/lit/ - Literature

>>6199328
damn those are some shitty trees

>at uni
>talking to grill bout inane shit
>conversation gets to books as being a "reader" is mentioned
>ask what kind of books she reads
>"oh, mostly scifi"
>get pretty excited because scifi was my in entry point to literature and I'd recently discovered Ted Chiang. Expecting like Stranger in a Strange Land or maybe Atwood
>"Like dystopias"
>oh no, Ishiguro please salvage this
>"Have you read Divergent? Its better than the hunger games" << actual words
>visible look of abject disgust (4chan has made me a bad person)
>she notices, aware I know she noticed
>quickly changes subject like the liberal you're sharing a car ride with said something without thinking when rap came on the radio
>rest of the conversation has this awkward air about it and descends into half-sincere goodbyes
>we both know what just happened

why have you made me an asshole /lit/

>>6199442
Stop blaming other people for your autism

>>6199442
>why have you made me an asshole /lit/

Because you've chosen to be manipulated.

bmp

>>6199328
I've displayed it when I've talked to english majors. They tend to have a superiority complex, especially with me since I dropped out early, so I like to take them down a peg by letting them know I'm much more well read than they are. Other than that I don't talk about books with people because it always comes off as pretentious.

I only display my power-level to impress girls who are into lit and get into their pants.

It works everytime.

by which I mean it worked once

>>6199442
i dont get it. do you agree or not agree with your judgement of her?

whacha sad about

>>6199580
>Other than that I don't talk about books with people because it always comes off as pretentious.
How unfortunately true. I'm very reserved about sharing opinions, so when it comes to discussing literature, at least in person, I am usually listening. The other person babbles on endlessly about their their ability to detect symbolism or other high school literary devices. I see people do this so often that I'm afraid I do it too, which makes not even want to discuss things in the first place.

Most of the time is just ends up as this:
>Hey Anon, what'd you think of this book?
>It's ok

>>6199595

dfw using spoilered endnotes.

>talking to female-friend on a bus
>she mentions she recently finished reading the entire ASOFAI (game of thrones) books
>she says she thinks because its unpredictable in that you dont know who will die makes it good
>I stare at her for a few seconds, the corners of my mouth start to turn into a smile but I freeze them in place
>she looks at me and goes "what?"
>me: "nothing"

I almost came off as a jerk but I caught myself in time

>>6199737

>high school literary devices

What are university/grad student literary devices? I haven't taken an English class since HS, so

I have never had a reason to hide how much I've read. It's only ever a plus when you're in graduate school. It's only a plus when you want to teach literature.

All my coworkers have always been well-read, because I've either worked at university or for literary publishers.

The only people I'm around regularly who don't read are family, and they're aware of how much I read due to helping me move a few times. My spouse could not care less about my reading habits.

I suppose I'm always displaying mine at the fullest.

I wouldn't say this was revealing my power level so much as exposing the pitiful power level of another. I was at the bookstore getting some stuff that I'm embarrassed for not having read. Some of them had weird covers. I've included a few details so you can find some on google. Kafka's Metamorphosis (Bernofsky's Translation), Animal Farm (Centennial Edition), Notes from Underground, Heart of Darkness (Penguin Classics edition), Siddhartha, Gravity's Rainbow, Johnny Got His Gun, Vonnegut's Mother Night, and Sartre's Nausea. Now just about all of these I expect people to know. Maybe not Mother Night or Nausea or Notes, but even so, these are all pretty popular books and I was aware of them long before I decided to read them. I most definitely expect bookstore employees to know them. I'm checking out with a 8/10 qt at the register when

clerk: You must like science fiction.
anon: uh, yeah, but are any of these science fiction? (looks over books, decide none of them are) Yeah, I don't think I have any science fiction books here.
clerk: Oh.
(beep, beep)
clerk: Well I guess you just like weird fiction.
anon: Uh... I mean most of these are classics, aren't they?
clerk: Oh.
(beep, beep)

Pay. Leave.

