/lit/ - Literature

Well, well, well. It's OP here. I haven't posted since the day I made the thread and assumed it had died. I certainly had no idea the extract I posted would be so polarising.

To the many anons who have congratulated me, enjoyed the extract, and sent me emails enquiring after the finished work - I appreciate it. 4chan, and /lit/ in particular, really did contribute to my intellectual development, for better or worse. After a while you feel you get old, and, especially if you've studied literature at a higher level, you start to feel less satisfied with the discussion that takes place. But I will always love it here for those personal reasons.

Anons who hate my extract - I entirely respect your right to do so. One thing I really hate is the compulsion to read a book you find dreadful, stuffy, pretentious, or any combination of the above, purely out of a desire to become more erudite. I confess I have never finished the Aeneid for this reason.

In this sentiment I feel I am actually closely aligned to the view of >>19627520 and of all the criticisms ITT it is this I wish to address. My writing - whether short stories, or my forthcoming novel - is in no way the sort you suppose. I understand exactly the sort of writing you are talking about. On the contrary, a key theme of my novel is the subjection of intellectualism to, not exactly the life of the emotions, but the life of the soul, to that mystical uncertainty termed negative capability by Keats and the cloud of unknowing by the mystic. In the case of the extract I posted - two paragraphs chosen, in all honesty, at random - the references are in character for the narrator (which is all I will share) and also fitting as a manner of characterising her parents, who are together an ex-doctoral student of German literature and a devoted Catholic.

The narrator of the short story is very much caught in an existence of pure intellectualism, and her almost complete divorce from the irrational side of her being ultimately casts the story as tragic.

Once again, thank you all for your support, since I'm still learning my craft and fumbling very much with keys in the dark. I'm only 25. But I am very proud of my acomplishments; and, above all, I felt I had something unique to say, which I had arrived at independently and which I have not seen expressed in any piece of literature I have come across before. I felt a strong need to write it, and couldn't abandon the project even when the difficulties and stresses and my own turbulent self-image led me to abandon it for months. Now it is finished, and for all its flaws I have said what I intended to say. That is what I wanted. I seek neither money nor fame nor any other kind of success as a writer beyond saying what I wanted to say as best I could. But I will, of course, be pleased to see my own creation when I walk into a bookshop.

From the bottom of my heart, thank you to all, and a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you and your families.

There is just something about this Repin painting that entrances me.

>>18578030
... Who are themselves experiencing disruption by being forced to study subjects they will never fully comprehend, weighs the whole experience down. I recommend reading 'In Defence of Elitism' by Roger Scruton, its an essay available online.

>>18578094
My first lecture? Or course I personally studied? My first lecture was a little nerve wracking but as a PhD student I was used to helping teach classes so it didn't feel completely new when the training wheels came off.

>>18578133
No, see other responses. Also I will add that certain Liberal arts colleges and Catholic universities remain excellent. I'd love to teach at a university in New England.

>>18578268
It would be remiss for me to give any advice since I missed a 1st by 3% due to chronic, debilitating illness (I was hospitalised 3rd year). Just put the effort in, READ THE CRITICS and decide whether you agree with them. Start the essay early and polish it over time as you would a short story. Read it to someone else.

>>18578789
Thanks, anon.

>>18578796
Do I go on and on about 'gays bad'? Someone asked me if I support gay marriage and I said no, although I don't necessarily believe homosexuals should be deprived of tax benefits available to married couples. Also you don't know anything about my relationship, and it is irrelevant to literature, but if you must know I was ready to marry years ago but my girlfriend doesn't want to until I am in a 'stable career', I. E. A permanent position.

>>18578806
If it matters I'm not entry-level, but regardless
>>18575134

>>18578872
Come to terms with what beliefs? Sure, I'll shoot you an email in a bit.

>>18578938
Dyslexic reading is tough, I used to tutor dyslexics through GCSE. You're a rare situation where I would probably recommend audio book for ISOLT. My favourite Proust primer is actually Czapski's 'Notes on Proust in a Soviet Labour camp', very short and easy to read and sets you up nicely for his work.

>>18579012
I've written a bit about it in my last few posts. My personal views are my own and I would never discriminate against a student, black or white, straight or gay, transgender, whatever. As far as I am concerned all human beings deserve to be treated with dignity. I have my own philosophical beliefs around what I believe to be right or wrong, but you have to be professional. After all, allowing your own political ideology to overtly colour your teaching is what has caused the current situation in academia to arise. If a student falls in love with literature they will want to preserve it, which is an essentially Conservative view. So I aim to be a kind of Cupid-figure first, and teacher second - analysis holds up better once they've been 'hooked', if that makes sense. Go for a masters if you enjoy it and think you will do well in it. Literary masters opens lots of doors in journalism, publishing, advertising, etc. But has to be right decision for you.

>>17877150
No cope at all, I was privileged to do postgraduate study in a subject I loved, and I found the experience incredibly rewarding. It's led to a job I find fulfilling and stimulating, with decent pay, which in turn led to me meeting my fiancé. To this day i remember the insights into philosophy and literature I received from real experts in their fields, the debates I took part in with other individuals all sharing the same passion, the excitement of developing my own unique, original arguments and noticing connections in the great Western literary tradition, and forming those into coherent arguments under the rigorous guidance of the aforementioned experts, resulting in a thesis which remains one of my protest achievements. It was unironically the time of my life and you should be ashamed of potentially dissuading any young people in this thread from taking part themselves in such an extraordinary experience.

>>17413434
>>17413447
I'm the anon you guys have replied to. I haven't posted since >>17413308 and I'll leave the thread after this since it seems to be getting a bit toxic.

Let's see. Yes, I definitely think having short stories published first helps if you want to produce a novel. Not only is it good practice, from the technical side - decent journals are very restrictive, and considered good indicators of quality - but it shows you've made something of a name for yourself, and that you're amenable enough that someone successfully worked with you to publish a short story. In terms of submittable, I have 15 or 20 journals I keep semi-regular track of, keeping abreast of the new stories published, any new names, tracking their progress as contemporary writers and seeing what each journal likes. As I mentioned, I keep my letters brief: "Dear Editors, attached for your consideration is X, a short story. This is a simultaneous submission, but I will alert you immediately if the piece is accepted elsewhere." then, for the second bit, you need to talk about your accomplishments. If you don't have any, you could just say" I am a new writer, based in X, " or even not put anything at all.

The query process is another matter, and too long to talk about now, but it's all about convincing the agent of your artistic vision. Obviously this is only my first novel, but it's literary fiction, around 90k words, about a topic I truly believe is original - or, at the very least, an original take on an old topic, since, as I mentioned, all literature is indebted to what has gone before. I picked an agent carefully, and found one I believed would love the idea given what she'd taken on before. Long story short, she did love it, and now it's in her best interest as well to secure the best advance, marketing, distribution etc for me as possible, so it's a win win.

The Kenyon Review short fiction prize is now open for submissions of up to 1200 words. Here are two past winners:

https://kenyonreview.org/journal/janfeb-2018/selections/david-greendonner/

https://kenyonreview.org/journal/janfeb-2021/selections/janika-oza/

Which do you prefer, /wg/, and why?