/lit/ - Literature

It's the only decent corner of the internet left.

>>11220099
I come here all the time but rarely join in on conversations because i nearly failed high school english and study a STEM course. I feel like people will make fun of my writing style for being bland and for not understanding texts as good as others do so i choose to just learn from what they write and so far it works :^)

>>11220099

>>11220099
I enjoy it. What are you currently reading? My current book is The Plague by Camus. Went through the existentialist phase in high school of course and read it then. At that time my impression was that Rieux was a hero and most of the other characters were glib normies. Now I am a boomer and my new take is that Camus' message was a lot more inclusice. Essentially there is no "right" way to respond to The Plague (mortality in general) only, one must respond honestly, or to respond at all. Rieux is still a kind of hero of course, because he allows himself to wage a losing battle against the inevitable (in this case, plague deaths) but that does not mean he is necessarily better than others. Idk maybe that summary is kind of lame, but after having a long "crisis" period in my twenties, after abandoning society to be an actual hobo, after drugs and conversion to Christianity; it is really nice to remember this early influence on me, and to again realize that my goodness is not contingent on Reason or the supernatural at all /ramblings

>>11220106
Less traveled parts of Reddit were good up until last year, which is incidentally when their management philosophy turned towards sanitizing content to make it commercially friendly.

>>11220099
Too many people here like me who rely on /lit/ as a crutch when their reading slackens. I love reading, the trouble is that I'm so wired for instant gratification now, any argument that doesn't fit in the 2000 character limit isn't one I will be inclined to read.

>>11220110
Just do your best anon. I bash bad poetry as much as the next guy, but there's something to be said for giving it a college try.

cancer: the post

>>11220148
t. Never Contributes Anything

>>11220131
>I'm so wired for instant gratification now

This. I have to force myself away from my computer to read these days. Whenever I do, i always end up enjoying and thanking myself, but fuck is it hard sometimes.

>>11220110
My favorite poet was a STEMlord (william carlos williams). I think he is great because in his confessions he is genuine and vulnerable and his abstractions are informed i think by a great understanding of science and math.

>>11220128
Pic related. I've read through a decent amount of Greek lit and am capping it off with philosophy before moving onto the Romans.

Wasn't too fond of the Hamilton's mythology which is recommended a lot here, and Aristophanes plays were more weird than engaging. The Iliad, The Odyssey, the Histories, and Oedipus Rex have been my favorite readings.

>>11220151
It is reassuring to hear that. I'm partial to the "This site has nothing to offer anybody" pasta, though at this point I don't have the money or inclination to go and do anything else.

>>11220165
>not liking Aristophanes
Pleb

>>11220151
yup, same here. have to force myself to either read outside or go on the subway sometimes just to have a completely uninterrupted experience

>>11220110
>because i nearly failed high school english and study a STEM course
I hated reading in high school and got a phd in statistics (yeah im old). but I came to writing, lit, and philosophy on my own time in my 20's and its really fucking wholesome to have a STEM background and mathematical reasoning but then take up lit and philosophy. Writing things and submitting them here is nice because of the anonymity removes the anxiety of the written self being critiqued.

>>11220165
Nice. I am much fonder of Romans than the Greeks. Check out Juvenal's satires.

i've only been here for a few days, it's weird that this board seems younger than /tv/ (according to the only >your age thread i've seen) but it's pretty comfy. i just wish there was the same thing in my language because it's tedious to search the english versions of texts i want to quote, and i can't show off my poetry here

>>11220230
>i just wish there was the same thing in my language because it's tedious to search the english versions of texts i want to quote, and i can't show off my poetry here
what language do you speak? There's a lot of Europeans on here (I mean look at the time right now) and a lot of us also speak other languages lol

>>11220230
What language?

Good overall taste, decent activity and smart anons. Thanks, /lit/. You're an elitist bunch of cunts, but I greatly appreciate you.

