/lit/ - Literature

He would've been severely disappointed by their intellectual level, so.. Not really

DFW would have revelled in any kind of non-personal interaction between people.

>>7072498
I think he would have been disgusted by the fact that opinions that don't align with the majority are censored or hidden.

>>7072498
words change meaning over time

He died in 2008?
How big was facebook then?
Did he write anything about myspace

>>7072598

I think enough of it could have saved him

>>7072634
Fb in 2008.. Pretty minor, used only by college/uni students in the west and the US.

Don't think he's ever mentioned myspace

>>7072632
>words change meaning over time

NO, THEY DO NOT; USAGE MAY BECOME CORRUPTED, BUT MEANING REMAINS FIXED.

>>7072657
>Don't think he's ever mentioned myspace
>he's

HE IS DEAD.

THE CORRECT FORM OF THE SENTENCE IS: "I do not think that he ever mentioned 'myspace'."

>>7072681
shut up you tryhard faggot

They're irony central. I don't think he would want to be a part of meme culture at all.

>>7072681
fuckoff tripfag

He never seemed very perceptive about technology. People were writing about the internet by the early fucking 80's, and in the 00's DFW is still harping on about TV.

I honestly can't tell if IJ is intentional retro-future or if he can't think, he can't write.

>>7072729
Yeah I thought similar

>>7072729
I think, as DT Max said in DFW's bio, that he probably chose to not engage with the internet based on the fear that it produced in him given his TV addiction history and his tendency to be absorbed by entertainment. He knew that the bottomlessness of the internet could signify his mental death. As it happens with Reddit and, largely, with 4chan. Infinite waste of time.

>>7072681

what in the fuck is going on here

>>7072681
>words change meaning over time

>NO, THEY DO NOT; USAGE MAY BECOME CORRUPTED, BUT MEANING REMAINS FIXED.

What. Why is anyone discussing this? It has nothing to do with the OP. Are we trying to imitate redditards?

>>7072681
You gave zero forward momentum to the argument you self-indulgent prick

Probably he is pretty saccharine, and not far removed from the LOL HITCHHIKERS SO SMART humour

>>7072498
It would have given him a good way to get more "audience pussy".

>>7072681
>NO, THEY DO NOT; USAGE MAY BECOME CORRUPTED, BUT MEANING REMAINS FIXED.

This is true. That's why, whenever I am charged with rape, I point out that I didn't carry the woman away, I merely forced my penis into her vagina.

>THE CORRECT FORM OF THE SENTENCE IS: "I do not think that he ever mentioned 'myspace'."
>Is on /lit/ and doesn't understand the use of idiom.

>>7072498
>angsty liberal white dude in love with his own opinions
> beloved by redditors/lit/ angsty middle class first world problems white dudes

Not only would have he been a redditor, if he was born a decade or 2 later, he would certainly be a full blown neckbeard. Try picturing him with a fedora and maybe a my little pony t-shirt, doesn't that seem right?

>>7072867
epic meme

Where did all these retards (i.e. >>7072867) came from? I know we always had some low-level peps, but this 9gag shit is kinda confusing in a literature board

>>7072895
just look at this man

>>7072895
Honestly the quality of /lit/ has dropped significantly from a year ago. A day or two ago I saw a poster call Thomas Pynchon "word salad".

>>7072911
did he even lift?

>>7072301
>all these newfags who don't recognize Rei

>>7072895
I don't care much about DFW, and I'm not ashamed of it. At all. I'm not a white guy and If I had any money (which I don't) I'll have the good sense not to waste it in a ridiculously overpriced liberal arts education.

His books literally have ZERO relevance to my life. I wouldn't even bother with him, but I can't stand him. I can't stand his pedantic displays of erudition. I can't stand his novels which are more like mechanical collections of fictitious facts rather than works of art. His solipsism, his banal philosophizing, which drown out all feeling and genuine empathy.

>>7073222
I'm not a DFW memer but

>which drown out all feeling and genuine empathy.

lel ok bro.

im a pot addict who lives right in boston and infinite jest spoke volumes to me. just because you can't relate to it doesn't mean it's sterile philosophizing.

