/lit/ - Literature

>>3699561
Keep the Aspidistra flying?

Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss?

Nope, there aren't any that can't be interpreted as having universal themes. Lamarque + Olsen don't say anything at all in this chapter.

tai pei tao lin

/lit/ seriously, I would love to read a book without petty universal themes, but I fear none exists. My happiness and faith in my ideals about humanity rest solely on reading a book like this. I have found myself in a place where none of these things mean anything anymore and I question my existence, wondering if there is a god.I'm suffering, /lit/, and I feel I might die.

>>3699567
Thanks for the suggestion, but no. I'm talking about a book which forgoes all the conventional themes of storytelling without sacrificing formulaic conventions.

Like just a pretty little story about life without any gimmicks and unnecessary weight.

>>3699572
Clearly GE&H is about fear, identity and nihilism.

>>3699573
I refuse to accept this. Liberal academic thought has had literature hogtied for far too long.

I want to read books about books.

Whether that means books about the abstract philosophy behind the structure and evolution of traditional narratives and the development of universal archetypes of plot, character, and theme, or just books that happen to have physical books present within their story is fine

>>3699576
>>3699561
>I have found myself in a place where none of these things mean anything anymore and I question my existence, wondering if there is a god.I'm suffering, /lit/, and I feel I might die.
>atheism, existentialism, nihilism.

Three of the topics you named are actually what you're looking for, and there's a bajillion on them. Shit son.

>>3699574
>implying nihilism, fear, and identity are not pivotal themes of all Lin's works
OP left out time, also.

>>3699561
>using them and motif interchangeably

>>3699577
Borges, Nabokov and Barth spring to mind. Shit, Cervantes too.

Even Winnie The Poo is full of existentialism. You cannot escape themes.

>>3699561
>>Love, death, fear, happiness, emotion, beauty, suffering, morality, identity, idealism, theism, atheism, existentialism, nihilism. Can /lit/ recommend me a book which contains none of these themes?

The reason these are called universal concepts is because they apply to all people, even fictional ones and also the author of a book and/or the narrator. Any book that has character, a narrator or an author is going to contain these themes at some level. So I guess you're looking for a book without an author and no content, then.

No. I know of no book that fits that description.

The closest you can get is Naked Lunch which goes so far as to portrays those themes in an unconventional way.

Pic related to Naked Lunch.

Can someone tell me how to live a long and healthy life without eating or drinking? I thought not

>smug look

>>3699561
Any technical manual can fit your request

>>3700182

>>3699561
Consider the lobster by david foster wallace

Just pick up a dictionary.

>>3699658
I was making a joke, I actually referenced all the themes I mentioned in OP to be funny.

>>3699796
Motif then.

>>3700150
But those themes aren't universal, they vary by culture. I'm looking for a book that doesn't reference any of them, because they are dumb. I feel like we've been stuck in a rut since, like, Gilgamesh and the Odyssey. If Gilgamesh had been about the king guy just having constant sex with women and not having to actually do anything, I feel literature would be at a much more interesting place now. Every "universal" theme is totally arbitrary.

>>3700175
I kill u.

>>3701092
arbitrary in the sense that its arbitrary that human's die, arbitrary that human's love, arbitrary that human's suffer, arbitrary that humans seek happiness, arbitrary that human's seek an identity, arbitrary that human's question their purpose.

Also these themes do not vary by culture, they are persistent in ancient texts and contemporary ones, eastern or western

>>3699561
>Love, death, fear, happiness, emotion, beauty, suffering, morality, identity, idealism, theism, atheism, existentialism, nihilism.

those aren't themes

>>3701138
Yes, all of those things are arbitrary, especially with the transhumanist movement rising. Best to abandon them now I say.

>>3701144
Motifs then.

Bump