/lit/ - Literature

>>5206186
>my brother asks me what I'm reading
>say i'm readingn "duh-blinders"
>tfw when it's pronounced doublooners

>>5206186
well, who wrote it? You don't even know, do you?

>yeah I enjoy writing
>BUT ARE YOU A FAN OF JOYCE??????
>excuse me?
>ROFLMAOZEDONG FUCKING PLEB

>>5206198
Your brother is an idiot.

>>5206198
wtf are you talking about

>Friend brings his new friend out to the bars with us
>Looks like a pretentious little doucher to me
>Topic gets on literature
>He says he read Infinite Jest and "thought every word was just exquisite"
>tell him I've read it too and ask him which character was his favorite
>he stammers something before going silent, obvious to everyone he's full of shit
>mfw I haven't read it either

I would have been so fucked if he called my bluff

cont'd
>"James Joyce, the author"
>"Oh, I couldn't understand you because the fat around your neck muffles your speech and makes you sound like a frog, sure I'm a big fan of Joyce."

>>5206186
>meet my girlfriend's roommate
>she says she loves movies, films her own movies "constantly
>ask her if she's a fan of The Dekalogue
>"I've never read it, who wrote it?"

>>5206198
>my sister asks me what I'm reading
>say i'm reading "Bartelbee"
>tfw when it's pronounced bortleby

>>5206186
>meet my roommate's girlfriend
>she says she loves porn, films her own porn constantly
>ask her if she's a fan of "Indian Cumdodger gets pumped from behind and facial"
>"I've never read it, who wrote it?"

>>5206232
maybe she heard you spell it wrong, moron

>>5206217
lel, good one anon

>>5206217
>having a "favorite character" in IJ
This isn't ASOIAF

>my mother asks me what I'm look at
>say i'm looking at the star "Beetle Juice"
>tfw when it's pronounced bottle goose

just because someone isn't aware of a major writer doesn't mean they're a bad person, let alone one not to be taken seriously. this is assuming she didn't just misunderstand what you meant. either way, fuck off.

>my dad ask me what I'm look at
>say i'm reading "Brothers Karmazov"
>tfw when it's pronounced brother karmesoff

>>5206279
it means they're a terrible person and should be killed

>>5206247
>>5206270
>>5206288
yeah I'm not sure about this meme

>>5206311
It's not a meme if it's the same person doing it.

OP here, I later mentioned how I enjoy The Odyssey and its various translations. She said "Oh, I'll look that up on my phone later, its called The Odyssey right?"

>>5206320
>and it's various translations

>my daughter ask me what I'm see
>say i'm reading Ulysses
>tfw when it's pronounced ulusus

>talking to uncle
>"yeah i've been reading a lot this summer. I just finished The Stranger, by Albert Kam-miss."
>"I think it's Ka-moo", grinning smugly.

>my roommate asks me what I'm look at
>say I'm reading "Doctor Zhivago"
>tfw it's actually pronounced docked whore siwaldo

>>5206318
I just meant it as a pejorative

>>5206340
>>5206334
>>5206329
>>5206288
how many more stops on the cringe-train faggot?

>>5206356
I didn't buy a ticket, but I'm having fun.

>/lit/ thread asks me what I'm reading
>say I'm reading Anna Karenina
>tfw I'm actually reading nothing

>>5206340
>meet my new girlfriend
>she says she loves reading
>ask her if she studies finnegan's wake
>"who's what?"
>get arrested 6 hours later for an extreme case of domestic violence
Serves her right. She'll never walk or breathe without an apparatus again, gives her pleanty of time to study Finnegan's Wake.
Brekkek Kekkek Kekkek Kekkek Kekkek! Koax Koax Koax!

not talking but
>friend invites me to some bookstore downtown supposed to be really cool
>said bookstore is some artsy cafe-esque place full of dudes in tight skinny jeans wearing loafers and thick glasses and most chicks wearing flannel shirts/headbands with flowers and shit on em
>speakers are blasting some obscure folk rock
>they got a "exhibit" where old 1920s furniture laid out
>friend tells me its "art"


I got good deals on some books, though

>>5206370
what was the bookstore called, what city is this?

>my professor asks me what I'm reading
>"Lay Naw-sea-A, by Sat-tah-rye"
>mfw

>>5206382
Chapters.

>>5206369
>Kekkek
Did Joyce post on 4chan?

>>5206387
That looks like a naked body in a hole.

>>5206400
exactly

>>5206186
>Reading my book in the cafeteria back in undergrad (probably drunk, I was always drunk back then)
>annoying dyky girl is talking to two semi-interested boys about the book she's reading
>describes the most typical YA story I've ever heard, "They are in this school and the teachers are cool and..." and that's an actual quote but it's all I remember
>"But you have to read it really careful because..."
>Cringe and cringe and then move to the library to finish my book.

>>5206369
>meet my cunard
>he says he loves reading
>ask her if he studies Beckett
>"who's what?"
>have to wait 6 hours for nothing
Serves her right. She'll never move from her place again, gives her pleanty of time to study Waiting for Godot.
quaquaquaqua quaquaquaqau

>external lifeform asks us what we're reading
>"Everything"
>tfw we are The Singularity

Most of my college friends don't really like to read. One of them does, but she usually reads things like Carl Sagan's Cosmos. Nothing wrong with that, I just haven't gotten around to reading it and she's a pretty insufferable human being regardless of literature taste. My friends from home read mostly genre fiction, specifically genius stories like Ender's Game, and one of the others mostly reads Star Wars novels and war stories. My girlfriend only reads things like the Notebook and the Fault in Our Stars. I can have a decent conversation about fantasy books with my Dad, although he usually reads things like the Dresden Files.

