/lit/ - Literature

>>23478921
I just finished Nineteen Eighty-Four. Not much to say. It’s a good book, intriguing and well written. Particularly thought provoking wrt rationality being the defining factor of humanity.

i'm nearly done with second-hand time by alexievich which is basically a fuck tonne of interviews with russian and russian adjacent people about their lives before, during, and after the fall of the USSR all stitched together and written up like it was real literature and it's great. you get such a sense of what it meant to them, what life was like, the compromises they made, how it was for people experiencing that giant fucking shift and the way the previous terror filled shitty life that felt like it had meaning was replaced by some banal fucking shit that was no better really except they had no meaning. it's interesting to think how much is verbatim and how much she has nudged and edited it to make it all hit so hard but it's very cool to real. some of the stories make me cry

James Tate Selected Poems. A little bit Ginsberg, a little bit O'Hara, a little bit Ashbery. He's best when he slows it down and gets lyrical.
The one about the priests blessing the fishing fleet has been my favorite so far. Its funny and wacky, but also paints a sweet picture and has some emotional depth

>>23478921
the english translation by john e. woods
pretty cool, i like reading about music

>>23478989
i read a different collection of his - ghost soldiers - and it was really great
kinda like a middle ground between absurdist short stories and poems

>>23478921
I’ve been rereading lots of Beckett and Kafka.

>>23478921
I was reading Master and Margarite during my vacation to Greece and got halfway through. Since having come home I haven't touched it for a month. The book got boring but I am feeling guilty for turning my back on what is widely regarded as a classic. Thinking about starting Fathers and Sons instead.

>>23478952
sounds cool but made by woman

Chip War. Pretty good overview of the semiconductor industry and its history, but the hilariously pro-American bent makes it harder to take seriously at times. The author continuously describes the same actions by American or Chinese firms as understandable chutzpah or deep cause for concern, respectively, while otherwise bizarrely donning a skinsuit of impartiality, seemingly unaware of the blatant hypocrisy. MBA-brained I guess.

>>23479048
a lot of the people she interviews are also women

>>23479039
>Master and Margarita
Burgin/O'Connor translation
Same. Took more than 3 months. Powered through because it was on some chart.
Got nothing out of it other than filtered. Pretty sure the prose is to blame.
I may give it a second chance later on.
Maybe I'll simply watch the 2024 movie with sub titles?

>>23479147
>>23479039
I enjoyed it because the cat is funny

>>23478921
Reading about a fucking pederast having a sexual adventure with a pre-teen. I am at the part in which they travel the northeast staying at cheap motels and just letting their passions go wild. I can easily tell why the book is held on such high regard. The author is experimenting with a lot shit that current authors are too retarded to even imagine. Nonetheless, the story itself is kinda weird, and makes me question my own past relationships.

>>23479197
Oh the cat was funny. In fact the whole Satan entourage was funny. The Master and Margarita weren't. I get that the book is mostly about the stupid and beurocratic life in Soviet Russia, but this gets lost with the obvious supernatural aspects, I feel like I desperately have to search for a theme because it is mostly "Satan being weird and mean because thats how humans do". The prose is fine if not a little unnecessarily specific at times.

>>23478933
>wrt
>with regard to
First time seeing this

>>23478921
I'm reading Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit, Schelling's Philosophical Inquiries Into the Nature of Human Freedom, and Marsilio Ficino's Platonic Theology. All three are great, if a bit arcane at times. it's the kind of philosophy that treats the subject with due reverence, rather than as a set of little conceptual puzzles demanding neat and clever solutions; reading them inspires awe

>>23479147
>prose is to blame
Stop reading works of translation.

If I could give one bit of advice to every /lit/ reader it would be this:
>Only read works written in English.

