/lit/ - Literature

Seems interesting, makes me wanna reread Dune for this.

>>16583923
I read a Signet Classics edition of this book. I received my education in the classics from mass market Signet and Bantam classics editions that I used to buy in used bookstores for $2. I know Bantam and Signet are still publishing these books, but I see them less and less as they get squeezed out by more expensive trade paperbacks published by Penguin or the Modern Library. This is a shame. I love these cheap little editions.

But while I love Signet Classics in general, I didn’t care for this one in particular. It’s an overripe, melodramatic cheeseball of a book. I couldn’t connect with any character.

>>16583949

Hopefully others as well. I wanted to make the question be outside of Dune more generally so you wouldn’t have to have read/own the book you’d win.
Would definitely accept an essay on Dune, though.

>this looks interesting
>rapshit
do you think he's a janny? we'll see

>>16583923
IN. Just lit my oil lamps, inked up my fountain pen, and took out 8 sheets of high quality French writing paper. I hope you're ready for a beastly essay.

>>16584005
I will read it under a similar set of oil lamps and take notes with my own fountain pen. Look forward to it.

>>16583952
Out of curiosity, what book/type of book would actually get you to enter an essay competition?

hey this seems awesome, I'm looking forward to submitting an essay, but just as as a general question whats Pykewater really about? I had a look through the Warosu threads and got a feel for the kind of content you're creating, but how do you want people to interface with it?

>>16584362
Good question, I'm feeling and figuring out the big picture take now.

It's been nice producing reading lists and just having a (virtually zero-follower) blog, but I'm thinking of ways of expanding the interface to 1. include a more refined and interactive "on-stop-shop" academic-quality resource center for non-academics, someplace people interested in topic X can come and get a full intro, recommendations, links, etc.; 2. include a more active aesthetic interface (see pics i'm posting in this thread and Pykewater Studios more generally)--the question being how to engage and market books/knowledge to a heavily optics-oriented, instagram generation; and 3. provide some type of community in its own right, fostering things like the experimental competition above as well as potential sponsored seminars, lectures, etc. that would be open to the public somehow. Used to think it was going to be a scanning operation but anons seem to need this far less than more basic reading/academic resources.

what type of resource would you most respond to? in terms of the world that falls outside of formal academia, what sort of deficit do you think would be most appreciated in fiilling?

I'm really open to brainstorm, entertain different ideas, etc.; it's really been a matter of trying to make something worthwhile with just a large material library somehow, and covid seems to offer the perfect time to step back and try to reorient. very much in the nascent phases, though. thanks for asking.

>>16584410
>lecturing birds to fly

>>16584410
Sounds neat man, to be honest I'm probably not the exact person to ask since the things you've described are kind of already what I'm in the market for. I'm still in academia but heavily in mathematics so I read and write in the arts and humanities to feel less like a human input output machine. If anything comes to mind I'll mention it, but I'm a big fan of what you're trying to provide, and I think I might be able to really throw myself behind this essay. Best of luck to you though, until next time, I'll be writing.

>>16584560
Hey man, thanks a lot for the feedback, much appreciated. Looking forward to reading your submission!

Bump with some color
(Green is my favorite)

>the question being how to engage and market books/knowledge to a heavily optics-oriented, instagram generation
The generational question worth a 100 brainstorms, and it's only the beginning.

>>16584759
What is your take?
There seems to be a real deficit here; I’m interested in the aesthetics of “booktube” and “bookstagram” but find the content to be extremely limited.
I’ve just begun a new image campaign that is trying to push the envelope slightly toward more committed artistic forms—content that is potentially arresting and potentially shareable. Something like still lifes for books and academic publishers—something to showcase the material aesthetic of the book itself as a potential window into its content and ideas.

Thoughts, imaginations, feedback—all are welcome and appreciated. Very interesting marketing project to take on today, IMO.

>>16584803
Yellow

>>16584945
From: cabinet of curiosities, by Massimo Listri/TASCHEN. Beautiful book.

