/lit/ - Literature

already have a recent purchases thread going

>>2624083

I don't know how much use books are. There's a nigger who used to bully me at school because he was scared I could tell he was gay. This bullying, ironically, was homophobic in its avowed motivation. He's making better money than me now, as a dancer (guess he came out, huh?). I'm detemined that if I get the chance, I'll paralyze him. I won't kill him, just make him wait out his days robbed of joy. I'm a published writer and an artist, I'm smarter than he is, my friends are brilliant people who wouldn't give his sort the time of day, but what does it matter? What does any of it matter when none of it equates to power I can use to destroy him? There are people walking around who need to be punished, and all the prestige I get among cultured white middle class people will never amount to the bankroll I need to pay someone to break the nigger faggot's spine. So who cares? Culture never extended my reach or made me rich, it's just a sideshow. Fun, sure, but if you weren't born rich, it's not going to help you work your will in the world, beyond its own borders.

>>2624437

>good
Corrections
Mason & Dixon
Inherent Vice
Ulysses
Dubliners
Meditations
Exist. from Dostoevsky to Sartre
War and Peace
Karamazov
Death of a Salesman
Les Miserables
Nausea

>meh
Freedom
The Road

>haven't read
Right ho, Jeeves

If you believe in the worth of all those other books, don't read Franzen.

>>2624437
> Existentialism from Dostoevsky to Sartre

sashagrey.jpg

>>2624488
>>2624488
>>2624488
>>2624488
>>2624488
>>2624488
>>2624488

What is the point, why did I bother telling you this? Nobody fucking cares about my life, because I'm only an artist. The only way to get respect is to kill some.

>>2624510
Lol, why didn't you blackmail him into leaving you alone because you knew his secret? Honestly, if you're that bad at power grabs, you'll probably suck at paralyzing people just as much.

>>2624488

>>2624518

That would have required him to be intelligent enough to know what was good for him, and to have admitted it to himself. This was in dipshit public school. None of the other kids could process someone being both a nigger and a faggot, and it was easy to equate my greater literacy to effeminacy.

>>2624518

I would hire a professional, obviously.

In general, I'm pretty pleased with how things turned out. Half of the other kids had children themselves before they were out of their teens. The town gave up the ghost; boarded window after boarded window on the main drag. Many of my contemporaries joined the army - what else? Finally the town got so rough we moved away. Then I moved out, went to college.

There's one girl I knew back then who's doing well, but her parents were well-off people sending their kid to public school to make some imagined point. I can't imagine what such people think their kids will learn, except to thank God they weren't born poor. The only other survivor is nigger faggot. I would never use this language in daily life, you understand. My friends are all the kind of white professional people who hate racism but would never dream of having a black friend. I tow the orthodox line of my 'sector' and social environment.

Of course, there's always the hope he gets the HIV virus.

>>2624488
Shave the neckbeard.
Preschool was a while ago.

>>2624618

Flipness doesn't help anyone. I'm not a neckbeard, didn't you read what I wrote?

>>2624628
Soft trolling is scarier than the regular way. I was about to try sleeping soon too.

>>2624660

What the fuck are you talking about?

>>2624664
Not sure, my kneepits are sweaty; I might turn on the fan.

Why am I to be treated like dross? I've told you the truth. Random gags are no help.

what the fuck is going on in this thread

>>2624674

I expressed some agnosticism about the use of books. In the last few posts, someone's decided to accuse me of 'soft trolling'.

this child is pale and hairy
ya'll are my brothers, didja know that?

>>2624677
it's probably because you sound like you're a crazy motherfucker

just a possibility

>>2624685

It seems to me one of the great things about 4chan is that we can just drop the bullshit and be entirely honest, so I have been. If that sounds crazy so be it, but I was making a point. No matter how much cultural importance my work attains, it'll never get my foot onto that nigger faggot's throat. On this level, the level of sheer Id from which all the best art is nourished, culture is a disappointment.

ITT:

person B: EX
person A: NO
person B: NO NEITHER
person A: Not like that, I meant never either, neither. Not that either; neither that.
person B: Gimme MILK
person A: teats up?
person B: licking up the inter-inter-inter-inter-inter-NET-Net-net
person A: I feel depleted, I'm gonna get a job.

I'M ALWAYS 'PERSON A' AND I'M SICK OF IT

>>2624701
it's not the honesty that makes you seem crazy so much as the way you start ranting in a completely unrelated thread, and then act kind of confused and slightly hostile when people respond to the strangeness / weirdndess of your posts

i don't know, it's pretty funny though so don't sweat it

>>2624714

What's this disruptive shit? Why does nobody give a fuck about doing as they fucking should?

>>2624716

As the OP had a haul of books to report, and his selections seemed to reflect an idea of serious literature, it seemed as good a place as any to bring it up. I am certainly hostile to any attempts to paint a serious discourse with the "lel" random brush. I was hoping a conversation would develop.


>>2624719

Check out >>2624669 >>2624678 and >>2624714

>>2624780

Wait, >>2624719 seems to have been me. I assumed I was being parroted, but no, that's my post. Anyway, it stands as a response if anyone were asking.