>>7072681
>kanji for zero
almost as bad as that butterfly faggot

>>7072874
>>7072895

>>7072681
haha this is the nigga that believes in magic. kill yoself nigga.

>>7073222

>
I don't care much about DFW, and I'm not ashamed of it. At all. I'm not a white guy and If I had any money (which I don't) I'll have the good sense not to waste it in a ridiculously overpriced liberal arts education.

how are these thoughts related?

maybe you do need that overpriced liberal arts education

>>7072681
This is a bad post

>>7072780
>He knew that the bottomlessness of the internet could signify his mental death. As it happens with Reddit and, largely, with 4chan. Infinite waste of time.
Makes us sound pretty badass tbh. Like we're in a position wherein we have to learn to tame infinity or burn trying, living on the edge.

>>7073737

or makes DFW sound like a pussy.

Either way I agree with the idea that us here, as internet addicts, are immersed in a very different kind of mind rot that we can gain a lot from trying to understand.

TV, and how it influences people, is almost quaint by now. The internet, even though it's been around for a while, is still a new and hungrier beast.

>>7073737

also, what's up with Lain being pretty much the only good media about the rise of the internet? Fuck, let's all love Lain.

>>7073749
Lately I've been thinking culture is going to look for self-discipline, or rather, that our point of view will change into one where what matters are limits, consciously self-imposed limits, both in action and world view, that is. This as a reaction to world that has become too big for us.

I could just be projecting though.

>>7073756
It's probably because the net is so huge yet so hard to grasp; being on the internet is much like being Lain: you're nowhere and everywhere at once, you're may be God but you still feel powerless. I can't start to grasp how I would have been as a person had I grown in some other corner of the web, let alone without it at all.

>>7073756
>anime
>ever good
just kidding. Let's all love Lain.
My favorite part about it is the beginning, when Chisa kills herself and lives on the internet.Today we see people start to do simmilar things. They aren't killing themselves, sure, but the neets certainly are withdrawing from society to live a false life online. Just look at 4chan. Hardly any of it really fucking matters, yet people get so heavily invested in it

>>7073781
>Hardly any of it really fucking matters, yet people get so heavily invested in it
Just like real life!

>>7073781

do you mean to say that the one cannot live a "true life" in solitude?

if you do, would you mind giving us more words, in the name of understanding?

>>7073797
I suppose I could have worded it better.
They are not "not living a true life", but rather they have withdrawn from the physical world outside the internet.
You could argue that the lives lived with the internet and those experiences are just as "real" as those of the "real world"
You could even say that calling such a life "solitude" would be incorrect. If I'm constantly connected to all of you through 4chan, am I really living a life in solitude?

>>7073338
>how are these thoughts related?

I'm just saying DFW's limited and privileged perspective makes it hard for me to relate to his work. I'd say you don't need an expensive liberal arts education, just basic reading comprehension skills.

>>7073222
>WE PO FOLKS CANT AFFORD NO EDUCATION

>>>/tumblr/

he would have hated it but browsed regularly

then he would find a bunch of weird niche reddits, like gardening, and get into that but get embarassed every time you brought it up

>>7073841
That's the exactly mentality I find problematic. placing abstractions and useless knowledge above compassion and human needs. In the end, the hierarchisation of culture its just another way to separate people into groups and declare some as being inherently more worthy than others.

I see it reflected in /lit/s use of language i.e >pleb >patrician. It suggests (albeit sometimes unconsciously) a sense of nostalgia for a half imagined past when poor people and brown people kept their place allowing an idle aristocratic class to dedicate itself to 'self-realization' and cultural pursuits. its all a ridiculous ideological fiction one that only reveals the extent of your solipsism.

>>7073822

>I'm just saying DFW's limited and privileged perspective makes it hard for me to relate to his work

did you say that or did you start talking about your own sociopolitical background as if that had fuck all to do with this conversation?

The real question is: what would he have thought of Wolfe?

>>7073887
>did you say that or did you start talking about your own sociopolitical background as if that had fuck all to do with this conversation?

Ugh. It has fucking everything to do with this conversation. You may be lucky enough to ignore the effects your sociopolitic background has on your worldview and aesthetics, but guess what? most people aren't. Why does the fact that I dare point it out piss you off so much?