>>16583923
i wanna enter as well, but the term political frontier is unclear to me. i know what both words mean but still....is it meant that there is a border which can't be crossed ??? euro anon is confused

What am I looking at

The Pykewater Library is a 25,000-volume private collection housed between Washington, DC and Cambridge, MA. The purpose of the Library is to supply the general public, scholars and expert policy-makers with access to a range of Knowledge Lists and academic summaries. The Pykewater Library offers itself foremost as an independent consulting service, converting theoretical political knowledge into practical principles of application. To this end, the Pykewater Library hopes to close the “gap” between academic knowledge and the greater democratic public, offering a supplement to, rather than substitution for, the resources of traditional academia.

The Library includes a range of digitizing and archiving resources, article databases, and cataloged syllabi, as well as a non-exhaustive but academically-sanctioned compilation of subject-based Knowledge Lists. The Library is non-partisan and primarily humanities-oriented, though services may be extended to subjects of the sciences, medicine, and architecture upon request.

Any and all are invited to participate in the Pykewater Library’s mission. Please direct inquiries and requests to: pykewater@gmail.com

William D. S. Pennington

Founder/Curator, Pykewater Library

PhD Candidate in Government, Cornell University

How competitive do you think this essay competition will be?

ESL, how bad would some grammatical errors be? Could you fix them before publishing it assuming my essay is good otherwise? I am unfortunately not good enough with English to become a published writer, anyone know that feel?

>>16585054
rapture (pennington) has been posting here for a while, usually replies to himself to keep threads alive. it might be a bit but i think someone found proof he's at least sort of real. he seems very much a striver, his only form of evaluating literature and relating to the world more generally is appealing to authority

This guy must be fake, who the fuck is he? He claims to have a huge volume library but I've never heard of this guy before, how do we know he is even going to follow through on the reward for this essay competition?

>>16585179
>>16585130
i would add that he never really contributes to literary discussion, he just catalogues secondary literature

>>16585054
>>16585179
Rapture has been posting for years, he’s real.
Very richfag with massive library. Gone through a lot of cringe variations, check warosu if interested. This iteration might be the most interesting yet, though.

>>16583923
I already have a copy of dune but that’s a nice one. Will be submitting.

>>16585205
How do we know he actually has all these books and he doesn't just say that he has those books? I could say that I have a 250,000 book library, one order of magnitude larger than his

would you take an 8k word screenplay?

>>16585030
It’s up for interpretation. The idea of border could itself be a topic of conversation viz. outer space and politics, or you could take it in a more traditional direction. Really I’m interested more in quality of thought than anything else.

>>16585054
You’ve copied and pasted the “About” page of my website. It’s what I do in my free time.

>>16585063
I’m not anticipating many entries, to be honest. I’m not thinking its going to be competitive on a relative basis—I’m still going to try and judge the essays accordingly, though. Want the most interesting and provocative to win, whatever that looks like and however many people submit.

>>16585086
I’d take that into account and would help you edit/copy edit before publishing it, if you’d like. As I said above, I’m looking for quality of thought and originality of interpretation above all else. I’d love to read a clean, elegant, well-written and articulate piece, sure—but I get if you’re ESL, definitely does not disqualify you as long as you can still write in basically persuasive English.

>>16585228
For you, anon, anything.
If it’s truly decent material and not crap, sure, submit away, I’ll consider it.

I have begun drafting a an attempt at a submission; Hopefully I will be satisfied enough with my work to think it worth sending in.

As for the media project, what is your goal?
To build a brand?
To inspire a new generation of great writers?
Purely an aesthetic venture?

I do like some of the photos, particularly the Red one, and it is obvious they have been staged with care and an attitude toward taste.

The problem I see, being someone from the generation you target, is the inherit vanity of platforms like Instagram.
By merit of the platform, anything you post, regardless (or perhaps because of) the quality, will be immediately cheapened, becoming something merely to be possessed for the sole sake of possession and display, rather than a inciting a real interface or interest with the realm of literature.

>>16585030
The prompt is reminiscent of those you would find on the SAT or some other test in its lack of provocation or context, but you might take the meaning of the term political frontier to mean a battleground or landscape on/in which political factions may compete for power, or be generated in response to the opportunities presented in the conquering of outer space.