>>2624806
ahahahahahahaha`

I tell the truth for once, the first time I've told anyone, and the reaction is bemusement and trolling. Very disappointing, /lit/.

>>2624855
and, again, it's not that you told the truth but that you came off as crazy, did in a completely unrelated thread (i know you don't seem to see it as unrelated but i swear it is), and have reacted to people being amused with anger, which tends to fan the flames. i'm not sure why i'm explaining this to you. since you won't get it. since you're kind of crazy.

>>2624860

Amusement's fine, "random" jokes aren't. Generally, nobody's seriously engaged with what I'm talking about - that sense of the futility of art. Isn't this a good meaty /lit/ subject? I'm not crazy.

>>2624888
yes but maybe you should make a thread about it if you want to talk about it

>>2624488
>>2624510
>>2624592
>>2624780

Dude, what the fuck?

>>2624893
and also try not to seem so crazy

another tip

>>2624893

As the OP repeated his post on the other recent purchases thread someone mentioned, I don't see why this can't be used for this discussion. There's nothing it's getting in the way of, is there?


>>2624895

What is it?

>>2624900

Passion isn't craziness.

>>2624895
>>2624895
>>2624895
>>2624895
>>2624895
>>2624895
>>2624895
>>2624895
>>2624895
>>2624895

What is it?

>>2624895

What's the problem? I said.

>>2624628
>Flipness

You mean being flippant, pleb.

>>2624936

There is a time and a place for weird, nuanced storytelling, but this thread really sort of isn't it, and, if you're going to be weird about it, you have to understand that you're totally not engaging people in a conversation or discussion or monologue the way people normally engage in these things. If you're going to try to deliver some strange, off-putting commentary, you're going to have to preface it by stepping outside the boundaries of a normal discussion, which is what this thread is supposed to be. So alternatively, save it for a creative writing thread and have at it, or save it for a "tell me about yourself" thread and tone down the weird stuff.

I mean I know it's a lit board but you can't take any opportunity available to work on your stuff.

>>2624437

I'm reading Freedom right now. It's good, but not enjoyable really.

>>2624953

My usage is a recognized one.

>>2624964

Not storytelling, truthtelling. Not weird, honest. I'm not putting people off anything. It's not "stuff", it's not a story. You think nobody has serious shit to contend with because you don't, you fucking hole? I'm talking about the real stuff of life - art helps very little of what we really want. Why don't you want this discussed?

Some people will never learn until their faces are cut the fuck up I swear.

>>2624974

Dude, I'm trying to be nice. I don't mind if you have some narration to do. But it's only polite to not do it in threads specifically marked for other subjects, and people will generally be put off if you spruce it up to much.

Seriously, can none of you think of a nigger faggot in your own life? Are you all so weak that you relinquish the will and let yourselves be defeated?

>>2624989

No, you're trying to prevent me from talking honestly by claiming I'm "doing narration". Why do you hate me when we've never met? Why am I never permitted to speak the truth to a living soul?

I came here to discuss like anyone else. Not writing like a moron doesn't mean I'm storytelling, or doing "narration", or any of that crap. It's odious that even here there are the kinds of people whose favorite fun is murdering other people's hope. Another proof of art's limitations - plenty of human dross meddle in it.

>>2624997

Alright, whatever dude. Do your thing. I don't care. This thread belongs to you now.

>>2625003

No, please answer my questions if you're going to talk about politeness. You're calling me a phony.

I deeply regret giving up violence when I was a kid, because the truth is that if people aren't frightened of you they will treat you like a nigger. This thread is just the latest proof. Honesty earns contempt unless it comes from a place of power and wealth. If I hadn't given up violence, and had gotten in training, there would be no need to complain about the nigger faggot, the situation would have been dealt with.

But you don't care do you? Even now you're thinking of some way to insult or discredit me.

>>2625028
>I deeply regret giving up violence when I was a kid, because the truth is that if people aren't frightened of you they will treat you like a nigger.

You have the brain of a squirrel.

>>2625009

I'm not calling you a phony. If what you're saying is a big deal to you, I suppose you have to go and say it. What I'm saying is that there's a more refined manner in which you can go about saying these things, and if you go that route, people are less likely to be weirded out. If this is the only way you feel you can express things that's fine, but it comes at the cost of the attention of most people who would rather you speak plainly. That's all.

>>2625038

> there's a more refined manner in which you can go about saying these things,
> most people who would rather you speak plainly. That's all.

OK, could you please explain to me what tone it is, simultaneously "more refined" and also plainer, that you're thinking of here? I have spoken very plainly. What exactly is the problem?

>>2625032

Why a squirrel?

>>2625048

The way you would talk to a complete stranger if you needed to explain this or that thing, while not insulting their intelligence by overexplaining things they probably already know. Or how you might carry on a conversation with a friend. So refined as in, there's a tract of words and expressions you're limited to, because these things have been established as normal conversation tools. And simple, because that's essentially what they are: not artsy.

Probably not using the 'n' word, either.

>>2625057

Oh, so by "refined" you actually mean "cretinized". Makes more sense now. Nothing I've posted has been "artsy".