>>11220099
>don't browse /lit/ for while
>come back and find it full of the same memes and discussions so exactly and endlessly repetitive (which translation of Homer? should I read Dune?) it genuinely feels like some crazy kind of performance art

>>11220163
post you're favorite poem of his

if it's the peach one, don't bother

>>11220304
If I when my wife is sleeping
and the baby and Kathleen
are sleeping
and the sun is a flame-white disc
in silken mists
above shining trees,—
if I in my north room
dance naked, grotesquely
before my mirror
waving my shirt round my head
and singing softly to myself:
“I am lonely, lonely.
I was born to be lonely,
I am best so!”
If I admire my arms, my face,
my shoulders, flanks, buttocks
against the yellow drawn shades,—

Who shall say I am not
the happy genius of my household?

i feel the same and i'm glad you like our board, anon :)

I keep coming here so I must hate it.

The only thing that I dislike here is that people post overly sexual images. Also racebaiting ia becoming more and more common.

>>11220238
french. it's a slow board so there can't be generals for each language

>tfw somewhere on the internet will still call you a cunt for getting ancient greek wrong in your shower thoughts
thank you /lit/, you're doing god's work

Here, it's by far the best board on 4chan, probably 10-15% good posts, which is a stellar number

>>11220099
Another meta thread, fuck yeah!

>>11220334
>french. it's a slow board so there can't be generals for each language
Well for French and German I think it could work since so much lit is from there and lots of folks either speak it natively or took it as a second language.

perhaps a general for french/german where topics would be original poetry/writing in french/german and discussing french/german lit or philosophy as it is in its original language. Perhaps discussion kept in english so that others can come in with the standard "does this translated concept of Heidegger make more sense in German?" type questions

>>11220354
I would very much like a french general if only to improve my understanding of french poetry, etc. How do nonenglish speakers browse? Do they use google translate or what?

>>11220341
This is the only board I frequent anymore. I used to go on /sci/ quite a bit, but the IQ stuff has gotten out of hand over there. /pol/ is good for the occasional laugh but nothing else. You have to fish for good posts here like you do anywhere else, but when you catch something, the payoff is great. I've discovered lots of great literature here that I would not likely have discovered anywhere else.

>>11220334
>>11220354
it's pretty easy to get a french crit or french lit thread going. the problem with gens is that it assumes the person who wants to read rousseau is also the person who wants to read beckett since they both write in french. language gens now and then can bring up new interesting recs in the language, but having one running constantly doesn't really make for interesting discussion more than /int/.

crit threads usually offer to crit in any language if you post it and they stay up long enough they go through all time zones. the problem there is that not all poetry/prose gets crit in them even in english, so your french/russian/chinese piece might not be getting crit because people don't want to critique it for you regardless of language. italian and portuguese anons still get crit though and less of europe has one of those as a second language, compared to french or german

>>11220099
Just elegant numbers, anon. Clearly youre an angel.
I like /lit/ too btw.

>>11220099
Honestly the only place I go on the internet to seriously discuss, recommend, and post about literature. R/literature is shit-tier, forums can't be sustainable because you get addicted to your reputation, and all video platforms are mono-directional and populace-swayed.
This is the last bastion of mass-multi-lingual and literate populace that I'm aware of on the internet.

>>11220438
>forums can't be sustainable because you get addicted to your reputation,
this is also the issue for IRL lit/philosophy groups on campuses or in reading groups. The deference/anxieties/egoism that comes from reputation spoils the purity of discussion.

Of course the full anonymity of /lit/, like all fully anonymous boards invites a level of shitposting and stupidity that one must sift through, but that's a pretty easy skill to level up.

>>11220364
> How do nonenglish speakers browse?
A lot of European people are bilingual, especially those from Western and Northern Europe.

>>11220449
I wish people would shitpost more irl. Everyone is becoming hypernormalized. Decorum is reaching victorian era levels.

>>11220452
Yeah i realized that immediately after posting. I hate being a monoglot sometimes, but, at least I have a good one.

>>11220454
Isn't that why Trump was elected?

