File: pic0504-pynchon001.jpg (904KB, 2598x3943px) Image search:
[Google]
904KB, 2598x3943px
Can you help me understand Pynchon, /lit/?
I fully expect to be called a pleb and maybe that's valid. I'm hoping someone will decide to not call me a pleb and help me out.
I admit, I haven't read his stuff extensively. Part of that has to do with every time I start to get into it, I kind of just think, "hmm...maybe it's just not my thing." Then I often pick up something else and abandon him again. I know he's challenging, but I've found other writers challenging, too, and I've been able to fight through it because there is definitely something that makes me want to continue. With him, I just sort of abandon him until I do the same thing again, maybe a year later.
I also ask because he's constantly brought up in discussions of greatest living writers, while I hardly ever see his prose quoted or certain passages linked or scenes as examples of his greatness. I mean, there are many famous writers I haven't gone into extensively, but I know some of their more famous scenes, passages, or examples of their prose. With Pynchon, I don't really know any.
Can anyone help out? Maybe offer some examples of his prose or point me to particular scenes or passages to better understand his supposed greatness? Maybe there are great websites or videos out there or books with solid analysis or discussion of his work you can link me?
This really isn't a meme thread or a bait post. I'm making a genuine effort to understand better.
60 Posts / 6 Images
View this topic
>>
>>7403295
I'm interested in this, too, OP. Wish I could be of assistance.
>>
>>7403295
If it doesn't fascinate you don't read it. Go read something that fascinates you, you will grow more.
I think it is an exaggeration to say Pynchon is one of the greatest living writers, there are so many non American writers that are not usually discussed on this board that do more interesting things.
>>
>>7403471
I shouldn't have said, "greatest living writers," I meant, "greatest American living writers."
Your first point, I disagree. I'm not a child. Just reading something that fascinates me will not make me grow more. I understand this advice said to a child, who you're trying to develop an interest in reading, but this advice should not be given to an adult. I'm not a child. Telling someone not to learn about something they don't like is horrible philosophy. SJW philosophy.
I want to try and better understand what makes him so great to the people who do think he's great. Just because I don't get "it," yet, doesn't mean I can't ever get "it," and just because I don't get "it," yet, doesn't mean I shouldn't try.
File: reddit_in_a_nutshell.jpg (28KB, 599x176px) Image search:
[Google]
28KB, 599x176px
I fucking hate similes. I've never come across a simile that I couldn't imagine reading in an elementary school book report. Is there a worse literary device? No.
22 Posts / 1 Images
View this topic
>>
>>7403280
If there were no similes, encyclopedias and dictionaries would be the only books.
>>
>>7403305
But you can write a book without similes and it would not neccessarily be an encyclopedia. Metaphors are not similes and are way more likeable, although they don't fulfil the same purpose.
>>
>>7403661
Similes are necessary to have a coherent story. If everyone and everything was described solely as being it, instead of being similar to it, how would you know what is actually being talked about? There would be no line between metaphoric description and real description.
File: DSC_0095.jpg (663KB, 2048x1536px) Image search:
[Google]
663KB, 2048x1536px
Recent purchases thread
Abend mit goldrand is a first edition from 1975
12 Posts / 2 Images
View this topic
>>
Schmidt is garbage. Uberhack t.b.q.h f.a.m
>>
John E Woods is gonna have an english translation of zettel's traumt in a few years <3
that collection of Blake is based but it doesn't include any of his illustrations :(
>>
File: DSC_0096.jpg (565KB, 2048x1536px) Image search:
[Google]
565KB, 2048x1536px
>>7403249
Don't remember where, bu I remember reading that the translation is finished and just waiting to be published but I don't know how reliable that was
As for Blake, there are a few pages with illustrations but as you can see they're not that large or colored
File: 1448726604-20151128.png (186KB, 684x748px) Image search:
[Google]
186KB, 684x748px
Anyone who says there are no polymaths today doesn't read SMBC obviously
35 Posts / 5 Images
View this topic
>>
>>7403073
Not too awful bait, but ultimately not worthwhile.
>>
>>7403073
>not XKCD
>>
>>7403081I'm mostly serious.
What's like studying on a top 5 university, /lit/fags? How is the daily life? How much hours do you put into actual study?
As a student of a top university within a third world country (something like top 200 overall), I'm really curious.
Is there shit like these in your humanities department?
>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rEyjpBRae1I
>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-i66_24eJg
357 Posts / 33 Images
View this topic
>>
>>7403025
>Implying anyone on /lit/ is actually smart
>>
I am a student at McGill University in Montreal,Quebec. McGill is currently ranked number one in Canada and 25th in the world, It is said to be the Harvard of Canada. I have to say its pretty hard I study like all the fucking time. People here fucking love to drink and smoke weed. Also poutine is a dietary staple. I don't put in enough hours of studying
>>
>>7403040
lol.
>Canadian
>educated
pick one.
OP said top 5. Not top 25.
70 Posts / 36 Images
View this topic
File: GRRSFI[1].jpg (310KB, 357x576px) Image search:
[Google]
![GRRSFI[1].jpg](https://cdn.4archive.org/lit/image/1448/817/1448817388144.jpg "GRRSFI[1]")
310KB, 357x576px
Can someone explain to me why this series is considered so bad?
33 Posts / 6 Images
View this topic
>>
>>7402942
It's not inherently bad, bad. Just that the series is incredibly popular now due to the TV show so therefore that immediately means it must be shit, they are fun books but nothing special but I enjoy Martin's sci-fi more than his fantasy stuff.
