/lit/ - Literature

I was isolated as a child and my parents spent most of the time fighting or berating and putting me down (calling me trash, pig, worthless, etc.). As a result I have extremely low self-esteem and confidence.

What can I read to fix myself? I already run and lift weights before anyone suggests that.

>>4836149
Schopenhauer was /r9k/ as fuck.

Schopenhauer

It allows me to act like a pompous ass.

>implying I won't come back as a mutilated infant thanks to Samsara

>hear Schopenhauer is supposed to be very readable
>The World as Will and Representation sounds interesting so decide to read it as my first real philosophy book
>he takes entire paragraphs to say what can be explained in a sentence or two and the way he structures his sentences makes it confusing to read

Maybe he shouldn't be my first after all, it's too frustrating. What is a good first primary philosophy book that talks about something interesting but isn't too much of a slog? I've already
read stuff like Sophie's World and took an intro to philosophy class where we just read small excerpts of all the important guys.

Suggest me relevant literature except Schopenhauer please

Life swings like a pendulum backward and forward between pain and boredom.

Is avoiding suffering more important than trying to obtain happiness?

"The whole foundation on which our existence rests is the present—the ever-fleeting present. It lies, then, in the very nature of our existence to take the form of constant motion, and to offer no possibility of our ever attaining the rest for which we are always striving. We are like a man running downhill, who cannot keep on his legs unless he runs on, and will inevitably fall if he stops; or, again, like a pole balanced on the tip of one's finger; or like a planet, which would fall into its sun the moment it ceased to hurry forward on its way. Unrest is the mark of existence.

In a world where all is unstable, and nought can endure, but is swept onwards at once in the hurrying whirlpool of change; where a man, if he is to keep erect at all, must always be advancing and moving, like an acrobat on a rope—in such a world, happiness in inconceivable. How can it dwell where, as Plato says, continual Becoming and never Being is the sole form of existence? In the first place, a man never is happy, but spends his whole life in striving after something which he thinks will make him so; he seldom attains his goal, and when he does, it is only to be disappointed; he is mostly shipwrecked in the end, and comes into harbour with masts and rigging gone. And then, it is all one whether he has been happy or miserable; for his life was never anything more than a present moment always vanishing; and now it is over."

"If you want Utopian plans, I would say: the only solution to the problem is the despotism of the wise and noble members of a genuine aristocracy, a genuine nobility, achieved by mating the most magnanimous men with the cleverest and most gifted women. This proposal constitutes my Utopia and my Platonic Republic".

What are some good alternate history books? (What if Germany won WWII, what if America lost its war of independence, or the mongols hadn't stopped, etc)

I've only read The Man in the High Castle but I didn't like it very much. It was just unimportant people who were boring and stupid.

>>4471885
Continued

Violence stems from Heirarchy, which is the natural state of mankind. There is heirarchy everywhere, even in childrens games. There is a constant battle between life and death. It is for this reason that I personally believe that Equality is a religion, and more specifically the cult of modern man. I think greatness comes from conquering adversity it is not innate.

Post your reading feels.

>tfw reading the preface and it spoils the book

OP here. Dear god what have I done? How did this thread turn into discussions on Jews? Spengler was notorious for defending Jews and saying that they were simply at a different part of cultural cycle than the west, because they're Magians. I swear I'm not even a fucking /pol/tard.

>>4186843
THIS. Can we please discuss the actual contents of the book instead of name calling?

>>4031798
"Man can indeed do what he wants, but he cannot will what he wants".

A Short History of Nearly Everything

>>3845806
Man can indeed do what he wants, but he cannot will what he wants"

>>3769676

>>3725100
>the chaotic majesty of the world

'The Very Hungry Caterpillar, a Schopenhaurian parable of the denial of the Will to life'

The Very Hungry Caterpillar is a children's picture book designed, illustrated and written by Eric Carle, and follows the life of a caterpillar as it eats various foods until becoming a Butterfly. While a seemingly innocent children's story, this work is actually a fable of Schopenhauerian pessimism.

In Carle's typical minimalist style, the first thing we are told about the titular Caterpillar is that he is very hungry. Immediately we are confronted with the tragedy of life, as posited in Arthur Schopenhauer's Der Welt als Wille und Vorstellung (The world as Will and representation). All life is driven by an insatiable Will which is illogical and futile. The Caterpillar represents this base Willing, no having the recourse of reason or the arts, all he can do is feed his Will. But this Will is never satiated and thus we are told, again and again that "he was still hungry". We are taken through the life of the Caterpillar, which constitutes one week of endless striving after various 'foods' which represent the various desires that we uselessly strive after. Like the Caterpillar, we can never completely satisfy our desires, no matter how rich or powerful we become. Our life will always be filled with suffering because the Will will never be satisfied. The more we try to fulfill out desires the worse it gets. After a large meal, we are told the Caterpillar develops a 'stomachache', this illustrates the paradox of Hedonism well enough. The more we strive and consume, the least pleasure we gain from any particular thing until in fact we begin to be disgusted with it. The only response is to cease consumption, which the caterpillar does.

What does /lit/ think of Schopenhauer? Is he worth reading? Will I be a better person for having done so? What works of his should I read and in what order?

Schopenhauer hated everyone. The fact he criticized women doesn't say he had any specific hate just for them, same goes for Nietzsche.

We are already sick of feminism infecting everything related to literature so no thanks.