/lit/ - Literature

GR = poop. Read it
2666 = exhaustion. Read

haven’t looked at the others...

only one you've listed that I've read is Infinite Jest. it's pretty good, but his prose is extremely divisive; if you read the first page and scoff at the semi-clinical, vaguely autistic tone of narration, then it's not for you and you should try something else, and even then a lot of people drop it because the Wardine sections are written from the perspectives of uneducated AAVE speakers in the hood
I know you didn't list it and the board considers it a meme, but I found House of Leaves to be a very enjoyable read. if you can't handle authors sounding extremely pretentious, it will piss you off to no end, but a lot of the pretense is actually justified by the end when you realize why exactly he and his narrators have been bullshitting you for so long. the poetry is also god-tier, so that's a plus

Isn’t the Tunnel a meme book? 2666 might be out of place cause it’s a translation

burger TRASH

The first 100 pages of the recognitions is a real fireworks display of prose. After that still amazing but its all themes, symbolism and dialogue. JR is a more enjoyable novel and probably more of a technical achievement, but Gaddis never wrote anything like the beginning of The Recognitions again.

>>13102592

Haven’t read JR, but def agree about Recognitions. That intro I’d sublime.

I also really love Gravity’s Rainbow. Part 1 is fantastic, part 2 is easier to follow, then 3/4 will get weird and stunning...

What is the philosophy behind PoMo?

>>13103524
You can't know nuffinz. Its better as a novel than some french faggots autistic opinions.

>>13103524

something something metanarrative

>>13100970

To be fair, this bird considers infinite jest and gravity’s rainbow as meme books so no reason to avoid for that reason. will prob check it out. thanks anon!!

>>13100445
>Gravity's Rainbow
Bureaucratic agencies engineer positive feedback loops of death and control. Totalitarianism becomes memetic, decentralized hierarchy. Cartesian Rationalism refracted through the parameters of the Zone is Paranoia. The They are everywhere.
>Underworld
The American Dream in decay. Our epic heroes are homosexual teenaged graffiters marauding through abandoned subways, atheist nuns, serial killers, and executives at waste management companies. Something has gone terribly wrong. Several characters devote their lives to the search for a relic - a baseball from the homerun known as "the shot heard round the world" - of better times. We find out that things have always been dark, and the all-american-ness of the first 50 pages is just another case of the maxim: hindsight is always seen with rose-tinted sunglasses.
>Infinite Jest
The decentralized systems of control of GR assume a different form. Everything has the capacity to engender addiction. Not just drugs, but also tennis, suicidal thoughts, television, sex, Toblerone, Alcoholics Anonymous etc. Even cannabis. /Especially/ cannabis. Addiction and worship are not the same thing, but they certainly graduated from the same trade school.
roast me

>>13100445
Skip all and read the Brother Karamazov or War and Peace

>>13103524
it's based heavily upon poststructuralism / deconstruction. google if unfamiliar with those terms

>>13100445
GR is the only genuine masterpiece among that lot.

>>13104149

imagine actually believing those are anything other than a cover for degenerate writing

>>13104348
>reddit spacing
>degenerate
Back to nu-/pol/ you 56% kike

>>13104363

lmao @ u making plebbit-tier comments
‘check google!!’
not wasting more IQ on a lobotomized retard

>>13104466
>reddit spacing
>no u
>spoonfeed me!
>not knowing basic literary concepts
>not lurking more
>trying this hard
become an hero

>>13100445
>epics
>not in verse
epic meme

>>13104787
Are there any pomo epics in verse?

>>13100445
los detectives salvajes >>>>> 2666
la vdd

>>13104791
An epic is in verse by definition.
There probably are some attempts but I haven't heard of them. Long-form poetry died in the 19th century.

Would like a genuine answer desu

>>13105026
You have been given several you faggot. What do you want?

>>13103670
>Bureaucratic agencies engineer positive feedback loops of death and control. Totalitarianism becomes memetic, decentralized hierarchy. Cartesian Rationalism refracted through the parameters of the Zone is Paranoia. The They are everywhere.
Okay but this is basically just every empty talking point thrown around on this site about GR, minus something about "order emerges from chaos vice versa". No offense, but a bot which exclusively reads GR reviews written on this board could have written your post.
>The American Dream in decay. Our epic heroes are homosexual teenaged graffiters marauding through abandoned subways, atheist nuns, serial killers, and executives at waste management companies. Something has gone terribly wrong. Several characters devote their lives to the search for a relic - a baseball from the homerun known as "the shot heard round the world" - of better times. We find out that things have always been dark, and the all-american-ness of the first 50 pages is just another case of the maxim: hindsight is always seen with rose-tinted sunglasses.
This is a bit reductive, but I suppose any 60 word summary of a 900 book is gonna miss something important. I do like the point you're making about the contrast between the beginning of the book and final episodes where we see Nick's past.
>Addiction and worship are not the same thing, but they certainly graduated from the same trade school.
Kek, this honestly could be a sentence from IJ.