>>11220454
It's because the internet has transformed every act into public permanency. If I do something exceptionally stupid, some exceptionally stupid people will record it and send it beyond the confines of the room.

who here /his/ masterrace

>>11220469
If /his/ is so great why do you come to /lit/?

>>11220454
is it though? People in my experience are shitposting MORE now publicly. Look at some of the big music hits recently and a lot of them are like intentionally shit debauch rap hits are the music equivalent of shitposting. The level of dissociated shitposting IRL that I encounter seems quite high, although there is a tendency to be aware of how behaviors may look if they were saved and revealed later for posterity.

>>11220474
to laugh at /lit/ ofc

>>11220438
Its pretty good anon. The line between good and bad posts here isn't as blurred as it is on reddit, given the fact that as you say, people have a reputation to feed and an echo chamber to maintain. Internet anonymity enables people to behave like chimpanzees, but encourages people who have something of value to say to put extra effort into their posts, in that they don't have the safeguard of a hug box to fall back on in the case of saying something stupid. If you're a brainlet, you'll be called out as such, and good posts are usually recognised and singled out because they are so rare. I value transparency. If that means having to wade through an interminable sea of shitposts, so be it.

>>11220461
>public permanence
I remember living in boston at 18, drunkenly arguing with other drunks on the subway, knowing it was likely that i would never meet the person again
>>11220476
By IRL i meant outside of media.
>>11220477
No it is because your containment board is boring

>>11220099
I also really like this board! I will sometimes visit /tv because movies are my biggest hobby but it really is a shitshow over there. Most people on 4chan are just as guilty of parroting the same shit over and over without being able to reflect on stuff as normies are. This problem is not as prevalent on /lit. I think it is almost strictly logical that a website where you can anonymously speak your mind almost without boundaries will attract highly interestin and intelligent people and it shows on /lit. Of course there is still lots of bs threads and comments but I really find myself screenshotting funny as well as insightful things very frequently.
That said, I am sadly not a big reader because I fucked my brain with too much fast paced internet usage over the last decade.

>>11220487
stop posting shit anime weebo cancer
but this otherwise
>>11220480
Additionally this, the value of anonymity is being extricated from my body, as slowly every finger print I leave will be recognizable, my face, voice, height, corneas, finger prints, all will be swirled up into a package of identifiers, and only forms of expressions that exist outside of my body will be again capable of unobserved expression. Also, the ability to be forgotten should be a human right

>>11220494
>the ability to be forgotten should be a human right

This is objected to, notably in America over free speech concerns but Europe has it right. Modern times need modern solutions. Society will only get more fucked up without the right to be forgotten.

>>11220494
>weeboo cancer
Plz anon this is 4chan.

But you are right the walls of Identity prison are closing in, the panopticon extends within and without.

>>11220508
this board could use more anime tiddies

>>11220499
Dubs
Also, American culture unnerves me because of its proclivity for epitaphs and self-identity creation. It's more likely that the need to have an identity and be remembered to create a legacy is stronger in America than Europe, and that drive will continue to foil this need

>>11220469
>>11220477
Post FC.

>>11220523
>FC
wat

>>11220522
Baudelaire's "The Painter of Modern Life" is relevant to this discussion. S o y boys are really just wannabe flaneurs.

>>11220527
Sorry, I thought you might play fgo because of the pics.

>>11220364
what a stupid question

>>11220099
I unironically like /lit/. Yes, a lot of shitposting and /pol/ invading here, but there are decent discussions sometimes and people offer help and give good recommendations.

I agree with you OP and in fact I have this view about 4chan in general.
There is this meme (even in the Dawkings sense) that 4chan is low quality. Indeed, "4chan is low quality" is a true statement. On top of that, every other place on the internet is the same or lower quality. As such, 4chan is the highest quality you find.
The meme is that 4chan is bad and an implication is that reddit, or twitter, or dedicated forums hold better people and you can have more interesting conversations. That's wrong. There are knowledgeable cultivated people on 4chan. Places like 4chan just have <more> of everything, so there are billions of retards too and you have to filter.

