/lit/ - Literature

>is it valid to say that classic writters such as shakespeare, cervantes, joyce, goethe, proust etc. are superior to contemporary ones, equally famous (if not more), known all over the globe, such as jk rowling, grr martin, stephenie meyer, dan brown, agatha christie, stephen king and paulo coelho?
Yes, of course.
>If so, why?
http://www.bartleby.com/27/15.html

>>6465045
I thought it could be a realization about his unrealistic love for Mangan's sister which was really more like adulation or worship for a girl who he has barely talked to.

>>6465099
He got a florin from his uncle, then went into the shilling entrance. I'm American, but I think a florin is two shillings, so he should have had a shilling left to buy something.
Toward the end he says "I allowed the two pennies to fall against the sixpence in my pocket." I have no idea about their worth.

But he definitely had at least some money. He was explicitly asked to buy something from a lady selling vases and tea-sets. He ends up not buying any of it, but it's unclear whether he declines because it was too expensive or because he was already starting to realize that he was "a creature driven and derided by vanity."

Prior to being offered something for sale from the lady, he remembers "with difficulty" why he came (to buy something for Mangan's sister) and then finds Englishmen counting money and listens to their banal conversation. Then he decides not to buy anything and has his realization. So he can barely remember why he came, and for him, the magical exotic bazaar ends up amounting to a few Englishmen counting money and having a boring conversation. I think that answers your question—he could have bought something, but he decided not to.

>>6465041
I'm not qualified to say much about its quality, really. I'm an undergrad and it's one of the textbooks we were assigned in my Analysis of Literature class along with Beginning Theory by Peter Barry who gives summaries that are a lot shorter than the Tyson book I linked but has basically the same information.

http://pdfsr.com/isbn/9780415974103

Go to page 209.

This doesn't really answer your question (which is kinda shit), but I love the film A Man for All Seasons, which is based off the play by the same name.

>>6387566
This was my experience as well. I couldn't get enough in my teens, but my interest in him waned. I remember Slaughterhouse Five was the first book I finished and then immediately started again and finished. Definitely a pivotal author in my development as a reader.

>>6384906
I use a Podcast app, but try this: http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/series/iot/all

That list includes non-Philosophy stuff, but it's the only link I could find for downloads.

>>6384831
Isn't it illegal in a handful of European countries to even deny the holocaust or fly a Nazi flag? Austria I know of at least.

Try out:

University of Oxford Philosophy Lectures
http://www.philosophy.ox.ac.uk/podcasts

BBC In Our Time (Philosophy)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p01f0vzr

I found him. I think it's Stein Haugom Olsen.

>>6381805
*that literature doesn't

Does anyone know the me of the literary critic who claimed that literary doesn't have meaning? I think his or her last name was Olson, but I can't find him or her via Google.

>>6381349
There are references and parallels to Paradise Lost in Portrait. You should just read Paradise Lost anyway.

I think the bare minimum is Dubliners, Portrait, and The Odyssey. Also, you should read Paradise Lost before reading Portrait.

>>6379172
Hmm, Greek I suppose since I took the name from The Odyssey. Either is fine though—how you internally pronouce things is up to you. Haha...

>>6379074
I choose this name. Is that ok?

If you haven't heard the epic straight from Homer's mouth, you don't know jack shit about the Odyssey.

Wanna fuck?