>>5206414
>Reading my book in the courtyard back in undergrad (probably had a kidney stone, I always did back then)
>annoying fag in skinny jeans is talking to two semi-interested bears about the book he's reading
>describes the most bizarre porno I've ever heard, "So whenever the guy gets an erection a rocket strikes ... and later he goes swimming in a toilet."
>"But you have to read it careful because ..."
>Cringe and cringe and then go the women's restroom for a wank

>be posting in this thread: >>/lit/thread/S5206210
>it's suddenly gone

>being in situations like that
>not taking time to reflect how you came to know the writer in question and why you find it odd that the other person didn't obtain the same information as you
>realize you have two different existences with different experiences and sympathize with her ignorance, realizing that it says nothing about her abilities or potential
>say "James Joyce, he's an Irish writer from the early 20th century."
>gauge her response, tell her more and then suggest Dubliners or Portrait

>be in college
>tasked with writing a short story in the style of Finnegan's Wake
>required 10 pages maximum
>copy paste 8 random non-sequential pages from Finnegan's Wake itself
>hand in short story
>professor gives me 100% said I matched Joyce's style perfectly.

>>5206186

Who the fuck is a fan of Joyce?

>>5206320

Are you a real human being or just a lump of obnoxious hairy fat that is powered by its own righteous indignation.

>>5206370

That stereotype hasn't existed for a good 5 years now. It's all about grunge revival, update your story.

>>5206872

>>5206841
devious

>>5206260
>Not loving Mario Incandenza.

Stay pleb.

>>5206356
No clue, there's no downvote button in sight. 300 replies should be enough to beat this horse back to life.

>>5206186
> Hanging out with my STEMfag friend and his girlfriend (who was wearing a fedora)
> Literature comes up in conversation
> I tell her how I have just read Dubliners and Portrait and how I consider Joyce to be a very good writer
> She agrees and goes on about how she considers Dubliners one of the best short story collections ever

>>5206369
But its Finnegans Wake.

>>5206186
Hay pretentious asshole...
There are a couple of things about her word choice that should have clued you in:
She wasn't talking about your fancy shmancy "literature."
She likes to read books. That could encompass a lot of books, not all of which qualify as highbrow "literature."
She writes stories. Once again, not literature. Stories. Probably fanfics.

Joyce was a faggot and so are you OP.

>>5206966
Michael Pemulis is my man

>>5206198
Dublooners is a joke, right?

>meet my brother's fiance
>she's getting her Ph.D. in philosophy, focused on the influence of Nietzsche on Foucault
>whenever I ask her about philosophy she just keeps talking, especially after I keep asking her more questions
>realize she's just a huge attention whore
>finally confront her
>"get the fuck out of my house you fucking tripfag attention whore"
>they're not getting married anymore
>I won

>>5206369
Fuck off, Aristophane

>chilling with friends
>take collapse vol. I: numerical materialism from my bookshelf
>confront myself and my self (as an ontological historical entity) with the umbra of the rational (as a human beings are not born in an irrational world but internalize a irrationalized écriture , formulated as pathos and it pretends to be mimetic of and only existing by itself in relation to the other) and realize the boundaries of humanity, comprehension and consciousness
>reach rational ecstasy
>pleb friend gets up and says "what is this babbling shit, lmao, lets read carlos fuentes"
>get angry at their nationalist subaltern consumption conditioned by the structures of power of the imperialist white economies, but contain it
>calm myself down by remembering quotes from finnegans wake, my favorite book since i was a teenager
>mfw can't express myself because i'm a spectator in the society of spectacle

"It is not the slumber of reason which engenders monsters, but vigilant and insomniac rationality. - Gilles Deleuze" - ~Astigmata

>>5206434
>being friends with someone you consider an insufferable human being
What the fuck?

>>5206521

This is a rather interesting post of calling out an unspoken (social) norm that bonds /lit/ which comes off as humorous by how openly you put it.

>>5206186

>tfw Joyce and OP are in outar space

>>5206217
You're a fucking liar who just watched Green Street.

>friend brings his friend to a restaurant with us
>looks like a right dickhead, wearing jeans and a t-shirt
>pleb.jpg
>the conversation turns to literature
>he says he enjoys plays
>i know he hasn't got a fucking clue after he says he hasn't heard of Oedipus the King
>ask him if he likes Arthur Miller
>tells me he doesn't like swing music
>mfw he thought I was talking about Glenn Miller

>>5206186
I hope you shook your head in disbelief with a smug sneer on your face and then went on to ignore her instead of accepting that there was ambiguity in your question and taking the time to clarify that you meant the author.

>>5206230

>talking to new housemate
>seems interested in ancient history
>rattle through some anecdotes from various sources
>"So these are from films, right?"

>my uncle ask me what i'm look at
>say i'm reading ''Madame Bovary''
>tfw when it's pronounced Medim Booviry

>>5207553
you sound like the dullest person on the planet

My best friend lives in New York. He is currently attending Columbia and we call each other every or every other day. We usually talk about literature a few times throughout the conversation.

Right now I'm reading the Greek sagas so I briefly went over the Theban saga. He's reading Fitzgerald's The Beautiful and the Damned. I've only read Gatsby and all of his short stories. I recommended Babylon Revisited since my friend mentioned how Fitzgerald's dialogue is too over the top, possibly even when considering who the characters are, and I think some of Fitzgerald's best dialogue is in Babylon.

It is an enormous relief on my mind to speak to him.

>>5206387
>>5206400
>>5206412
fucking lmaoo

>>5206521
Well said, sir.

OP is autistic.

>>5207596
How so?

>>5207442
I love this pasta.

>>5207597
are you real?

>>5206478
wtf, feminister beguiled us all

>>5206186
>meet my roommate's girlfriend
>I say I love reading, and write my own post-modern detective otherkin hentai
>she says "whatever punk, have you started with the greeks?"
>"N-no, who wrote it?"
>Roommate and gf laugh manically
>They undress and start fucking right in front of me
>still laughing manically
>fixating my eyes all the way through
>Be shellshocked, cant move

Afterwards I ran home, watched a full season of Naruto while hugging my waifu pillow ("Oh Laurie-chan, why does no one understand me?"). After cumming on the pillow multiple times while still crying, I posted OP.

