the work. It's unavoidable as long as you associate yourself with your own thoughts, as most people do. Does it make sense that a different voice would dictate philosophy to you?
Even when someone else is speaking, it's your interpretation of what they say, you can't receive their message purely. In the end you're receiving the message through yourself, even though it came from another source. This is along with your perception of where that person stands in comparison to you (seeing them as wiser, for example).

Get to a quiet place, pace around, get some water. Then read slowly and let every word flow, dont try to "analyze" it as you read.

>>7680851
This. Be happy with your one book a month ratio.

>>7680835
I usually just lay on bed, grab the book and start reading.
I don't try to clear my mind or something.

Sorry for bad english tho, not my native language.

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>>7680820
tfw megill is a sharper mind than pleb whitey

>>7680818
Become and aristocrat and acquire a lot of free time to do the things you love, like reading.
I'm not kidding. As long as you're a wage salve you wont have the time nor the energy to focus to read.

>>7680818
caffeine

>>7680818
Take an hour nap, you idiot

>>7680804
>The Knife Man:
magnet:?xt=urn:btih:90ed158096bd147debee21b5855e4c6e6a299cfc&dn=The%20Knife%20Man%20%282382%29

Medschool anon?

>>7680819

Could you give me a quick guide how to use this to download with utorrent?

And no, i applied this year, but my undergrad department had a dissection course so i am very lucky to get into that one.

>>7680819
nvm i figured it out so please seed.

Could you tell me where you found it? i spent almost 3 weeks trying to find it.

>>7680794

The joke is that they're all aimless pretentious assholes and them praising Sion is just another example of that.

>>7680794
Wow you're retarded.

What's going on in this thread?

>>7680753
Sherlock Holmes.

>>7680753
Crime and Punishment desu

Misery- Stephen King

>Read in the shallow end of the pool
>know the dangers but so cool and nice, and im tall enough that I can kneel on the bottom whilst doing this
>Sometimes on concrete sometimes just crabwalking around
>Never drop any of my books
>first library book I do this with, it just slips through my fingers

>glance at the bottom of a page, spoiling myself in advance

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>sneeze
>little droplets land in the book

>>7680677
All delusion

>>7680677
Very plausible, almost certain imo. Psychologically speaking, Lolita had no father figure growing up and it stands to reason that a sudden male influence in her life would be very attractive to a young girl.

At the same time, the extent to which Lolita actually liked Humbert was undoubtedly exaggerated.

>>7680677
I just finished reading it for the first time and thought it was amazing.

As for your question, no, Lolita was never in love with Humbert. At first, yeah, she had a slight crush, like all little girls have once, but she never loved him, neither as a father nor as a lover, and I'm pretty sure that ever since she found out about her mother she hated him.
Humbert was just so self-centered and deluded by crazy ass love that he couldn't realize he was making life hell for that child.

I loved the prose so much even though I couldn't appreciate it completely since there were a lot of weird words (English not being my native tongue), but I'll surely read it again once my English gets better.

I wanna read Pale Fire next, I want more Nabokov. Is it harder in terms of prose?

Start with Romantics like Wordsworth and Keats. Any selection will do, but Oxford generally have good selections. Realise the importance of sound in poetry, the beauty of the words.

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>>7680588
http://4chanlit.wikia.com/wiki/Poetry

and
>>7680597
>Start with Romantics like Wordsworth and Keats
don't do this

>>7680588
start with whoever pleases your ear. try Yeats.

>>7680554
I genuinely enjoyed that, thank you op

Not bad.

Does anyone have that copy pasta about all the shit Freddy had to endure in his day to day?

>>7680489
Americuck detected, go to New Zealand and Denmark, or better yet post literature.

read the good soldier svejk

>>7680455
Read it when I young. It was chuckley.

Gogol can be hilarious, but his subject matter isn't exactly comfy.

In the city where I live, theaters have some great comedies. Maybe you could try that out?