We have a lot of good uns

>>23479266
I find myself at a loss when people seemingly genuinly tell others to learn a whole ass language to read a book, instead of reading a translation because... well just because okay!? Absolutely fucking ridiculous. Would it be nice to know more languages? Would it be benificial? Yes! Is it realistic? Absolutely fucking not and if you disagree then you're so far up your own ideological theoreticals that I bid you a bad day.

>>23478921
>pointy titties
>exhibitionism
>porcelain doll neck
>probably no penis
I hope the photographer got her pregnant with sextuplets

>>23478921
I am reading a bunch of comments on the r/transgender subreddit for research purposes. I am writing a rambling schizophrenic thesis that will outline why I hate redditors which I will submit to an imaginary journal I made up in my mind.

>>23478921
I could easily crush her neck with one hand.

>>23479358
i could do the same with a fistfull of corn flakes.

>>23479390
I would feed her a fistful of corn flakes from the palm of my hand

Les Mis

>>23479266
I can agree that some languages result in very abstruse translations (particularly German to English) but this isn't always the case, especially for languages that are more direct analogues of English, like Spanish or Italian.
And even if the translations are inaccurate to the source material in some cases, that doesn't always rob them of literary value; well, it certainly can, but it hasn't for the translated books I've read.
>pic related

>>23479609
>but it hasn't for the translated books I've read. pic related
are you reading Paradiso translated into Hebrew or Latin?

>>23479625
It loses a little something going into english and the history of the mansuscript is rife with errors, but most of it is there.

Lydgate's Fall of Princes. it collects the stories of heads of state falling from grace from history and mythology and retells them in rhyme as cautionary tales from a Christian perspective. it's a toughie but, as Lydgate says:
>For a storye which is nat pleynli told,
>But constreynyd undir woordes fewe
>For lak of trouthe, wher thei ben newe or olde,
>Men bi reporte kan nat the mater shewe;
>These ookis grete be nat doun ihewe
>First at a stroke, but bi long processe,
>Nor longe stories a woord may not expresse.
modernized for your ease:
>"For a story which is not plainly told,
>But constrained under words few
>For lack of truth, whether they be new or old,
>Men by report can not the matter show (shewe);
>These great oaks be not down hewn (ihewe)
>First at a stroke, but by long process,
>Nor long stories a word may not express."

>>23479256
>unnecessarily specific at times
Well put.

>>23479631
good, good, maybe I should finally read it
after all Se7en is one of my top10 movies
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FL9bylhDkcc

i just finished reading the short story "lives of the mind slaves" by matt cohen. it resonated with me deeply, and it might be the best short story i've ever read. i wish i could share it with someone. even if they simply read it, no discussion needed, just to understand what i've experienced.

>>23478921
Reading Moby Dick. About halfway through. I'll refrain from giving a fully formed opinion until I'm finished, but I will say I find the "encyclopedia" chapters a bit annoying. There are way too many and I feel like they they bog down the narrative.

>>23479631
Based Paradiso enjoyer

>>23479631
>>23480217
We posting Paradiso here?

>>23478921
I just started Before the Dawn by Toson Shimazaki. It's about the Meiji restoration and the conflict between the urban culture which seeked to westernize and embrace the conveniences which comes with said westernization, and the rural traditionalist villages who recognized the treat of their culture and way of life dissolving.

I'm about 50 pages in so far and it's been great.

>>23480274
I can’t speak Spanish but I’m disappointed in myself for not buying Paradiso when it was new and available on Amazon at an affordable price. It’s definitely one of those books I plan on buying and stashing away for when the urge hits me

vampire oddysey by rk byers, about a snobbish, self-published author who trades five-star reviews with other authors, and has to read a real shitty one. actually not what i was expecting, pretty funny desu

I'm not very far into Demons by Dostoevsky. I like how comedic it can be.

>>23478921
>>23478921
Ivanhoe. An excellent novel, it has knights and castles and political alliances and betrayals and basically a race war, and an exciting trial by combat, and it's all set in an actually historic time period with King Richard The Lion Hearted and Robin Hood. Would recommend.