>have just finished reading The Iliad and The Odyssey (Fagles' translations)
>buy the Pope's translations
>a "friend" loudly protests :
>"why would you buy these books again ? They're probably not even worth reading once"
>everyone agrees and makes fun of me

>>5206203
basically

>Be friends with guy
>he thinks he's intellectual
>Has read like 8 books all his life, but acts like he's the head of the local literati chapter
>Always talks about what he wants to read
>never reads shit
>Whenever I meet him, I make sure to turn the topic to lit so I can make him admit he does nothing in terms of reading/writing ("Didnt you want to read that book?" "So how's that book you bought?" "Any progress on your writing?"
>The answer is always him admitting he's sitting at home playing fucking League of Legends
>He ahs done nothing but play that shit vidyagaem for almost 4 years
>still thinks he's an intellectual
>comes to me to make fun of other people being tards
>mfw he's one of them
>mfw he doesn't realize he's a fraud

>>5208348
>not reading Pope's translations to begin with

>Guy i worked with and know socially.
>Self styled film geek
>Posts emoticon-laden reviews on Facebook of current films in the cinema
>I asked him what films he was in to one day
>Limited to capeshit and Wes Anderson
>Didn't know who Malick, Lynch, Tarr, or even PTA was.

>>5208424
>bothering with Pope

>>5207159
he has a gf and you dont

>meet my roommate's girlfriend
>she says she loves reading, writes her own stories "constantly
>ask her if she's a fan of Joyce
>"I've never read it, who wrote it?"
>fuck her anyways

>>5208404
>Be friends with guy
>make fun of him on 4chan because I'm the better intellectual

lol

>>5208338
7/10
I would have replaced the pillow with something more alienating, like pic related

>tfw you have to hide your powerlevel from everyone because they don't understand

>>5208511
das it mane

>talking with friend about literature
>he started with the Greeks and has made it all the way to the Romantic period, following the Canon according to Sir Harold Bloom
>tell him that it's no how widely you read, it's how deeply you read, that literature is largely just the same parables and allegories over and over again in different styles, and that the point is to deeply internalize the wisdom of the parables/allegories
>he tells me I'm mad because I hardly ever read and he's a legitimate intellectual
>tell him that you can only really remember so much of what you've read, and of all the different aesthetics / lifeviews presented in literature you can only really adopt one of them unless you are going to synthesize with an ugly result
>he tells me that all he needs to do is remember the key quotes and outline of the stories to impress "concubines"
>tell him straight up that it's better to be a man of a single poem, living by a single statement and fully realizing as ones life idea, than to flirt with every poem in history like a disgusting reprobate
>tells me I'm jealous that he's had as many "paramours" as he's read books, and asks me what poem I'm being faithful to by shitposting on 4chan all day
>he then quotes about a half a dozen famous authors and takes off with two beautiful literature students
>mfw

>people only ever want to talk about the story or characters
>tfw I want to talk about themes, messages, and literary devices the author uses
am i autisticus???

>>5208606
No. It's just that most books don't have the stuff that is interesting to talk about.

And most of the people who read books that have it, can't convey their thoughts into conversation very well.

>>5207662
We all are Anon, we all are...

>>5206432
chuckled

>>5208514
>hte tfw when I talk about my favourite music/films people assume I'm pretentious and elitist because they aren't particularly well known films/albums, in fact i'm anything but
>tfw when they try and take an interest and I have to find a way of saying "you wouldnt like it" that doesnt come off like "you wouldnt understand it, hahaha!!"
>tfw it does anyway

>>5208654
I try never to mention the difficulty of the texts I am reading. I'll just tell them if it is good or not.

They can find out my powerlevel naturally if they go to the library or bookstore and pick up, for example, The Sound and The Fury.

>>5208590
Honestly he is right. You can't grasp the object if you haven't grasped the absolute.

>>5208654
hate this feel... people so quickly hate just because you talk about something unfamiliar

>>5208690
I mean I'm kind of safe because I also happen to like a lot of so called classics and mainstrean stuff, but it can be a little frustrating because I've never viewed any type of art on a hierarchy of pleb/patrician etc., it's just not that simple

>>5206416
I qua'd

>>5207465

We all have one. And if you don't have that friend, you probably are that friend.

>>5208828
It's not like they're insufferable all the time. They just do that one thing just enough that you can't rip them a new asshole for it or stop answering their phonecalls.

>>5208828
>life is a sitcom

eat a bullet

>>5206521

>used to be judged by my ignorance like this a lot
>feels bad man
>accept it as the way of the world and I'm just stupid
>well if I'm so stupid, then someone more ignorant than me must be REALLY stupid
>someone presents ignorance to me
>now's my chance to be the smart one!
>'lol idiot, how did you not know that?'
>'you know, anon, just because you know something doesn't mean everyone does. we all have gaps in our knowledge and there's nothing wrong with ignorance in someone who's open to being educated'
>FUCK YOUR WISDOM, THIS WAS MY ONE CHANCE, I'M NEVER GONNA WIN
>but eventually do realise that he freed me from my perceived inferiority, and that it really was everyone else who had the problem and were just being assholes to me

Not relevant to thread, just brought back memories...

>>5208877
>I am that friend

>>5208877

What sitcoms even use that? The only one that comes to mind as using it in any defined way is Cartman from South Park.

>>5207553

I don't think I've read/seen a play in my life and I could have bullshitted through that conversation better than he did.

>>5208432
Isn't Pope's translation the best by far ?

>>5208915
>South Park
>sit com

>what sitcoms have fat friends
I shiggily dig you shigs don't dig this.

>friends says he has an interest in literature
>Said 'How long did it take you to finally pronounce Lopadotemachoselachogaleokranioleipsanodrimhypotrimmatosilphioparaomelitokatakechymenokichlepikossyphophattoperisteralektryonoptekephalliokigklopeleiolagoiosiraiobaphetraganopterygon?
>He looked at me with a rather worrying expression
>Says he like Joyce and Hemingway
>sadfrog.jpg
When will I meet someone who isn't in the earliest stages of appreciation for literature?

>>5207465
It's clearly a femanon.

>>5207442
>"It is not the slumber of reason which engenders monsters, but vigilant and insomniac rationality. - Gilles Deleuze" - ~Astigmata

Attributing quotes to other people then encapsulating the quote with your own name seems to me like a great idea -me.

