/lit/ - Literature

yep. every single one

A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man saved my life

>>6238357
Are you calling me a faggot?

>>6238372
Same for me with ASoIaF, sometimes a sublime work of art is the only thing that can prevent a catastrophe.

>>6238355
Atlas Shrugged

in order of impact

the holy bible (nrsv-ce, nabre, d-r challoner, kjv)

capital vol 1

works of love

phenomenology of spirit

i see satan fall like lightning

pojman and fieser's ethical theory

the myth of sisyphus

beyond good and evil and thus spoke zatathustra

i'm told heidegger may have an impact

>>6238464
>zarathustra

fix'd

>>6238464
>i see satan fall like lightning

i'm intrigued
can you say a few things about the book

The gay science, no ecce homo

>>6238372
>>6238383
>>6238386
lol

sutta pitaka

This essay has changed my life. Pure philosophy:

http://www.mediafire.com/view/488pvekh9pp829k/MUNDUS.pdf

>>6238487
it's by rene girard, a french philosopher who skirts the boundaries of social philosophy and theology

he's the progenitor of the mimetic theory of desire, and his closely related hypothesis on the foundational murder of civilization and the scapegoating mechanism that he argues is subverted by the gospels

it struck me as completely insane until i started reading it, and figured that girard is either completely insane or perhaps one of the greatest philosophers and biblical exegetes of all time is living today

>>6238709

thanks for taking the time
it sounds really interesting, i'll read it

Closest I can think of right now is The Dead by James Joyce, which made me realize that literature doesn't have to be flashy to have a huge impact. The Sun Also Rises also helped me a lot with seeing how art reflects everyday life.

This book got me interested in /lit/ writers, most of whom I hadn't heard of before (Dostoevsky, Hesse, Camus, Sartre, Tolstoy, Nietzsche). Right book at the right time.

The Quran and The Zhuangzi, both of which I read back and forth. I think they both snapped me out of two different state of minds that were plaguing me at the time, which is why I read them, but it kind of clashed together like I just split two atoms and I'm still trying to put the pieces back together if there is anything to remake.

The Metamorphosis.

I don't like it that much compared to his other stuff but Siddhartha by Herman Hesse got me into reading more books in general. I went to a bookstore and asked if they had a copy of Demian and when the employee responded they were out he threw a copy of Siddhartha at me and said to try that instead.

Well I have to admit it was ´Infinite Jest´, because it fascinated me at a time when I wasn´t reading at all. It evoked interest in me for postmodernist lit->US lit in general->modernist lit-> and so on

´A conspiracy against the human race´
Made my life much more comfy

What the Buddha Taught

>>6238355
Honestly who can like this dumb fucking hick? Who sees that dumbass cerebral palsy looking face and says "yeah, he knows what he is talking about".
fucking joke.

Infinite Jest at one point gave me an unconscionable migraine, the kind that is preceded by like thirty minutes of temporary vision loss that made me freak the fuck out, then the yanking behind my eyeballs hit me and I was almost in tears from pain, then during and after that I had some of the worst fucking nausea I've ever experienced. I vomited no less than three times. This has never reccured since.

I mean it have been something caffeine related that caused it, but now I carry headache medications everywhere I go as a precaution and let me tell you I am never picking up that goddamned novel ever again. Fuck

>>6243214

Uncle Dave destroys another pleb

go Uncle Dave

>>6238355
Fear and Trembling made me think about philosophy as more than just an academic thing

The Holy Quran made me convert to the only true religion :)

>>6243334
>true religion

>>6238355
Yes. It was a life-changing experience.

The Brothers Karamazov shaped me into what I am now. I learned to love God and by doing so, naturally began to love all that surrounds me. It's amazing to see how people are affected by your company when you feel sincere, brotherly love towards them, not as an individual, but as man, as a creation of God. I am a Muslim and The Brothers Karamazov solidified my faith more than the Holy Qur'an did.

