/lit/ - Literature

>>19616608
This one doesn't get the hype it deserves.

>>19616608

>>19616608
Vastly overrated

>>19616654
this

>>19616654
>>19617516
elaborate

>>19617521
Steinbeck's most talked about, or most popular books, are Of Mice and Men and The Grapes of Wrath, when East of Eden far surpasses both of them in its ambition and execution.

>>19616608
Great book, a classic of literature, but definitely overrated. Fails at one of its major aims, to represent Adam Trask as a paragon of morality, when he is in fact a deadbeat layabout who neglects his children, squanders his wealth, shames his family, wallows in depression his whole adult life, and ultimately ruins both his children's lives - with one effectively committing suicide and the other blaming himself for it, despite it all being Adam's fault. I don't think there's ever been a more pathetic protagonist in the history of literature. The anti-industralisation message was also too on the nose.

>>19617844
Why do you believe Steinbeck intended to present Adam as a paragon of morality? And have you ever considered that perhaps Adams actions and the consequences of them are intended to generate a larger discussion of what morality is?

you might have gotten filtered

>>19617861
It's explained by Lee explicitly, he says Adam is too good and purely moralist for the world and the evil in the world ends up harming him. That's why he's the Abel character, the evil and sin in the world kills him eventually. His brother tries to kill him. Cathy is pure evil and she shoots him and sends him into his lifelong depression. Industrialisation harms him, it's shown as evil. War harms him, yet he can't help but stick to his morals and draft young men into the army even though it hurts him. My point is, despite Steinbeck's attempt at this, he fails drastically to make Adam Trask a purely good person for the reasons I set out in my other comment.

>>19616608
I find Fitzgerald overrated and more contemporary authors too unexplored to rate.

>>19617877
Just because Lee believes Adam Trask to be purely moralist does not mean that Steinbeck thought that way. How do you know Steinbeck attempted to make Adam Trask a purely good person?

>>19616608
The very worst of Steinbeck.

>>19616608
Overrated
>To Kill A Mockingbird
>most wacky postmodernists
Underrated
>Winesburg, Ohio
>Tropic Of Cancer
>Look Homeward Angel

Lucia Berlin is really underrated short story writer IMO.

>>19616608
It's a story of failure and pain and maybe even redemption. I loved it. My favorite Steinbeck. Timshel my dudes.

>>19616654
based. East of Eden is a great book. Beautifully written

>>19618460
great list

>>19617765
Have you read the journal he kept during the time he wrote it? He also kept one for Grapes and the difference between them is pretty interesting. Steinbeck himself would probably agree with your statement.

>>19616608
>Overrated
Too many
>Underrated
On The Road

>>19619085
On the Road is one of the overrated ones, actually.

>>19619085
>>19619097
I feel like On The Road is both great and shitty. Literary, it isn’t much. Culturally it’s great and exudes energy

I enjoyed "East of Eden" a lot, it holds you by the throat with all the violence from the very start.
Though I didn't like the conclusion with his ex wife. I guess it was suppose to represent that good vs evil and good prevails but I don't really remember being moved by their conversation.
Wonder how other people felt about it

>>19616608
>Overrated
I always found Their Eyes Were Watching God
to be a particularly detestable book. The main character had as much foresight and rational thinking as a pre-schooler, and the plot sort of meandered along in an uninterested haze. It wasn't the worst book I've read, but it was by far the least interesting one.
>Underrated
Winesburg, Ohio. It was such an insightful and heartfelt journey into the small town that leaves me wondering how this book has not been found by more people.

Tropic of Capricorn, being often second banana to Tropic of Cancer, is vastly underrated and always will be because most people don't and cannot understand it.

>>19619150
I loved the final conversation between Adam and Cathy. Every scene where they were in the same room together after she'd run off floored me.

>>19619168
I’m a huge Henry Miller fan and enjoy everything he wrote but I definitely preferred Cancer to Capricorn. The second half in Capricorn was too rambling for my liking and I feel that Miller didn’t need to write out his philosophy as it’s pretty apparent. Either way it’s still worth reading. I’m glad Miller has been getting more publicity on lit lately. Same with Sherwood Anderson( though he’ll probably always be a cult classic). I was the anon who recommended Wolfe, Miller and Anderson earlier in the thread so it’s nice to see others mention them as well

>>19616608
most american literature is vastly overrated
the only american prose authors deserving of the praise they get are Mark Twain and William Faulkner
I'm not familiar with poetry

>>19617877
im pretty sure hes MEANT to be a failure, they literally have sam come and punch him in the face because of it. I really dont think hes meant to be anything more than a decent person at heart who has been derailed and sent down bad paths by life experiences starting with his drill sergeant father and brother who tried to kill him to the active genocide he took part in

>>19619110
It's amazing literary, and culturally. It foes to show how underrated it is still.