>>5209316

The fuck are you on about?

>>5206279
It means they're a pleb

>meet some friend of a friend
>she says she loves to read
>ask her if she'd like to see my library and pick one to borrow
>she says sure
>we tear each other apart in the bathroom and bedroom
it's not often I find a girl dinosaur

>>5206841
D E V I L I S H T A C T I C S

>asking about Joyce immediately to a grill you just met and haven't assessed if she is well-versed in literature

That's where you fucked up OP. I can only imagine your face when she didn't know who he is

>>5208425
to be fair Terrence Malick, David lynch and Paul Thomas Anderson are far from the be-all and end-all of cinema

>>5210081
They're top tier contemporaries though

>>5208915
there's kramer

>>5208938
it is if you'd rather read pope than homer

>>5208915
>What sitcoms even use that?

What sitcom attempts to categorize "types" of "friends" into quirky little model schema? All of them, I'm pretty sure.

>>5206198

>>5206199
he is an author

>>5206186
>new guy at work
>30-something, studied english
>wishing to chit chat I ask him "so what do you read usually?"
>"I love fantasy, vampire books and chick lit normally"
>I think he is making fun of me but not completely sure
>"If you go to my house it's full of books, most of the I even re-read them. Like for example I read this one four times"
>Pulls out of his bag Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.

>>5207200
Still you probably are even a greater faggot than him.

>>5206186
>Go out with yale phd lit candidate.
>She tells me that the american novel fails because there is no class system in the us.
>She tells me that novels are about representing social structure.
>She tells me that the novel should represent the common man.
>She loves shakespeare because he is proof that a universal human exists.
>She hates romanticism for having put the accent on exceptional men and feelings.
>mfw when Sturm un Drang is mostly responsible for Shakespeare's status as an unquestioned genius in continental Europe.

>>5211181
I'm no PhD, but in my experience, PhD candidates are too sharp in their knowledge and relentless in their convictions to really ever get preoccupied over coming off as rude or close-minded in conversation. She seems to have her mind made up and I don't see why, if she were to write convincingly, her version of the truth would be any less true than the more common opinions on things, like l'art pour l'art for example. I think the novel on the whole is a rather shameful business if taken too seriously and perhaps best played like an instrument, incapable of expressing everything in full lucidity. So it's really no surprise if the American novel is a failure, because for the most part, so are most other novels.

>>5211181
>no class system in the us

what a silly idea

Where does this panda meme come from? I mean what's the original post? It looks cancerous.

>>5211181
>She loves shakespeare because he is proof that a universal human exists
>She hates romanticism for having put the accent on exceptional men and feelings

I can get behind these

>>5211181
Your PhD friend spouts ideological bullshit.
The requirements of a novel (what a novel "should be") are defined by actual novelists writing their own novels, not by autistic "researchers" with an agenda.

In the same way, I could say:

>paintings are about representing the collective mentalities of their time
>biology is proof that an universal human exists
>american architecture fails because there is no class system in america, while the goal of architecture should be the liberation of the working class

See? It's just as uninformed and random, but these SHOULD and MUST and ARBITRARY DEFINITIONS can impress any newbie.

Heck, even that "no class system in America" thing is extremely stupid and delusional.

She's just a liberal psycho bitch with useless degrees, dump that quickly.

>>5206340
i kek'd

>>5211181

>>She loves shakespeare because he is proof that a universal human exists.

this puffed up literary disconnected from reality harold bloom shit really needs to end

if someone actually said this to me irl my sides would attain event horizon

what an absolute wank of a person you must be to go around saying this shit

>>5211206
"L'art pour l'art" stems from an actual poet, Théophile Gautier, who used this thought as a discipline to enhance his own art. He was imitated by his contemporaries because this "strategy" provided tangible, interesting results.

This Yale bitch's ramblings are just a bunch of nonsensical pseudo-rules that no one uses or cares about. It sounds like delusional words of grandeur from a madman ("Listen all, I'm the king of this country! I define what is literature! Obey now!"). At best, if she succeeds, it will become a "theory" designed to oppress actual authors who don't make a penny while she'll earn $20,000 per month, never achieving a single work of art by herself, but always grumbling in her papers: "Art must be this and should be that!"
Academic parasitism at its finest, living off productive members of society and being paid to criticize them while never making the smallest commitment.

>>5211260
>The requirements of a novel (what a novel "should be") are defined by actual novelists writing their own novels, not by autistic "researchers" with an agenda.

unfortunately, it is these autists who will influence the way coming generations study the novel and write future novels

>>5211206
It was also my fault because I was teasing her by pointing out counter-examples to every single of her affirmation

I told her about Gaddis, Purdy and Fitzgerald. She told me that Scott was a hack (I then understand that she would actually say that any writer who contradicts her sucks, so I aimed to mention only stuff I was sure she didn't read).

I object that social structure is rarely preeminent in novels. I offer as examples japanese confessional literature and the decadent novels of huysmans, d'annunzio and mirbeau. I also told her that I doubt that the Quixote could be consider a class novel about society and not about literature.

Then against her common man theory I pose as a counter-example proust, whom I knew she loved, and his attention to exceptional personalities, like charlus, swann, norpois and the narrator.

Then she told me that even in their being exceptional proust capture something of the universal human and told me about shakespeare as the one who represented the universal human in its utmost precision (probably she went to one or two of bloom's seminars).

So I tell her about Sturm und Drang and how Shakespeare was criticized for not sticking to the Aristotelian aesthetic guides, so I was wondering if those commentators either failed to understand shakespeare or for them this idea of the universal man wasn't that important.

Then we finished our drinks and we parted.

>>5211295
Yep, even by 4chan standards it sounds pretty autistic.

>>5211306
But I don't know a single great author who was an academic, or even studied literature at the university.
You don't need to dissect corpses of all books when you're full of wit and vitality.

(Literature by academics is always pointless and feels dead.)

>>5211260
It was my date unfortunately and I completely agree. She was so full of bullshit but as the other anon says unfortunately they are the one that inform how literature is received and what is published.