You should absolutely read IJ

>>13105196
You should absolutely *not* read IJ

>>13105184
Not that guy but gravity's rainbow has like 400 characters and you can't just cynically say "yeah everyone on /lit/ talks about some of the most memorable scenes and can tell you more or less what it's about" but what more do you want? There's a scene where a man ejaculates himself out of his own cock? I guess the most important thing to stress is that the book is funny, and slothrop is a cool motherfucker. Its engaging and fun.

>>13105206
how come italics dont work? help please that should be in italics.

>>13104791
>>13104866
Only Revolutions you actual nitwits

>>13105210
I think I got cancer

>>13105207
Yeah sure, its an encyclopedic novel, but c.f. what I said about the guy's review of Underworld. Parroting /lit/-tier talking points is not the same thing as succumbing to the pressures of reviewing a long book in a compact fashion. Of course, nothing he said is wrong persay, (although I'd question whether "positive feedback loops" and "memetic" mechanisms are thematically significant enough to warrant so much real estate in such a small review) but my issue is that he didn't actually say anything. But maybe that's just an inherent problem with writing a short review of such a complex book.
Of course, now that you mention it, the GR review in question does conspicuously omit any mention of sex, or sexual deviancy.

>>13105414
>an honest frank appraisal of the book is a "/lit/ talking point" because the book is a fixture of this board
Again dude I'm just confused as to what you want. I feel like there is no pleasing you here.

>>13105414
>persay

>>13100445

read the last three wouldnt touch the first three

>>13106233
and here I thought that /lit/ wasn't a pseud board

>>13105439
>an honest frank appraisal of the book
Okay, I'm going to have too flattered to continue with the charade. The initial reviews, the subsequent detracting review, and my reply to your reply - all me! I was samefagging the whole time. I made my initial reply to my post to generate discussion, but then you defended me!!! and then you defended me again!!!!! Thank you anon, you're a good guy :~)

>>13106261
is this what peak based and redpilled looks like?

>>13106286
Still talking to yourself. Have a (you)

>>13103670
>>13105184
>>13105207
>>13105414
>>13105439
>>13106046
>>13106261
>>13106286
>>13106332
All these posts are me btw

>>13106361

This post is me as well.

>>13106361
Heh, nice try kid. Only half of those are (Me)

>>13106286
>>13106332
samefag

>>13100445
>>13103524
How is Pomo different from Surrealism/Kafkaesque such as a Haruki Murakami?

Read J R instead of The Recognitions, Omensetter's Luck instead of The Tunnel and, if anything, Pale King instead of Infinite Jest, although both aren't essential. Underworld and 2666 are great. Haven't read GR.

>>13103524
like everything is relative dude but a lot of other stuff as well

>>13103524
>What is the philosophy behind PoMo?
people that have never been in a fight jerking each other off

>>13100445
Loved GR, pynchon is probably my favorite author, 2666 and infinite jest arw a bit more difficult for me to pic which i limed more, very different but both impacted me greatly, fuck underworld, dellilo is boring as shit, havent read the other two

>>13107632
>People who have never been in a fight
I feel like you saw that comment going less cringe in your head.

John Fowles's The Magus is a pomo epic and also (more importantly) a deeply engrossing thriller about love.

>>13100445
I’ve read all of those except Gass’s Tunnel which I stopped halfway through.

Gonna need more info on what you’ve been exposed to because this board seems to be filled with people who don’t know anything about reading, analysis, etc and just want to read really involved novels.

But the Recognitions is the easiest to read and understand. GR is hard in several places on a sentence by sentence level, having lots of named characters, unannounced time skips, etc. but it’s an absolute blast if you’re willing to weather some confusion the first time through.

IJ is repetitive but fun in places. 2666 does a lot of different things and is probably the most different stylistically from all the others on this list.

I would highly advise against trying The Tunnel if you have no experience with the Gass Master. Even if you are a strong reader who has tackled several other American pomo works, The Tunnel has more in common with the formal demands of high modernism. The first half of it is also intentionally more difficult to weed out those who aren’t that committed.

>>13106261
Epic XD

>>13107597
>can’t differentiate Kafkaesque from pomo and surrealism
>thinks Murakami is Kafkaesque
not only do you not know what pomo is, you also don’t know what Kafkaesque is. I also wouldn’t be surprised if you didn’t know what surrealism is

>>13108182
Bruh just admit that the tunnel sucks and gass is an unbelievable faggot.