/lit/ - Literature

[Anonymous No.1013692]

Hey /lit/, what's your opinion on Down and Out in Paris and London?
I've read the 'standard' works of Orwell and I'm about to start with Homage to Catalonia, and I was wondering if I should spend a few bucks on a copy of Orwell's first(?) published novel.

[Anonymous No.1013731]

[Anonymous No.1013772]

It's his best book.

[Anonymous No.1013781]

I recently read Homage and bought Down and OUt afterwards. I haven't gotten to reading it yet though.

[Anonymous No.1015660]

Bump

[Anonymous No.1015675]

protip: it's not a novel

it is, however, awesome.

[Anonymous No.1015736]

I read pretty much by Orwell except his work about Burma and a few essays.
Here my opinion:
HtC was by far the most interesting book for me and the most educational. The spanish civil war and the part of the UDSSR in it was veryeye-opening.
1984 is hipstershit.
Animal farm is a good novel, but it's not necessary to read it when you already are well educated about the UDSSR. I reccommend it for teens and young adults but not for educated adults.
DiPaL was too very interesting but not as educational as HtC, because Orwell concentrated even more on the people and their lifes but didn't talk about politic as much in as HtC.
TrtWP was a bit boring, the first half where the workers lifes are portrayed is interesting but the second half where Orwell talks about the english Bourgeoisie and why they often dislike the socialism and the underclass bored me very much, but maybe other people like that.

[Anonymous No.1015754]

>>1015736
>1984 is hipstershit.

Your hardcore edginess is amazing.

[Anonymous No.1015768]

>>1015754
Doesn't change the fact that I'm right.

[Anonymous No.1015775]

>>1015768

But you're not right. 1984 is the epitome of mainstream.

[Anonymous No.1015778]

>>1015736

Any reason you use the German abbreviation when speaking English?

[Anonymous No.1015780]

>>1015775
1. No it's not the epitome of mainstream.
2. Only because something is mainstream it is not automaticly no hipstershit anymore.

[Anonymous No.1015784]

>>1015780
tell me oh wise one, what makes something hipstershit?

[Anonymous No.1015786]

>>1015780

>1. No it's not the epitome of mainstream.

Uh, yeah it is.

>2. Only because something is mainstream it is not automatically no hipstershit anymore.

So define hipstershit. Because I thought it was "Stuff most people have never heard of".

[Anonymous No.1015800]

>>1015786
>>1015784
Defining hipstershit is pretty easy. Everyone who reads a book not to educate himself or to have fun but to tell others that he has read it is a hipster. Hipsters read books just so they can be pretentious.
Books that are mostly read with that puspose are hipstershit, 1984 is the best example for hipstershit.

[Anonymous No.1015814]

Both are amazing. Honestly more 'worth' reading than 1984.

[Anonymous No.1015823]

>>1015800

ok, so you're judging the book based not on itself, but on the behavior of some of the people who read it?

Sounds reasonable, carry on.

[Anonymous No.1015826]

>>1015800

>Books that are mostly read with that puspose are hipstershit, 1984 is the best example for hipstershit.

So every book is hipstershit, because I guarantee you every book you've ever heard of and then some has been read with that purpose in mine.

[Anonymous No.1015829]

>>1015826

mind*

[Anonymous No.1015832]

>>1015823
Read more Orwell, he himself said that it is impossible to not judge that way in TrtWP.
>>1015826
While not every reader of 1984 is a hipster, nearly every hipster has read 1984, therefor it's a hipsterbook. 1984 is hipstermainstream, as long as a book does not belong to the hipstermainstream it's not a hipsterbook

[Anonymous No.1015840]

I think all this bullshit about "hipster" and "mainstream" has no place in an intelligent discussion about literature. 1984 is a good book. Not the best ever written, but it's a solid novel. Is it popular? Yes. Does that have any baring on it's literary value? No.

[Anonymous No.1015845]

>>1015832

So what the hell is a hipster, then?

Oh wait.

>Everyone who reads a book not to educate himself or to have fun but to tell others that he has read it is a hipster.

So a hipsterbook is a book a whole bunch of people have decided to read for the sake of bragging about it.

Okay.

How does that say anything about its quality?

[Anonymous No.1015849]

>>1015845
It leads to the conclusion that it is overrated which was once again proven in this thread though the ones that defend it.

[Anonymous No.1015850]

>>1015849

again, "overrated" says nothing about the quality of the book.

[Anonymous No.1015851]

>>1015849

>It leads to the conclusion that it is overrated

Wait wait wait. How does it lead to that conclusion?

[Anonymous No.1015870]

>>1015768
You are ill informed.
Nineteen Eighty Four is a sublimely awesome novel for it's intertwining of the political narrative with the personal narrative; not to mention it's use of some contemporary (of the time) issues to extrapolate them into the communistic-security-police state that Russia would become after 1948. And the resonance that it has to this day.
I don't care if Hipsters grease down their bodies and make love between it's strewn torn-out pages.
You'll still be a dumbass who couldn't hold Orwell's cock to take a piss.
>inb4 U mad: no just not stupid.

[Anonymous No.1015878]

Did someone say my name?

[Anonymous No.1015900]

>>1015870
>Typical hipster speech

[Anonymous No.1015907]

>>1015900
Now, now troll; you know that isn't polite.

So, now that "hipstershit" has been shut-down; may we proceed? I just bought this book and am looking forward to reading it. I have read both Nineteen Eighty Four and Animal Farm in the eight-grade and was spellbound. Then, I just lost touch with Orwell completely; outside of some essays required for English Lit. classes. Should the next Orwell book be Homage to Catlonia or a book of Essays or something else?

[Anonymous No.1015932]

1984 is a great book.

Fuck the haters.

[Anonymous No.1015933]

>>1015907

>Implying you calling it isn't polite shut it down?

Fucking hipster

[Anonymous No.1015945]

>>1015870
I know it isn't /lit/ per se; but I actually thought that the movie released in 1984 captured at least the "atmosphere" of the book if not the in's and outs of the politics, etc.

[Anonymous No.1015974]

>>1015736
Burmese Days is the name of the book and it's very melancholy and well worth the time it takes to track down a copy and read through.

[Anonymous No.1016004]

>>1015974
>worth the time it takes to track down
Is it hard to get a copy in the USA? I only know about Germany, but here all of Orwells works are easily accessable, Burmese Days/Tage in Burma gets sold pretty good(In the Top 50K, which is good considering the genre in Germany)

[Anonymous No.1016010]

>>1016004
i live in a pretty big outer city of dallas, and all my intown shops were clueless.
basically what i mean is you'd have to order it online somewhere.

[Anonymous No.1016015]

>>1016004
>>1015974
Not too difficult if you don't mind going online to buy books. Amazon's got 'Burmease Days' paperback for $11.20 (whew! But Hardcover will set you back $88.00!)

[Major Major Major !!dMAx/7Da7uM No.1016069]

holy fuck i thought we all knew by now that anybody who gets really irritated about hipsters re: literature is probably a hipster themself.. nothing to see here folks, move along.

[Anonymous No.1016160]

>thread about Down and Out in Paris and London
>discussion about 1984 being 'hipster' and the actual definition of said 'hipster'.

[Anonymous No.1016163]

>>1016160
You know when you say it like that... yeah.
Well, it tried to keep it OT