>>6201751
youre a faggot.

>>6199449
Uh huh

>>6201751
So, while you expect her to know Gravity's Rainbow, but not Nausea, you also expect her to not consider it science fiction enough to be a Nebula award winner. Your power level is in /lit/ not literature, and the 8/10 qt was probably trying to hide her power level. She knows she could shit in your mouth while projectile vomiting on you and the noble allusions would not be lost on the literate. You will never smell her feet.

>>6201751
I guess he was a Vonnegut fan. Still, you were kind of rude.

>>6199595
>tfw impressed my current girlfriend into going out with me with my playwriting and critical theory prowess.

>>6201550
>jerk
>caught myself
>the pic you posted

>>6199328

>>be me walking to library
>>8/10 vietnamese english lit major walking the other way
>>must be getting off her shift
>>exchange hellos
>>shes holding a massive book
>>I ask what is
>>based Billy Shakespeare, her "new love"
>>Ask what her fav sonnet is
>>'Oh IDK anon'
>>"when in doubt with fortune and men's eyes"
>>she smiles
>>I go ahead "I all alone beweep my outcast state"
>>etcetc. Sonnet 29 memorized (its mid tier power level but still)
>>she impress
>>asks me to coffee
>>Eh some other time I have to go write
>>tfw she continues to ask me to coffee when she sees me
>>she wants the D

these posts are great

I was at a bookclub and someone asked what 'panopticon' meant and I answered and they asked how I knew that and I replied 'Foucault talked about it a bit.' 'Who?' And I mumbled something about who he was. I've never read Foucault though. I'm a poseur.
I was on the bus and a middle aged woman sat beside me and took out History of Sexuality Vol 1 out of her purse and read it. I think I was reading some pleb crap like Pynchon and realized how pleb I was.

>Get into a discussion with a couple people about what books we're reading.
>I say Moby Dick
>I've heard that's really racist anon
>What?
>Yeah they say the word savage. It makes me uncomfortable.
>Try to explain that the way the book handles race is really nuanced and complex.
>I don't think anyone should have to read anything that makes them uncomfortable anon.

It bummed me out.

>>6201881
you should have punched them with your feet

>>6201891

It was more depressing than angering. I was really into the book and was dying to talk to someone about it and when it was brought up I got really excited.

>>6201881
>the book handles race is really nuanced and complex
i hope they punched you in the hands

>>6201901
Ok fair enough, but at the very least more complex than "it's racist because Ishmael says savage so I refuse to read it".

>>6199442

noice

>>6201881

>muh feelings
>stop triggering me.

AH

I have one I guess

>friend shitting on Holden as soon as I bring up Catcher
>explain that Salinger is not trying to valorise Holden, but depict the spiritual depravity of post-war America and the failure of the institutions of, family, relationshit, religion.
>Talk about Holden's past, his little brother dying, James Castle's suicide and Holden internalizing the role of a martyr while remaining incredibly flawed.
>Try to bring in some of Salinger's Glass family as a counterpoint to Holden and talk about Salinger's characters outside of Catcher
>realise this has been going on far too long

And like every faggot that gives impassioned defenses of Salinger you just end up looking like a limp-dicked Holden sympathiser

FUCK

Maybe the worst part is that while Holden is completely worth scoffing at, every time that happens Salinger kind of proves his point about the society Holden is part of.

Full glory?

