/lit/ - Literature

>tfw everyone on /lit/ are conniving little fucks with no creative talent who would jump at the chance to steal all your wonderful thought-babies and use them to make millions while you watch on and cry.

>>2923062
For real, dude.
I fucking hate /lit/-goers.
Buncha a dicks who think they're all special snowflakes who read the same exact books from the same exact list and never read anything else.

>>2923065
for the record i don't believe i am special

>Be 11
>Listen to my brothers bloodhound gang CD repeatedly
>Hear the line 'He will learn that fist can be a verb'
>didn't understand

>Be in English class
>Learning about Nouns, adjectives, verbs...
>Teacher asking for examples
>Get to verbs and my hand shoots up
>"Fist is a verb, miss"
>"No, no it's not. fist is not a verb" she says
>"Yes Miss. Fist CAN be a verb" I say. Quoting song verbatim
>Detention and call to my parents follows

>Mfw I realized what the song meant.

>>2923070
OH WELL AREN'T YOU SPECIAL?!

>>2923070

>Unique individual out of 7BIL people
>not special

ISHG

>bought a few books from a store today
>instantly felt like a retard for not using amazon
>instantly assumed everyone who works at the store thinks I'm a retard
>could've saved about £5

>attain enlightenment
>think a philosophy major is a good idea

One of these things does not belong, OP

>>2923120
Well then kind sir how do you believe enlightenment should be obtained?

I have heard bad things about philosophy but surely it is of some use?

>>2923071
Patrick?

>>2923093
Same here, but kind of no regrets 'cuz I have it in my hands NOW NOW NOW.

>>2923059
>reading Bret Easton Ellis - Rules of Attraction
>this cover
>girl comes into my house
>"lol ur reading faggy romance, what a fag"

>>2923164
Forgot cover.

>be at club
>meet cute girl
>hit it off, make out
>she takes me home
>get into her room
>no books anywhere
>that feel
>that feel when it's not the first time

>read werther
>that feel when you are him

>>2923176
She has a kindle in her draw.

>>2923176
>talk to a girl
>hit it off
>go back to her house
>books, everywhere
>think it will be good
>next morning look at books...
>twilight, girl with dragon..., Charmed and buffy novelisations.
Oh well.

We're still going out though. Other interests and the like.

>good at them but hate maths / science
>choose to study human science / philosophy
>realize studying philosophy inside the limits of an academic institution is pointless
>tfw shouldve done some science degree to get a regular job in order to have an average income so i could read the rest of the time
>tfw now i dont wanna finish this fucking degree and will probably end on a shit job just to pay food and roof so i can read the rest of the time
>that feel

>English major
>read articles in nationally-published journals discussing points of particular novels or writers that you found painfully obvious and barely worth mentioning
>tfw you could have been published if you wrote this banal nonsense you thought was self-explanatory
>tfw literary academia underwhelms you

>>2923180
>She has a kindle in her draw.
>draw

Son. We need to have a talk.

>>2923181
I suppose you also read your Homer in the original.

>>2923202
>good at math, major in it
>read a ton on the side, been reading for fun & profit since high school
>eventually realize literature and critical theory are my true passions
>too late to change majors
>suddenly bored with my studies
>grades slip
>no available jobs I wouldn't hate myself for taking
>grad school prospects unlikely
>suicide prospects likely

>>2923282
>>2923282
>>2923282
That feel. Seriously fucking kidding me poingint out such obvious things.

>>2923202
>>2924819
>Soon to start second year of BS degree
>Read more than usual during summer
>Quickly realizing that I probably will not genuinly like any job I get from the degree no matter how much I'll get paid
>Maybe I can find satisfaction beside work
>Maybe I'll hate what I'm doing for the rest of my life
>Fuck you God

>>2923164
>girl comes into your house
never happened.