Wdym "essay"? Can it be a play, or poetry or just fiction in general or should it be non ficrion?

>>16585639
>For you, anon, anything.

Cool brah, depends on your taste. I have a very specific aesthetic that I am striving for. That lies somewhere between classical and modern.

Bump for interest

>>16585880
Second in this

>>16583923
Getting to work on this tonight, I want that book

>>16584803
>booktube and bookstagram
Highly likely a dead-end: the medium's wrong, being very susceptible to pollution by other content. It's also more addictive than the content itself. What causes your interest in those?

>colour-focused pictures you prepared
Captivating, yes. I think they may interest a bunch of people here to look into this or that book, but we have to remember that the audience here is rather unique. If this is who you're looking at, it's a good start and beautifully executed. I question the usability of those pictures outside of this narrow group.

I'm pessimistic about the general prospects. The Pykewater reading lists for “actual readers” are a good idea, so if you find such people, definitely engage them as it's the highest probability-weighted payoff strategy. It would be a terrific success if you could gather a few strangers on social-media screenshot exchange forum interested in the same topics and willing to participate in discussions about them. I believe it comes down to finding actual readers, the rarest specimen.
Perhaps it should start with something approachable like essays on whatever current topics; the more universal you go, the less likely you are to achieve anything. Don't hope to discuss Heidegger or Pynchon or anything long or difficult, but a group that dedicates itself to read an essay or a paper every week or so and meet up to discuss it sounds more realistic. I have a feeling this may also lead to more organic growth of the reading group and the reading list itself. So a group meeting to discuss the newest papal encyclical is more likely to succeed than one aiming for Ratzinger's Jesus of Nazareth, with the first one perhaps taking on Ratzinger down the road if it survives.

>>16585880
>>16586829
These. Would something like a creative or poetic work be accepted? Not sure what I have in mind yet, just not a fan of essays.

>>16586047
record yourself acting it out

>>16586860
good luck

>>16587631
It is possible to make an essay highly poetic.

Kind of like the idea of a competition.
Terrible prompt.

>>16583923
Very based anon. I like the effort you've been putting into these things, and will definitely submit something for this. Good luck for your project, and thanks for doing this!

>>16585880
>>16586829
I'll accept anything that is thoughtful and high quality and meets the prompt on a basic level.

>>16585741
>>16586889
these are great replies, thank you.
big questions here. currently everything is very much at a type of experimental/planning stage.
there are two primary questions on the table, as i see it: 1. how to offer academic-level resources to a population of non-academics? 2. more broadly, what would it mean to market "knowledge" today, to turn the resources of advertising toward a more abstract and academic front? combining and answering these two questions while also mobilizing a fairly substantial physical library is essentially the immediate task i'm pursuing now. "branding" and its various strategies is very much a part of it; the idea is that in branding a library, one can begin to get at something more abstract like ideas or knowledge itself.
the goal is broad. on a personal level, i'm pretty influenced by kant, schiller and the german aesthetic state theorists, and find the absolute outer ring of my hope to be something like a more utopian dream of a modern bayreuth or something of that nature--a coordinated, inspired community of thinkers and artists. this is, again, the upper ideal and has very little bearing on practical strategies right now--but it is what informs the project from its root.

both of you have identified a key problem: the "vanity" of the platforms in question/the limited intellectual scope and reach of any real community. i have no real answer to this problem, only that we've been experimenting on different platforms; i've posted on reddit and use instagram as well. the popularity of the images has been mixed and varied--it's been fascinating trying to calibrate in on platform-specific tastes, and i gotta be honest its really surprised me seeing where the actual aesthetic preference of the public tends to fall. and so it is a question of whether we ought to simply do what bookstagram, etc. are doing, just more polished, with greater resources, etc.; or is it a matter of a type of double-conversion, the first step being the promotion of a new type of aesthetic valuation--the "book still life" as shareable content--that itself helps to sell this or that idea, book, etc. lots to discuss here. very open to ideas and conversation. thank you in general for your excellent feedback and showing such a keen interest.