>>7073889
He read lots of sci fi and almost certainly liked Wolfe

Can't stop talking about ribbit ay?

>>7073902

> You may be lucky enough to ignore the effects your sociopolitic background has on your worldview and aesthetics, but guess what? most people aren't.

and that is a fundamental defect in the human personality which, through literature among other things (like EDUCATION DUMB DUMB) we are trying to overcome

>>7072612

Sorry for being so patrician and not knowing shit about reddit but holy shit do they really do that?

>>7073902
>Why does the fact that I dare point it out piss you off so much?
Why does the fact that we don't think that's acceptable piss you off so much? Are books at fault because there are people who can't read too?

>>7073870

Too bad you're going to get memed into oblivion. There are better ways of calling DFW an over-educated poser without triggering /lit/

>>7072657

>Fb in 2008.. Pretty minor

what? really? I'm pretty sure I was already using fb back then, I sure as shit wasn't using myspace anymore.

>marijuana addiction

lol

>>7073915
>and that is a fundamental defect in the human personality which, through literature among other things (like EDUCATION DUMB DUMB) we are trying to overcome

The defect does not lie in 'human nature' but in the society responsible for sociopolitical inequality. Are you suggesting that education and cultural canons are just a tool used to promote conformism and acceptance of social hierarchies?

>>7072498

He would have loved here tbh

>>7073222
Im a working class white guy, read some fiction written by writers who had a working class upbringing like Raymond Carver ( l recommend "beginners" and "cathedral" the ones gordan lish didnt fuck with) Don Delillo, Roberto Bolano, Alice Munro, Richard Yates etc. Regardess of my upbringing, I still enjoy Wallace's short fiction collections "brief interviews with hideous men" and "oblivion".

>>7074250
Yates was a prep school kid.

>>7074267
His father left his mother and his mother was a neurotic alcoholic who could barely afford rent, he only went to prep school for a brief peroid because a guy his mother was dating sent him.

>>7073916
yes
One time a guy was trying really hard to convince people of antinatilism, and his arguments were actually quite good, but inevitably all his comments were downvoted to oblivion.
This was a time that I was heavily browsing reddit in my early internet days and it's still about one of the most depressing moments I've ever seen of an internet community.

>>7072867
DFW was far too self-aware and depressive for that to be the case.

>>7073822
>limited and privileged
>>7073902
>Ugh.
>>>/tumblr/

>>7073870
>>pleb >patrician.
note these are post-ironic memes adopted from another board

>>7072953
>implying 'DUDE LOL SO RANDOM' Pynchon isn't word salad

>>7073916
Yep, Reddit's vote system has turned into one if the largest circlejerks ever.

>>7073308
>If you don't engage with the fedora meme you are literally Reddit

First off, Reddit is completely taken by that meme. Secondly, you are one of the retardos, friendo

>>7072798
Newfriend

>>7073916
>Sorry for being so patrician and not knowing shit about reddit but holy shit do they really do that?

Essentially. Individual posts are either "upvoted" or "downvoted" by readers. If a post is "downvoted" enough, it results in a "This post scored below threshold" notice and it disappears (usually, people can reading by clicking on the "show" option, but it's otherwise hidden).

Also (and I don't reddit, so I can't be sure), each upvote raises your account's "karma" rating and, I'm told, posts from users with higher karma ratings appear higher up in the thread and are more likely to be seen by others.

This means that the majority of posts that you see are from idiots who, at one point, posted a picture of their friend's cat, got a shit ton of upvotes, and now enjoys their own opinion being heard above everyone else's.

They hate us for being prejudiced, but fail to realize that, here, we can post unpopular opinions and our posts will still be visible even if everyone else disagrees. They don't seem to realize that, despite the fact that they claim to be more respectful of other's opinions, they are actively hiding opinions that they find objectionable from everyone else and, despite the fact that they preach equality more than we do, our system ensures that every poster gets seen, whereas only a privileged few, on Reddit, actual do.

>>7073870
new epic pasta
>>7075604

>>7072681
Holy shit I've been away from /lit/ for years and you're STILL here shit posting

I honestly admire that much commitment to autism

>>7073981
This tbh

>>7073916
In short, the voting system there is geared towards groupthink.

definitely