/lit/ - Literature

>>3968921
I do have a better jawline and chin though.

Why does this guy get so much attention?

He also has his own app, his own publishing house

That was literaly the worse thing I'v ever seen.

>>3968933
That's probably because you aren't a gook.

Check your white jawline privilege.

At leasr he isn't letting the fame go to his head. Not even being sarcastic.

>>3968965
Not a gook and not white. I'm Vietnamese.

Hide Tao Lin threads

Do not reply to Tao Lin posts

Do not reply to Tao Lin

>>3968965
er
>>3968980
Wait this here isn't me, not sure why he posted that. I am white. I refuse to check my jawline privilege

I feel like Tao Lin is a fun guy but /lit/ ruined him for me years ago.

Sorry, Tao.

What did everyone think of Taipei? I just finished reading it this morning.

I thought it was well written but very dull in terms of plot.

>>3968935
He's samefagging on /lit/

I heard his interview with Brad Listi and I swear the guy must be putting on a Miles on Work of Art level act.

>>3969072
Plenty of stuff is well written but being boring is unforgivable.

>>3969049
It's kind of weird, because he's incredibly pretentious in every way possible, but there's something likeable about the guy. and I think that's why /lit/ still brings him up all the time. he just reminds all these sad, little wannabe writers of themselves in some way or another.

>>3969072
the book was basically just him recounting events of his real life, so you can fault human existence for being dull lol

>>3969083
>and I think that's why /lit/ still brings him up all the time
He's brought up all the time because of his immense popularity with hipsters and relevance in the literary world despite debate of whether he's actually a great minimalist or just a well trained writer with nothing to say.

>>3969083
The only book I've read of his is Taipei so granted I don't have a total understanding of his work. I think he's just writing in a way that seems natural to him, but occasionally has little lines that take you out of the moment because they just don't fit - I don't have my copy with me right now, but there's was a line early on that went something like, "He felt that he wasn't walking on the sidewalk, but rather moving through the universe." See, that was in the middle of an engaging relationship scene, but that line just ruined it for me. I don't think it's out of pretension or even necessarily on purpose - I think he just loses control of his writing sometimes.

>>3969081
>being boring is unforgivable

I totally agree. I write myself and one of the first things I learned was that every scene has to feature some kind of occurrence that moves the plot forward. There also has to be some kind of beginning, middle and end. Taipei just throws all that out of the window. I'm sure that's done deliberately, for the sake of realism, but it would be much more impressive if he could woven a defined plot and narrative structure in to it, while still keeping it starkly realistic. I guess that's what he tried but it failed. I've seen him say in interviews that he likes to write about periods of time where nothing significant happens. It would be a neat trick if he could pull it off. But he can't.

More surprising is the issue with the blandness of the characters. They are all supposedly based on real people, but they all seem very much the same. There's no individual voice from each of them. Maybe this is because all of his friends are a bunch of Marlon Bland-os, or maybe he's making some kind of comment on the superficiality of human relationships in the early 21st century. Including his relationship with himself. I think that might be giving him a bit too much credit though.

>>3969102
Did you notice the very long introspective sentences that your eyes just dart over blindly because they are so insubstantial?

Simply doing a myriad of different things does not make one multi-talented.

Doing them with talent makes one multi-talented.

I'm going to defend Tao Lin... I liked his book.
>>3969106
The long introspective sentences actually have some meaning, if you take the time to understand them

>>3969108
>implying the video was about his talent at skateboarding

>>3969110
I didn't say they were meaningless. I said they were insubstantial. I understood what they meant, but I didn't think they contributed anything to the plot, or much to the characterization of the protagonist, or to the book in general.

I think you're being unfair to imply that I read the book lazily. It's almost as if you're trying to draw a veil of the Emperor's New Clothes around it.

>>3969115

I know, but... those sentences did contribute something to the book in Tao Lin's mind, or else he wouldn't have put them there. He is a very careful, considerate writer, and we should look at the bigger picture of what the book is rather then plot, characterization, all the things that make a standard story good. Tao Lin didn't write, nor do I think he set out to write, a standard story.

>>3969119
>the bigger picture of what the book is

Which is?

>>3969123
i dunno

>>3969124
So why do you assume there must be a bigger picture if you haven't identified it yet?

I think it's just some dude writing (stylishly I admit) about the events of two years of his life.

>>3969148
Tao Lin himself said in an interview that he couldn't explain what the book was about, but he basically confirmed that there was more to it than just writing an autobiography. He couldn't explain it in the interview because he said it would take the books length to explain

>>3969205
That is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard since my teacher said the Bible was true because the Bible said so.

>>3969205
you have to admit, that it sounds awfully pretentious

>>3969237CRAP i deleted my post, i only wanted to make a small change, but what I said was, i trust Tao Lin when he said that, I don't think it's comparable to the religion example

>>3969245
if you read it in the wrong context it's actually so pretentious it's funny, but Tao Lin is one of those guys I can trust like that, he's sincere

Lin is shit, Taipei was a waste of time. He's going to go down in history as a lesson about not tying your style to your time with specific details. Once everyone has forgotten what gchat is, Lin's work will be unreadable. Or at least more so than it is now.

>>3969277
Drop trip and/or stop posting.

Your "contribution" to this board is little better than shitposting.

>>3969277
>sucking anyone's dick this hard
your post is bad and you should feel bad

>>3969291
sorry

http://www.thefader.com/2013/06/04/interview-tao-lin/

>Barely anything makes me happy anymore except drugs. It’s really not good.