Yet I was so naive to be surprised that person studying literature in a prestigious university had so little understanding of it.

>>5211181
chance that this actually happened?

>>5211306
But I don't know a single great author who was an academic, or even studied literature at the university.
You don't need to dissect corpses of old books when you're full of wit and vitality.

(Literature by academics is always pointless and feels dead.)

>>5211338
trust me it did. She also said that Lacan was sexist, that she hates derrida and that you can take the author's declarations of intention at face value.

>>5211347
all of those claims are understandable

>>5211347
where are you people meeting women (or even just other people) who can casually talk philosophy
my friends are only interested in talking about people we know

>>5211310

>Then we finished our drinks and we parted.

Shame. Sounds like you annoyed each other enough to get some pretty decent fucks out of it in the future.

>>5211347
>author plays the old trick of "it's a true story, i swear!" at the beginning of what is obviously a 100% fictional story
>we should take his declaration of true-storiness at face value

>>5211348
That's why I didn't include them in the green text. I don't agree with them and I usually find that people who attack derrida are those who haven't read him (and I'm no big fan).

>>5211351
new york, but even here they are relatively rare.

>>5211351
Well, just go to a university where they teach philosophy?
(Tip: for your sanity, don't.)

>>5206186

Let's be honest. If we had friends we could actually talk to about literature, we wouldn't be posting on /lit/

>>5211310
Well... fuck.

>>5211354
I think she thinks I'm some sort of uneducated dimwit. That's why I still resent her and I'm posting online about the event. I don't resent her not liking me, I resent that she thought I was an idiot even though my points were better informed, because she's the academic hotshot and I'm just a no-name writer with a couple of short stories published, so obviously she must know better.

>>5211358
I wouldnt say "obviously." It's nominal enough; crazier shit has happened.

>>5211310
That's why you should never talk about literature with women (or any random stranger actually) for more than one conventional and pretty minute.
Just mix popular and positive opinions ("Thucydides's style is still unmatched" or "Proust is a genius, no one else can extract wide universalities from small particularities like he does!") with one or two original remarks ("Michelangelo's sonnets are actually better than his paintings, did you read them?"), then move onto other topics quickly.

Avoid all deep discussions with strangers as they always end up being conflictual, unsatisfying, and sterile. People have to deserve those deep discussions with you.

Captcha: suckenq serjeants

>>5211390

>I think she thinks I'm some sort of uneducated dimwit. That's why I still resent her and I'm posting online about the event. I don't resent her not liking me, I resent that she thought I was an idiot

You want that hatefuck so bad, lol. I bet she does too. Cut your losses and let her parrot her stupid bullshit.

>>5211410
I dunno, because then what's the point of sociability?
Unless I am myself, and I say what I feel like saying and ask the questions I want to ask I have nothing to gain out of it.
I'm neither a social climber nor I have a fervent need to be admire or to belong to a group and enough people like me for the person I am.

This kind of behavior seems kinda pointless to me, and I rather reap the bitterness of my foolhardiness.

>>5211410

>Avoid all deep discussions with strangers as they always end up being conflictual, unsatisfying, and sterile. People have to deserve those deep discussions with you.

let's be honest here most of us have the personalities of potatoes. we're the most animated and interesting when we're talking about art.

>>5206320
She clearly values your taste and opinions. I dont see the issue.

>>5211390
Just tell her: "You have opinions, I have genius." And fuck her because that's what she probably wants (bonus points for your superior and divine artist's semen).

Also I'm currently finishing my Ph.D. (not in literature for sure) and I can tell you, I don't feel like a "hotshot" at all.
It feels bad, useless and under-appreciated instead. But I'm not in Yale so who knows.

>>5211432
Please, speak for yourself.

>>5211351
Apprently she isn't a casual, but PHD.

>>5211431
Deep discussions about any single subject just feel nerdy, awkward, and not likable if you're with a stranger. Life is not a Japanese cartoon forum and you're not expected to focus on ultra-specialized and controversial things when surrounded by random people. This is actually the contrary of sociability.

>>5211432
It is considered unattractive to be apathetic about everything, then suddenly become very sharp and edgy when a minuscule field of human activity is mentioned... It feels unbalanced and weak and weird.
I don't think the greatest authors were only "literature-heads", interested in nothing but literature. Just read their letters.

>>5206186
I fucking shit you not...I had this same conversation basically about a month or so ago

>talking to chick
>talking about books
>says she is reading some book about Burroughs
>I say I've been busy on Ulysses
>she said something bout Burroughs sucking cock as usual
>I say something about how Joyce can be a handful and he was pretty perverted
>'never read it' she says
>end conversation

>post modernist fans
>not once
>especially burroughs fans
>such hacks
>much gay

fucking worthless

>>5211469
Conversation of two autists

>>5211451

>feels compelled to defend his personality to anonymous posters on 4chan

protip: your personality isn't as winning as you think it is

>>5211465

>It feels unbalanced and weak and weird.

where_do_you_think_we_are.png

>>5211465
But I don't see social life as a competition to be liked. If other people don't like I don't really care. And also I made plenty of friends by being the person that I am, and that is more than enough.

>>5211443
Heh, maybe I should have.

Anyway I don't say she is a hotshot just because of her phd, but because she is a well known redhead who gets name dropped on the new york times and has published article on the new inquiry.

>>5211469
I feel bad for ever giving my friend Naked Lunch when we were 16. Burroughs is the pinnacle of literature for him and because he doesn't actually read anything new, will be forever.

>>5206230

>>5211295

Agreed. What is a universal man anyways? Or universal woman for that matter? And why Shakespeare and not Goethe or Faulkner or Poe or Tolstoy or anyone else you wanna name drop?

it is really annoying when im talking vaguely about books I sort of had fun reading and some dick at a party starts quizzing me on some detail and I just look bad.

Equally annoying when I ask a girl that is supposedly into literature what she likes to read and she doesn't even give a real answer, or when I ask what she like about catch-22, no answer : S

fine line i guess. but when you meet someone at a party who is also well read you realize there is no point in really comparing notes, cause who cares. Mcluhan was right, the medium is the message.

