/lit/ - Literature

>>16989598
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SMhwddNQSWQ

Cormac doesn’t like Proust either—he’s an idiot savant

Reading McCarthy is for Chudiots, so they should fit together nicely.

>>16989598
A completely arbitrary opinion not based on anything legitimate. Both Faulkner and Melville used semi-colons, from my memory Melville did so especially liberally. And those were the two McCarthy was probably imitating the most.

>>16989642
McCarthy's favorite is Joyce. His shitty attitude towards punctuation comes from Jimmy joy. Also helps that Corncob is Irish.

>>16989598
whatever man. I mean Vonnegut called them hermaphordites as an insult which in this day and age could be considered transphobic.

>>16989642
this.

Cormac is a philistine.
A genius. Hell yes.
A literay critic. Fuck no.
Btw there are atleast 12 semicolons in his very first novel 'The Orchard Keeper'

I hear he's writing "Pandemonium Of The Sun, Or A Microscopic Journey Into The Anus of Thomas Pynchon."

>>16989642
>A completely arbitrary opinion not based on anything legitimate.
Lol what? It's an aesthetic preference

>>16989598
I think he meant punctuation in general

>>16989660
>And trough tremulous sheets of sinew-like tissue we traverse through the fleshy and red map of a his ogival orifice into the upper furnace of the viscera and phlegm and puss-spewing baubles along the sectioned and opalescent path from which we embark upon our journey.

>>16989683
didn't laugh

>>16989718
At least I taught ya some new words.

>>16989598
yo this nigga got lizard eyes n shit

>>16989683
Fuck off, Thomas.

>>16989618
>>16989630
Seriously.
His books have some cool passages and his characters tend to have interesting philosophies but this man does not possess a high intellect. I knew this when he said he likes to hang out with scientists (he apparently tends to ask "the right" questions which makes the people at Santa Fe think he's a genius).
He's like Bob Dylan. If he talked more, he'd expose himself as a mid-wit. Also, he's afraid of technology which is another sign of stupidity.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5A1WcFoxi4

>>16989737
I made a typo in the second word. How do I got back to edit?
Can someone explain Sneed to me?

>>16989752

>>16989752
>He is afraid of technology
He isn't. He explicitly said that he liked computers.

>>16989772
Yeah. Here is what he writes on.

>>16989752
>not being afraid of technology
Wew lad, enjoy getting pegged by an AI-generated Lilith goddess for all eternity, then.

>>16989787
I mean for the purposes of writing that seems ideal

>>16989787
Computers are not good for writing. You can always correct your mistakes on that.

>>16989795
I meant phobia. We aren't corresponding with quill and ink at the moment.

>>16989730
Lmao

>>16989618
>>16989752
Proustfags seething. Go suck the nearest cock

>>16989876
cope

>>16989598
I have yet to see a single worthwhile writer disparage semicolons.

>>16990375
It's the autistic comma. Totally unnecessary.

>>16990378
It's used to connect independent but closely related clauses. It also usually indicates a shorter pause than a period. If you forgo the semicolon, you end up with terse, choppy writing like:
>It's the autistic comma. Totally unnecessary (this is a sentence fragment, by the way).
or clunky, awkward writing like:
>It's the autistic comma, and it's totally unnecessary.
Whereas if you do use semicolons, you end up with:
>It's the autistic comma; totally unnecessary.
A shorter pause between both clauses, which helps the flow of the passage, no sentence fragments, and a nice indicator that yes, those two clauses do relate to each other.

>>16990475
Thanks wikipedia, pretty sure we all knew what a semicolon was but it's great to have you weigh in.

>>16990475
Or, you know, you could just use a fucking comma.

>>16990475
the virgin semicolon vs the Chad Em-Dash
yes, emilie dickinson is your mommy. YES

>>16989787
>It's the autistic comma: totally unnecessary.

>>16990699
Failing to notice the subtle difference indicates the semicolon conveys a nuance you cannot see. Treat it like color blindness.

>>16990783
Cut it out with this fake posturing. That example is a clear cut definition of a semicolon and a comma being interchangeable.

>>16990783
>Treat it like color blindness: failing to notice the subtle difference indicates the semicolon conveys a nuance you cannot see.
>Cut it out with this fake posturing: that example is a clear cut definition of a semicolon and a comma being interchangeable.

>>16990699
Last time I checked, two independent clauses (that are related) were never connected through commas.