>>23480210
Yes, that's true. At least in one of them it's a kind of narrative about an indigenous group which had some skeletons, but otherwise they are very dry. Which sucks because the main narrative and characters are positively gripping and some of the best literature out there.

>>23479264
Have you read Kant?

>>23479236
Nabokov is based. There's just no escaping it.

>>23479039
>>23479147
It's just a trash book. There's no cohesiveness, and the author thinks much too highly of himself and his ideas. It's not a case of you guys getting filtered, it's a case of "The Emperor Has No Clothes".

>>23479013
I wasn't a fan of Kafka, and haven't read Beckett. Which work is Beckett's best?

>>23478933
I loved the exploration of the nature of Truth as a concept in our minds. If The Party can truly sever all possible avenues to reality for the proles to access, then The Party metaphysically controls reality in regard to the proles. Even the language itself is deprived from them, so that neither the thought, the concept, the desire, none of it can manifest, and it's as if those things never existed and never will. It has depths which are truly terrifying if you actually get it. Great book, even though it has obvious narrative flaws.

>>23480329
Not that anon, but we could argue over which of Beckett's works are his best. His trilogy I think is his most read just based on how many times I've seen people with copies and how it's marketed (I believe that, while the novels hold together stylistically and thematically, Beckett hadn't intended to group them together like Grove and Everyman's have done—faber and editions de minuit print them separately). Really, he wrote in different forms and in different tones to the point you could pick a favorite from any. I personally like Happy Days best, but I'm also fond of the Unnamable and Texts for Nothing. I tried reading How It Is (which many of my professors held to be his greatest work), but it was getting too heady for me and I felt like I was just reading words on a page rather than taking them in.

>>23480349
There’s definitely a progression that makes the Trilogy go together nicely, and the EL introduction says though the books were released separately Beckett intended them as a single book. I’m no Beckett scholar though and they can definitely be read on their own, I just think it’s best taken as a whole to really get a full appreciation as each builds off the previous by dropping stuff away

>>23480329


I don’t think Trilogy would be the best place to start for Beckett. There is probably a high likelihood of a first time reader of Beckett dropping it. It is definitely a masterpiece though and my favorite though I also like Krapp’s Last Tape, and The End a lot

Murphy is a fine starting point but Beckett doesn’t hit his stride till later so you don’t really get the full Beckett experience. The End is short, like 20 pages, and gives a taste of prime Beckett.

He’s a hilarious writer though depressing. I think it would pay dividends to read up a bit on Beckett and what he was about and what he was trying for before jumping in.

>>23480349
>>23480384
Thanks anons

>>23480384
I thought I heard that somewhere in my university days and just took the english and french publishers as being right, but it could just be to make more money. I'll concede to the introduction until I see otherwise.
>>23480392
Anyway, I really like his short stories and believe First Love and The End are an excellent place to start.

>>23478933
>>23480335
Man I keep forgetting most of this board was born after Obama exited office lol.

>>23478921
selected poems by the tate bros

>>23480412
I generally think short stories are the place to go when trying out more “stylish” and famously difficult writers. I’m not sure if it’s still in print but I have a slim volume of Beckett’s short stories published by Penguin that I’d recommend to that anon. I think it has The End, The Exiled, The Expelled, The Calamitive, and First Love. All good bite sized ~20 page stories to get a feel for Beckett. I do think The End is the best. If someone likes it they can always move onto Trilogy or his plays. I couldn’t imagine someone who’s never read Beckett picking up something like How It Is or The Unnameable. Molloy might not be too bad as it’s one of the funniest books I’ve read so I think it has a chance to keep some readers going who are a little perplexed. I’ll always remember the sucking stones, the sexual encounter in the dump, and Moran giving his son an enema as long as I live

Right now I am rereading Phenomenology of Spirit.

