/lit/ - Literature

Just finished this. As a non-native english speaker, I must say his prose is delightful. I like the story, how he mixed different genres, etc. I would like recommendations based on that, but most importantly, where should I go from here if I want more anglo-prose goodness?

where can i get more of this? my brain never cummed so hard

Where can I find more stuff about this book and its philosophy? I liked it and am kinda interested
What I found was just surface level summary and analysis.

I had a funny feeling in my asshole while reading this, is that normal?

ITT: the book that sparked your sexual awakening.

This really felt like a 19th century American Psycho

Wow what a piece of fucking garbage

Went to book store and none of my intended books were in stock so I picked up this. Is it /lit/ approved?

>"I am afraid that women appreciate cruelty, downright cruelty, more than anything else. They have wonderfully primitive instincts. We have emancipated them, but they remain slaves looking for their masters, all the same. They love being dominated."

Just finished The Picture of Dorian Gray... the final chapters struck me as a bit moralistic, and certainly contradictory to the preface ("No artist has ethical sympathies."). Peter Ackroyd in the introduction finds a similar vein:

>beneath the brilliant surface of Wilde's prose there is the mordant gaze of the moralist, and it would not be too much to say that on occasions there was a congenital Puritan lurking behind his mask of the Aesthete or the Dandy. He loved that bright world which he created, but he also allows it to be destroyed with Dorian Gray's cry, 'so horrible in its agony'. In his own life he saw through his 'pose' and even courted his eventual destruction; in his fiction, he raised a world in his own image and then condemned it for its emptiness and its follies.

So, can we rescue the book from this tinge of moralism? I think so.

In the world of the book, there's a robust link between evil acts and physical appearance/the "state" of the soul. It's repeated throughout. The physiognomy stuff was obviously popular at the time. But I think it can be read so that Dorian's ideas about the soul are nonsense and it's just his guilt, "bad conscience" and self-recrimination that is damaging him (the painting)?

Harry is the crucial character — he's a cynic and amoralist and essentially creates Dorian, but he doesn't get ugly, and seems perfectly fine. It reminded me of Gide's The Immoralist, where Michel is incapable of dealing with "immoralism" and destroys his life, while the same attitude is freeing and empowering for Ménalque. What is ambrosia for Harry/Ménalque is poison for Dorian/Michel. This is all very Nietzschean of course, which is very cool because Wilde obviously hadn't read N...the aphoristic style of Harry's speech makes the connection ever better. Anyway, I'm not sure where I'm going with this.

Perhaps the crucial difference is that Dorian refuses to take ownership of his actions and blames others for them? Particularly blames the book.

What do you think?

I barely have any free time anymore except for a weekend or two every month. What are some fun, short books I can read over a weekend that aren't complete, pleb-tier shit?

pic semi-related

And how charming he had been at dinner the night before, as wit hstartled
eyes and lis parted in frightened pleasure he had sat opposite to him at the
club, the red candle shades staining to a richer rose the wakening wonder of
his face [...]

Were 19th century victorians just much less homophobic (in the sense of being
afraid to appear loving to a man) than contemporary men, or was Wilde just a
huge gayward?

The whole beginning of the book reads like the men are in some Spartan
homo-fraternity that is only interested in women for means of procreation.

Can we get a sci-fi thread going?

Thoughts on this?

I thought it was ok, was kind of disappointed. A lot of good quotes though.

So I'm like 30 pages into this. I admit I saw the old black and white movie a long time ago and wanted to check out the book after finding it on the discard shelf at the library. I have one question that kinda pertains to both though.

Why is Lord Henry such a fedora wearing faggot?

I really enjoy the character of Lord Henry Wotton, love the dialogue and find the prose easily digestible.
I would appreciate recommendations for some similar novels, preferably ones that I can download for free from Gutenberg.

Also, general rec thread.

My favorite, one that I revisit about once a year

Hey /lit/, I need to know your top 5 books that you think are important in understanding how the western world has evolved over the decades.

Pic related is self-explanatory. It is a book which I personally think is reflective of the modern philosophies cherished by the West today.

So, what are your top 5 books?

Just spent 2 hours reading this book, and really liking it, until I found out that it didn't actually happen.

Laaaaaaaaaaameeee.

what does /lit/ think of this novel?

is it really worth the 'classic' label?

suck my dick