>>5211714

Agreed. When people quiz you it is off putting and weird. I read to be intellectually/emotionally stimulated. It is mental food and it feels off to analyze every detail of every meal I have ever eaten.

Women who are serious readers are rare, but then so are serious readers in general. It seems to me that it is currently somewhat fashionable to come off as literary but those people who follow the fashion tend to be tragically under read and ignorant I find. In comparison to the general population, yes they are "literary" but when compared to people who actually are serious readers they are laughable. Like a moderately in shape person encountering a professional athlete or someone who does Ironmans.

When I meet someone else who is well read it is more of a "hey what is up, we are on the same wavelength" vibe. Comparing notes is basically camouflage for a dick comparing contest and only insecure people engage in that

>>5211790
Most women who are seriously into literature are total loonies anyway, unstable and toxic people.
Frankly, I prefer when a woman is totally ignorant about literature, and tries to be beautiful and charming instead.

>>5211881

I get where you are coming from, but I personally prefer crazy women. Crazy women tend to be more "authentic" (cliche term, yes I know), fun and better in the sack. It also injects an element of risk in the relationship, which for better or worse I find stimulating.

>>5211926
Oldfag here.
You're probably a bit young, aren't you?
When you become older, you generally want more stable or reliable people, because "crazy" finally means a huge loss of time. These "wild crazy girls" just leave you unhappy and alone in the end, and you've wasted your youth wallowing in various shades of crazy, for no benefit... No fun in it, just sterility, bad feels, and wrinkles all over your face. Thus your time becomes more precious and you can't give it to useless, scary people anymore. Just say no to literary girls!

>>5211881
This is the goddamn truth.
My ex, fucking shit. She was a bat shit fucking crazy whore who had recently been disillusioned to the idea that mommy AND daddy aren't perfect. Jesus, what a fucked up time that was.

>>5211981

>When you become older, you generally want more stable or reliable people, because "crazy" finally means a huge loss of time.

What a fucking no fun zone dickless cunt you are. Why would you get on a soapbox and try to lecture younger anon about the times you yourself had fun with in your youth just because you're over it now?

I don't care how old you are. You're a fucking dickless woman, m8.

>>5211926
>>5212112
Not that anon, but...

There's a definite difference between girls who are exciting - people who are spontaneous, open-minded, experimental, pleasure seeking - and girls who are crazy. Learn the difference quick or you're going to be wasting years of your life recovering from emotional trauma. Strong signs of crazy:

1. Diagnosed psych disorders (ESPECIALLY personality disorder, and eating disorders.)
2. Poor conflict resolution skills. Can't clearly voice problems in the relationship. Resorts to verbal or physical violence to solve problems. Devalues communication, prefers fights, thinks fights are healthy.
3. External center of responsibility: it's their fault, not hers, because, because, because.
4. Little regard for her well being: drinks hard often, eats shit foot, engages in a lot of escapist behavior (smokes weed all day, plays video games all day) with little to no self reflection, or quality time with friends/family etc, fucks lots of people without condoms.

Any of these and you should stay away.

>>5211451
>Speak for yourself, you will say, and for your miseries in your underground holes, and don't dare to say all of us- excuse me, gentlemen, I am not justifying myself with that "all of us." As for what concerns me in particular I have only in my life carried to an extreme what you have not dared to carry halfway, and what's more, you have taken your cowardice for good sense, and have found comfort in deceiving yourselves. So that perhaps, after all, there is more life in me than in you.

People outside the Anglosphere don't give a shit about Joyce. Here he's just known as "that guy who wrote a bunch of yes at the end of his obscure ramblings"

>>5206435
ayyy lmao

>>5210252
And George, and to an extent Newman. None of them are the designated insufferable friend and recognised as such by the rest of the group, they're their own characters who also happen to be insufferable.

>>5211082
Characters being written as certain types does not equal characters occupying this specific role (which isn't even a type. 'Insufferable' is not a personality trait).

>>5208293
Yeah why?

I like girls that are like Pinkie Pie

>>5206320
she is obviously a master trole, i wouldn't do that if i was yerr

>>5207597
why punpun?

>>5214476
Because you want someone like you until you realize you hate who you are and try to change.

>>5214508

>>5214566
Or, if you're feeling more jaded, you like someone until you realize they never were anything like you in the first place and time has only made it more apparent that their outsides aren't even remotely like your insides, much less whatever is actually fucking broken inside them.

Rationally, I know better than to stick my dick in crazy especially any kind that reminds me of my own, but that shit is like Sirens singing about the perfect blowjob and flashing their highbeams.

>>5208425
To be fair, I'm two degrees of separation from 'ol Wes.

>>5211519
Ha ha, I know who you're talking about. I'm a New York "writer" too, but I'm a non-fiction magazine loser. Are you in Manhattan?

>>5206217
You're my hero Anon

>>5206232
>dekalog
>movie

>>5208514
>tfw shamelessly display my powerlevels for everything
>plebs are scared of me, cross the road when they see me
>tfw alienated friends, never make new ones
>tfw don't care

no regrets, bitches

>>5214643
Nothing wrong with Wes Anderson brother, just saying that was the depth of his "obsession"

>>5211519
It becomes easy to google her now.
Is she M.W.?

everyone less intellectual than me is a pathetic pleb
everyone more intellectual than me is a poser and a fake

You're a dick OP.

I like to read, i read a lot, but i have no idea who almost any major authors are. I mostly spend my time reading sci fi novels.

>>5207465
You are clearly not a sociopath. I hate all of my friends, family, and especially my girlfriend.

>>5208590
>tfw something is wrong with my brain and I too gather knowledge from a broad spectrum, however, instead of synthesizing each brand of intellect rears it head at various points and to various degrees near simultaneously causing me to appear schizophrenic.

>>5215097
whoa bro u wanna tussle?

>>5215152
...this is a literature forum?

Why even lurk here? There are many other sites that deal with your type of.... uh... books...

>>5215152
>i have no idea who almost any major authors are

You are not an asset to /lit/.

