/lit/ - Literature

>>15914070
GR
2/10
overvalued meme defended by jews

>>15914070
Nobody has ever read any of these books.

>>15914070
Ulysses 10/10
GR 6/10
IJ 1/10

GR 9/10, just loses a point because Mason & Dixon and Against the Day are better and don't have legions of pseuds whining about how it doesn't make sense

Ulysses 7/10 most of its technical and style tricks are either played-out or meaningless to a modern audience. There's a good, moving story in there but it takes a backseat to the formalism, to its detriment. (Except the second-to-last chapter, shit made me cry.)

IJ haven't read yet, planning to in the next year sometime.

>>15914070
Reddittier books

Personally I'd say

Ulysses
Gravity's Rainbow
Infinite Jest

This isn't to say Infinite Jest is bad; it really isn't. All three are worth reading. I feel like I really gained an interest in the encyclopedic tradition in modern novels through these books.

>>15914070
>Ulysses
Probably the objective best, but I enjoyed it the least - I have to read it again
>GR
Favorite of the trilogy, a 9/10
>IJ
Got me into reading seriously - still love it, fuck you

My favorite long post-modern novel is probably The Recognitions; DeLillo's Underworld and Gass' The Tunnel are great too

>>15914070
Infinite Jest: 10/10 in these sense It is my favorite book.

GR: 8/10 Absolutely worth the read and a much quicker one than IJ. I like Pynchon a lot, but I just fell like its "missing" something relative to IJ.

Ulysses: Haven't read it yet, I will eventually but I'm concerned Ill feel like >>15914219 in the sense that the style/prose will overwhelm the experience.

>>15914219
>takes a backseat to the formalism

Nah, the formalism is just the most striking quality so it naturally grabs your attention. The story is constantly in your face with themes being repeated over and over and over like a fugue. The "formalism" is essential to the story because it allows the constant repetition to be angled through different lenses giving it a new perspective each time; without that change he can't explore each element of the characters psychology in such a striking, visceral way. I am really glad I ended up rereading it, because I got 100x more out of it the second go around.

>>15914643
Can you write some stuff on what you liked about IJ?

I've read Ulysses and infinite jest. I enjoyed both but Ulysses is easily the best book I've ever read. I read "the new Bloomsday book" alongside it which is a really good companion text that made the experience of reading it so much easier and richer for me. Would highly recommend. People on this board will say I'm a brainlet for using a companion text but ehh, I got pretty much all the references and had my hand held through the harder chapters so that I could enjoy them to their fullest, which most people wouldn't be able to do otherwise.

>>15914077

>>15914704
I think the points DFW made in regard to trying to find meaning in contemporary America are what is so powerful, and in some ways only become more relevant. The drugs and depression, as well as the entertainment itself as examples people would be more than happy to give themselves away to. I also appreciate what he can do things with structure such as annularity, while using an actually well designed self insert to clue us in.

>>15914704
I'll do a re-read of Ulysses at some point. I felt like Joyce was just showing off first and telling a story second, but maybe it'll hit me like it did you.

I'll throw this out: why isn't Moby-Dick one of the meme books? Not "modern" enough? Too well-known by normies?

>>15916486
Moby dick isn't a meme book because it is unironically the best American novel ever written. For a book to achieve meme status it has to be long (check) and either niche or polarizing. Moby Dick is for everyone and they all love it.

IJ - hugely popular when it came out, people now realize it's garbage - polarizing

GR - very difficult, slightly less well known - niche

Ulysses - no one can agree on the best edition in its native language, some peoples favorite novel of all time, while some people hate it. Sued by the US Government. Long made up words of nonsense. This is the ultimate Meme book

>>15914070
I read all three years ago, AMA.

I read Ulysees as a challenge in high school. One of 4 books i read during my pre college days.
I wish i took reading seriously then. God know I remember none of it.

Ulysses is shite. Maybe if I was a pretentious teenager who looked down on my peers for not being as "erudite" as I was, I'd say otherwise, but nah. Infinite Jest is good tho.

Ulysses is great but can't be read without acknowledging Portrait. Both 10/10. The two go together entirely in order to complete Stephen's arc, even though there really isn't much of one. He ends where he begins, in that lonely chasm of the early morning (shown by him being a young boy in Portrait, and him walking away early morning in Ulysses). Ulysses to me seemed more about Stephen, despite the fact we spend more time with Bloom, I feel that Ulysses simply adds onto Portrait and the two become a continual work, a river of sorts, and that at a certain point it breaks into sections, one for Bloom, the other for Stephen, with each having their own shoulders and paths for other random characters. But the backbone of the river is Stephen, despite the face more pages are dealt with Bloom, the real emotional value and intensity is dealt with Stephen. His mother coming through the floor made me seize up in terror and cry due to the earlier establishment of his issues causing the maternal issue to climax there as well as the story (arguably). Even in Portrait, with his moment with the prostitute and his lonely walks and talks with others has much more emotional value and intensity than the whole of Bloom's path. Not saying that Bloom and his story is devoid of emotion and power, but rather it is merely less than Stephen's.

>>15914070
Ulysses 7/10
Gravity's Rainbow 3/10
Infinite Jest 2/10

U 10/10
GR 9/10
IJ 9/10

Ulysses: 11/10 best book ever
Gravity's Rainbow: 6.5/10 good but the style was sometimes annoying
Infinite Jest: will never read it

>>15914070
GR 8/10
IJ 5/10
U 4/10

>>15914219
>Against the day
Invalid opinion.

All three are brilliant. The Infinite Jest hate has always just seemed like a goofy bandwagon to me.