>>16990848
The totally unnecessary is completely predicated on the definition of autistic in that anon's post. It's dependent on the information in the previous clause. It's just bad writing. Stop acting like such a faggot just because you googled what a semicolon is.

>>16990807
>>16990848
Also stop samefagging, you barely literate retard.

>>16989752
>Also, he's afraid of technology which is another sign of stupidity.

This argument keeps coming up. I think most people would agree:

1. Cormac doesn't like semicolons.

2. He practices what he preaches — he almost never uses them.

3. His writing is pretty darned awesome.

4. On the other hand, there are lots of fine writers who *do* use semicolons.

So who's right?

Here's how I think of it. When cinema started, all films were black-and-white. Then colour came along. Now, you might think, one or other has to be better, so after a while everyone would be using whatever's better. But that isn't true. Some films are perfect in colour:
>Star Wars
>2001: A Space Odyssey
>Gone With The Wind (they even gave it a special Oscar for "dramatic expressionist use of colour")
But others are perfect in black and white:
>Casablanca (they've colourised it and everyone correctly says yuck this is disgusting)
>Citizen Kane
>The Third Man

It's exactly the same in literature. Cormac McCarthy has deliberately restricted himself to a particular sonic/rhythmic palette, just as some films restrict themselves to shades of grey. The stories he wants to tell and the tone he wants to use are exactly suited to that. But if P.G.Wodehouse tried cutting off all his semicolons his books would instantly fall over dead.

CM was correct that a lot of pretentious, amateurish writing could be improved by removing semicolons. But if he said that all semicolons should be expunged from all writing, everywhere, he was wrong. (I doubt he said that, though.)

>>16991130
Reddit tier response. Please include terms like "seethe", "cope" "faggot", "pleb" and "nigger" next time. Thank you.

>>16990475
Could just as easily use a dash.
Personally, I use whatever punctuation looks cooler.

>>16990870
Lol not even the same fag. Admit you might be wrong. Maybe, just maybe, nuances aren’t your thing.

>>16991130
>this reddit spacing
>pretty darned awesome
>*do*
Lurk moar. Quality post though.

>>16991200
You have no real idea what you're talking about with these "nuances" you speak of.
Syntactical choice, especially in the realm of literature, can operate on a purely aesthetic level, like in CM's polysyndetic style. You seem to be autistically preoccupied with the mechanics and influence of an individual's particular inflection.
I'm sure your well-versed in all this.

Unrelated but what is John Grady's height?

>>16991200
>Lol not even the same fag: admit you might be wrong. Maybe, just maybe, nuances aren’t your thing.

>>16991220
>You have no real idea what you're talking about with these "nuances" you speak of: syntactical choice, especially in the realm of literature, can operate on a purely aesthetic level, like in CM's polysyndetic style. You seem to be autistically preoccupied with the mechanics and influence of an individual's particular inflection.
>I'm sure your well-versed in all this.

>>16989795
>getting pegged by an AI-generated Lilith goddess for all eternity,
h-hot

>>16989787
No that’s GRRM, McCarthy used the same typewriter for 100 years.

He’s not wrong.
A comma will replace any semicolon.

>>16989598
I still dont understand how you're actually supposed to use them, so I dont bother with them.

>>16993209
6'10", square jaw, elite chad

>>16991130
>darned
go back

>>16993371
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M94ii6MVilw

>>16993384
>dies simping for an epileptic prostitute
don't sound like no all-american cowboy to me

>>16989598
Fuck this guy; I use more semicolons in my writing than commas.

>>16989752
>he apparently tends to ask "the right" questions which makes the people at Santa Fe think he's a genius
No, he's the unofficial editor for many rather famous scientists, so they know him much more personally than that.
>Also, he's afraid of technology
No he isn't, he openly says he likes computers.

>>16991218
That isn't redditspacing newfag

>>16990475
what about em dashes

>It's the autistic comma - totally unnecessary.

Looks better, simple as

>>16995230
nigger

>>16990866
This kid failed all of his highschool English assignments. Cope harder fag.

>>16990870
Imagine being so narrow-minded that slight nuances illicit raging faggotry.

>>16994574
I wonder if that might be an intentional commentary on the death of the American frontier? Nah probably not

>>16995712
What the hell are you talking about? I'm right, numbnuts.

>>16989598
Imagine being filtered by a semicolon

>>16996196
More like filtering the semi-colon