I just finished Beckett's trilogy (Molloy; Malone Dies; The Unnamable). I think I have just read the single best portrayal of the mind, of the human, in the known world.
I've read a small portion of criticism when researching scenes/words while reading (unfortunately I didn't not have a reader or footnoted copy but the beauty of a smart phone came in handy). Can anyone point me into a direction of the current conversations about this book (no biographical/historical crit).
I want to know this too. I've flipped through countless collections of secondary material and have been left unfazed by all. Starting to get the impression that he's really done it -- that there really could be nothing of value for anyone to say about the text itself.
>>7646214
I read the first 40 pages of this and got bored.
>>7646436
Same
All books exist to convey some sort of idea, if nonfiction (philosophy etc) can convey a larger number of more complex ideas more clearly, then doesn't that make fiction intrinsically less valuable in most instances?
>>7645870
>All books exist to convey some sort of idea,
Not necessarily.
>if nonfiction (philosophy etc) can convey a larger number of more complex ideas more clearly,
Can it?
>then doesn't that make fiction intrinsically less valuable in most instances?
Define value.
>>7645870
>All books exist to convey some sort of idea
Not precise, the idea as a tool or the idea as a means
>more complex ideas more clearly
some times reading pure philosophy is not the easiest way to understand that point of view.
>intrinsically less valuable in most instances
Fiction is viewed as an exercise in aesthetics, in the same sense a painting should not be compared to a mathematical diagram. This is not an intrinsic property of artistic modes of expression. Since we are blinded by our whatever you want to call it, one form is not more "valuable" than the other.
>>7645870
you're completely disregarding the role of books as an entertainment medium and their ability to convey "more simple" emotions like joy and sadness.
this overeducated hack sullied war poetry forever with his "feel bad for us" nonsense
>>7644351
High quality thread, anon.
>>7644351
fuck off
What's a good classic literature magazine? Just something with articles relevant to literature from the 19th century back. I know there isnt a lot of new content, but I'm sure you know what I'm looking for. Any ideas?
You faggots must have some ideas.
I'd like to know this as well.
wow, i left this thread for dead. glad to hear someone else wants this too.
Greetings fellows!
Could you fine gentlemen give me a shortlist of the basic and most porminent historical philosophers and their works/best translations?
Im looking for a sortof encyclopedia of world philosophy, ideas, opinions, theories and thoughts. To gain general knowledge and broaden my outlook on life, see things from different perspectives etc.
Best regards, /k/.
Someone post the 11 philosophy charts. Those serve as a great jumping off point plus allow you the ability to branch out into the many given sub fields.
>>7645993
I would personally try to find local group in the area the are enthusiast and join them in the discussion.
at least I tend to learn far more through the active discussion I join in rather then just self reading which serve mainly more common ground in the discussion.
>>7646020
Bumping for this
Was this a bit of a let down for anyone else? I was expecting a bit more out of it.
Fuck off.
>>7645617
I just finished this book last week and I liked it. I really did. I just didn't find it as good as I'd like to find it.
>>7645629
I wasn't in the mood for it. You have to be in the right mood for these things.
I'm looking for the most fucked up books you know. I mean like, something that's eloquently written, not like reading a brutal goregrind lyric sheet. I mean like, something that's deep, that makes you ask yourself a lot of weird, disturbing questions. Something that makes you uncomfortable, but can also get a laugh out of you. Something brilliant. Something sexual, but not a porno, and no main female love interest, unless the love interest is homosexual, please. Thanks.
>>7644864
Painted bird
The rape of Nanking
Hogg
>>7644864
Blood Meridian
You sound edgy as fuck and you are reading for the wrong reasons sage.
>go to /r/books
>j.k.rowling releasing new info on Harry Potter
>terry pratchett
>"so many books, so little time" I read that now I can't choose a book how do I choose a book /r/books?
>Go Set A Watchman
Holy fuck I hate this planet.
>>7644791
What the hell are you talking about?
>>7644791
>go to /r/books
r/literature, r/badliterarystudies
Is there something base-level cringeworthy about getting into eastern spirituality?
Has anyone here read the Hagakure? How was it?
What makes eastern religion seem so superior to western religion? Is it just the inclination that people in the west are so drenched in consumerism and hyper-sexualisation?
Why do we assume that most eastern societies are any different?