>be in intro to philosophy class at cc.
>know a little philosophy from informal study
>instructor's competency is questionable
>be overzealous student
>all discussions turn to religion
>always argue with classmates and instructor
>instructor cannot manage the class nor keep it on course.
>feel bad for not shutting the fuck up, but cannot passively listen to the bullshit
>Near the end of the semester say something and kid objects.
>Most every one agrees with him
>Really, they're just tired of my shit and want to knock me down a peg
>feel the whole of the class against me
>instructor seems satisfied someone has outright challenged whatever I said
>argument is about the relation between value and dignity
>start hyperventilating
>start reciting Kant
>everybody is dumbfounded
>kid has no response
>people rallying behind him lower their heads
>instructor looks defeated and deflated
>he mumbles something about me being right
>carries on lecture
>nobody else says anything for the rest of the class

>>6202067
>>reciting Kant

http://www.theonion.com/articles/guy-in-philosophy-class-needs-to-shut-the-fuck-up,1804/

>>6202067
>start hyperventilating
>start reciting Kant
pic related

>>6202091
i read this as him having a nervous breakdown and spewing quotes with a glazed expression as he rocked back and forth, which is a good way to read it

>>6202101
I think I like that interpretation more. The image of him frantically shaking with spittle flying from his mouth is a good one.

>>6199442

>recently discovered Ted chiang
>thinks he has high power level

embarrassing

>>6202113
then the stunned silence is less, "oh god, this smart boy got us good" and more "is he going to be ok"

>>6201901
melville was not racist, he lived with and loved the pacific natives, read the confidence man if you think otherwise

>>6201961
I agree and feel your frustration anon

>>6199442
>visible look of abject disgust (4chan has made me a bad person)
all my feels, brother

>trying to make friends, can't stop judging people's taste in culture because of this website

>>6201836
>be me
>hanging with friends
>was really drunk, people ask me to recite poetry
>recite the first minute of the Love Song of JA Pruffbro
>people look visibly disturbed and uncomfortable
>tfw people can't handle poetry in a social situation
>will never do this again

>>6201881
>I don't think anyone should have to read anything that makes them uncomfortable anon.
get off my planet

>>6202277
No that's what they said.

>>6199442
>>6201751
There are a few reasons you don't reveal your power level, or try to act smug about it. I'm sorry if this is long and pompous.

People are somewhat illogical and mostly social beings. Being strictly rational and logical in conversation isn't useful, since majority of people simply use conversation as vehicle for social activity, instead of a vehicle for information. Now of course you realize this unless you're actually autistic.

They don't have the base information or experience about things you talk bring up, either through ignorance or lack of interest in the subject. So they are pragmatically reductive in their world view.

Books are Harry Potter, rap music is nigga nigga, anime is tentacle porn from crazy Japan, religion is Jesus and math is useless in 'the real world' (whatever that is in their context), This is useful but it simplifies and chokes your worldview. You become like a dog chained into a stick and a leash that can walk only within certain radius, finding it impossible to venture outside your comfort zone.

What is sad is that most people don't ever want to break this chain because they are fearful. So even if you tried to explain something to them, they are apathetic and disinterested. Even you (probably) don't want to hear someone talk about technical specifications of historical locomotives.

Now onto greentext.

>be in mandatory conscription reading Palahniuk
>wat you reading
>hmm it's this story about an airplane crash survivor
>is it real?
>uhh no, it's a fictional book
>WATS THE POINT THEN?

People want to act like they are interested in what you do or say to be friendly, but it's actually distressing for introverted shitheads like me.

kek. Are there retards who call powerlevel to all the shit they believe?

>>6202340
Are there retards who use a bastardization of an old internet acronym to all the shit that amuses them?

>>6202270

>Song of JA Prufcuck

Jeez anon did you not have enough self awareness
to realise what you were getting into

>>6202354
I give a shit. I find funny that people call their beliefs "powerlevel" as it was something so powerful that you are above plebs.
It's a /pol/-tier meme.

>>6202363
I think it's more of a term for having long lasting interest in certain subjects and having gathered large amounts information about it. Having a high 'powerlevel' at least to me doesn't have any intrinsic value. Have not really seen it used outside 4chan either. It's just useful shorthand.

>>6202270
lmao nice
I sometimes read gin(sperg) too

>>6199442
What a cuck.