>>11220099
>>irreverant 4chan posters instead of having a stick up their ass
Being gay irreverent and having a stick up your ass practically mean the same thing. Looks like all this reading hasn't actually helped you become smarter.

>>11220897
>not having a dragon dildo
someone got b& from shelf threads for being too normie

>>11220773
>Places like 4chan just have <more> of everything, so there are billions of retards too and you have to filter.
I mean twitter and reddit literally have more people and (at least for reddit) more subcommunities. I think as a bunch of folks above have pointed out, it's the full anonymity that removes the ego of self that allows for there to be better wheat among the chaff.

>>11220099
Hey Emily,

Banangle baningle you are now single

>>11220454
>Decorum is reaching victorian era levels.
This is a good thing.

>>11220150
>implying not contributing to this shithole is a bad thing

>>11220099
me, tho i like /his/ better because i like history more than philosophy and i don't read much fiction

and when i do read fiction is usually weird fiction, and most genre fiction recomendations on the scifi and fantasy general don't feel new enough for me

>>11220099

I do! I would have never given a second chance to Gravity's Rainbow or stopped being scared by Ulysses if people in here didn't bully me into reading them by calling me a pseud for everything I posted.

Also, thanks to the fact that nobody takes anything seriously here, I feel I have learned to read books just for fun. I mean, there is no way I can express my opinion on a book here and not be insulted. Now I talk about things if I feel that I like them and I have something to say. I'll be insulted anyway, but it's fine, there's always two or three anons who genuinely want to share their opinions with you.

Overall, this is a nice board.

>>11221054
Anonymity seems to benefit the extremely intelligent or dedicated to those pursuant of reliable life views and those unintelligent and extremely dedicated to pernicious and deleterious life views. Everyone in the middle loses interest because their cumulative identity is abluted. All that's left is the antonym of normies, and this can both be incredibly helpful to actually stimulating and aggressively self-secure self-expressions, and extremely conducive to incel and other antisocial groups. Double edge swords at their peak of acuity.

>>11221197
The problem with /his/ is that there isn't enough book discussion. I stopped going there after book generals stopped being made.

Someone tried to make a book thread this week but most of the replies were people being offended at the OP implying that you need to read to understand history.

i have an unironic unshakable faith that /lit/ will be responsible for producing something of cultural value. in my entire life 4chan is the ONLY place where people have given me harsh, meaningful criticism. i've sleepwalked my way through a hundred different classrooms and writing groups only to receive the same airy praise of people desperate for me to have niceties returned in kind and my god am i sick to suicide of it. /lit/ is the only place online or irl that genuinely encourages personal betterment (an essential facet of which is shaming complacency), and considering the fluffy sneering cesspool the "literary culture" has become, this is worth more good than any of us can know at present.

i'm working on a novel of my own that i consider to be truly good (for the first time in my life i'm confident i'll actually finish it). i promise i won't let you guys down. but even if i fail, i KNOW that somewhere down the road someone who spent a lot of time on this board will write a novel or philosophical treatise or something that will bear the imprint of /lit/'s culture on it. there's a certain inchoate zeitgeist on here--an indescribable mix of postmodern meme culture, occultism, catholicism, latent incel rage--that feels truly new (and most importantly, DANGEROUS). i can only glimpse it from time to time, but it'll take a real visionary to bring it to full glory. perhaps i'll have a part in it, but i'll be equally happy if it's you instead of me.

>>11221349
Dibs on writing our culture's next best novel

/lit/ introduced me to the based sniffman who revitalized my interest in philosophy (and also Stirner and Houellebecq).
I put off starting with the Greeks for years, but thanks to /lit/ I've rediscovered my love for reading and finally started.

>>11221349
I fear I may have been of those who was merely polite when you read your latest shitshow, anon
But there really is no solution to this issue. People are unsatisfied with their social circles and use politness to try and get other people to empathize with them. Being rude - even critical, really - doesn't make you friends, and that's all that everyone is looking for nowadays

Especially me, tbf. So sorry again, anon
Pic sort of related.