/lit/ - Literature

What is the deal with this please anons?

Tradcaths irreversibly BTFO

tradcaths are bitter clingers who refuse to accept a world that has moved on and left them behind. Book related

Hello all,

I finished A Confederacy of Dunces yesterday, and I feel so many folks have misinterpreted it -- and some don't appreciate just how sublime it is.

I've seen, here on /r/books and on Goodreads, plenty of people trying to explain the book as an indictment of higher education, or the throes of a misunderstood genius, or even as a pretty silly and pointless farce. I can't agree. I think what this book has done is so much more than that.

What is an epic? By my reckoning (and the reckoning of the Encyclopedia Britannica etc.), and after a bit of interpretation, it is a tale with larger-than-life characters that exemplify and encapsulate an entire society. That is perfectly what A Confederacy of Dunces has done. True, Ignatius isn't a glorious hero -- but he's so far on the other side of the spectrum, such a misanthropic antihero, I feel there are powerful parallels. In fact, EVERYONE in the novel is basically a perversion of a longstanding heroic archetype, and all of their actions eventually impacting each other in one grand finale is par for the course in epics like Beowulf.

The novel, in its characterizations, its scene-setting, its ambiance, its events, are so much more like Beowulf, or even Independent People by Halldor Laxness (often called a modern epic of Iceland), than other, highly esteemed 'satirical' books (like Terry Pratchett's Discworld, which I cherish, don't get me wrong), that I feel it's missing the grandeur of the book to say they are of the same genre. Their purpose is different; Pratchett tells a story, lampoons a particular subject, in each of his excellent Discworld novels; JKT has crystallized an entire society into one tragic, hilarious, and powerful set of characters and scenes.

Anyway, that's all -- just wanted to say, sublime. Absolutely sublime.

ITT: Books that became well recieved/succesful after the author was dead
>pic related

why didnt it get published

Is it difficult read?

>>8581742

>muh boethius

Went out and bought this today, /lit/

What am I in for? Is it really '/pol/ & /r9k/ - the book'?

Do I hate Ignatius because he reminds me so much of myself or because he is designed that way by the author?

Why does /lit/ recommends this to people? I started reading (up to page 100 now) and it's very boring and mediocre. It's not even funny, if that's what it's supposed to be. Do you guys like it just because Ignatius is a parody of a intellectual NEET?

I really want to discuss Confederacy of Dunces

"Patrick, just how stupid are you?"

This is probably the funniest thing I've ever read, and it's for sure in my top 3.

I love it's depiction of old school New Orleans. It really paints the seediness, the vulgarity, the weirdness, the colorfulness, the history of the place.

I also love the twisting, complicated cast, and how they all wander around the story, tickling at each other's existence, and then all coming together for the climax. It still slays me that he could write such a diverse crew of made up people that seem so damn real.

I'm on my third, about a fourth through it. Even though it's entertaining I really hope that it starts to evolve past DUDE MANCHILDREN LMAO,

Only good cover for this book.

I want to read this but damn all the covers are shit. Is this the only good cover of this book?

>>4965009