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Hello, /lit/. I have a couple questions for you. I hope you find them interesting.
1) Do you think there's a problem with an author writing a novel about a culture completely separate from their own? For example, a USA author that aims to write a great piece of literature about South Korea, or a French author that aims to write a great piece of literature about India? Do you think there's something fundamentally wrong when authors write about cultures that aren't there own?
2) I went to my local bookstore, and all the books on how to write creatively were geared, as far as I could see, toward generating genre fiction. There's nothing wrong with that, really. But where are the tips and tricks about writing great literature? Perhaps writing good literature cannot be taught, or it's too elusive to distill down into a set of guidelines. What are your thoughts on this?
Thank you in advance.
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>>9143152
Oh wow, are you trying to trigger /lit/ to death
>writing about other's cultures
that's cuck!!!
>that aren't there own?
LOL YOU SPELLED WRONG
>genre fiction
>nothing wrong with that
WOW, you are IDIOTjust bumping the thread for you
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1) No. Melville did it, de Tocqueville did it, Matthiessen did it, Jack London did it, etc. The only thing is that it will always be the case that the work will be seen as an outsider's perspective into a culture that is foreign to them.
2) Just learn how to write. Great literature comes from a combination of the idea and the ability to write well (which is unmistakably a technical skill and not a solely artistic one).
In my humble opinion
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>>9143152
on point two, i feel like constantly reading works of literature you admire + aspire to write, and then emulating and studying their style and content and tone with regards to improving your own, is the slowest and only effective path
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>>9143261
>Melville did it.
Uh where? Typee & Omoo?
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>>9143847
Yes.
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1: Can't imagine why there'd be anything wrong with it. If it's well written, makes an interesting point or has something else that justifies its existence then that's reason enough for it to not be 'fundamentally wrong'.
2: >>9143261 said it pretty much.
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>>9143152
This is the 21st century. there are no cultures anymore, only ZOG.
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>>9144022
Please tell me this isn't real
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>>9144050
Post Soviet KFC is the best/worst aesthetic
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1. No, because I don't like where that logic leads and what defines a "completely separate culture" is a line that is hard to draw. For example, a conservative author from Montana writing about life in San Francisco. The geographical distance between the two states is as much as between two countries, for example Great Britain and Finland or Japan and Russia. One might even say the most recent election cycle proved that the cultural difference is as great as between two countries. That's but one example.
I think that if one does their research and treats the culture respectfully, there should not be an issue.
2. Read about the routines of great authors, and books by great authors about writing. My brain is failing me right now, but some smart googling will get you there.
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>>9143152
>
1) Do you think there's a problem with an author writing a novel about a culture completely separate from their own? For example, a USA author that aims to write a great piece of literature about South Korea, or a French author that aims to write a great piece of literature about India? Do you think there's something fundamentally wrong when authors write about cultures that aren't there own?
Hmm, Do you mean travel or cultural writing ? Then obviously, an outside observer can sometimes bring honest insights. You can also easily use differnt countries as locations. However, I don't think that you cant simply pick up the local essence and artficially recreate it without actually spending time and even if you did it would be kind of a cheap forgery. If you want to write a fictional stroy in and use a foreign setting, make sure to use it as mere background and nothing more. I personally just prefer to use fictional settings where I can control everything.
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>>9143152
1. It is only a problem if they are cis straight white men. Cis straight white men need to be eliminated so that women and minorities can live in a harmonious social utopia.
2. Are you implying there is a distinction between genre fiction and "great literature"? As a POC womxn who only reads queer marxist fantasy novels I am triggered.
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>>9143152
In Australia it's illegal for anyone but Aboriginals to write from an Aboriginal perspective.
It's racist.
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>>9143152
>that aren't there [sic] own
Pedantry aside, what did you mean by this? People writing about cultures separate from the ones they grew up in? Or cultures an author has never experienced?
Frankly, if the author is proficient and empathetic (in the strict sense of the word), then there shouldn't be anything to worry about. Look at Bolano and 2666--the Chilean turned Spanish author goes from European to Mexican to American to 1940s German cultures/mindsets in the span of a single novel, and each are given equal deference, each equally critiqued. It's not a problem if the author finds something good in the pursuit
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