/lit/ - Literature

Forewords aren't worth it

>Reading for plot twists

Embrace the learned opinion to orient yourself towards the text, either to reinforce or push back on that opinion. That’s what you’re actually paying for if the text is in the public domain.

>Foreward
>contains much more than four words

>>19855712
>this thread again
>never is a title provided
You don’t read.

>>19855733
Whys this freaky bitch in weirdass bdsm gear

>title is a spoiler

>>19855733
Butterflies are made for honking

>>19855733
the illiad

>>19855817
I'm really glad Hemingway didn't use "I've fornicated with a woman in another country, but besides the wench is dead" for the title of A Farewell to Arms

>Quotes in the opening of each chapter include blatant spoilers

>>19855817
abstract titular spoilers are incredibly satisfying though.

Even worse when the foreword spoils OTHER books. It makes me absolutely seethe

>>19855884
nothing personnel

>>19855901
Example?

Story of the Eye?

>>19855733
Moby dick

>>19855938
Crime & Punishment

>>19855733
>Butters representing the antifun squad again
what a surprise. sometimes I think you do this just to satisfy your pathological need for (you)s

>op contains a frog

>>19855712
>introduction spoils the ending

>>19857580
Why do you feed her then?

>>19857712
I can't resist replying to bait that good.

>caring about "spoilers" like a GOT-watching manchild
>reading introductions, especially before the book itself
you're double gay

>>19855712
>foreword was written 150 years after the original publishing date and is by a little known sociology professor

>>19857580
>tripfag does something for attention
wow, shocking

>female author
>pages aren't scented with the perfume of her choice

>afterword obscures your understanding

>>19855733
>never is a title provided
Are you legitimately retarded? Plenty of books do this shit, all the time. I started reading Forewords after finishing the book.

>>19857600
>book never ends

>He posts the faggot frog picture

>>19857728
>reading introductions, especially before the book itself
EXCUSE ME for reading the part of the book, at the very beginning, called THE INTRODUCTION. i assume it would be equally retarded of me to begin at chapter 1, right? im supposed to just open up to a random page instead? Maybe read backwards for a bit too? I've also heard flipping it upside down can also give an entirely exquisite experience! Shut the FUCK UP YOU RETARDED FAGGOT

>>19855733
retard

>>19855733
Harold Bloom spoils Blood Meridian in the introduction to the hardcover edition.

>>19855807
Cuz it’s nice

>>19855712
>Main character is an author who is the same gender as the actual author.
>deals with emotional issues and growing up for 400 pages
>final takeaway is "life goes on"

>>19858143
Well, you're very naive if you think you have to religiously follow someone who centuries after the book was written decided to give The Introduction that is indispensable to Understanding the Classic™ Text.
Unironically, I'm studying literature, have had quite enough classes held by people who write such texts, and have read many myself. Here's the deal: when they delve into interpretation, introductions are 80% of the time the most uninteresting, predictable take on the book available. You could literally come up with similar or better stuff yourself by reading the real thing. So, skip it. Respectable critics should and usually do stick to afterwords anyway. The 20% good intros are useful after the real reading too. The exceptional introductions that you should indeed read first are those with contextual information that can potentially enrich your further reading of the text, and those by editors of anthologies and critical editions (explaining their method and goal).

>foreword contains figurative spoilers written in a way that people who know the plot will recognize but people who don't think is just a manner of speech by the foreword writer

>>19858516
Gotta write what you know anon...