Tao Lin confirmed for drug overdose.

>>3969286
There's a lot you can criticize about Tao's work, but this sort of shit strikes me as the funniest.

What the fuck sort of criticism is "300 years from now, people will have trouble relating"?

>>3969318

when I read Taipei I didn't know 75% of the pop culture references and I feel like I didn't get half of what he was trying to say.

it's a valid criticism.

>>3969412
None of those references had any importance to the story.
He could have substituted all of the brand and place names and next to nothing would be lost.

It still perplexes me when people insist Tao Lin posts about himself on /lit/. He probably did once, but you have to be a moron to think that he's in every one of our daily Tao threads.

I can't tell if it's some kind of intentionally unfunny inside joke, or if /lit/ is really this gullible and credulous.

>>3969446
Go to bed, Tao.

>>3969446
I think it's funny.

I thought this was pretty funny in a braindead, slapstick kind of way.

>>3969412
what pop culture references? mcdonalds? 4chan? twitter?

did the part about 4chan in Taipei actually happen?

>>3968921
lol This is pretty great. It seems he is pretty self-aware of how awkward he is and uses it as comedic schtick. I bet his books are pretty good.

>>3969520
Sadly, yes.

>>3969313
What drugs does tao lin do?

>>3969588
It's mentioned in the article

>>3969588
all of them

he does all the drugs

He honestly intrigues me. I read an excerpt of his on an NPR review of Taipei and he honestly doesn't seem like a very good writer, but nonetheless one who is brutally self-honest and there's something about that I've always been drawn to. Reminds me of like a book version of The Comedy. I think I'm gonna buy it.

Would you believe me if I told you I was the real Tao Lin?

>>3969520
What happened with 4chan?

Literature where nothing significant or relevant happens has been semi-frequent recently. Perhaps it's just a post-fiction type of movement, where literature becomes an actual mirror of the real world. It doesn't mean there still is nothing to be gained from those stories.

They may be boring but is literature really about entertainment or about connecting to the world?

>>3969520
Yes. Tao used to post shit and shitpost on /lit/ regularly, that's why it's rather strange seeing him profiled in NYTimes and all this other nonsense.

>>3969446
He did for quite awhile, the go to bed posts are unrelated and for shits and giggles.

>>3969680
Now he's too popular?

>>3969148
xanax is an idiot, ignore him i haven't read tai pei in awhile but i remember liking that line if it's the one I think you're referring to, where he mentions seeing himself as a dot moving through the city as in like the iphone maps app, I thought it was interesting and I still sometimes get reminded of that line and imagine myself in the same way, I don't think it's a conscious comment on anything, but it can definitely be seen as a modern perspective, you can compare it to past realist literature and see where new technology has had its influence, it shows up in other ways like how he sort of glides through the city between bars and apartments and friends and things, from nyc to that place with the highschoolers or vegas. i think tao lin as a person is very self aware and reflective, i'm pretty certain it's not an act though I considered it at first too, i think his writing in tai pei (it's a bit different with some of his other stuff i think) is a bit of an honest, neutral depiction of an anxiety ridden hyper aware personality interacting with a modern first world major city. of course there are some other ways to look at it, on its treatment of people or the (possibly pivotal) psychedelic sequences, maybe try and force a narrative of "finding sincerity in an ironic world" but I think it's kind of misinterpreting it, though I can see why people feel the need to. it's really neutral, I think. I think it's dumb I have to explain that and I don't see why anyone could read the book and then feel the need to discuss it, to figure it out, to treat it as a puzzle. maybe just read it again because you did a bad job the first time.

>>3969072
I thought his examination of urban alienation/depression was pretty penetrating and moving and I found his voice very likeable.

>>3969520
I don't think so. He said that a thread about him on /lit/ reached 400 replies, which I don't think has ever happened.

I think Taipei is an essentially impressionistic work. An experience, or series of experiences, rather than a traditional narrative. If you read his review of Almost Transparent Blue it'll give you an idea of what he was going for.

>>3969318
the point is that his work is so inherently tied down to the specifics of the age that it's already virtually meaningless to anyone who isn't a brooklyn hipster. he's invested in writing for an audience, that doesn't understand (or more importantly care about) the difference between depth or meaning and the mere appearance of depth or meaning. he's an intellectual huckster that found a market he can shill to.

>>3970463

annotations could easily explain the references, that is of course if his work were to ever become acclaimed enough to warrant annotated editions.

>>3969046
I think the other guy meant to imply he was Tao. Regardless, you better check your fucking jawline privilege, mate

>>3968921
Stop self-posting, Lin! And if mandarin is your first language, you're a bad-bad-bad person!

God I want to punch him in the face

>>3969300
if you are going to defend an author you have to have some actual arguments, man. That was weak as fuck and you only provided a statement where he seems like more of a hack

>>3969286
not if you ad him footnotes like they do on classics to explain things that are no longer known. of course, he may not survive enough to get footnoted. Regardless, that line of criticism is superfluous

>>3969660
take Gaddis' Agape, for example. Great book.

I liked Eeee Eee Eeeee. There should be a sequall. Eeee Eee Eeeee II, or something like that.

>>3970566
>Eeee Eee Eeeee II
did you come up with that title by yourself?

>>3970566
and a trequel
Eeee Eee Eeeee Threeeee

>>3968921
That guy looks like a sushi chef.

>>3970595
or something like that