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/lit/ - Literature

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3127067 No.3127067 [Reply] [Original]

Do you read forewords/afterwords?

I used to but I never really found them very useful. Then one day the foreword spoiled Macbeth for me. I still forged on and another day the foreword spoiled Don Quixote for me. Now I don't read forewords. I don't understand why they would put that ahead of the actual story.

>> No.3127075

forewords = opinions

some jumped up faggot with a PhD isn't going to tell me what to think about Hamlet. If I want to think it's shit, I can.

>> No.3127085

I've been stung with spoilers in the forewards before so I tend to avoid them now. I generally read the afterword though.

>> No.3127092

>>3127067
What feeling is that picture meant to be portraying?

It confuses me. Like the Mona Lisa it is...

>> No.3127118

The foreword the C&P spoiled it for me. Still ended up enjoying it, just don't see why they would do that.

>> No.3127127

Jesus Christ guys, you're not meant to read introductions before you read the book. How retarded can you get?

>> No.3127135

>>3127127

I guess the word ''introduction'' threw many of us off. How silly of us.

>> No.3127139

my hypothesis is that forwards exist at all because people like that it makes them seem further along in the book than they are. why else would they be put anywhere but the end?

>> No.3127145
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3127145

>>3127135
This. You'd think writers would get that shit.

I really love that, in Wittgenstein's Mistress, David Foster Wallace has an afterword - not an introduction. I guess, in general, prefaces are the only things appropriate for reading before the book proper.

>> No.3127156

>>3127127

In C&P and The Double, there is vital information about currency and goverment rankings which is meant to be read before the actual book.

>> No.3127161

I don't even read the backs of novels for the plot summary. It feels like a spoiler.

>> No.3127162

I read them all. In fact, there are a few memorable ones that I keep in mind. They're usually well written, informative and contextualizing. What's not to love?

>> No.3127163

>>3127162

You love plot spoilers?

>> No.3127170

>>3127075
Tihs. Fuck them.

>> No.3127173

>>3127092
It's looking at you judgingly. Like the filename says, do you even know this feel? It's like the DYEL of r9k

>> No.3127175

I read them afterwards now.

>> No.3127199

I always read translators' prefaces. Sometimes I ONLY read translators' prefaces and not the actual books they preface.

A lot of Japanese authors also write really great afterwords. Sometimes they just read like blog posts, but others reveal themselves to be really fantastic essayists, and they can tell you a lot about the book you just read.

>> No.3127287
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3127287

Read them both after you read the work itself.
Seeing as both are commentary on the author's piece, it only makes sense.