/lit/ - Literature

>>4433461
Read "Common Sense."

>>4433467
Sure thing!

>>4433516
I said "arguably"!

>>4104964

>nabokov wrote the best english novel

The fuck outta here with that ignorant bullshit.

>>3980622
He's a hack. I don't get why people think Moby Dick is a masterpiece.

>murrican boats and whales
>kill the whale! cut him up good
>ye olde words
>call me Ishmael
>whoa is the whale even real or is he like a giant metaphor

You can make anyone sound bad when you're being a retarded reductionist.

I cannot stand most American literature, but Melville truly is something unique and brilliant.

>>3498258
America has two greatest writers, and they are Herman Melville and Thomas Pynchon.

It's ridiculous that anyone would say Steinbeck or Hemingway -- you would only think that if you don't know how to read. Henry James is a good answer, but his novels are basically European.

The answer is Melville and Pynchon.

This is Herman Melville. You may or may not be aware that he wrote other works besides Moby-Dick. If you haven't read a Herman Melville work I recommend you do. A great short one is Bartleby the Scrivener. Considered a precursor of absurdist literature it is generally considered to be one of Melville's best works.

For those who are familiar with Melville and have read his works feel free to share any opinions. As for me I have read Billy Budd, Moby-Dick, Bartleby the Scrivener, Benito Cereno and Typee. The only work I didn't care for was Typee. Typee was Melville's first novel and seems to lack the multiple layers and complexity of Melville's later works. The novel was almost a good adventure novel, but it unfortunately became more and more about the day to day lives of a tribe of natives. Although that itself may be interesting to some people, it was not to me.

Currently I am reading The Confidence-Man, Melville's last novel, and I am quite thankful to have the Norton Critical edition. This is definitely a complex work and not for those interested in light reading.

ITT: Favorite author.

Don't spend too much time pondering it, just do it.

sup bitches