/lit/ - Literature

I'm personally think comedy is founded in rhetoric and logic instead of grammar and linguistics.

For example, a joke can be translated into several languages. It will still work, only so long as the listener can understand the context and the "argument" of the joke.

What do you guys think? Jokes are an interesting topic, particularly from a literary perspective.

She's capitalizing on Orientalism. She noticed how Islam resurfaced as a point of concern in the western consciousness -- how the muslim world yet again became "the other" -- and saw an opportunity. Because she is a woman of color, she was also able to use the guise of feminism to legitimize her drivel.

Basically >>4106533 and >>4106758

If you've got a hard-on for voices of repression and muslims in turmoil, check this out instead: http://www.amazon.com/Oranges-Sun-Short-Stories-Arabian/dp/0894108697

It's good, particularly from a /lit/erary perspective.

>>4106363
Those eyes strip away my garments and lay all my desires bare; his gaze makes my heart beat in anticipation for its own consumption. And that subtle arch of his bushy eyebrows -- he knows! All my desire (my heat): he's got it all in that bastard smirk of his. Senpai has noticed me, and it's about damn time.

>>4106496
The main point of appeal for this effort isn't being published. It's the workshop experience.

Most people are only exposed to workshop in academic settings: writing classes and highschool. Really, those settings are a kind of workshop ersatz: people are only there because they HAVE to be, and the writers are only together for a short time (a semester at most). What these guys offer is a pretty authentic experience: a camaraderie of aspiring writers that learn about writing through exposure to different voices and perspectives.

My only gripe with it, from what OP has revealed, is the buddy system. Creating a hierarchy of "promising authors" can also compromise the egalitarian aim of craft criticism; the whole thing is at strong risk of a cancerous doxa forming.

Other than that, it's an exciting project. Anons should totes sign up: you people give criticism for free already -- why not do it to really help authors who want to improve?

The worldly philosophers.

Turns out economics is pretty rad.

>>4105943
Who are you discussing literature with?

>reading for the genre

>>4105977
This.

The debates are there not to reach a conclusion, but to draw people in and keep them watching through the commercials.

>>4106014
For the most part, I prefer text on a screen to a physical book. The portability and ease of access really appeal to me -- I'm a guy who likes to read several things at once, so having a wide selection everywhere I go is great. And I think you'll like these benefits as well.

Probably the only negative - for me, anyway - about e-readers and e-books is there's no margins to write notes in. So for any book that I actively read or have a dialogue with, I make sure to get a physical copy.

Oh, also this >>4106035
The whole price thing factors in quite a bit. Especially if you are willing to pirate books.

>>4098535
>we can't be together, baby
>you're gonna die of cancer someday and i dont wanna go through that

>>4098490
>She obviously comes form a wealthy family

Well I hope so. How much student debt does she have, OP?

>>4098493
This. With all that liberal arts knowledge under her belt, she's gonna be too busy reading and writing to do any work.

>>4098506
You're right. No one deserves to go through that hell.

>>4098507
Ah, so I wasn't the only one that noticed it. OP, be sure to raise the kids Protestant.

>>4098476
>marrying an educated woman

Asking for trouble, anon. You're putting the ball in her court, in a game that's already rigged against you.

>>4098472

>A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again

These are great. The one about cruise ships is probably my favorite.

>>4098394
Listen to the anon I quoted above: his nonfiction is gold. I honestly don't know why he's known for his novels instead of his work as an essayist.

>>4098443
>Something about our IRL chances of reaching Mars with men, and how people are starting to try to mine rockets may soon illicit a new surge of energy into interest in space, an Sci-fi will adapt to that.

That reminds me of a Juan Atkins song "No UFOs."

Maybe a big reason that Sci Fi is in such a funk is because people don't look at a night sky and think "what's up there?"

I hope you're right, anon. People need to look and think beyond the earth again.

>>4098441
>GET THAT NIGGA CHEN! EAT THAT NIGGA!.jpg

Every time. You're in every goddamn TAR thread and you post that goddamn chen picture with that goddamn filename every time and it makes me lose my shit.

Anyway, thanks for critiquing the selections, anon! You're a really positive influence in TAR threads, and are a big inspiration for taking TAR back to its critique/revision-centered roots.

>>4098387
Is that "BLAME!"?

I fucking love BLAME!!! You gotta read it, anon. You've fucking gotta.

Glorious nippon is still the top gun when it comes to sci fi and cyberpunk. I think it's due to their positive views on technology.

>>4098399
Yes. But you can only take cynical speculation and social criticism so far. As >>4098403 pointed out, it's the purest form of post-modernism. But now that post-modernism has been replaced by new-sincerity and more individual-centered concerns, it's natural for cyberpunk to fizzle out.

What I'm wondering is: where is sci fi going to go from here? Even the American sci-fi scene is kinda dull, and the new world has always been the king of speculative fiction.

>>4098374
Okay.

I can't wait for the day when there exists no middle man between the author and reader. No publishers, no bookstores, and no monthly literary journals of prose, poetry, and fiction .

Currently that isn't the case because of >>4098384

But as self-publishing mediums become more-and-more popular, the targeted demographics of a work can filter out sub-par works on their own.

>>4098352
Well right now we're on the brink of a golden age. Nearly all works that have no copyright ARE completely free (provided you have access to the internet). A single problem exists: copyright dates are becoming increasingly long for NEWLY published works. Hopefully the system gets reformed, because it's clear that more and more consumers of art, music, and literature don't like paying 20+ bucks for stuff released 10+ years ago.

>>4098312
Now is pretty much the best time for you to send something in, then. We're shifting the whole mag to a more craft-centered sort of deal.

After we get it, you'll get comprehensive feedback for a subsequent draft. The cycle of feedback & revision repeats until it's good enough to throw to the hellfire of /lit/ for ruthless criticism. Basically >>4098333

>>4098322
>keep going

No! Finish your goddamn backlog first!

You're acting like my fucking girlfriend: keeps buying lit at yardsales and used bookstores but doesn't read a damn thing.

>>4098277
No, it's a virtue of capitalism. I can walk into any Country Fair and buy 20 oz of Cocoa Cola (or Pepsi for my kids) for 00.79 american dollars. Then instead of buying bread I can sate my hunger with cheap electronics or a DvD from the bargain bin.

>>4098281
Too much idealism there. You are doomed to the confines of academia.

>>4097959
Can't you ask a friend or something? Check some recommendations from literary magazines?

Read Orhan Pamuk. I recommend The Black Book.

>>4098252
Yes. Centralize and legalize publication and information distribution. The government will take care of everything and it will be better. This is a wonderful idea. Write to your congressman/womyn. Think of the good this will do for the children. Chemtrails are a myth.

>>4098283
>Cyberpunk is making a comeback in videogames and films

That might actually be where it belongs as a genre. So much of it is the aesthetic, and visual mediums manage to capture its philosophical and rhetorical themes well enough.

I'm still waiting for a successor in literature, though -- the next wave of science fiction.