/lit/ - Literature

>macarthur grant
>national book award
>new york times and atlantic eating out of his hand

Is this 100 % proof of the greatness of the academia-media-publishing industrial complex's ability to promote the greatest talent on earth...

...or proof that banal the Leftist... Leftism (attempting to be more specific in any way would leave out shitloads of braindead crap) that permeates the academia-media-publishing industrial complex due to its current returns is beyond all hope, and that waiting for a centralised authority to tell you what to read was a shit idea all along for plebs?

Why is reading literature shoved down my throat by lit and the media and "educated society" as something I have to do or else I'm a stupid and bad person? It seems like a marketing gimmick to me. If I sat and read all day then I'd have no money. But society wants me to use my limited free time to read while telling me that it makes me a more valuable person.

As if "muh human condition" has to be learnt from books written by the same sections of society (the ones with access to the media-publishing-academia industrial complex). (inb4 /lit/ moves the goalposts about why they read books)

It seems like a big scam to me. lit is a bunch of delusional people who want to venerate literature and publishing companies either to gain pseudo intellectual cred or in the vain hope that they'll be published one day.

Also many novels are exercises in narcissism or self indulgence by the author. But because it's packaged and distributed by a publisher then I am supposed to care or else I'm dumb. What if I don't give a shit about Dostoevsky's spiritual or moral views? Hume already showed that none of it is based on logic (see the Münchhausen trilemma). Anyone can choose the axioms they want.

Give me one fucking good reason why I should give a shit about the academia-media-publishing industrial complex and it's pseudo intellectual hangers on such as you guys.

REEEEEEEEE

I haven't read any book for over a week because I'm 100 pages in to Nicolas Nickleby and IT'S SO FUCKING CRUSHINGLY DULL AND LONG WINDED but I'm a UKer who hasn't read any Dickens books before and I don't want to be seen as a pleb due to this.

I'm also starting to abhor art in general. I hate that I have to read for cultural capital reasons. I don't even enjoy genre fiction but I still feel the pressure to read.

I just fucking hate this pretentious academia-publishing-media industrial complex induced spin that books are a part of. I wish people saw books like chocolate bars or YouTube videos. Used and forgotten about, not heralded as containing profound insights / wisdom / anything.

Why is reading literature shoved down my throat by lit and the media and "educated society" as something I have to do or else I'm a stupid and bad person? It seems like a marketing gimmick to me. If I sat and read all day then I'd have no money. But society wants me to use my limited free time to read while telling me that it makes me a more valuable person.

As if "muh human condition" has to be learnt from books written by the same sections of society (the ones with access to the media-publishing-academia industrial complex. (inb4 /lit/ moves the goalposts about why they read books)

It seems like a big scam to me. lit is a bunch of delusional people who want to venerate literature and publishing companies either to gain pseudo intellectual cred or in the vain hope that they'll be published one day.

Also many novels are exercises in narcissism or self indulgence by the author. But because it's packaged and distributed by a publisher then I am supposed to care or else I'm dumb. What if I don't give a shit about Dostoevsky's spiritual or moral views? Hume already showed that none of it is based on logic (see the Münchhausen trilemma). Anyone can choose the axioms they want.

Honest srs questions from a guy who has read many patrician books.

Why should I judge books on anything other than entertainment? Bear in mind that I'm a proud Stirnerite.

Why is it that "literary value" or whatever seems so much like marketing pushed by the academia-publishing-media industrial complex?

Why should I take the social critique / philosophy / "insights" of fiction books seriously AT ALL when the authors only present it in a vague and half assed way? It seems like dilletante pseudo intellectual posturing to me. Nabokov would agree. Dostoevsky obviously couldn't hack it on a wet and windy Thursday night in any worthwhile Psychology department.

Why, in the age of the internet, should I only take books seriously if they have the stamp of a publisher with a large enough revenue?

Why should I instantly dismiss all new artforms as not even being art? Why should I instantly dismiss new artforms as not being art due to them taking advantage of philosophy?

When "high brow" authors say they like "low brow" stuff is that them admitting that they don't even have the willpower to stay within their bubble of ascetic snobbery? We all know the bubble is made of bullshit but they don't even pretend that it's not these days.

Do you think that books have been a failure in terms of comedy?

What's the point of reading fiction if it's just some guys self indulgent narcissistic feelings or opinions transposed on to a medium, or some guys half assed non rigorous philosophy expressed through a straw man (and possibly big Russian names and people falling in to fevers)? I guess the 21st century problem with most books is that they're just mass produced by the academia media publishing industrial complex.

What's the fucking point if most authors don't even want to entertain me and they have NOTHING to say?

>try to get good at one thing
>inverse cripple
>try to get broad knowledge
>dilletante pleb
>try to learn second language
>will never be as good as native speaker, takes shitloads of effort, smarter people than me have already translated all relevant works
>try to make money
>habits and daily routines are subservient to the capitalist machine
>go in to academia, do "useless subjects only" (including pure math, esoteric physics)
>work will lead nowhere and do nothing other than give me temporary satisfaction
>read books
>served drudge by the publishing media academia industrial complex
>try to do something creative
>just disguised narcissistic and transient thoughts transposed on to a medium

I'm so done with this board. It is spooked beyond all belief. I've tried my hardest to enlighten you guys but you are all in thrall to the academia-media-publishing industrial complex. If it's not rimming the canon or serenading the old philosophers / greeks while doing nothing to highlight their ideas, you guys don't want to know. Nietzsche has become this board's stupid edgy Rorschach symbol. I'm fine with Stirner because he is used to break things down, but when it's Nietzsche used to fuel delusions, I cringe.

None of you guys