>want to major in history, comparative lit, or linguistics
>love the sciences too hard
>can't escape sex with the universe
>will likely major in physics and maths
>pretty okay with it
>that feel when fevers of different interest turn into a total flip of passions
>that feel when regret
>that feel when cliché Robert Frost poem

>be at furniture store
>inspect the books they use to decorate their shelves for sale
>find 1st ed encyclopedias the are a century old, poetry books with pencil writings from the author, and century old written letters that were used as book marks
>tfw too beta to ask if they're willing to sell or for me to steal

>buying multiple books when I still have a large backlog
>It has turned into an obsession
>Finding great deals make my heart beat faster

Also

>Majoring in English
>I am an awful writer
>Have to write an essay most likely every other week when I go back to school
>Been trying to find a writing voice
>continue to sound pretentious in fake
>hate everything I write

>been trying to write a short story for a month now
>Can't find a way to write third person
>Can only write first but it doesn't work for the story at all
>in the end I accept that I can't do it
;_;

>>2923166
>>2923164
What you deserve for reading Great Faggot Elephant. Who are you guys quoting by the way?

I have a degree in Philosophy. Nobody wants to give me a job. Don't you try and make me feel like my time was well spent OP.

>obsessed with literature
>been reading consistently for most of my life
>want to be a literary novelist
>can't decide if I want to go back to school for formal education
>kind of want to finish my novel and see what happens
>dfw not sure what to do

>read voraciously for years
>know that you can never transcend the authors you have read
>everything you think of has been written already
>yfw your mind is an empty amalgamation of quotes and you will never be an author

>>2924903
>Can't find a way to write third person
change all the I's to he/she. done

>>2924819
>>2923202
>>2924828
Can we all agree to fuck the current standards of living in the ass, and all the bullshit costs associated with it, and live simply?

Seriously, everything is so goddamn expensive now. Uni used to be able to be paid of by working six hours a week in the 60s. Now you need to sell your ass on the street in order to make enough. I wouldn't mind less material goods, if it meant not having to worry so much about a super high paying job with enough hours. We work and barely have enough time to enjoy the scant money that doesn't go to rent and shit. All I need is a roof/food, internet, and books. Fuck everything else.

>>2924932
Lol, i c wat u did thar.

But yeah, same here. It feels like abject failure is waiting for me somewhere in the future.

>browse through bookstore
>spot a book I like
>write it down on piece of paper
>go home
>order it off amazon
>feel guilty

Also:
>order something off amazon
>wake up
>it has arrived!
>feel like a kid on Christmas day

>>2924981
>mfw im >>2924828 and live in Sweden where Uni is taxfunded
>mfw I will pay 50 % tax my entire life if I stay here
>Still I couldn't agree more on the other parts.

>>2924936
I thought of that, but I think it would feel too inorganic.

>>2924999
Stay out of their heads. When you are writing first you have access to your thoughts, and can say what you are feeling on top of seeing and hearing. When in third it should be more like watching a film. I know there are some films with narrators, but generally you are just watching people talk and act, trying to gauge their motives and reasoning from this.

Try watching a film you like, then sit down and write the first ten mins. You will have to rewatch many times, but you won't feel inclined to write in first person.

>good science major in the field I like most
>still incredibly depressed and bored by life
There is no winning

>>2925006
Great advice! Thanks man I never thought about doing that.

>>2924932
How do I know so much about you benny? This is getting absurd.

>>2925012

>>2925054

long hours on an internet cesspool does strange things to you and me both, i guess

>>2925012
I know this feel, hard.

>take psychology at university
>BPS and all members of staff seek approval of scientific world for status and increased funding as a BSc instead of a BA
>shitty experiments with inductive assumptions, waste of resources
>mfw we'd learn more if we were just taught to accept our protoscience status and focus on the reduction and redefinition of terms to find common ground
>mfw reading published papers you can see that everybody is trying to milk the pseudoscience just to get published
>new terms being spawned everyday for bullshit
>the world of psychology is egos everywhere
>undefined uncritical work everywhere
>thinking of leaving and joining a Zen Monastery instead

Fuck this gay earth.

