/lit/ - Literature

Write a piece of erotica as compelling as this. Protip: you can't.

>>18595363

>>18576194
I haven't read gormenghast. I don't tend to read genre fiction. That isn't out of misplaced elitism or snobbery, I just don't tend to have the time these days since I have to read a lot for work, and generally prefer literary works anyway. I did enjoy LOTR and some of James Herbert's work when I was at school.
My favourite essayists are Montaigne, Woolf, Orwell (though hit or miss - 'Hanging' and 'Shooting an Elephant' are great, as is his critique of Tolstoy's dislike of Shakespeare, but I found 'Fascism in Britain' and some other pieces lacklustre), and I find DFWs essays enjoyable to read but don't get anything particularly profound from them. As far as living writers, I enjoy Cormac McCarthy, Javier Marias, and Karl Ove Knausgaard. I like remains of the day and Ishiguro's prose generally, but he seems to recycle themes a bit much and there always seems to be something missing in his work that I can't place. Purely subjective ofc. I think the greatest writer of the last fifty years was WG Sebald, though. Rings of Saturn and Austerlitz are among my favourites.

This thread is one samefag (OP) who made a thread about Sappho because they thought it would make them look smart, and being probably 17/18 and thus immature they're too proud to admit making a mistake, so they're just mindlessly claiming 'she's good' with zero actual evidence

>>17857762
>>17858610
>>17858010
I refuse to believe these aren't troll posts
>I just can't seem to get there
Gee, you don't say

>Shakespeare, Milton, Spenser, Donne, Marlowe, Jonson

What the fuck were they putting in the water during the English Renaissance? The sheer scope of literary talent in such a short space of time is staggering

Anyone who cannot grasp why a PhD is in this position should skim these articles:

https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2016/04/bad-job-market-phds/479205/

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/05/upshot/academic-job-crisis-phd.html

https://newrepublic.com/article/123334/vanished-world-stoner

A miniscule number - less than 10 percent (!!!) - of PhD grads land tenure track jobs. The number able to land any academic jobs at all is barely higher. These prospects are particularly dire in the humanities, where an opening for a contracted, short-term, $28k adjunct position attracts over a thousand applications.

OP, I pity you, but you really should have done your research first. By all means go for a prestigious private/independent school as you mentioned. In the UK you can go for a PGCE, and do a lead practitioner certification which really boosts your salary up to £50k+ a year. Becoming a headteacher can see you on over £100k. But you could have done all that with just a Masters, and 4 years earlier. Best of luck.

>>12234234
>/lit/
>romantic partners
Lolaso tio hostia carajo coño!

>>12230978
>Fact: There is no practical nor philosophical reason to read books
Incorrect, try again.
>Fact: Your desire to read nonfiction and especially philosophy is purely selfish, you want to feel good about yourself and believe that you’re better than others because you think about “the big questions”
Correct, and I am.
>Fact: If you are able to passively sit and consume books you are a conformist and are mentally chucked every time you read a book because the other person’s thoughts dominate your mental space. If you don’t feel the need to debate the author after a few sentences you’re not as bright as you think you are.
What do you mean by that? When are you ever not dominated by other people's thoughts? Whether you like it or not, your culture and your biology determine your every thought; there is no such distinction between your thoughts and other peoples'---you do not exist in a vacuum, and so it's far better to understand your culture's narrative from its authors, than to remain ignorant and spout your ideas which are not yours, but an inbred bastard-child of theirs. Of course it's healthy to try to debate the author's opinions, but how can you do that if you've never read a book in your life?
>Fact: The average person doesn’t read books (ever) yet is happier, healthier, wiser, more well rounded, and better looking than you.
Incorrect.
>Fact: The vast, vast majority of what you read you won’t remember. Life experience (which is what people who don’t read books operate off of) is far more valuable and far more practical.
Correct, but that knowledge imbeds itself into your subconscious and unconscious mind, so it's useful even if you aren't aware of it. Life experience can just as easily be gotten from books than from real-life. Non-book readers can only learn from average people living within your brief life-span. With books you can learn from the greatest people in human history.
>Fact: If you read books you are wasting your precious dwindling time on this earth as a slave to someone else’s thoughts.
Again, everyone is a slave to someone else's thoughts. You just aren't aware that they're someone else's.