>Be me
>Meet grill
>Says she likes Divergent
>"Oh cool, I guess I'll just call you Tris then."
>She smiles, "Maybe I'll call you Four"
>Go back to my place
>Start fooling around
>Start to take off my pants
>"You're gonna learn why they call me Four"

>>6201881
>thingsthatneverhappened.txt

>tell a pleb qt I like joyce
>they read portrait of the artist as a young man over reading week
*swoon*

>offhandedly mention to english prof I've read Burke (true btw)
>he calls bullshit in front of several other students and laughs in my face

>>6202500
Going to a pleb cc?

>>6201961
>Salinger is not trying to valorise Holden
>Holden is completely worth scoffing at
This is wrong. The reader can't elevate themselves above or below Holden without losing the grace of the character and the novel. It may be true that Holden has flaws but they are human character aspects more than "flaws".

>>6202514
Yeah, if you don't empathise or at least sympathise with Holden a little then you have no soul.

>>6202472
>be me
>dream of being a butterfly
>flutter hither and tither
>be unaware that I am me
>wake up
>be me
>unsure of being me and dreaming of a butterfly
>maybe I was a butterfly dreaming of being me

>>6202507
No, but it was the one mandatory English course all the STEM majors have to take

>>6202153
This a thousand times.

>>6202488

What'd she think of it?

>sibling get together
>I started getting drinking
>asks why I'm getting drunk
>quote Baudelaire


>english 101 community college
>awesome professor he showed his powerlevel every now and then mentioning his thesis was on something about Heideggerian thought in some work of Foucault
>was going to use Heidegger's "Discourse on Thinking" for research paper but I ended up doing it last minute and just did a standard paper

>>6202630

>community college
>power level
>what I'd an oxymoron?

>>6202524
Neat. I didn't know others on here were into Zhuangzi.

>>6202514

Jeez I can still maintain the "grace of the character and the novel" and read critically can't I.

I say scoffing because he is a hypocritical, sometimes ironically written character.

And it's not about elevating oneself above or below, but acknowledging that Salinger is writing in the myopic voice of a confused teenager
and that voice shouldn't be mistaken for the larger argument that Salinger (not Holden) is making.

>>6202639

Not him but feels good huh

>in Philosophy lecture
>Professor uses Zhuangzi's dream to introduce and explain Descartes
>asks if anyone knows who wrote it
>sit there and smirk smugly as everyone looks mystified
>hide my powerlevel by not answering

>>6202722
>hide my powerlevel by not answering
nah nigga, you were just too afraid to speak up, you little wallflower you

>>6201818
>>6201836
>>6202472


Things that never happened the thread.

>High school
>Conversation with a few girls about the books they read
>They talk about harry potter and other typical teenage girl shit, what do you expect
>They ask me what kind of books I read
>Silently reach into my backpack, wrestling into a sterile plastic wal-mart plastic bag that protects this from backpack damage
>Pull the bullet stopping beast out
>They look at me funny
>They ask what it's about
>I just tell them it's about tennis
>Things get awkward as shit

>>6203191
lit/10

>>6201961
>defending a book
>using the argument of what the author meant
>explaining book by explaining author's life

I mean, I don't even agree with your friend but that's terrible, anon.

>>6199328
> having a really bad day
> black thug bumps into me just outside my office building
> tell him "watch where you're going you stupid nigger"
> bystanders shocked
> he lifts his shirt to show the handle of a gun in his pants
> police officers that happened to be in the parking lot see the altercation and come over
> arrest him
> someone reports my racist language to my boss
> we laugh about it the next day

>>6203222

not even him but you're fucking clueless

friend shits on m.c. of book
anon says 'well yeah that's the point'
goes on to elaborate with points taken from the text and the rest of the guy's oeuvre

fucking undergrads

>>6202067
if you such a badass kant master wtf are you doing at a community college? it's easy to be a smart ass among a bunch of illegal immigrants who just learned english 6 months ago and thugs who just got out of county lockup 2 weeks ago...check yourself, dweeb.