>>2923202
>be in high school
>love educating myself, hate formal education
>finish it anyway
>don't know what to do
>go to Uni to study literature
>why are they murdering these glorious novels and poems?
>drop out
>go study philosophy instead
>why are they murdering all this glorious philosophy?
>drop out
>work in warehouses and cleaning shit
>why are they trying to murder me?
>quit
>go on welfare for the rest of my life
>live like a Cynic philosopher
>be happy

>>2925089
do you know about the "demarcation line" problem in the philosophy of science?

must be difficult to be on the edge between science/humanities

neuroscience must also have this problem

>>2923059
>major in social sciences
>everyone telling me to enjoy McDonalds
...I do enjoy my job at McDonalds as head of recruitment and a take home pay of £37,000 a year.
How's that dole queue working for ya?

>>2925542
can I have some money and sleep in your house please

>>2925542
I wish you lived in America so you could hook me up with a McDonald's job. :/

No one will even give me an interview.

>>2925542
What's £37,000 in real money?

>>2925546
I'll give you some money and put you up in a B&B, but you aren't getting back in the house. Not since you touched my kid.

>>2925553
46,718 euro.

>>2925549
>tfw getting so many degree graduates applying for basic crew member positions.

I must have got lucky, man I feel sorry for you guys.
The guy with the kid is getting the job though, he's less likely to fuck off. Sorry bro.

>>2925553
It's six figures.

>>2924981
>not being paid what amounts to one thousand dollars every year for studying at a university
>The year of the Lord, 2012

>>mfw the glorious state of denmark funds humanitarian studies as well

>>2925549
Because you're probably overqualified. If you have a degree, don't mention it. If you used to make 15 dollars an hour, don't mention it.

Trust me, hiring staff used to be part of my job, and we all were reluctant to hire people like those with college degrees, or extensive military service, because we knew they were overqualified, worth more than we were willing to pay them, and would be out the door the minute they found a better job.

My advice is to say a lot less about yourself than you must be saying now. Absolutely don't mention things that would overqualify you for the position.

>>2925578
>Be Scottish
>get 4 years of uni funding
>get student aid at £5k for the year
>mfw I'll never have to pay it back because I've been guaranteed a job in Canada as soon as I finish.

>>2925581
Also, never put references available on request.
Just put someone down. We never call, it's just to see you had them.

>>2925591
What if you have no references?

>>2925597
Put your brother's or friend's phone number and a fake name. Seriously, references are almost never called. I worked 2 years staffing and never called a single reference.

Christ.
"Do not resist an evildoer. But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also."

Nietzsche.
"He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster."

Christ.
"We are in agreement?"

Nietzsche.
"We are in agreement."

>>2925583
>mfw we're grilling it up like bro's

>>2925597
Then make sure to note lack of previous employment. This is good for McDonalds (I don't know where else) if you are over 20 because it shows you're either desperate, or lazy. If desperate we can give you shitty hours (most people don't want nightshift... even though it's the easiest, highest paying shift). And if you're lazy, well, we just fire you after your trial period.

>>2925625
I laughed. I'm a newfag here so I haven't heard that one.

>>2925625
Only Christ says 'don't fight monsters', while Nietzsche says 'be careful when you fight monsters.'

>>2925690
You can only offer up the other cheek once broheim.

noooooo
no
no
nono
>>>/mu/
>>>/r9k/
>>>/hm/
nonononono
no
no
no
no
fuck off
nooooooooooooooooooooooooo
sageeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

>>2923166
>read The Rules of Attraction
>get to college
>it's nothing like TRoA

What the fuck am I paying for if not the bacchanal I've been so cruelly denied?

>mfw I find out my first-edition copies of In Cold Blood and For Whom The Bell Tolls are worth about $400-$500 together

I don't want to sell them but they might see me through a rainy day...or a rainy week, or month.

>>2925658

Neither had I, just made it up. Truth be known I'm a complete tool.

This is how it starts, isn't it?
We're becoming /mu/-tier..

>Study a major in "communication" (I live in a country where that's regarded as a good choice, there's a lot of people studying that)
>realize that the rest of the world laughs at anyone majored in communication, even comedy sites
>realize they don't even have a coherent or practical syllabus in my college
>realize that my knowledge of the theory of communication is very deficient
>the majority of my colleagues are dumb fucks, can't write anything right, they spend all day in facebook, I don't relate to them at all
>I write daily, better than the average
>think of actually write a book or something I can publish
>don't have the balls nor enough knowledge for that, not yet at least
>constantly ask myself "where the fuck am I?"