>>6243407

Take off the Fedora

>>6243908
>describing gambling laws as faith

Love in the times of cholera turned me into what I am today. I used to read nothing but Stephen King and SciFi, and I picked Cholera only because I had no books left and my dad had a copy in his office. I was fascinated. It took me half a year or so to finish it (I was maybe thirteen) but by the end it left me weak. I couldn't read another book like those I was used to reading, they seemed empty, pointless. I read Memories of my sad whores because it was the only other book by Marquez at my house back then. I thought I liked them because they were about love, but later, after reading some terrible romance YA books, I realized it was the writing. I didn't read much more for a while, and found some comfort in Brave New World, We, and other dystopian novels I got interested in after playing BioShock. It wasn't until later, in high school, after reading some poems by Benedetti, Pedro Paramo and One hundred years of solitude that I rediscovered said fascination, and couldn't stop delving deeper into literature, mostly Latin American (I'm Mexican).
Years later, when I read Hopscotch, I discovered another level. I couldn't understand how someone could create such beauty with language. I remember reading chapter 12 on the bus and feeling actual pain, in my hands and my chest, from not understanding how such sentences could have been written. You'd have to be young and stupid and Latin American to understand, but at that time Hopscotch didn't seem like an admirable work of postmodern fiction, but a game of utter beauty.

I had forgotten most of this stuff, OP. Thanks to you and the other anons who responded sincerely for reminding me.

>>6243908
Not that guy, nor do I think of myself as a fedorafag (I'm religious). But Pascal's wager is senseless. The wager only applies to religions with the heaven hell dichotomy, and even then how do you know which to choose?

>>6243918
>how do you know which to choose?
Why naturally, the one revealed last: Islam.

>>6243908
>implying (so many things, but mostly) that God wouldn't know about your insincere cost-benefit-based faith and throw you in hell anyway

>>6243908
Only works in a society dominated by one religion though, how do I pick the right god and how do I know I'm worshipping it in the right way? Better to spend your life doing whatever and end up in hell than to spend your life devoted to the wrong religion and end up in the same place

>>6243908
>implying that if a god were to exist they would give a damn about your faith
>implying that saying you believe as a precaution equals true belief
>>6243925
pure theology

>>6238355
I'd say Les Miserables had a pretty big impact on what I thought of myself and how I should envision living an upright life.

Completely serious, led me to a good amount of contemplation about myself as a result.

Definitely Oedipus Rex, I read it at a time when I wasn't really aware of my own self and how I was acting towards others. The idea of Oedipus's blindness really hit home that I always needed to be aware of my situation in life.

Little Brother gave me the kick in the arse that I needed to start protecting my freedoms.

>>6238464
If that was in order of time you read them, it'd look like you were slowly turning to Nietzschean life-affirmation over nihilism. Then Heidegger would be a great follow up, but I would recommend reading more of nietzsche's books instead

>>6243908
There is only one possible answer to shitposting of Pascal's Wager calibre.

>>6243925
You meant Bahá'í, didn't you?

This book made me think: "Maybe there's something to this Marxism stuff".

Now I'm John Paul Cupp

>>6243908
>you should believe in god because you want to be happy.

all this mammonism.

>>6246166
What a pretentious asshole you are
>look at me everyone, I once scanned a wiki article of a religious most people haven't heard of!!!
Are you a middle child?

Also
>nobody claimed to be a prophet or founded a religion after ca. 1844 CE
Fuckin idiot

>>6246221
Srsly anon? You never heard of bahaizm? Are you a pleb or what?

>>6246259
There is no such thing as "Bahaism", just a "Baha'i faith". Regardless, did I say I haven't heard of it? No, because I have. I said most people haven't heard of it, which is true, you illiterate jackass.

>>6246221
If you think that I mentioned Baha'i faith thinking that you wouldn't know it, you are wrong.
The point is, Islam is not the last abrahamic religion to have been founded. And you can't dismiss Baha'i faith as some obscure sect either.

>>6246221
Also,
>>look at me everyone, I once scanned a wiki article of a religious most people haven't heard of!!!
I've been brought up by parents who are deeply religious Baha'is. So fuck you.

>>6246320
>I've been brought up by parents who are deeply religious Baha'is. So fuck you.

There's really no reason for you to lie on a Laotian shitposting forum, anon. You were being a pretentious cunt and got called out. Take it like an adult and carry on. Also, Baha'i is widely unknown, at least in the Western world and thus among the users of this site, the literal meaning of obscure.

>>6246334
>There's really no reason for you to lie on a Laotian shitposting forum, anon.
>no reason for you to lie
>on a Laotian shitposting forum
I dunno. You think?

>>6238372
>>6238372
same

>>6238355
Nope
Most of them have had a hand in forming and shaping my life but a stark change? No

>>6243917
I enjoyed your post.

Sometime last year, after a long streak of bad novels, I became bored with reading. Fortunately, I found a copy of Love in the Time of Cholera I had forgotten about, and reading it reminded me why I had gotten into literature in the first place. It really is a beautiful novel, so full of color, sadness, and humor. It was a sad day when Marquez died.