/lit/ - Literature

>>19767370
Bump. Short stories our awesome.

Also check out Fredric Brown’s “Answer”, a two page sci-fi short story and one of my personal favorites. (Its two pages long!)

https://www.roma1.infn.it/~anzel/answer.html

>>19767455
Thanks for the rec, anon.

>>19767370
I did not see this thread last week, but I am very happy I found it. As for the story, it was pretty good. Felt like the quintessential Steinbeck piece. I just love the idea that people would just simply have breakfast together with no prior knowledge of one another on that personal of a level.

>>19768081
>Felt like the quintessential Steinbeck piece.
What makes you say this?

>>19767370
I really enjoyed it. Amazing how a simple story of having breakfast could be so enthralling. Think I'm going to go make some bacon now and then read the bonus Maugham.

y no one respond? Is this not /lit/ enough for you faggots?

>>19767370
>>19768081
>>19768238
What do you guys think was the message of this story? It was very short, and not a lot happened. Is there even a message? To me, it read like a scene from a larger work.

>>19767370
>"The Lotus Eater" by W. Somerset Maugham
My first time reading W. Somerset Maugham and good God what a story. I highly recommend this for all anons. It's pretty much the exact life and end I've envisaged for myself all these years. See you brahs innawoods ;)

>>19769194
That we should be nice to niggers. They're people too.

I'm disappointed these threads are getting such little attention. /lit/ truly doesn't read... :(

>>19769194
As >>19769506 said, but unironically.

>>19767370
starving, and that didn't help

>>19767370
Did you guys read them as being white or black?

>>19768238
Based. Bacon is my favorite food.

You will read the short story and give your opinion or your mother will die in her sleep tonight.

>>19770209
I read them as white to be completely honest.

>>19770209
At first, I read them as white. Then I saw what >>19769506 said and now I'm not sure. Some of the dialogue could be construed as indicating that they are black, but there is certainly the possibility that they are poor Southern whites. Poor Southern whites also picked cotton, just as blacks also did. I think it may be intentionally ambiguous. How about you?

>John Steinbeck's "Breakfast."
I enjoyed the first sentece and every sentence that mentioned color, especially the "lavender gray of dawn" and the ones describing the stove. Those hours are good material because both your mind and the color of everything is blurry. And waking up from sleep/the sun rising/eating after being hungry was echoed in those ppl finding work and things getting better. But I didn't like how he described them eating breakfast as "frantic", it worked against the slow hazey atmosphere. And the last sentence was awful and redundant.
>"The Lotus Eater" by W. Somerset Maugham
This time a story about a downhill transition, again echoed by the war breaking out in the background. Truly a neet tragedy :( but luckily not a cheap cautionary tale with a final verdict on wilsons choice. I dont know how beautiful versus stagnant 25 years on an island would be though, so maybe the balance on that dilemma was a bit off. Seems like things only stay beautiful for shorter amounts of time. And because of that, it was less bittersweet and more depressing to me, even if the ending tried to play it otherwise, with a very similarly awful last sentence to the other one. But in line with the train metaphor at the start, it chugged along nicely.
>>19769194
>message
Bad reader! Bad! >:(
>>19768238
Surprised me too how much I enjoyed reading about people eating in both
>>19767455
Classic, but could have been even shorter. It might have been influenced by The Nine Billion Names of God written a year earlier, which is one of my faves

>>19770209
>>19772274
>>19772286
I didn't read all of the characters as specifically one way or the other. All of the actions and dialogues depicted are those which were done by all Americans. It's a silly question to ask and equally silly to answer because it doesn't matter at all within the frame of the story.

>>19772810
>Bad reader! Bad! >:(
Tolstoy thought that any literature, or art in general, which did not attempt to teach you something wasn't art at all.

>>19773507
It's matters for my head movies

>>19773517
which is why you shouldnt listen to tolstoy
>>19773697
since it wasnt specified, you are free to interpret
>>19773507
what did you imagine?

>>19770209
The story is likely set in California during the early 30's - obviously the characters are poor laborers, but picking cotton and a low vernacular doesn't necessarily evidence an ethnicity considering the Great Depression left the majority of the population destitute. That's also why they discuss how mere bacon and biscuits are "eating good" and how important it is they've had work for the past 12 days: work was exceedingly rare.

I really believe this setting, the bleak economic climate in the 30's and the omnipresent sense of loss and longing, vitalizes the story and raises it above a little vignette about breakfast. Obviously breakfast is appreciated by the hungry, but for a nation hungry at large breakfast becomes a vivid, sacred event, hence the imagery of colors and the communion-like sharing of bread and wine (biscuits and coffee).

>>19770209
I read them as Hispanic honestly

>>19774380
>The story is likely set in California during the early 30's
I was wondering about the setting of this story actually. I believe you are right and that it is set in the 30s, but I was wondering about the location. It could be California considering the majority of Steinbeck's work deals with California and cotton was grown in the far southern parts of California, but when Steinbeck writes about California, he almost always mentions a town or a valley by name i.e. Salinas, Monterey, etc. The reference to cotton could suggest it's set somewhere in the deep south.
On the other hand, the decision not to name the town or valley could suggest it's setting to be 'Anytown, USA.'

>>19773507
So when you read the story you just saw grey blobs? Anon, it really doesn't matter if you see them one way or another, I was just answering the question by telling that poster what I honestly saw when I visualized the story.
>>19774412
This would be pretty par for the course for Steinbeck.

A nice little story that's very aware of how pointless it is - note the last few lines. Sometimes life is pleasant, no conflict, no tension, strangers are kind, plates are full, families are happy, then we forget about it and life goes on.

>>19775953
It seemingly just exemplifies the brilliance of a vignette. Something one can easily consume and enjoy without any real tension.

>>19767370
Nice story, comfy

I'm not letting good threads get killed by shitposters.

>>19773507
Identity matters in fiction; it provides another layer of complexity to the story, even when it is ambiguous. And how can you not read the characters as not having any particular race - what did you visualise them as?

>>19775856
>>19777718
Steinbeck normally pays close attention to the physical details of his characters. He expresses the darkness of their skin, the lines in their face, their nose, mouth, eyes and ears. He doesn't do that in this story. All we get is two men, one old, one young. Obviously, Steinbeck is attempting to express a couple of everymen here.

Bump, I’ll read it tonight

>>19767370
This was an enjoyable short story by Steinbeck, this short story might've gotten my interest on diving into his other works. Thanks for including this story

Here's another recommendation for everyone.
The Paper Menagerie
Ken Liu
A real tear-jerker and a very good short story. Hug your mothers bros.
>https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5838a24729687f08e0321a15/t/5bf2bdfa562fa782871c6252/1542635003373/The-Paper-Menagerie+by+Ken+Liu.pdf

>>19781104
This story is one of his weaker ones imo. From that same collection, check out The Snake, The White Quail and Chrysanthemums. Those are great stories. And The Red Pony is a masterpiece.

>>19781391
>The Paper Menagerie
Any relation to The Glass Menagerie?

>>19767370
Highly recommended

bump-a-rino, BABY!

>>19781946
Doesn't seem like it

>>19782269
Looks good. Think I might give it a try.

>>19779070
I actually happen to agree with this, but that does not mean that you happen to imagine them as one race or another while visualizing the text.

>>19767370

Bump