/lit/ - Literature

>>1202300
I haven't read it, but I assume that it might as well be slush, as I see about a dozen copies of it at every Half-Price Books I go to.

David Foster Wallace is mentioned on /lit/ daily, and he was hella-funny.

http://harpers.org/media/pdf/dfw/HarpersMagazine-1996-01-0007859.pdf

>P.S. Sedaris is a gay an cannot be trusted.

>>1202128
>Last post of the night.
>Forgot your Fin

I'm disappointed with you, bromethius.

>>1202106
>" . . . but I really think it's a bit arrogant to spend your whole life on nothing but writing when it is so easy."

. . . . .

I want to believe that you aren't a troll, but are you seriously sure that you aren't a troll?

>Thanks for your request.
>It has been added to our database and the thread will be archived as soon as enough request for that thread have been made.
>This thread has been requested 1 times now.

>Picture related: Black lightning bolts.

OP, please post more of your work, as this thread needs a bit more fire.

>Write the ultimate text, which is perfect, and it perfect thematically and prose-wise.
>Ask 4chan for its opinion anyways, even though I'm sure it's perfect.

Also, you're not better than Stephen King, if you're being serious about that.

You're either a really fucking top-notch troll, or entirely self-deluded.

>>1198268
What's that Mogwai song that starts off real quiet, and by the end is like, BWWWAAAAAWWWAWWWWW.

>>1197559
Since when does one need a PhD to be published?

>>1197213
Last I checked, "jelly" was a real word.

>anyone else feels they have to complete stuff like video games or books as fast as they can?
Im about to finish a 1200 pages book i started on friday and ive hardly eaten or taken a shower since that day, ive just been reading and sleeping for the whole weekend

I can't say that I've experienced this, as I kind of, y'know, actually go outside.

Rules for writing are just dumb in general.

>"Printing press? I would not dare trust my magical works to crass machines! How can I expect a machine to properly reproduce the remarkable power of the human mind and spirit? My work is printed bythe underground ink gnomes, gnomes who hail from the Buried Land of Grum-Zalbar. I trust my sacred texts to no other entities." J.R.R. Tolkien

I think that The Sun Also Rises is easily his best work. I'd put various short stories second to The Sun Also Rises.

I haven't read For Whom the Bell Tolls. I thought Farewell to Arms was decent up until that ending, which felt a little cheap to me.

>>1192670
Goodness, taking a course with David Foster Wallace would have had me absolutely shitting me pants. I'd honestly be too embarrassed to turn in any assignments, knowing he'd be reading them.

You should probably go ahead and watch some more anime, O.

>>1191758
Whoa, whoa, whoa, you can bash Americans, but leave the innocent, mouth-watering, succulent cheeseburgers out of this.

Obligatory sage for a Tao Lin thread.

>>1190785
Because posting anonymous insults on the internet is the epitome of bravery, yes?

>>1190783
Listen, if liking Bukowski would change my life, while also turning me into a snide and reactive little shit, I think I'd rather go on with disliking Bukowski, if that's okay with you.

>>1190752
It's amazing that you know me better than I know myself, after reading a few lines of text on the internet.

>My enthusiasm for Bukowski is not an example of someone being suckered, and I think you're insulting a lot of people's discernment because you're too immature to know better.

I think you're too immature to understand that you are not the same as every other fan of Bukowski, if you catch my drift. If we're going to judge people based entirely on tiny portions of information, I believe that you are a terribly self-important person, and easily threatened as you are generally insecure with your personal beliefs.

>>1190739
There is remarkable power in simplicity, and there's just as much power in familiarity. And Bukowski writes about these familiar, common, simple emotions, and I think that it's easy for anyone to get hooked, and the guy is really spreading a pretty big fucking net. But when I read, I am interested in both the emotions the text produces and the text itself.

It's undeniable that Bukowski can make a person consider his own humanity. But do I need Bukowski to remind me of my humanity? No, I don't. I am aware of myself, aware of my shortcomings and failures, and I don't need Charles Bukowski to "wake me up." I don't need Bukowski to put drop me in a new cognitive realm.

To me, Charles Bukowski is totally one-note as fuck. I'd rather read Denis Johnson. You look at Jesus' Son, and you're get to see humanity on display in a big way. But you also see the author, because the words and the ideas are complex and beautiful, and you are then also aware of the downright incredible things that humanity is capable of, and you might be pretty fucking inspired.

When I read, I love, love, love to see the author's mind at work. When I read Bukowski, I see an bitter, self-centered old man dicking around on a typewriter, and not really doing much else beyond that.

I don't have a problem with people who like Bukowski. I have a problem with the fact that people actually like Bukowski. To me he's on the same sort of plane as Stephenie Meyer. Basically, writers who can't actually write, yet still manage to have a significantly large following.

I'm not interested in the fact that Bukowski worked hard, had a tough childhood, etc. That doesn't make his writing "good." 50 Cent lived in the projects and got shot multiple times, and his hardships in youth sure as fuck don't make his music any better. In Da Club is still a terrible fucking song.

But In Da Club is catchy, simple, accessible, not at all unlike Bukowski's writing. And I'm listening to In Da Club now, and it is indeed catchy, and it's bearable as long as you don't think about it.

Alone With Everybody
>Like, we're alone, but with everybody, and yet we're still alone even with everyone here! DEEP.

the flesh covers the bone
and they put a mind
in there and
sometimes a soul,
and the women break
vases against the walls
and the men drink too
much
and nobody finds the
one
but keep
looking
crawling in and out
of beds.
flesh covers
the bone and the
flesh searches
for more than
flesh.
>Shit, this is so deep, like the deepest ocean, and you take that ocean and drill the bottom of it until it's deeper than deep, and that's how fucking deep this is.

there's no chance
at all:
we are all trapped
by a singular
fate.
>Exaliftin'. My mind is being carried to the next dimension. What a lyrical wordsmith.

nobody ever finds
the one.
>It's so heart-wrenchingly true. It's like he's speaking to me, it's like he hears the beating of my heart when he writes.

the city dumps fill
the junkyards fill
the madhouses fill
the hospitals fill
the graveyards fill

nothing else
fills.
>Like, my heart never fills, especially when I read Bukowski, except that Bukowski does fill city dumps and junkyards with old and tired words and ideas, if we want to talk about this in a poetic fashion.