>being in a highschool trip
>arrogant snob talks with me for about 2 hours
>I am getting pretty tired and try to go with my friends, but I can't
>He starts saying that he has got an incredible variety of vocabulary
>Says some words incorrectly
>Says that McBeth is an english poet
>Try to fool him and ask questions about those things.
>He is completely lying
>Evening was pretty funny since that moment.

>>6203231
I bet you're not even a racist.

>>6203271
More adventures
>Sharing room with him at the hotel
> He is seeing some anime on his 3DS
> Shouts things in english (we are spanish) like "Yeah" or "Got it, damn genius" to the 3DS
> He says "I am going to take a shower"
> Ok
> "I take really long showers"
> Ok
> Literally repeated that sentence like 4 times
> Shower of 45 minutes
> He comes out with a stain on his boxers
> I pretend to not see and not to laugh.
> He doesn't notice
> Later I talk with my friends and we have a great time laughing at him.

And he is not autistic. Holy shit.

>>6203231
>thingsthatneverhappend.epub

>>6203291
Another one:
> Be at the bus
>He is reading his e-book
>Says "Hey, Did I show you MY BOOK?"
> Shows me a book called "Anon's chronicles"
> It's made with paint
>It has a lot of gramatical errors
> It's abouT KOOPA TROOPAS taking over a robot empire of some sort of human-dwarfs to rule the galaxy
>2 hours more of bus
>mfw

>>6203317
he probably feels comfortable talking to you because his derpdar was picking up autistic vibrations from your fedora

>>6201881

Time for a libricide!

Throw it in the fire, anon!

>>6203263
Good point, my reading of the post was shit. Sorry.

>>6203327
I don't get it. Whatever, he is like that to everyone. When the latin teacher asked about how was the trip, he said "Good! Me and Yoshi did a good walk around here!".
He actually had a yoshi toy inside his backpack.

>>6203142
You're wrong son. Full on patrician here. I do memorize de shakeshespeare

>>6203343
sorry for being a dick
terribly long day

>>6203265
Not a Kant master. Just an extended quote from the groundwork, which was part of the course material. Am no longer at cc. Moved on to a university. Reason for being there then: had just gotten out of county lock up. Seriously, though, I had been in a bit of trouble as a teen and no universities would accept me. Most of the kids in the class were dual enrolled high school students, not that that makes it anymore of a feat.

>talking to 'intellectual'
>or at least he thinks he's intellectual
>he doesn't know I'm more intellectual
>using total pleb words and allusions
>I correct him with clever witticisms and spontaneous (but genius) rhetoric
>he can't handle roman royalty
>realizes he is lumpenproletariat
>I walk away chuckling with a small smirk

>>6203346
he sounds cool tbh

>>6203191
>Reading Infinite Jest in high school
Is this common among murrican bookworms? There are thousands of books more relevant than that.

I mean, back in the day claiming to have read Ulysses was the big thing, but that has half a century worth of praise, and in other countries besides Ireland

>>6203976
No, nobody has actually finished infinite jest.

>>6202524
Chuangzu/10

>>6202634
CC is full of lazy academics

>>6201751
haha i really like this
it sounds like coen brothers dialogue

>>6201806
>tfw when not smelling her feet

>>6204456
>brothers
check yourself

>>6203317
>>6203291
>>6203271
>being mexican
>posting on English forum thinking your stories are funny
>thinking they're even amusing
>stories not even about your power level but about some autistic kid in your class

>>6199442
bitch knew her place and acknowledged your superiority, as a man you should be proud

>>6204464
>Confusing the actually talented Coen brothers with the shitty wachowski siblings

>>6199442
you did the right thing

>pass coworker
>both of us carrying a book
>I'm reading The Unnamable
>she is reading It
>please don't start a conversation please
>OH YOURE A READER TOO HUH
>yeah i guess...
>she checks out the reviews/description on the back of my book
>look of bewilderment
>WOW... THAT SOUNDS REALLY.. INTERESTING

another time

>on bus
>reading Foucault's Pendulum
>guy sits by me
>unashamedly reading over my shoulder
>WHATCHA READING? LOOKS KINDA LIKE THE DA VINCI CODE
>jesus christ

why would you lie on the internet?

