/lit/ - Literature

>>18688919
how can I differentiate between good and bad?

>>18688929
You might as well ask "how do I differentiate between good and bad, truth and falsity?" Such is the breadth of books, and such is the necessity of your education.

>>18688947
he should probably start with the greeks.

>>18688919
Start with SCOTT; ,,,SIGNED SCOTT :... thank you see you at Denny's for the ho t Nashville patty melt

>>18688951
Agreed.

Anon has homework.

>>18688929
I've heard a good way to tell is to look at which titles have stood the test of time. So stuff like Greek and Roman classics, enlightenment philosophy, exceptionally well received novels, etc.

>>18688929
Oh anon, just look at some weird books with weird shit written in it and that no one is reading.

>>18688966
>enlightenment philosophy
>stood the test of time
that wasn't very 4channel hivemind of you

>>18688919
Did the schop believe in any sort of objective qualities?

>>18688929
Read Frankenstein, Moby Dick and the Lord of the Rings

>>18689609
But all those books are bad

>>18688964
Imagine typing this comment and posting it to 4channel.org.

All books are a fragment of the human experience, imbued with the soul and the suffering, the joy and the wonder of the author. All books offer a perspective, and whether it fills your mind with poison, or enlightens and illuminates, either way you are free to ponder what you have read and take away from it what you will. It is not the author's duty to enlighten us, it is the readers' duty to take in the breadth of information available to them and understand the human experience through the eyes of others.

>>18688919
>Only read good stuff and not bad stuff because time is limited
Bad argument because reading bad books can serve ends orthogonal to "read as many good books as I possibly can in life," for example, to study genre, mythology, or patterns of failure in writing. The problem essentially is that Schope supposes "read as many good books as I possibly can in life" is the goal. That is certainly not the goal for almost anyone.

>>18689612
What books are good then?

>>18688919
No he's wrong. A truly literate person is mithridatic.

>>18689774
nice. I agree.

>>18688919
can be extended to lots of things, bad food obviously, bad movies, bad music is pretty big one, avoid brain worms anons
>>18688929
if you have tasted good things you will have an intuitive sense for what is bad without needing to rationalize anything

>>18688929
Read.

>>18688929
Dan Brown's Da Vinci code vs Umberto Eco's Foucault's Pendulum

>>18690537
Is it that bad?

>>18689683
>. The problem essentially is that Schope supposes "read as many good books as I possibly can in life" is the goal.

You got it wrong fella, in "The World as Will and Representation" Schopenhauer criticizes the autistic faggots that just consoom book after book. He even goes as far to say that it stunts their development and overtaxes their memory. The analogy he uses is "it's like a man carrying the rungs of a ladder on his back instead of using them to help climb".

I personally agree with him on this part, you don't actually need to read that much. You read a select few books and reflect on them and do other things with your life too.

>>18688929
You can't. Its a moronic and false statement.

>>18690720
Then youre not someone that reads books anymore. Youre someone that has simply "read a book or two"

>>18690720
Flaubert said something like that, I would rather know a few good books than read thousands. Something about experiencing the human condition in its totality.

>>18690747
The person who claims this is always caught in a contradiction. If you claim people can't differentiate between good and bad, true and false, right and wrong, how can they take your claim as true?
This is the classic dilemma known as The Ship of Theseus, first mentioned by Gregory Peck in "Dancing with Tut: Le Musical" but also explored in many primitive cave etchings. Don't trust your neighbour when he comes to your door with a smile, bearing a cheesecake in one hand and a bottle of brandy in the other. He's a rapist. That isn't brandy, it's chloroform. He wants to sell your sweet young body into sex slavery and reap a monetary reward. If you don't want to end up with eleventeen Arab penises shoved in your rectum at once, while your weeping family stares at your face on the back of a milk carton, heed my advice. Do not, under any circumstances, fill your room humidifier with your step-brother's piss. And do not, under any circumstances, eat beef skewers that haven't undergone a full inspection by your local food authority. I cannot be more emphatic about this last one. Diphtheria is rearing its head once again in these great United States. Vigilance is key.

>>18689612
this post is bad, don't read it

t. an anon who took the plunge on this particular post and as a result partially poisoned his mind, though it is for the greater good of all anons who will heed his warning

>>18688959
I appreciate you SCOTT