But I keep fighting.

>>2925723
I'm majoring in journalism and a majority of the people in the program are in it just to do sports writing or switch to broadcasting (i.e. sports a la ESPN). They are borderline -illiterates, not exaggerating. Just because they couldn't do math, they decided Communications was their thing.

>>2925704
I know that feel.

>>2925720
>implying lit was ever good.

>>2925738
That's no excuse to actively make it worse.

>>2925739
Says a tripfag post-trip era.

>tfw you're not a very good writer
y god

destroy all college threads

college threads raus

>>2925625
about the cheek.
"A literal interpretation of the passages, in which the command refers specifically to a manual strike against the side of a person's face, can be supported by reference to historical and other factors.[3] At the time of Jesus, striking someone deemed to be of a lower class with the back of the hand was used to assert authority and dominance.[4] If the persecuted person "turned the other cheek," the discipliner was faced with a dilemma. The left hand was used for unclean purposes, so a back-hand strike on the opposite cheek would not be performed.[5] The other alternative would be a slap with the open hand as a challenge or to punch the person, but this was seen as a statement of equality. Thus, by turning the other cheek the persecuted was in effect demanding equality."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turning_the_other_cheek#Literal_interpretation

>engineering major
>doing well, but only second year so i hardly even count as an engineering major yet
>writing poetry voraciously in the time between summer classes and fall semester.
>stopped drinking three months ago
>changed my number two months ago and haven't given it out to anybody
>life of solitude is leading to creative ambitions i haven't had in years
>taking german classes on saturdays this fall
>might actually sign up for a club at college
>i'm going to be one of those people who's always busy
>eating much less because i like feeling hungry
>i can feel the fall coming and it feels like depression is coming
>i like it

>>2924933

Except I don't even want to write. People tell me I'm intelligent and insightful when they don't know that all I do is quote the words and ideas of those who came before me.

>>2926094

Don't get yourself down, plenty of people stood on the shoulders of giants.

>>2926123
Don't we all? The difference is those whom reach a little higher. But those dont come around all too often

>be on /lit/
>anyone who has read das kapital now thinks they are an expert on economic policies and collectivism
>think marx is a good philospher

fuck this planet

>>2925739
If you'd like to start improving /lit/, relinquish your trip. I report pretty much any tripfag I see on any board (I can barely go on /fa/ and /tv/ nowadays).

>mfw I will never meet a smart attractive girl in a bookstore because you are part of the amazon master race


>tfw go to waterstones
>they have genre fiction sections but also a "fiction" section with all the serious business books
>the "fiction" section includes stuff like brave new world, slaughterhouse 5 etc because they're siz biz
>tfw Ray Bradbury is consigned to the sci-fi ghetto

>>2926211

forgot my face

>>2925772
>i can feel the fall coming and it feels like depression is coming
>i like it

>>2925561
>Euro
>real money

Not for long

>>2926257
Nope, soon the Renminbi will be the worlds currency.

>>2926264
China's fucked too, brah
sorry to tell you

Their accounting makes ours look good

>>2923065
You pretty much described all of human society.

>>2926286
they've still got the world's largest stockpile of foreign exchange reserve though

capital is power, and they have the capital, the ball is in their court

the question is will they fuck it up

>>2923059
>tfw /lit/ stole my description of Tao Lin as having an "aspergerian radiance".
>tfw a /lit/izen stole my description of nihilism as the "phantom pain of meaning" for his poem

>>2924933
doze feels

Also
>walk into another semester of English
>english teacher also happens to be my doctorb to whom confessions have been made
>Nope!
>hightail it outta there

the 'b' is for bargain

>>2926315
that's why you never give /lit/ the good stuff, and that's why it will always be shit.

>>2926360
I keep the good stuff for publishing on a loss and being disliked generally.