>>
The more she drank, the more she shat
>>
>>7402942
It's overlong and the prose at times can feel like a parody of bad fantasy writing. Nevertheless, it's still an admirable enough achievement in the realm of the genre, and whether or not that makes it worth checking out is up to you.
do you enjoy smoking while you're reading?
if yes/no, and why.
13 Posts / 2 Images
View this topic
>>
yes
because i like smoking while doing anything because that's what smoking makes you do
>>
No, it's distracting.
>>
Nah cuz da shit I smoke so loud u can't hear wat u readin
/r/ing some good reading material to put on my android phone for when I'm going to be away from computers, libraries, bookstores, and the Internet for several weeks.
I'm not savvy about this--I guess PDFs would be best? Specific links would be great and fun, but if you merely direct me to a place that has lots of material, I'd appreciate that too.
My interests are very wide, so fiction and nonfiction would both be great.
13 Posts / 1 Images
View this topic
>>
epub is better, download Moon Reader.
>>
Cool, thanks, I just did. Do you just use it to read your own epubs or do you use the app's libraries?
>>
>>7402859
>/r/ing
Worst subreddit ever.
Why are you so opposed the idea of lyrics and raps being included under the umbrella of "Literature"?
13 Posts / 2 Images
View this topic
>>
>>7402827
I'm not. I don't care.
>>
>>7402827
I would say that they fall under the umbrella of poetry, which falls under the umbrella of literature. So I'm not really opposed to it at all. What gave you the impression that I was?
>>
SPREAD EAGLE CROSS THE BLOCK
SPREAD EAGLE CROSS THE BLOOOOOCK
I FUCK THE MUSIC
I MAKE IT CUM
I FUCK THE MUSIC WITH MY SURF AND TURF
File: All I want is to do my duty.jpg (143KB, 559x777px) Image search:
[Google]
143KB, 559x777px
Would it be okay for me to make threads on the different ethical theories that have shaped the world of philosophy over the years? Im trying to get that going on His but it aint happing :(
" This time on theories that are deontological i.e they basis the morality of an action on the inherent rightness or wrongness of an action.
>Murder is wrong because it is bad. can never justify it.
Talk about where it fails, where it succeed, better theories, is it even usable? The thread is open to any ethical theory btw." Is that allright to talk about or should I kill myself?
41 Posts / 1 Images
View this topic
>>
>>7402825
Do as you will. Expect shit-posting.
>>
>>7402829
Allright well, what do you think about deontological theories? Are they a better alternative to telogical theories (e.g Utilitarianism?)
>>
One thing I'll say about Kantian ethics is that it is held as much more extreme and untenable than it really is, and it is also much more 'flexible' than thought, because it demands the moral law and maximes to come from within. The categorical imperative does not tell you what to (not) do, it gives you a way of checking wether the rule you are following makes sense and is tenable.
File: Screen Shot 2015-11-29 at 10.26.14 AM.png (224KB, 257x400px) Image search:
[Google]
224KB, 257x400px
I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. I wanted to love this book so much. I tried so hard to get through it, I swear I did! But I'm on page 117 and I can't do it anymore. It's become such a burden.
It's the ramblings that make me hate it. There's so little action (is there even a plot?) and too much talking. And most of it's hot air. I don't care if the character is supposed to be talkative, noisy, and obnoxious. You can get those qualities across without spending 4 pages reciting their word-for-word spew about themselves.
Any possible mind-shattering point that the author might have had in this book was so far buried under grueling rants that I couldn't dig them up.
There are over 700 pages in this book. I made it about 1/7th of the way through (in about 6 months) before deciding I just couldn't take it anymore.
15 Posts / 1 Images
View this topic
>>
pleb
>>
>>7402673
hello?
>>
Just finished reading this and I need to talk about it.
What a ride!
This is best book I've ever read. Don't know why I didn't read it years ago since I've pretty much read almost all his major works. Maybe I was afraid to be let down... I feel so stupid now.
Anyway, many parts of this book blew me away, but first lets discuss why do you think K. was arrested?
24 Posts / 3 Images
View this topic
>>
>>7402629
>why do you think K. was arrested?
It says right at the beginning that it's because someone must have been telling lies about him.
>>
>why
Do you think the reason why he was arrested is important?
>>
is this new pasta or have i just never seen it? i wanna do one
File: IMG_20151129_155451.jpg (1MB, 1872x2525px) Image search:
[Google]
1MB, 1872x2525px
I paid 6€ for the three books. Does it worth?
13 Posts / 1 Images
View this topic
>>
not really. faulkner in translation is missing the entire point and there's legitimately no reason to read darwin at all.
the middle book is fine, dublineers is translatable, can' say about woolf.
>>
test
>>
No, m8. Why do you translation? I'm disappointed in you...
File: Raphael_School_of_Athens.jpg (2MB, 3697x2414px) Image search:
[Google]
2MB, 3697x2414px
Is "starting with the greeks" the actual best introduction to literature and philosophy or is it just a meme? I've been lurking here a while and in the context i've seen it used it always looked a little tongue-in-cheek.
13 Posts / 2 Images
View this topic
>>
>>7402574
Why don't you read them and find out?
>>
>>7402587
Asking here first is easier
>>
not the best introduction to literature
but if you're reading philosophy, the greeks kinda ask all the questions everyone else is trying to answer so they provide a whole lot of context.