/lit/ - Literature

>>12631011
Infinite Jest, 2666

75% of The Whale is literally just a whaling textbook. /lit/ calling it difficult is a proof that this is a board of pseuds.

>>12631305
thats hyperbole, and oft-repeated hyperbole at that.

>>12631011
Most long books are called difficult like War and Peace, Dream of the Red Chamber, Les Misérables, etc. But they're easy reads, just long.

In Search of Lost Time is both long and difficult, so that's the exception.

>>12631011
Dickens novels are easy to read but most people are unwilling to read a book longer than 400 pages.

>>12631011
It's a long book but its also got many very short chapters, I don't see how people run out of steam with Moby Dick when they pass another threshold of progress every 10 minutes or so

>>12632891
do you pay that much attention to chapters?

Moby dick isn't even that long.

>>12632932
They're there for a reason.

>>12631305
Not even true, it’s an adventure tale with a handful of technical or esoteric chapters

>>12631327
Was just going to write War and Peace as well

>>12631305

>75% of The Whale is literally just a whaling textbook.

Lmfao. Even the whaling textbook parts aren't just whaling textbooks. They're far more than that. They're all from the perspective of Ishmael as well and reveals a lot about his character.

>/lit/ calling it difficult is a proof that this is a board of pseuds.

What do you think is a difficult book?

>>12633199
Not to mention that the whale "science" is largely false anyway. Melville was inventing false whale science to thematically match the rest of his novel.

>>12631011

My favourite chapter was when they pissed off the chef for fucking up the stake. Many laughs were had.

>>12631032
>Infinite Jest
I get secondhand embarrassment by the number of people who overestimate the difficulty of this book.
>how should I go about reading IJ
>what secondary literature should I consult
>what reading schedule should I adhere to
It's not just on this website. And the worst part is the people who've actually read the book and think they need to offer their formula about how to read IJ.
Its just a book, and a really fun one at that.

>>12633199
not the person to whom you're responding but pic related is a difficult book

this

>>12633367
LOLOLOL

>>12631011
Anna Karenina

>>12633401
are you cringe?

>>12632932
There is a little surge of dopamine in completing a task, keeping the endeavor rewarding and engrossing. I don't think it's a radical claim to suggest it can be far more daunting to read a 100 page section in a sitting than it is to read 10 chapters at about 10 pages each.

Gabriel Garcia Marquez, I guess it's just the boredom that gets them same as I had. I got bored so I just called it difficult to read. So overrated and boring and not even avant garde

>Moby Dick

Is it really actually about gay men?

>>12635468
No, it's about a whale. That's the whale's name.

>>12635468
ismale marries some island dude before going out on sea so maybe.

>>12633438
Has anybody actually called Anna Karenina difficult?

>>12631327
>In Search of Lost Time is both long and difficult, so that's the exception.
How is it difficult? The images are easy to enjoy and the syntax is remarkably logical and clear.

>>12634147
You should make an app for Google glasses that shows 'chapter complete +100xp' Every time you pass a chapter marker.

>>12633367
Okay, now this is ἐπιk.

>posting the wrong moby dick

>>12633020
That's what she said

>>12633367
Based

>>12636522
Funny guy huh

>>12637883
Funny how?

>>12631305
Nope, your post is proof that this is a board of pseuds.

>>12637884
Funny like how many death convictions rest on the back of eyewitness testimony, as if human beings were video monitors with perfect recall. Funny like someone drinking two liters of onions sauce because an online troll suggested it as the perfect colon cleanse. Funny like the subtle homo eroticism of biblical epics.

*Tch*