/lit/ - Literature

[Anonymous No.10761960]

Does anyone like reading the in depth analysis of books and its themes/characters more than the book itself?

I always feel bored reading an actual book, but then I pick up another book that describes the book from analytical point of view and get hooked.

Why is that? Sometimes I feel like I'm too stupid to understand the message and the analysis sparks my interest again, but most of the times I just find anaysis books desribing things a lot better than the writer himself actualy portrayed.

Anyone else with similar interest? What would you recommend to someone like me?

[Anonymous No.10762010]

Most “””analysis””” of books is just post-structuralist nonsense anyway, so who’s the bigger brainlet now?

[Anonymous No.10762029]

>>10762010

How is it non-sense, when it describes the situations and characters in a logical and easy to understand way, given their actions/behaviour?

I find this intriguing and something I can learn a lot from, since the real world is very relatable with such scenarios.

[Anonymous No.10762449]

>>10761960
If your only way to enjoy a book is to overthink it, I'm sad for you.

Maybe you should spend some time outside looking a leaves being caressed by the wind to understand that it's not because you overthink it that it is enjoyable.

[Anonymous No.10762581]

>>10761960
>Does anyone like reading the in depth analysis of books and its themes/characters more than the book itself?

Me.

There are a lot of good literary critics, but I'm drawing a blank at the moment.

Steven Marcus, Dickens from Pickwick to Dombey is really interesting -- I found it a *far* more interesting read than Dickens himself -- but at the same time, Marcus persuasively argues what a remarkable artist Dickens was. Marcus is extremely good at analyzing the somewhat intangible qualities that distinguish Dickens best novels as unique and singular works of art -- the different and distinctive approaches he took in, say, Martin Chuzzlewit vs. Dombey and Son. While at the same time recognizing the variable artistic quality of Dickens' work, as between different books, and in the books themselves, the parts that work and the parts that don't. Out of print but inexpensive used copies readily available online.

There was a book of Frederick Crews's articles that included an essay on Flannery O'Connor that was a good book, although I can't recall the title atm.

Have been dipping in and out of Mochulsky, _Dostoyevsky_, which is a bio that includes detailed literary criticism. The lit crit parts are top-notch. You can get a taste of it via Google Books -- check out M's remarks on, e.g., The Demons.

The literary criticism in NY Rev of Books is often (although not always) rather interesting. Joyce Carol Oates is usually quite astute.