>wastes his time reading about religion
>le noble eastern people
>le peace, love, and nature
>>7647479
That most people turn eastern spirituality in a product that has to be consumed, there was a essay (not sure if was zizek) on how eastern spirituality is perfect for the consumerist western because it strips him of all responsibility.
let me search for it.
/lit/ help a newbie out. I'm not able to come up with a decent motivation for the villain in my thriller novel. Since the motive of the villain is the main reveal kinda at the end, a weak motive makes it a weak story.
So the villain is basically evil masquerading as good. For many years he was a forest ranger after retiring from the army and tried to protect animals and stop poachers in a remote African country. However, at one point he just got fed up, stopped being good and started killing poachers and made it seem like animals were killing it in a sorta supernatural justice. This is the "reveal plot" mind you, the one that slowly unravels as you progress through the mystery, not the main plot.
>>7646713
Make him a liberal. They're truly frightening and mentally ill :D
Your villain is Ganondorf and Kurtz from Heart of Darkness
>>7646718
Holy shit, I've seen apocalypse now but never read this. I'll be back after I skim through this.
>You know, I don’t want to be offensive. But ‘Infinite Jest’ is just awful. It seems ridiculous to have to say it. He can’t think, he can’t write. There’s no discernible talent.
>But Stephen King is Cervantes compared with David Foster Wallace. We have no standards left. Wallace seems to have been a very sincere and troubled person, but that doesn’t mean I have to endure reading him. I even resented the use of the term from Shakespeare, when Hamlet calls the king’s jester Yorick, ‘a fellow of infinite jest.'
What did he mean by this?
Don't you know he changed his mind recently?
>I've been reading Infinite Jest all day, which has been totally enjoyable and I'm thinking about how easy it becomes to dehumanize the creator or fans of something extremely popular. I've done this, too. I made fun of Infinite Jest without even having read it. I'm sorry for that, and embarrased.
>When we make fun of Infinite Jest, we're ridiculing the enthusiasm people have for new sincerety. Have we nothing better to satirize? Yes, you can read no discernible talent into the writing, but tens of millions of people have also proven you don't HAVE to. Do we really believe that tens of millions of people who found themselves comforted and inspired by these stories are merely wrong? Isn't our disdain FAR more insincere than anything in the stories?
>Art that is entertaining and useful to people is a good thing to have in this world. And I'm grateful for it and celebrate it. So big ups to the Infinite Jest fandom, and to David Foster Wallace, who has been relentlessly attacked professionally and personally over Infinite Jest in ways that authors of bloated period pieces never are. I'm gonna go back to reading books now.
>>7646650
>big ups
What did he mean by this?
Sorry, but reading this book doesn't make you smarter.
urrrdurrr
>>7646528
hurrrrrrr urrrrrrr guurrrrrr
No but what you have to say about the book does reflect well on the reader
Is this guy right or is he a fool?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s0sspv5npis
His apparel answers.
>>7646076
>>7646040
I liked his book Catholicism
>Starting with the Greeks
which one of you cuckolds keeps pushing this meme?
Start with Shakespeare not some pagans in robes.
>memespeare
fucking anglos i swear
yeah def dont start with the people that shakespeare borrowed all the ideas for his plays from
>>7645551
Shakespeare got (stole really) all of his plays from French playwrights and poems. He probably couldn't even read Greek or Latin.
Sorry for the pleb opinion, but I was wondering if you could help me find some books. I've been getting into military science fiction recently after reading Starship Troopers and The Forever War. I was wondering if there was any modern books that deal with themes from the US war in the middle east?
Not middle east but WW1, but you might want to check out Ernst Junger's Memoir "Storm of Steel"
>A memoir of astonishing power, savagery, and ashen lyricism,Storm of Steelilluminates not only the horrors but also the fascination of total war, seen through the eyes of an ordinary German soldier. Young, tough, patriotic, but also disturbingly self-aware, Jünger exulted in the Great War, which he saw not just as a great national conflict but—more importantly—as a unique personal struggle. Leading raiding parties, defending trenches against murderous British incursions, simply enduring as shells tore his comrades apart, Jünger kept testing himself, braced for the death that will mark his failure.
>>7645549
Thanks. I just started Old Man's War in the hopes that it would be a little bit more modern. I want to see how many military science fiction books I can find that have themes from all of the different major wars.
The Iliad - Homer
The Peloponnesian War - Thucydides
Anabasis - Xenophon
Anabasis of Alexander - Arrian
The Gallic War - Julius Caesar