>>19619097
Nah. Not even close.

>>19618460
>>Winesburg, Ohio
How is this? Seems interesting

>>19619514
Yes, many view it as "the bible" of that generation lmao

>>19619588
It’s great and a short read so you won’t waste much time if you don’t like it. It is the ultimate small town book where the town is the main character and people are the body parts. No single story stands out but together, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. It is a great book to cure solipsism lol

>>19619588
It is wonderful, one of my favorites. It is also one of the most influential works to southern gothic, so if you like southern gothic you will probably like it.

>>19616608
>overrated
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court by mark twain
Last of the mohicans by james Fenimore cooper
>underrated
John Brown's Body by Stephen Vincent Benét
The Escape of Mr. Trimm: His Plight and other Plights by Irvin S. Cobb

>>19618460
You pretty much named the 2 most underrated books for me with Wolfe and Winesburg.

Overrated probably something like The great gatsby.

>>19619661
>>19619676
I'm sold, I'll give it a shot! Thanks anons

>>19619599
what generation?

What you bros think of catch 22?

>>19619353
cringe

A lot of nonfiction classics are underrated in the current year. Two Years Before The Mast is my personal favorite.

>>19616654
agreed, it’s such a beautiful book

All of Mark Twain's fiction is overrated. Where he really excels is in nonfiction. His travel writings are great.

>>19619353
Sometimes I feel dumb and then I read something like this and realize I'm not that bad

>>19619166
>The main character had as much foresight and rational thinking as a pre-schooler, and the plot sort of meandered along in an uninterested haze.
I think that's supposed to be the point. The protagonist grew up privileged, and decided to throw all that away because she fell in love with a tramp

All the King's Men by Robert Penn Warren is underrated. It is the best written novel I've read. Masterfully done. It has an intricate and compelling plot, he takes the time to develop almost every character (not the just protagonist), has some beautiful and memorable imagery, and is complicated and thought-provoking in ways that I'm not smart enough to explain.

Underrated:

My Antonia by Willa Cather (I feel like not even Americans I've talked to have read her stuff)
A Confederate of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole

Overrated:

The Great Gatsby

Overrated
The Great Gatsby
Underrated
Tender is the Night

>>19617844
>>19617877
>Fails at one of its major aims,
>to represent Adam Trask as a paragon of morality
filtered and pseud pilled

>Overrated
Steinbeck. (Awful)
Cather
Twain
Cooper. (Awful)
Melville's minor work
Crane's novellas
Kerouac
Whitman
Emerson
Lincoln
Bierce
Mencken
Nabokov's criticism
Faulkner overall
Hemingway overall
Sherwood Anderson
Harlem Renaissance overall
Lovecraft
Vonnegut
Bradbury
Pynchon
Gaddis

>Deserved
Irving
Poe
Hawthorne
Dickinson
Moby Dick
Crane's stories
Hearn
James
Twain's Roughing It, Innocents Abroad
Eliot
Fitzgerald
Burroughs
Nabokov
Salinger's stories
Confederacy of Dunces
Vonnegut overall
DF Wallace
Stephen King overall
Toni Morrison

>Underrated
Bayard Taylor
Clark Ashton Smith

>>19622655
Confederacy of Dunces has a massive cult following that comes and goes throughout the years. It's well regarded and still in print. It even has a small academic following. I'd say it's perfectly rated.

>>19623352
Cather shouldn't be there. I was thinking of something else. t. SELF

This dudes underrated.
Longfellow too

>>19623352
>vonnegut is both overrated and deserved
huh

>>19619994
not for the impatient but certainly great book.

>>19623352
Cringe

>>19623352
>Vonnegut overall
>DF Wallace
>Stephen King overall


Might be most midwit poster I’ve ever seen on lit

>>19623352

the great gatsby bored the fuck out of me. no idea why that gets any attention.

>>19622720
I agree that Tender Is the Night is better than The Great Gatsby, his short stories are his still some of his best writings

>>19616654
I recall reading it in high school and thought the A and C naming convention of characters was a punch in the nose.

>>19618460
Look homeward angel is awesome
>O lost, and by the wind grieved, ghost, come back again

>>19619085
On the Road is definitely one of the overrateds

>>19616740
this one is great, on the other hand RIB is overrated imo

>>19624352
I actually stopped reading at that point. Really Steinbeck?

>>19624484
I told my mother about this after reading it and apparently she never picked up on it. I love my mother, but she's kind of a midwit.

>>19624471
Nope, the face that you think it's overrated proves my point.

>>19625070
>face
>literature

>>19625428
>not understanding a typo

sub 80

>>19625461
No, I understand it but I just thought is was ironic. Moron

>>19623352
honestly good list overall even despite the things i disagree with.
>nabokovs criticsm
do you mean his lectures on literature or his commantary work or the meme throwaway remarks about his own very specific taste