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/lit/ - Literature

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10823232 No.10823232 [Reply] [Original]

Is it cynical that i think most books are just 1 or 2 good ideas surrounded in hundreds of pages of filler?
I mean i generally like the core ideas, i find them interesting, but the filler is most usually a detriment.

>> No.10823239

>>10823232
Maybe you should read books that aren't predicated on ideas

>> No.10823251

I think unimaginative is the word you're looking for.

>> No.10823264

>>10823232
Read Borges

>> No.10823275

>>10823232
>I read books for the ideas.

>> No.10823278

>>10823232
give us an example op. what filler would you remove and what would be left. also why are you reading? clearly not for prose or style if that's your attitude. which is totally fine. people (including scholars) read texts for completely different reasons.

>> No.10823623

>>10823232

Sometimes one wants only the key ideas, presented as cleanly and economically as possible.

For example, in a proof of the irrationality of the square root of two.

Sometimes, however, there is value irrespective of any "ideas" that might be floating around.

Examples of this would be in Mozart's Clarinet Concerto, K622 or a really good pizza when you're hungry.

The "ideas" in any good work of literature are only a very small part of it. (And usually you shouldn't be aware of them while you're reading.)

The fourth reply to your post says all this rather more briefly.

>> No.10823631
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10823631

>>10823232
>ideas

>> No.10823709

>>10823232
What and why are you reading? - this idea-hoarding approach to literature is so odd and seemingly prevalent on lit

>> No.10823718

>>10823232
Go to bed, Jorge.

>> No.10823946

It's more stupid than cynical.
You have the fundamentally wrong approach to fiction if you regard books as a collection of ideas or messages you need to uncover.
There are didactic books like this, but the best works of literature aren't just telling you some truth in a quantifiable sense, but are showing you something much deeper about beauty, life etc.
Maybe you are more of a fiction reader. But either way, learn to appreciate aesthetics more.

>> No.10823950

>>10823709
> - this idea-hoarding approach to literature is so odd and seemingly prevalent on lit

Because it allows one to speak of books without actually reading them, go figure

>> No.10823951

>>10823232
Maybe stop reading self-help and pop-psychology trash and read actual books?