/lit/ - Literature

>>3026392
I love it, it's one of those books that I always keep on the bedside.
The only book that can "reverse" Oblomov

>>3026503
admittedly I haven't read Oblomov (I know, I know)
In what way does A Confession 'reverse' it?

sounds like a pessimistic ecclesiastes, I don't like the sound of it, I love the gospel in brief though.

>>3026537
The very notion of the book is: Is there any meaning in my life that will not be destroyed by my death? So yes, for large parts it is pessimistic and hopeless, but a great learning experience nonetheless and a good insight into Tolstoy's mind

>>3026524
it's difficult to explain without spoilers.
rather I'm curious to know what other books you like

>>3026564
I enjoy shorter books, such as Confession, Family Happiness, Steinbeck, Snows of Kilimanjaro etc. It's not I don't like the more epic books a la American Tragedy or whatever, but like most kids my age I just don't have the attention span to last 800 odd pages on War and Peace. Plus I'm busy for exams so I don't have a whole lot of time. Funnily enough (corny enough) one of my favourite books ever is Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer. Whatever you think of the main character the ideology and courage he had is pretty amazing. What about yourself?

Crazy, crotchety Tolstoy general?

>>3026617
I got that out from the library a week ago but am yet to start it. Worth it?

>>3026619
If you really like Tolstoy.

>>3026617

He's doing her up the arse, innit?

>>3026621
Thanks. You've just ruined this book forever now

>"The life of the body is an evil and a lie.

waht an edgy teenager bawwwwwwwwwwwwww im a beta loser virgin crawling in my skin these wound they will not heal

why does anyone like him?

>>3026639
You realise it was Tolstoy quoting Socrates? What an idiot

>>3026605
ivan il'ic and The Miserable

>>3026639

beyond the teenage op, the book in question is a gem.

"There is an Eastern fable, told long ago, of a traveller overtaken on a plain by an enraged beast. Escaping from the beast he gets into a dry well, but sees at the bottom of the well a dragon that has opened its jaws to swallow him. And the unfortunate man, not daring to climb out lest he should be destroyed by the enraged beast, and not daring to leap to the bottom of the well lest he should be eaten by the dragon, seizes s twig growing in a crack in the well and clings to it. His hands are growing weaker and he feels he will soon have to resign himself to the destruction that awaits him above or below, but still he clings on. Then he sees that two mice, a black one and a white one, go regularly round and round the stem of the twig to which he is clinging and gnaw at it. And soon the twig itself will snap and he will fall into the dragon's jaws. The traveller sees this and knows that he will inevitably perish; but while still hanging he looks around, sees some drops of honey on the leaves of the twig, reaches them with his tongue and licks them. So I too clung to the twig of life, knowing that the dragon of death was inevitably awaiting me, ready to tear me to pieces; and I could not understand why I had fallen into such torment. I tried to lick the honey which formerly consoled me, but the honey no longer gave me pleasure, and the white and black mice of day and night gnawed at the branch by which I hung. I saw the dragon clearly and the honey no longer tasted sweet. I only saw the unescapable dragon and the mice, and I could not tear my gaze from them. and this is not a fable but the real unanswerable truth intelligible to all. "

>>3026665
>teenage op
Well I apologise, it was just a certain bit I'd marked out and it sums up Tolstoy's thoughts at one stage pretty succinctly. But I do love that analogy (mice and honey), it's great

>>3026605
You mean the stupidity he had. Romanticizing the death of that guy is just fucking sad.

>>3026678
I think it depends at what age you read it what your opinion of him is. Younger people tend to idolise him as he embodies us (me at least) and our dreams, and the hope we may actually one day live out those dreams regardless of the consequences. Older people are graced with a little more cynicism and in the words of a great song "pragmatism not idealism". Perhaps he typifies the free spirits that those who are older don't have anymore? I'm not sure, I'm just dissapointed when people constantly berate him for being clueless, insane etc

>>3026692
you read Tolstoy because "Into the Wild"?

>>3026736
What are you talking about? I was discussing Chris McCandless from Into the Wild, I never mentioned Tolstoy

>>3026692
It's not so much the free spirit, it's being a suburban college kid dying from eating the wrong plant because you know fuck all about what you got yourself into. I would respect him a lot more if he were actually a capable outdoorsman. Then he would have served as a positive example, not a warning sign to kids with primitivist leanings. Although that would pretty much be the Unabomber, who's a much more thorough and admirable idol to have if you're the primitivist type.

>>3026743
Also look into the Alone in the Wilderness documentary, it's about an old guy who goes into Alaska and lives by himself in a cabin. Very beautiful and gentle and pleasant and reasonable variety of the Into The Wild mentality.

If you like radical ruralist deep ecology types look into Pentti Linkola. He's a great guy. Also perhaps John Zerzan for those primitivist essays.

>>3026743
At this point I'm wondering whether you bothered to read the book or just watched the movie and considered yourself an authority. Krakauer, towards the end of Into the Wild debunks all of the rubbish you're talking, and if indeed you had taken anything from the book let alone read it we wouldn't be having this pointless discussion

>>3026749
Thanks, I will. And sorry for coming across as an asshole in my last post

>>3026753
I admit I merely watched the film and read some stuff about the guy. So he didn't poison himself like a fool and died then?

>>3026758
I forget the exact predicament, but he was eating a particular plant seed for weeks (wild potato or something). He then started eating the roots (usually fine) but due to the particular season they had poison or something. It's a ridiculously rare occurance with only 1 previous recorded fatal case (an Inuit I think nonetheless) so to call him a fool is a little wide of the mark. In fact for anyone to survive in the Alaskan Wilderness for 3 months is impressive in my opinion, but hey. Excusing his obvious naiveties (not taking a bloody map for example) he did extremely well.

That's my very vague recollection (it's hard to remember that sort of thing) but it involved the same plant but different consequences