Not saying "nigger"? Why not? I didn't think /lit/ was full of cowards. You're new here, I assume. I also assume you're new to literature if you read shit like Jonathan Franzen.

Why am I wasting my time with dirt?

Of course the way I naturally express myself seems "artsy" to you, you're in a hurry to ignore me. Any reason for dismissal, no matter how contrived, will do.

Among friends, I speak the way I write, up to a point. I also use words like nigger and faggot because we're amongst friends.

>>2625073

It doesn't matter how ordinary you feel you're speaking here, it matters how it's coming off the other people. I'm saying, it's rather cerebral for an ordinary discussion. If you don't think it is, fine, but there's a discrepancy between what you're experiencing and what everyone else is experiencing, which isn't good for communication. And I doubt there are any black people on /lit/, so I don't really think anyone here is going to be offended by "nigger" but it lowers your credibility among other users. I'm fairly neutral regarded the impact words have so I don't give a damn but again, you say "cowardly", and everyone else says "you're being weird." And/or racist, in this case. Be mindful. Also, I've been on /lit for about three months, which is plenty long enough if you're old enough to pick up on behaviors.

>new to literature

No.

>Franzen being shit

He's certainly not fun, but I wouldn't say he's awful.

>>2625091

> Also, I've been on /lit for about three months, which is plenty long enough if you're old enough to pick up on behaviors.

Well, apparently you aren't. I've been here longer.


> If you don't think it is, fine, but there's a discrepancy between what you're experiencing and what everyone else is experiencing, which isn't good for communication.

No, there's a discrepancy between what I've written and what a fan of shit-tier realism thinks he read. It's to be expected.


> it lowers your credibility among other users

Again, you do not know where you are.


> And/or racist, in this case. Be mindful.

You can't have read my posts very carefully.

And of course Franzen's awful, he can't write a lick.

>>2625102

>Again, you do not know where you are.

Most of the users aren't too friendly toward anything that remotely suggests racism, so I dunno.

>You can't have read my posts very carefully.

Again, I'm not telling you what I'm thinking when I see "nigger", I'm telling you what most other users are likely to think.

>And of course Franzen's awful, he can't write a lick.

There's something really choppy and unnatural about his prose, but I think he's fairly good at delivering the broader scope of a story. This, of course, based on Freedom. I haven't read his other works yet. And I might not, if Freedom doesn't get any better in the last three hundred pages.

> carrying a grudge after like a decade and dreaming about killing someone who was a duck so long ago that he was a completely different person
>consuming too much culture is my problem, it doesn't further my life or bring me happiness

>>2625118

Once a bully, always a bully.

You don't "consume" culture, but broadly speaking yes, culture doesn't bring you happiness.


>>2625117

I've been here a lot longer than you, trust me, you've misjudged the tone. You think most other posters are morons? Well, that superiority complex goes with being a Franzen reader. His story has no broader scope - his characters are all just these sociological marionettes.

>>2625133
> once a bully always a bully
That is the opposite of true.
Maybe he looks back and realizes that he was and idiot, and now he tries to be a better person until you show up out of nowhere to shoot him. How many years has it been since you spoke to him?
Maybe he's full of regret and wonders what happened to you?

>>2625133

If I've misjudged, I apologize, but I'm also aware enough to recognize that your way of discussing things contrasts sharply with other posters.

>superiority complex

No. There is a difference between telling you to say something differently and telling you you are inferior. You could, of course, be saying something purely genius, and saying it without clarity. This, of course, being an example meant to illustrate how I can disagree with the way you go about saying something while still reserving respect for you as a person.

>Franzen reader

He inspires some divisiveness. I heard a lot of "he's actually quite good" and a lot of "he's a shmuck", so I had to see for myself. I don't consider myself a fan of his, and, like I said, I'm not a regular reader of his.

>>2625142

I did say in the original post I wouldn't want to shoot him, I would want to paralyze him. I'd get someone to do it - that's the point, I haven't the bank required. I don't care whether he wants to be a better person, and I doubt he has a moral center. I haven't spoken to him in fifteen years. Regret's a luxury item. Remorse is the thing, and his soul's too coarse for that.

>>2625145

That's OK. Yes, it does, but there's a lot of diversity on /lit/.

There's no point in saying something I don't want to say when dealing with such a personal matter. I don't think lack of clarity was the problem, I think the problem is that I posted at a time when nobody who'd find the posts stimulating was here.

That's fine.

>>2625150
Whatever, paralyzing him is worse.
Vengeance is futile, the only purpose with punishment is to prevent shit from happening again and until you realize that, you're as bad a person as he ever was.

>>2625166

The purpose of my punishment would be retribution. No, I'm not as bad a person.

Anyway, it's academic, because I'm an artist and thus a poorfag. Hence my advice: don't put too much stock in art. The best revenge isn't success, the best revenge is a severe beating.

Working as a substitute teacher, I have learned that ALL kids in high school are fucking idiots.
You think that kind is special because he was mean to You.
You probably caused some misery in your life, but people shouldn't spend their life trying to get back at you. It will not make anyone happy. Let it go mother fucker, or you will lose at the game of life.