Do you all have experience in branding or marketing? what type of offerings, projects, etc. would entice you all? so far the idea of a competition for a given prize--see this thread--has proven fairly popular, and i've received good feedback. would love to open up even more ways to meaningfully interface, to build real community, etc.--i have a discord i run, but it is slow and i have not fully figured out how to mobilize it alongside the greater project to any purposeful degree.

>>16590768
hey thanks, anon--looking forward to your submission!

pls stop bumping I don't want more competition

>>16591514
hey an anon from before, I'd recommend trying to avoid the spectacle as much as possible, and continue the focus you have on your site of showing something "high class". The way I see it, the market you're aiming towards is probably made up of a lot of individuals who've become disenfranchised with traditional outlets for academia or culture in one way or another, so it makes more sense to revel in your own sense of esoterics. All of the services you want to offer have substitutes that may be off the mark but are much more accessible for the lay person. If you want to focus on the longer term, you want your average consumer to be subscribing to the aesthetic of a non-academic academic, trying to learn things despite themselves.

I like the reading lists, I'd like there to be more avenues of discussion for people who like these kinds of reading lists, and I like the opportunity to compete in a meaningful way like this, where something simple like a book is on the line. Honestly I think the competition aspect might be the best way of doing that, it's internally regulating and draws in a large swathe of people, only downside is you'll be reading a lot of essays

Reading up heavily for the essay writing part, be seeing ya rapture

Bump for holy based rapture and interesting project, want to hear more

>>16592858
stop the samefagging rapture

temporary bump to prevent thread death, post to follow

>>16593986
Always interested. Adding my own endorsement bump.

>>16591514
You would combat the death of sincerity - let us endeavor to restore the spirit of man.

Your project seeks to fulfill the noblesse oblige, exercised in tenacity of battle by Glaucus in Homer's Iliad, the patronage of the arts by the House of Medici, and the philanthropic pursuits of Carnegie.
There is great potential in this, but there was also potential in Carnegie's establishment of public libraries.
Overcoming cultural rot is not an easy task, especially if you also seek to enkindle the greatness of a man.
The appearance and actuality of quality/grandness is of the utmost importance.
If quality is not maintained, it is inevitable that the product becomes nothing more than a trendy startup for vapid cultural nomads to patronize only until some other shiny thing catches their eye, which is something that could easily be achieved simply by paying large YouTube channels and Instagram pages to promote your content.

>>16591876
As this anon has indicated, competition may be key to the success of your undertaking.
More importantly, it is an impetus for the development of high culture.
Aeschylus, Euripides, Sophocles - all developed the corpus of their works, at least in part, as a response to the various competitions of their time, particularly the Athenian poetic contests.

Do you know of any writings on the development of cities of great cultural significance?
Is it merely a matter of happenstance that these places become renowned, or is it by a particular effort of individuals?
The relevance of the questions extends to all realm of artistic endeavor.
There is an argument to be made that environment greatly affects artistic development - the Venetian painters were notoriously interested in the importance and interaction of color in painting; some say the reflections of light and color in the waters of Venice's canals inspired this tendency.

>>16594660
Yes. Excellent post.
Among the most fundamental convictions is the attempt here to marry something like a competitive paideia with institutionalized aesthetic “play,” wrapped in loose community. Again, utopian and idealistic, but it is absolutely there.
Even this minor competition has proven to be among the most popular outreach attempts yet. Expanding this idea is, as you point out, instrumental to the overall success of the effort.
Your sense of the importance of quality is equally true. We have just begun to calibrate our images for various platforms; i am convinced by offering simply a true and quality alternative to what is out there, a new aesthetic that tries deliberately at something like its own minor art form, that it will attract a following, however small and dedicated.

As to your question concerning the development of great cities, i can think of no greater tract on the topic than “The Idea of the City in Roman Thought” by Lidia Mazzolani.

What is your stake in something like this, anon? What informs your convictions here? You seem properly informed and properly motivated.

>>16594660
Let me further ask: what type of resources would you want/need to better reach your ambitions? What do your efforts currently lack?
What type of institutional effort would someone like you most respond to?