>>23478921
I want to read Nietzsche, but to do that I need to read Schopenhauer, but to do that I need to read Kant, so do to that I'm reading Hume

>>23480762
You don't need all that. The best way to understand Nietzsche is to experience a life denying philosophy, be that Christianity, Buddhism, Platonism etc. And not just any form of those philosophies, but those that actually still are life denying.

>>23480728
I have pic related, truly a great place to start. It’s true, and something I didn’t acknowledge before, Beckett is funny in a lot of his writing, often just jokingly silly fun rather than the morose and mordant sarcastic wit you’d associate with his reputation for gloom and doom.

>>23480315
I have. It would be kind of silly to read the German idealists without at least having a working knowledge of Kant

>>23478921
As I lay dying by William Faulkner
I like it so far, it's really well written and the characters feel like real people. I enjoy learning more and more about the bundren family

>>23478933
I read that back in 2017 in preparation for the Trump presidency. Thank science he was only a one-termer. Things are so much better with Biden.

>>23478921
The Bible. I'm up to the part where Solomon builds the Temple.

>>23479039
>>23479147

I remember when I got recommended that book by a Russian, she told me strictly to read the Richard Pevear & Larissa Volokhonsky translation and to avoid all the others. I've read it about 3 times since. Really good book IMO

>>23479197
Behemoth almost singlehandedly makes the book worth a go lmao

Learn another language to read a book?

This>>23479256 would apply to the book even if read in it's original language.
>Unnecessarily specific at times
Tediousness, tedious sentences, makes for bad prose.
Having said that, this>>23481656
will be the translation I'll read if I decide to get into the work again.

>>23480694
I was born while Clinton was in office, but okay

>>23478921
Arabian Sands by Wilfred Thesiger

>>23478921
Murakami's 1Q84 but I'm quitting it because of its hugely indulgent length. I'm going to only read short stories for now on; novelists have a level of conceit that I cannot accept.

>>23482620
read the well of dunrea by gabrielle roy

>>23482655
don't see it anywhere

>>23478921
I'm reading a Pessoa anthology. It's as comfy as it gets.

I CAN'T READ

>>23478921
Jorge Luis Borges but his works are kinda retarded

>>23478921
Finished metamorphosis and it was fine. I think I was placing too much hype on Kafka from how much I have heard about him and his writing. It wasn't bad, but not as impactful as I thought it would be. Next I believe I will either read Camellia, Wuthering Heights, or a random book from my backlog.

Currently reading through David benatars journal articles (praise sci-hub). Unsurprisingly he's Jewish.

The slavers kingdom got away with nearly kidnapping and raping mc, nearly assassinating the head of an aristocratic house, and genuinely assassinating a bunch of earthers.They played up their losses to the media after getting magically nuked (think, hamas, if it was inherently shit

The father of the prince that mc killed is gathering up a centuries old brigade of elfs to figure out why his son was retarded enough to aggro a suspected goblin during the most destructive sea battle in modern history, also, he has depression. Also, elves are autistic due to functional immortality?

pic rel, my reaction to the slavers getting away with it.

reading peak fiction rn

Gravity's Rainbow. Surprisingly straightforward compared to Ulysses but still has a lot of really dense sections

finished with "the book thief" .now I'm about to read LOLITA. I'm just gonna finish "top 100 books"

>>23478921
A sports biography, a book about fat metabolism and the propaganda around it, a book on the legal system, and a book on statistical misuse in medicine

>>23485183
We don’t like him over in the writing general.

>>23478921
Mob Dick. I find it hard sometimes understanding the naval terms. Dude seems like a major fucking autismo explaining stuff about whaling. Halfway through and struggling to give a fuck.

>>23478921
Most of the way through book 2 of the Realm of the Elderlings series.
It's decent, hasn't quite grabbed me like some fantasies but it's engaging enough to finish the assassin trilogy at least, after that I'll see.

Heretics of Dune