You are the opposite of an asset.

>>5206186
>go to boarding school in the states throughout high school
>senior literature class
>professor is a Harvard graduate with a degree in English
>claims he has no patience for those that don't care to learn
>has never heard of Pynchon, Calvino, or Bulgakov
>favorite author is John Irving

Haha

>>5215204
wanna fite?

>>5215205
>forum


How can i be still so surprised at the level of stupidity of this board ?

Not even /v/ step so low.

>>5215221
>i be still so

>>5215217

>Oh, look, this guy's books are popular even outside the literature community, he must be shit

>>5215251
That's what I've been saying!

Long-live King, Koontz, Steele, and Patterson!

Book revolution incoming!!!

>>5208590
I somewhat know that feel. I have a terrible mind for quotes, and yet I can digest the most complicated of novels. I even write them down when I take notes, but god help me if I have to recite them from memory.

>>5212201
I would also add undiagnosed psych disorders.
Like, those girls that think anxiety and personality disorders are interesting so they just say they have them.
Fuck that shit

>>5215205
>>5215209
Sci fi is literature?

>>5215332
No?

>>5215332

>>5206435
top post

>>5215325
you can be both crazy and interesting, you know.

>>5215036
Oh, I know what you mean. I've got a friend like that. Won't shut up about Wes Anderson. I was just mentioning I worked with someone who worked with Wes. But I know exactly the type of person you're talking about.

wes a shit

>people talking to me about crime thrillers

I don't know why but I have no time for those conversations. Usually they're the same people who try to convince me that TV is now 'quality'

>>5206230

>>5210139
lynch is an overrated hack, malick hasn't been good since the 70's and pta is okay

>>5211143
No, just you.

>>5207597
i bet you're a girl

>>5215582

B-but TV is better now than it has been

>>5208348
>buying public domain books

>>5217941
I disagree with your statement based on the brilliance of The Tree of Life

>>5207553
exquisitely tipworthy post, 10/10 would tip again

>>5218502
tree of life is babby tier shit

>>5206186
>asked a girl what she thought of Finnegans Wake
>she says its ok, but it's not Finnegan's best work

>>5206198
What a cute panda.

>>5218502
Tree of Life not being shit is just a meme, dude.

>>5206369
Finnegan's Lake is shit anyway.

>>5208404
>tfw that's me
well, except I don't play shit games

>>5215582
This.

I can't do these conversations. I would rather talk about anything else

>>5211231
>panda

>>5215205
>uh... books...
Get the fuck out to reddit, you hipster.
Liking 'literature' and not trying to embrace all specters and different genres and tastes of, or at least trying to understand, is the sing of a true pleb.
Not only that, but you are being a dick to someone who just has different tastes than you and probably has more knowledge in that particular sphere than you do.
How about you shut the fuck up and stop being so ironically close-minded for a board that's called /lit/.

>>5211181
>Go out with yale phd lit candidate.
>She tells me that the american novel fails because there is no class system in the us.

>because there is no class system in the us

what a fucking privileged cunt

rage rage rage

I wish we could invade the ivy league universities and stick all the students heads on pikes.

>>5219742
She's right. A class system allows for social mobility. We have a caste system.

>>5219750

yale phd pls go

>>5215332
>>5215355
>never read Asmiov

>Have a new friend that apparently reads a lot
>She's always talking about books that i (being kinda new to, uh, "true" literature) never heard about
>One day i find out she likes the Hunger Games series
I haven't read the books, but the movies are awful, and she collected the DVDs too so i guess the those aren't much either
>She's also the kind of attention whore girl that always takes pictures of what she's doing or drinking to post it on facebook, to the point that when we hang out it gets kinda annoying
>A lot of other friends i have that say they read in the end always talk about stuff like HG or Percy Jackson, even if they're 20
>why.jpg

>>5220771
>even if they're 20
So still young adults then. It's not unexpected

>>5218682
breddy good 7/10

>>5215168
Claiming you have a mental disorder isn't cool or edgy. A "friend" by definition is someone you like. If you don't like someone they aren't your friend stop being autistic.

>>5221003
Furthermore, a sociopath wouldn't hate their friends, family and significant other. They would simply have no feelings for them at all. Claiming to be a sociopath while simultaneously claiming to hate people isn't something a sociopath would do. It's something a shitty little teenager would do.

>>5206186

>tfw I read a lot and study Literature
>tfw I don't really understand how to discuss literature - in fact I don't understand it at all
>tfw therefore I never discuss literature

I mean seriously, I know I'm 10,000% pleb, but the only reading that I really enjoy in an aesthetic sense is poetry, and even then I have to memorize and spend 10000 years thinking about WHY I like it before I can even enjoy it. Reading I new book for me is just like a total sense-overload-clusterfuck which I can't make sense of until I've read the book 10 times

Why is life so difficult /lit/

>>5220922
Eeeh, i get it that they grew up with Harry Potter and thus they're emotionally attached to it, but damn, at a certain age you should be able to distinguish good books from decently (sometimes barely) written fiction for teens. Seriously, for example i read ASOIAF, it's a nice series with a very simple prose that in the end intrigues you because of the conflicts and the character they involve, it probably is above average but i won't give much importance to it. Just like with most of the comics i buy, it's just light-hearted entertainment. Instead no, at a dinner once one of those friends was talking about how mature etc. the Hunger Games series was and then because another friend and I didn't agree she and another friend (her bf) started spouting some random criticism about how boring LOTR is because they knew we liked it

>>5217941
>girl asks me what my favorite work by Lynch was
>'t-twin peaks...'

Never have I felt so low

>>5206203
>>5208359
Fuck off.