Very interesting stuff, anon.

Fuck Dune, you stupid genre fiction reading bitch.

>>16583923
Bumping for quality thread. What inspired you to do this anon? Boredom? A genuine interest in the possibilities of the prompt? Just wondering what your thought process is here.

>>16594782
>>16594802
My thoughts are informed primarily by an adoration of the beautiful and an abhorrence of the vulgar.
I am not a particularly well read individual, which is something I am trying to remedy, but by adopting a careful attitude toward the world, I believe I have acquired an adequate understanding of things.

As for my stake in the matter, it is merely to support the cultivation of beauty, a word I use in the Platonic sense as being related to or nearly synonymous with the ideal of Good, in the world.
I have no wealth or connections to my name, my family has been fractured for generations, and so my involvement is limited to that of a participant, or a critic of ideas/profferer of advice.

My experience with modern education has left me with a bitter outlook on the system as a whole, though I did not attend any respectable institution.

I will say this:
Plato's academy was contingent on the intellectual community of Athens and greater Greece.

Your desire seems to be to build something similar; Do you intend it to be a purely virtual network of people?

The attraction of interested souls seems inevitable if good care is taken.

I will order the work you mentioned.

>>16583923
We're not doing your homework for you. Fuck off.

>>16591514
>discord
Easy and the right way to start, but I was recently wondering if going back to a traditional forums for those interested in serious study wouldn't be better (in general for interest-based communities and for your efforts specifically). I have a hunch that discord is inadequate - it's designed to be addictive, to cross-market partner services, and as far as I know, one can join multiple channels and have «private» messages, which is bound to dilute your platform and steal focus.
Of course, running a private forum is not a perfect answer and a difficult task, because you first have to get the right people (the aesthetic part is a good start), then convince them you're not a creep, larper or a cheat (so basically getting a first success of some sort) and then carrying on to show that it's not a waste of time. Then you may want to grow it, so you have to design some kind of vetting process with shill tests (private torrent trackers may serve as a reference: invitations from trusted community members or interviews are commonly used). If you could guarantee some degree of privacy on top of those, it's almost certain to be better than discord and reddit (only mentioning it, because it was reddit that killed the forum culture and dysgenically replaced it). Of course, nothing stops you from using these process bits for general purposes outside of discord or forums.

4chan and discord have this thing in common that they can be joined and left without any barriers, but it's immediately apparent after spending a few days here that this place has been getting progressively worse and my experience with discord has been alike, as if becoming a zoomer was the ultimate purpose. I hope I'm mistaken and your discord takes off, but I have doubts.

>>16595801
Thanks for the interest and kind words, anon! I’ve been on this board for a while and am trying to devise ways to actually engage it in something or a more meaningful, lasting way. I know there are some anons with some real talent out there and I’d love to read their stuff; I figured that a competition with a minor prize might be a good way to draw out some quality material from the crowd and also provide something of a fun point of coordination/discussion. So far it seems pretty popular, will definitely be tweaking and expanding the effort as time goes on. I’m interested in politics/political theory and wanted to loosely attach the prompt to the prize book, so it grew out of my own interest. Will definitely provide a better and more refined prompt in the future.

>>16597064
I believe you are correct on virtually all fronts. The discord has proven nice—cozy, slow, very small participation, but those who do participate are good and committed. I’ve been happy so far, and its size means policing has been close to nil. Expanding this strikes me as less valuable than some of the strategies you adumbrate, especially combing forums for quality members. I’m not expecting the discord to take off, and will probably use it merely for coordination purposes/logistics, ultimately. I’ve been sharing files with anons over it as well; but whereas i thought that I was initially going to offer a scanning operation in place of something like libgen or whatever, this is not what anons seem to actually desire or need.

What type of community would you be most attracted to? What resource or aspects would sell you? Ideally, i want it open to all and fairly self-selecting, though do you believe having real gatekeeping standards/policies in place would be necessary?