What's up w/ this whole power level revealing shit?
I only once in my life met a girl who got discouraged by me going on and on about Nabokov's genius and how Lolita is my favorite book.
Everyone else either doesn't care or enjoys listening to me when I talk about literature.
Where do you guys live? Pleb city?

>>6205913
Apparently people are too autistic to talk about good books without being aggressively weird.

>>6199328

2007/2008

Twice and get kicked out of 2 seminars
I critisized the concept of coloniability by Malek Bennabi ^^
Teachers got mad and asked me to leave Immediately.=D

>>6202472
>four inch dick or four balls
Either way I don't think its a good thing
>>6203481
>remember, big words mean that you win arguments
>arguing to win

>>6205863
>whatcha reading
>read out the first chapter
>"it's about the irs"

Got kicked out of college for my doctoral thesis on the subjectivity of morals using prostitution with the example given being the professor's mom.

>>6205954
>>6205913
Where do you think you are?

>>6206076
This is either a lie or amazing. Can we read it?

>>6206058
Four inch dick, bro.
It was a joke. Would be funnier if you actually read Divergent.

Whenever I see a thread discussing actual literature and book content on lit I type out a long well informed thought provoking response but then delete it in favor of shitposting so no one will make fun of me.

>>6206276
I feel like you're just being a retard but there legitimately are autistic idiots who are literally afraid of someone being mean to them on 4chan

>>6202155
http://www.paulgraham.com/say.html

>Imagine a kind of latter-day Conrad character who has worked for a time as a mercenary in Africa, for a time as a doctor in Nepal, for a time as the manager of a nightclub in Miami. The specifics don't matter—just someone who has seen a lot. Now imagine comparing what's inside this guy's head with what's inside the head of a well-behaved sixteen year old girl from the suburbs. What does he think that would shock her? He knows the world; she knows, or at least embodies, present taboos.

>>6206099
Yeah, you've got a point.
Still, if some of these people are telling the truth...god damn...

>>6201857
>I was on the bus and a middle aged woman sat beside me and took out History of Sexuality Vol 1
That's actually a normal thing. It's a bestseller.

For background, I'm a captain in the Army. This took place at some bullshit dinner event last fall

>Me and another guy talking about the military-related nonfiction we're reading.
>Indonesian major at our table mentions he's trying to find something pretty easy to read since he's trying to work on his English
>Recommend Hemingway
>There is also a state appellate judge sitting at our table.
>"You know, I recently read To Kill A Mockingbird. It's a very good book about racism and some other issues"
>In my head, PLEB ALARM is at full volume. My opinion of this man, and of our entire legal system, instantly drops.
>Fortunately if there's one thing I've learned in this line of work, it's to keep from changing my facial expression in the face of absurd provocations.
>Make eye contact, smile warmly, nod and tell him I've read it AND seen the movie with Gregory Peck!
>Continue conversation with actual people

What I'm saying is fuck the police.

>>6203481
its at the point where I cant tell if this shit is satire or not. I sure hope there aren't people who are really this /lit/ tho.

>>6206417
Now I get what you're saying, but what's the issue with To Kill A Mockingbird?

>>6206470
I think that if you're a 60 year old man with a great deal of power and responsibility, if you're going to participate in a conversation about reading, "I read TKAM, I liked it because it was about racism, and stuff" is either condescending or pathetic. Also TKAM is overrated.

You niggas better learn some humility

>>6207723
To Kill a Mockingbird is beautiful. Not only is it about racism, but also stuff. But seriously, TKAM is a wonderful example of purity in literature, an uncomplicated but gripping tale of innocence lost and in my opinion, the greatest father figure in any book written in English. It reminds me of Twain in a lot of ways, and I really like Twain.