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/lit/ - Literature

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10381086 No.10381086 [Reply] [Original]

Hello, /lit/.

I want to cultivate an appreciation for literature and become a better writer. Having lurked, it appears the correct route is to begin with the Greeks and work forward through the cannon to contemporary literature. In this way, one contextualises each work whilst simultaneously furthering one's enjoyment.

My only concern is that beginning with the Greeks will be too heavy for my retarded mind. I will grit my teeth and just power through.

Thanks. :^)

>> No.10381132
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10381132

Good man, Fitzgerald or Lattimore, Pope for neo-classical couplet wankery (good thing), collected myths are bullshit, might as well wiki them. Hesiod, Homeric odes and Ovid provide the basis. Greeks are the only culture who can sublate uninhibited comfies and noble regality. Anyone saying start with the Egyptians or resume with the Romans has completely missed why every scholar in England learned Greek two thousand years after it's fall

>> No.10381165

>>10381086
Nah, I suggest you start with Dumas or Vonnegut or something.

>> No.10381171

>>10381086
the Greeks are easy and this is an idiotic way of reading suggested by private school faggots do not do this.

>> No.10381204
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10381204

>>10381086
This is better if you don't want to start with the greeks

>> No.10381207
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10381207

>>10381132
>not starting with the Egyptians

>> No.10381219

>>10381086
My suggestion is to balance one’s reading of heavy canonical works with lighter contemporary fiction and nonfiction. Not genre trash, but simpler works of more direct interest to our time. In this way you will avoid tiring yourself out with the rather more substantial works of the Canon.

Furthermore I suggest that you always seek out editions with plenty of footnotes and commentary, as your own understanding will be quite limited without such aids. Finally, I recommend exploring the history of each nation and time period whose literature you delve into so that you understand the context in which the authors of the great works labored.

>> No.10381323

>>10381132
They say resume with the Romans because you're supposed to read them AFTER the Greeks, not as a replacement...