>>16596276
You have to sift through a lot of pyrite on here before you find a lil gold; tell me directly, anon, what would i have to offer you to enlist your general council and receive your advice? This project could very much use a man like you. You have fundamentally laid my intentions bare and it seems that you either approve or share a similar outlook—lets be friends over it.

Right now it is stuck in the digital phase, given the quarantine, etc. I live in Cambridge, MA, and the physical resources here/number of potential participants, both academically and non-academically, is superior—seeding something like a more rooted reading group here would be great, while also providing the digital resources to ensure that all those who do want to participate—lectures, seminars, competitions, etc.—could very much still do so. Right now i am experimenting with just how far the digital can reach in terms of providing for and building a real intellectual community. Thinks has had its ups and downs, payoffs and drawbacks.
All is very experimental and in the brainstorming phase. I am truly open to calibrating this entire thing to best respond to whatever anons/the public actually want. I’ve made the mistake in the past in assuming that anons need X resource or whatever and being fairly wrong. This competition is the closest yet to responding to what seems like felt deficit on here; very much open to exploring others.

I would recommend you take a look at Panofsky’s volume on Plato’s “idea” (“Idea: A Concept in Art theory”) alongside the Mazzolani i recommended. The two in combination is really stellar, and points to some of the deeper undercurrents of your interests, i think.

What, in your mind, would be the next step? What to you would be the endgame?

>>16597170
I'm the >discord anon.

The emptiness, as I see it, is mostly between those who read, but cannot connect and discuss what they've read, which ironic with the absolute centralisation that took place in 2010s around places like reddit. The blogosphere of 2000s had an inferior forum implementation — its comment sections that still survive in the remnants of the blogging community. Perhaps a place fulfilling that need is worth a try, because all those essays or scientific resources that you read and can't discuss are largely lost on you. Discussing longer forms is even more difficult as proven by /lit/'s very own group reading attempts. However, what it generally takes to have a success in this regard is just a few people, perhaps as few as two, excited about the material and sufficiently committed to discussion (something you'd have in a classical seminar, minus the lecturer). A proper reading list can only alleviate it.

It's already a success to get people to read something, but it's a triumph to then get them together and discuss it where, using those ugly marketing terms, synergies happen and value is added (someone before mentioned the Athenian forum example).

I would be sold on this alone. A place more persistent than 4chan or discord with an almost-by-definition better chances of creating value (by removing negative incentives or decreasing cross-board pollution - not only by twitter links and /pol/fags, but also by endless stream of repeated, most basic threads). A long-running thread can be a great starter resource for beginners too and help improve reading lists on top of that. I see a loop potential that reflects curriculum-building processes everywhere.

As for the community policies, it's a guess game with different strategies. You're probably right about the need for it to stay open to ever have a shot at taking off and sustainability, but a set of rules that work against negative incentives sill probably be necessary. Difficult it may be, I'm glad someone is doing it and I'm guaranteed to pay attention.

Bump. Good bread is good.

>>16594493
Is that underwear in the upper left?

>>16584005
based

Are you going to advertise this again over the coming days in case this thread dies? I'm interested in your project but gotta go to sleep now.

>>16597202
My sentiment is that soliciting remuneration for my contribution to such an endeavor would be neither in good taste, nor honourable.
I will agree to your friendship, and thus offer my services as I am able to provide them and as far as they are needed.

I am committed to the idea and importance of competition.
To that end, I propose a restructuring with the establishment of the Pykewater Society, Guild, Fellowship, Order, or some other suitable adjective, perhaps with this entity and the Pykewater Library existing as components to the more general Pykewater - not as a suggestion to discontinue the development of the library, but instead to market it as a magnificent service to those who have earned membership, or those who would engage in the competition, especially advertising the quality of its function and curation.

Something to be considered in regards to this - Edmund Burke, in his Reflections on the Revolution in France, begins by speaking on the Constitutional Society, the members of which he says were engaged, at least nominally, in the charitable circulation of books that others would not have been able to acquire. He makes note of some criticism of the quality of works circulated, or that the books may not have been as charitably read as they were circulated.

