/lit/ - Literature

There is a number of books (mostly classics in fiction and philosophy) I want to read that aren't in any of the two languages I know (italian and english), and I don't know how to choose translations. I can find lists describing different translations, but they are about a single language, like "best T. Mann translators" or "migliori traduttori di T. Mann" but how do I compare them? There are some very rare cases where intellectuals knowing many languages have given their opinion about translations, or where there is some kind of consensus (for example I have been able to decide that I'll read Monti's Iliad, and the Cambridge editions for several philosophers) but for the rest? I really have no clue

>i'm a nominalist
>i belong to a class

It's like ottery

>>6503889
>>6503884
>>6503887
Alright, thanks. I'll check them out. I've heard of de Sade and Pynchon, but never got into them.

Bataille looks interesting.

>>5709648
You're right, gay marriage is the most important obstacle we face and it's not unsettling that vast swathes of humanity are actually encouraged into ancient desert cults.

>>4952522
That's cool, yo.

>>4952516
What? What does my authority have to do with anything? I never made the posts >>4952345 and >>4952495 and "I think you missed the point" is hardly an appeal to my own authority.

You made an appeal of their argument based on the qualifications of the author rather than their content. What am I supposed to say about this except that that is an ad hom.

>>4789171
>implying shit can only be written in English.

I actually kind of dig Fight Club in that "yeah I remember thinking all this stuff when I was 16" but honestly the book seems very confused to me. There's a lot of countercultural philosophy in there that just doesn't mesh, and the book falls apart towards the end with the whole project mayhem thing.

I dunno. I'd rather people read Fight Club and get all edgy than just not think at all. But I don't think it's quite the culmination of anti-traditional-Western thought thingy that everyone makes it out to be.

OP, the best advice I can give is to think of the book you have always wanted to read and then try to write that, at least a short story about it.

I'm assuming here that you're like me, and have read enough so that you have developed some sort of taste for literature, where you have noticed patterns in what feels cheap and what feels moving or inspiring. You need to work off that if you have it.

Besides that, this might be a more general problem you have. Have you always lacked discipline and structure in your life? A lacking but not dangerous family? Experienced a crippling trauma? If you've had any of these things, or simply have a lethargic personality, you'll have to deal with that rather than writing. But maybe dealing with this general problem will be done best by writing.

You just need to take that first step. NEED TO. Once you take the first step outside your house to run, you just run. You'll hate yourself while your inside your comfortable house, but you know you should be running. Just do it. Dont talk or debate with yourself. Just do it. Dont make promises and excuses. Just do it. You need to break old habits and create new ones.

You need to take a leap of faith, and just do it. Right now. Just open Word, and write a story about, lets say, a boy who wants to send a message but is reluctant to.

Probably erotica.

I mean, he looks to be about 15 or 16.

Dear /lit/.
I can only write when I'm drunk.
I don't want to get drunk every night.
Please help me out.