>dropped out of uni 'cause reasons
>from poor, uneducated (but loving) single parent household
>move cities
>start working at GAP
>sat reading Moby Dick during break
>"Hey Anon, what's that? Looks a bit dry?"
>"Yeah it is a bit dry, but sometimes dry is good. I find that books that appear boring on the surface are actually interesting when you put a little bit more effort in scratch beneath the surface."
>"You don't say?"
>"Seems to me that it makes the time I put into reading that much more rewarding, and it makes everyone think I've got the smarts"
>mfw two of my co-workers have borrowed books off of me
>mfw I got my manager into Larkin

The main issue with the average person and literature is the appearance of a difficulty level, they unconsciously put themselves down and think they're not good enough to read 'classics' or whatever you want to call them. I find just talking to people in a self-deprecating way about literature makes it a lot more accessible.

I lent A Farewell to Arms to my only other male co-worker and The Idiot to a 30 something full timer with a penchant for soap operas. Figures.

>>5221765

You are a good person

>>5221765
Wow you live in bizarro world. That was not my experience at Old Navy. It was nothing but people who were dead on the inside either looking to get fucked up and fucked on the weekend, or struggling parents too tired to do anything but cook and watch tv after work.

You got lucky.

>>5211372
Those feels man.

>>5221765
I appreciate your optimistic outlook on other people and fully agree with you. When I was working at a shit-job sandwich shop I lent my co-worker Stoner and he read it (in about a month) and told me he cried at the end.

You never know what kind of person lies beneath a hard exterior.

>>5206369
>Finnegan's Wake
>With a fucking apostrophe

You brutal sinner

>>5211372
See >5221765

>>5222827
Fuckin a. See >> 5221765

>>5222827
>>5222836
hue

>>5215004
It's considered a film by a lot of people, I'm not exactly sure why. Kieslowski intended it to be a single film but ended up doing it as a television mini series. It's usually put on greatest films list. Still pretty retarded.

>>5222908
I think the anon you replied to was referring to the movies vs films argument, implying that Dekalog is a film rather than a movie

>>5211123
i lol'd

>>5212201
I dunno, men are very quick to call women crazy.

Like when I was 12 I dated this 16 year old /b/fag for a year. HE was crazy. Diagnosed bipolar and aspergers, frequently threatened suicide, threatened suicide if I left him, said all sorts of crazy shit and was really controlling. Finally, I break up with him at 13. He lived in England, and when I broke up with him he said he was going to fly to my house and kill himself in front of me. Also, months after I'd left him he would stalk all of my online profiles and message me on my YouTube account long paragraphs about how his day went, even though I never replied. Also, when I broke it off with him, he blamed my mother and he said he hoped she would die and let me make my own decisions. (remember, 12) Coincidentally, 3 years after all this she did die of cardiac arrest. Later, I see him on his Tumblr talking about how I was his "crazy ex-girlfriend".

>>5221480
have you seen eraserhead because if you havent amend that

>>5223028
Like attracts like. If you seem to attract crazies then you need to take a look at yourself and work out what's causing this phenomenon. The fact that you were a 12 year old in a (long distance?) relationship with a 16 year old 4channer may suggest that you ain't exactly well adjusted yourself. And I say this as someone whose previous three serious gfs were all variously diagnosed with personality disorders and mental illnesses.

>>5215205
>not reading genre fiction
theres lots of shit but great genre fiction is as good as great literary fiction

>>5215066
Who?

>>5224492
le pleb face xd

>>5206230

rekt

>>5206203
/Thread

I read militaria and history, I don't read fiction. It's just not in my interest. Sure Joyce may be a great author, but honestly, I don't care.

>>5226233
>being an armchair general
>thinking this makes you anything other than a dork playing the big boy version of toy soldiers

>>5215066

Lol, she was twittering at Laurie Penny.

>>5215152
>I mostly spend my time reading sci fi novels.

laughinggirls.pdf

>>5226246
Sure I'll take the bait.

I'll bet you ten bucks you can't run a mile faster than a eight minute pace. Sure I'm not fucking Ranger or let alone an 11B, but it's the fact I'll take time to educate myself on past wars and current tactics so I don't look like a fucking retard when a Lt. Col. asks me what I thought about MACVSOG's involvement in Vietnam. Fuck off dude. Now I'm gonna ask: what do you read?

Fantasy? You're no wizard or great knight.
SciFi? You'll never reach the stars
History? No time machines, fuckface.

My point is: you don't have to be the master of whatever subject you're reading to enjoy it. You're the real pleb, you think just because you are not in tune with it means that it sucks. You can't accept people's differences and that's why you take time out of your day to fuck with people like me who just mind their own business.

>>5227052
>You'll never reach the stars
>Implying.

>>5227052
>You'll never reach the stars
>Implying the Mi-Go haven't already put my brain in a canister.

>>5227052
>History? No time machines, fuckface.
>I read militaria and history
>and history
>history

>>5206872
>Who the fuck is a fan of Joyce?
Marshall McLuhan

>>5208404
Thats me but I am not a dick about it, I feel very inferior to other librarians that I know but I honestly got into it to teach, explore better ways to share information through technology and work at a library, even reference desk and bathroom questions are ok, but I am not really a reader.

I wish I could into books but I usually am reading some programming manual or playing DOTA2 or watching an anime. It sucks but what can ya do.

>>5227474
You know nothing of his work. How you ever got to post in a thread about anything is totally amazing.

>>5227820
I am wiser than this man, for neither of us appears to know anything great and good; but he fancies he knows something, although he knows nothing; whereas I, as I do not know anything, so I do not fancy I do. In this trifling particular, then, I appear to be wiser than he, because I do not fancy I know what I do not know.

>>5227826
I was paraphrasing a line from Annie Hall. You can dismount that high horse now.

>>5227837

I didn't read the context of the post I only saw yours and it made me want to quote some Socrates. I don't even have a horse bro

>>5224359
I definitely attract crazies. All of my friends have serious mental issues. My good friend tried to kill himself last week, and my best friend is bipolar, and my other best friend hears voices and dissociates...

My therapist and I came to the conclusion that I have a savior complex.

>>5228010
My therapist came to the conclusion I have a victim complex.

Wanna be friends?

>>5211372

That.

>>5228010
>My good friend tried to kill himself last week
Nothing crazy about that, it's logical that one wants to kill himself.

>>5227820
Just saw this reply to my post now. Nice Annie Hall reference. I wish McLuhan had lived another 100 years.