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Is it normal, or common, to simply not understand some authors/books?
I really enjoy Russian literature, it's profound, touching yet incredibly easy to read and comprehend, requiring no constant meditation about every phrase that was just read. Gogol, for instance, is my equivalent of a movie or a video-game, since even when I'm thinking about something entirely different while reading I still comprehend it perfectly. However, most books don't work like that for me. In Swann's Way, for instance, I have to constantly reread phrase after phrase because I didn't understand, or if an expression sounds out of context. But I can manage it. But with some books - such as The Divine Comedy - there are some parts I simply don't understand, even after reading it dozens of times. Goethe's Faust wasn't as hard, but even when I paid attention closely to every expression, I'd lose some bits, like the part where he murders Margarita's brother. I only realized that ACTS after.
And I simply can't understand Kant. Four pages into Critique of Pure Reason, and I get lost in a major point because I have no idea of why he used a word that ruined the whole context and was completely unnecessary. After that I didn't understand anything at all, probably due to that sudden word.
Is this a common problem?
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start with the greeks
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>>9453434
This board has a glaring flaw in that it can not distinguish between wisdom and intelligent. What you say you are seeing in Russian literature is wisdom. But something such as The Divine Comedy is intelligent. The Russian literature is wise because it is basal; it's a real human experience beset with insights and guidance. You don't need a reference because you are the reference. Whereas Alighieri wrote intelligently because his text was based off another text considered to the One reference. So it doesn't focus on you, but the ideas and implications of life outside of your control. It's theoretical, riddled with allusions to other theoretical allusions all relying on the fact that you know them. And that is an intelligence. So yes while being keen to one over the other may imply you aren't intelligent, it's only within the realm of intelligence itself, if that makes sense. Because you are keen still on the Russian literature, and that means you are not unintelligent. Your 'intelligence' in one of an inherent nature. Which is to brings us back around to you being wise over intelligent. Again, not a negative thing. Can't stress that enough; today's day and age has destroyed the concept of intelligence.
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>>9453487
Lol.
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I have had similar experiences. I always assumed it was due to a bad translation, or maybe a lack of some cultural knowledge, since it only seems to happen when I try older works not written in English.
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Maybe it's just because you're more familiarized with russian literature. I'm sure that If you read some more 13th century italian shit you'd eventually feel like The divine comedy is as easy to read as Gogol or something.
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>>9453434
Yes its normal.
A lot of texts are very hard. Especially for people who haven't read enough background material. Reading becomes progressively easier as you age, as long as you're continually reading the right things.
If you don't understand something, read some background material---other primary texts, and secondary criticism, and history books for context,
Start with the greeks.
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Reading alone isn't enough, young man. Talk about what you read. Ask questions. Judge works against your own experiences. Invent a meme if you must and pay attention to how people react. Think.
No shit you don't understand the Commedia. Half the world doesn't because most of us don't have the style of education Dante had, or his religious vocation, and because it isn't the 14th century any longer. But you have resources to help you better grasp the material. Professor Bill Cook (just for example) published a series of courses for The Teaching Company on the book specifically. You can find lectures by him on YouTube. Can't follow the Aeneid allusions? Hit up your library. Keep in mind that Dante was closer to our time than he was to classical antiquity. The shit wasn't obvious to him either. Trust me, he had to fucking study.
Students will pay out the ass to learn the material for little remuneration in regards to inevitable student loans, but we get it for free. All it costs is time and energy investment. Nobody "simply doesn't get it". At least we're trying (or ought to be). Take it easy on Kant, okay? He's remembered for his ideas not his "prose". I wouldn't call it dry but you'll be hard pressed to find anybody who finds his shit exciting.
Keep in mind that half the terms thrown around in your post can occupy a lifetime of speculation in themselves. I spent 2 years on Egypt alone and this didn't aid me in upgrading to a less shitty apartment. At the end of the day you're sitting quietly and reading, literally or metaphorically. I'm learning how to better invest my time, too.
Now I'm just rambling.
>TL;DR
Cliche of the day: Education is experience. Speculate on what you read and remember to live in the present. Find a friend who'll push you, whatever that means to you.
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>>9453487
Is this pasta?
>>9454367
>>9454288
>>9454278
Yeah, you're reading everything out of order just start with the greeks, and also study history and the other humanities. I really don't know how a person be interested in literature but not history you'd miss so much.
And get the big teaching company torrent
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