/lit/ - Literature

I finished around 2 weeks ago, it's stellar. My favorite part was probably the Purgatorio, although the Inferno had some incredible moments. I think the Paradiso filtered me, and may read secondary literature on it. I read around 20% of the Inferno in Italian (a bilingual edition that was poorly translated by Kirkpatrick for the Italian and Carlyle-Wicksteed for the literal English in prose), and sometimes the poetry is wonderful.

PER ME SI VA NE LA CITTA DOLENTE.
PER ME SI VA NE L'ETTERNO DOLORE.
PER ME SI VA TRA LA PERDUTA GENTE.
GIUSTIZIA MOSSE IL MIO ALTO FATTORE,
FECEMI LA DIVINA PODESTATE, LA SOMMA SAPIENZA, E'L PRIMO AMORE.
DINANZI A ME, NON FUOR COSE CREATE
SE NON ETTERNE, E IO ETTERNO DURO.
LASCIATE OGNE SPERANZA, VOI CH'INTRATE.

That's the famous inscription above the gate of Hell in III.1-9. Especially impressive since Dante writes the Comedy in terza rima and dactylic hexameter, which are each independently fairly demanding formal constraints (granted, the former isn't awful in Italian). There's also the wonderful soundplay of lines like "caddi come corpo morte cade" for "I fell as a dead body falls," and the moment when Dante writes Provençal poetry for Arnaut Daniel so that he speaks his native language in the Purgatorio. The horror of Cocytus is incredible. There's a lot to love in the Comedy, and if the letter by Dante that claims it's meant to be read on four levels is not fake, it has appalling depth. Borges read the Comedy through around ten times before he died, and it seems to have been his favorite book, and fascinatingly, on his deathbed, he took Catholic last rites despite his ardent lifelong pantheism. It's hard not to speculate about the relation Borges had to Dante beyond the critical opinions he evinces in his essays. Eliot said (not checking my quote for exactitude) that "Dante and Shakespeare divide the world between them. There is no third." This is a pretty miscellaneous post but there's a lot to say about the Comedy, and some think that, like Borges' parable of the mapmakers, its scope is effectively coextensive with reality. There are free courses on the Comedy (by Hillsdale) and Dante in general (by Yale) online; I recall one lecture (I only listened to a couple of early ones in each) that notes that there are complex interconnections through the Comedy. It definitely seems to merit rereading.

>Brideshead Revisited
>Diary of a Country Priest
>The Brothers Karamazov
>Anna Karenina
>Hamlet

>>19395245
I was the first person in your thread to give you the answer to your question:
>>19394025

I will cast no more pearls before heretics who are so rabidly anti-Catholic because they shrink from the idea that the Faith may require something difficult of them. It is Satan speaking through them. I cast my lot with Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who died for our sins and rose again, and whom I will love and worship until my dying day. Vade Retro Satanas.

>>7211509
>mfw theres no apostrophe in "finnegans" so therefore is not possessive

>>6949064
What are you interested in reading? something deep? id suggest you read the Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri. but yeah, in this day and age with all the fucking TV and other electronic bullshit i know and love i find it hard to read, so i just go into my garage and sit there in a chair with a book. sometimes i read a page and give up, but sometimes i blast through a book. you just got to find that self determination to read

>>6790552
Well, Adorno was quite the bummer. He was sad that the left wing movements were all working with pop music as propaganda instead of motivating a revolution in the soul, so he failed to pay attention to the people working towards that goal outside of the political ambient.
He was never as much of an aesthete as some people in /lit/ making him out to be, so reading him just for that aspect is a bit of a waste. Just try to get what the text wants to say and leave your pure aesthetic interest for further reading.

>>6435906
see
>>6435752

And just ordered 'Self-reliance' (Dover Thrift Edition) by Ralph Waldo Emerson. It was only 1 penny. Its so annoying Amazon sets all posting & packaging at £2.80 when I know many of those third-sellers would do it for cheaper/free.

I've got a problem with ordering books. It doesn't fill a hole. Well... some of these might.

Is anyone else going to read through Paradiso for easter?

Do you guys think a modern epic would be well-received?

I've read The DC, Paradise Lost, and am currently reading Faust. I really do enjoy epic poetry, and hope to someday write one. Naturally, it would have to be modern, or else there'd be no real inclination to read my work over the greats', but do you guys feel epic poetry is dead? Do we solely read the works of the greats' because they're deemed pillars of literature? I enjoy them a lot, but has epic poetry lost its place in modern lit?

Side note: do you guys know of any recent epics?

>>5120666
Satan, you know you're quite older than that.

Anthony Ludovici - The False Assumptions of "Democracy"

I'd recommend Lothrop Stoddard's work in general.

Traditional Heavy Metal, as in NWOBHM or bands like Aria (Rus), Evil (Den) or Randy (Den), has a lot of literary references, hence Iron Maiden has a lot of songs and albums based on books (See: Murders in the rue morgue, Brave new world, etc).

Thus, we could say that the sub-genres are completely bound to all literature genres, seriously, all. There's a great tendency to war, death-themed, and horror literature, specially Lovecraft, seriously, metal bands love the shit out of H. P. Lovecraft, is actually hard to pick a band that doesn't have a lovecraft-themed song.

Apart from that, you could say that Thrash/Death has a tendency for literature based on war. Doom/Death and Black has a lot of influence from philosophy, especially existentialism, but as >>4320637 said Black goes also in the scripture/holy writ genre.

Hey /lit/,

I'm a huge fan of christian-influenced fiction. I'm not a christian, myself, but I am very fascinated by the idea of the whole devil v.s. savior kinda deal, and I was wondering if you guys could point me towards some great reads?

Books/Epics I enjoyed

The Master and Margarita
Cain
Paradise Lost
Dante's Inferno

etc.

I haven't read too much of the sort, as mainly I've been reading philosophy for school (yep), but I'd really like to see what you guys deem to be excellent reads in this area!

Gothicism, Decadence, fin de siecle, Expressionism, proto-Surrealist thread

Reading Huysmans' A Rebours right now. Read La Bas ages ago and I'm thinking about re-reading it after with the new context.

Gustave Doré up in this bitch

Hey /lit/. I'm about to read The Divine Comedy. Is there anything I should know before going in or is it possible to enjoy the poem without any knowledge of Christian theology and philosophy?

>>3450486
Sure

>>3299797
Yeh, sorry it's easy to rage. My mood has to be bad. I love the divine comedy, i have a nicely decorated version with huge illustrations by Gustav Dore. But seriously though check out the ea cycle by David Zindell it's awesome.

>>2802624
Personally, i prefer prose...

So... I usually frequent this board and some others and I noticed how other people like to come here and troll the
/lit/ ... Why?

Pic related, it's heaven by Gustave Doré

You are all flaming homosexuals.

I'm also interested in OP's requesting. Bumping with a somewhat on topic (how novel!) pic.

Gustav Dore did some p cool etchings of scenes from The Divine Comedy.