Alongside allowing trusted members to extend formal invitations (perhaps only with the concurrence of another member?), the events of competition provide a solution to garnering membership in addition to a form of gate-keeping, in the opportunity for the victors to either join the group outright, or to submit an application depending on the rigor of selection decided upon.

It is desirable to allow anybody to enter the competitions, though if significant interest is garnered, a way to prevent the drowning of judges in submissions will be necessary.
I do not like the idea of a fee for admittance, perhaps it would be acceptable if it were small, but ideally unnecessary.
A limit on the number of contestants, culminating eventually in separate events for members and the greater public?
This will require greater thought as the need arises.

The judiciary body of contest could be formed from trusted members of the group.

(truncated because the post was too long)

>>16600562
(continued)

>>16597202
As for the logistics of the matter, I think you have been prudent in beginning with a simple monthly contest to gain an understanding of how things will work in their course.
The frequency, manner, and kind of events can be modified as things progress, naturally.
In the (maybe very) long term, my hope would be an expansion into the realms of music or the visual arts of painting and sculpture.

A final consideration: Perhaps the drafting of a creed, either with or without an accompanied code of conduct, would be appropriate at some point?
Good care would have to be taken to ensure it would not be an exercise in tedium or triteness.

>>16597336
I believe by the formation of such a group, a person will naturally be able to interact with other interested persons, and with enough interest, that should extend to any conceivable topic.
The reason reading groups fail is a lack of a sense of responsibility and a lack of quality control (which drives away people who might be capable of making quality contributions).

You may have a point about the inadequacy of the platforms - a more elegant solution may be in order in the long term.

Can you help me read this very expensive children's book

>>16600566
this anon has put to words what I want from a group pretty well, drowning in pre defined cultures like academia or reddit or 4chan etc etc makes forming an identity around your literary pursuits pretty difficult. It feels like there's holes you can fall into and lose yourself in along every path, and a new road, even if it is more difficult to traverse, at least means you can live by your own principles.

>>16583923
I have a school project on this too! Can I give a book away for you to do my term paper as well!?!

I didn't know that you could pay to win school... but you aren't paying are you. No legitimate entry will win, that way you don't even have to give the actual prize!

Let us know what mark we get for you in your literature class, yes?

>>16600220
People have been keeping the thread alive

>>16584005
>>16600047
it is a comfy picture, I'm interested in getting some lamps like those for my desk

>>16601570
>people
Yeah you mean the samefag

>>16602262
just tell me where to buy the lamps, schizo

>>16602262
>doesn’t know how to read number of posters
>doesn’t know how to read bump order
>hangs around thread only to miscall samefagging

Is it just me or have even the trolls become lazier lately?

>>16600767
are you a knowledgeable about books for children?
my friend recently had a child
I want to give him a gift

>>16597336
This is a fantastic assessment, thank you. My analysis is similar: I think the greatest deficit is a sense of continued engagement/responsibility, a way to get people to commit to a schedule or some formal way of going through a work and participating in some type of collective interpretation. smaller articles or smaller works in general--even a short story that is a page or 2--have proven successful in the past, but are isolated and usually unique events that don't often translate to greater communities or trajectories.
a large part of the deficit is simply leadership, and i don't mean to say that i can fill that, but at the very least i think that with a dedicated leader/material basis, e.g. a single library or institution, not only do you have a host of logistical aspects/prboelsm immediately offloaded, but you also provide a model of responsibility and commitment. whether or not people follow thereafter becomes fairly self-selecting and not doubt reflects some aspect of the leader's quality, but without a centralizing or coordinating lodestar/locus, virtually any project is simply not going to greenlight.
i think Weber is also right to assign such weight not so much to the leader, but to the first followers as well. carving out exactly what these first patrons are to look like i think is going to be key, and addresses in part some of the gatekeeping concerns from the get-go. my feeling here is that loose policies may initially be warranted, but as time goes on it will ideally become fairly self-selecting.

>>16600220
Yes, I will make a couple of reminders and will make a "final call" thread before the deadline.

>>16603277
they were never the most innovative types to begin with.

>>16600562
>>16600566
Excellent posts again, thank you for the great feedback and continued interest.

>competition
Again, i think that this is going to be central. my feeling here is to let this first competition run out and then re-devise its basic structure. I'm probably going to introduce a three-tier prize system, e.g. 1st 2nd 3rd, with corresponding prizes per competition, and would absolutely love to expand it out, as you note, to the arts, poetry, etc. Offering unique screen-writing or art competitions would be ideal, and i certainly think that this is doable.
questions of prizes/incentives and judgment comes to the fore immediately.
as for judgment: to be frank, im not expecting a whole lot of submissions this first round, so i think i can handle it myself. as time goes on, i would love for the competitions to pick up, and outside of being just a logistical issue having to read X number of submissions, i also think distributing the judgment of the competition across several people is a solid idea (i'm too close to myself, merely one man, yadda yadda). having something like a council of dedicated judges and/or a system of internal membership/judge selection would be great here. what conditions do you think would be best suited for the competitions you envision? how does the role of judgment and judges factor into your considerations?

the question of prizes is another big one. i thought that DUNE would be a nice, safe, popular reward that checked a lot of the right boxes. i thought the folio society version was nice enough to warrant attention without being so conspicuous as to warrant undue criticism.
Should i continue with fairly safe, nice volumes, e.g. folio socities? should i up the ante somehow? should prizes be unique the competitions at stake? I would love to hear all your thoughts here.
my inclination is to generally crowd-source what anons could potentially want, but this could also prove rather useless and prone to just 10,000 different standards. i'm more inclined to have the judging panel select quality prizes and simply offer them, take it or leave it, rather than responding to public demand of some kind.

my hope is to leave the competitions as open as possible. yes, this means that many submissions could potentially fall rather flat, but maintaining this democratic "back-door always open" policy has become a key component to the library's current image. not that this image cannot change, but i have tried more "exclusive" variation in the past and, to be frank, it's bored the living hell out of me. i've filled it previously and exclusive with harvard/MIT/princeton/cornell/etc. students, and this tends to pan out exactly how you'd imagine--some hits, a lot of misses. some balance between keeping things open, but then maintaining a strict meritocratic tightness would be my ideal. i simply want the most dedicated, most interested, most artistic, most motivated and most inclined to self-improve and learn. (cont)

>>16600562
>>16600566
>>16603781

to the extent that we can glean the greatest talent from whatever forum or random corner of the internet/reality, to the extent that we can offer that talent valuable and real resources that would 1. entice them to stay, and 2. entice them to form a real community--this would be a total win for me.

>drafting a creed

I've thought about this for a while--some type of basic mission statement all the way up to a full-blown manifesto. as you can imagine, lots of potential questions and problems here--not least of which is the actual drafting of something that is meaningful and beyond just some cringe-tier, personal statement.

I would very much like to brainstorm more on this front. I think devising some type of creed or tangible document of reference would absolutely be the way to go and among the next steps. tell me: what type of statement would you most likely engage with? from the outside, what type of manifesto might work well within the general aesthetic and purview of the project/library as-is?

thank you again, anon. really interesting conversations here.

>>16597336
>>16600562
>>16600566
both you should join my discord at let me know when you do: https://discord.gg/b6HYm4
again, very slow discord, setting it up over the last couple of months and still forming its particulars--but its a nice quiet place and will enable conversation beyond whatever thread-death threatens. would love to have you're general participation, if you're interested.

bump for holy based rapture

>>16603781
Pretty sure I fought that multi headed thing in several videogames

So those smugglers in Children of Dune, they export a shitload of spice, which was said to be worth a house for a handful, but what do they spend their money on? CHOAM shares? Flatscreen TVs?

>>16603816
While I'm not as autistic over discord as some are, I still don't like it. Though, if the quality of conversation is as nice as this thread, I might consider joining. A toast to you regardless, for your efforts and equanimity.

>>16584005
>I hope you're ready for a beastly essay.


Dune didn't really hit the Beast fanservice until Book V, when the Honored Matres showed up with their catboys.

>>16608705
>when the Honored Matres showed up with their catboys.
Time to read Dune then

>>16583923
Needs a better prompt but not the worst idea. Why DUNE, though?