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/lit/ - Literature

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1295853 No.1295853 [Reply] [Original]

Fuck David Sedaris.

>> No.1295855

THE QUESTION IS WHY

>> No.1295860

Modern American literature is nothing but the musings of a bunch of self-important New York types.

>> No.1295861

Because he's got a delicious asshole.

Why else?

>> No.1295864

david sedaris came to my school, spoke, and did a Q&A.
i said he was a hack and that he was a terrible excuse for a writer
i was promptly escorted out
shit was so cash

>> No.1295907

There are no good literary magazines anymore.

>> No.1295920

I don't fucking understand The Silmarillion. DAMN YOU TOLKEIN

>> No.1295928

I wish there were more good female writers and less women readers interested in romance shit novels.

>> No.1295930

I like Harlan Ellison more than Asimov or Heinlein.

>>1295928
Check out Joyce Carol Oates, I'd suggest her novels A Garden of Earthly Delights, or "them."

>> No.1295937

i've tried to start catch-22 three times now and have failed to continue reading it each time. does it get any better?

>> No.1295945

I own more unread books than read books.

>> No.1295947

>>1295930
Thanks for the suggestions, anon.

>> No.1295956

The only reason I started reading "serious" literature was because my 14 year old ass was a loser who wanted to feel superior in at least on aspect. Also wanted some of that hipster pussy, still do.

>> No.1295957

i re-buy a shit ton of books i have read already. yesterday i bought You Can't Win (for the fourth time) and Cities of the Red Night (for the third time). i love to give friends great books but i het buying them again only to give them away again. the purchase mentioned prior will remain mine...i think.

>> No.1295963

I am just visiting from /fit/

>> No.1295965

I simply can't get into Paradise Lost. The clusterfuck of allusions in the first book were really off-putting, and as such, I haven't made it far through the second book, and I've had the book for nearly a year now.

I can't read Aristotle. By that, I mean that I can't read his actual works. When I read isolated quotes, or hear people talking in modern English about his philosophical beliefs, I'm actually quite interested and find myself agreeing with a lot of what he has to say. But when I actually try to pop open a book of his, I have trouble deciphering what's being said, and get a headache.

>> No.1295969

the ending of the stranger pissed me off so much i threw the book

>> No.1295971

>>1295969
i did the same thing with steppenwolf

>> No.1295979

Anybody who uses Twitter or livejournal is an irredeemable cunt.

>> No.1296006

Literary criticism is just a big circlejerk to me.

>> No.1296007

people on /lit/ exist in two worlds, people that love faggy churned out fantasy, and snobs that won't enjoy any book that's not at least 25 years old.

>> No.1296009

Poe's writing is too damn flowery for me to enjoy.

>> No.1296011

James Joyce just fuckin sucks.

>> No.1296012

>>1296011
this.

inb4: wild accusations of troll-age...'cause everyone knows that joyce was troll supremacy and...shit sucks.

>> No.1296094

I prefer audiobooks to their written form. Not because I can't read, but I like that I can multi-task while listening to an audiobook. Work goes by much faster when I'm listening to an audiobook.

>> No.1296100

Mervyn Peake was just as exaggerated as Tolkien, and way more overwritten.

>> No.1296102

I don't really read much books but I like to pretend I do so people will think I'm articulate.

>> No.1296107

>>1295860
>New York types
>Cormac McCarthy and Toni Morrison

>> No.1296108

Dubliners is the only good thing James Joyce ever did.

>> No.1296118

It always strikes me as silly that so many hardcore sci-fi/fantasy fans are ashamed of Tolkien, when he was highly inventive creative.

>> No.1296144

Twilight, no matter how bad it was, gave me a hard-on.

>> No.1296190

Sinclair Lewis was a preachy liberal faggot.

>> No.1296214

>>1296108
Agreed.

Also, I hate how on the rare occasion that I mention a decent book (i.e. not Twilight or HP) that I've enjoyed reading, I get told that I'm being pretentious.

Bitch, I'm not even spouting off Dostoevsky and Camus. I just mentioned fucking F. Scott Fitzgerald.

>> No.1296216

>>1296214
maybe dont hang out with trashmen anymore.

Or maybe you are just overall pretentious...

>> No.1296225

All the best books were written before 1930, and none of them were written by Americans.

>> No.1296226

I still enjoy Catcher in the Rye.

>> No.1296234

>>1296225
Nostalgia goggles, man...
It's time to take them off.

Captcha: Hurmp implying

>> No.1296242

Any young American male who says Russian lit is best lit, is speaking not with his own mouth, but with his professor's. This cycle has been continuous for several decades. When you mature, you will stop caring what others think of the book you're reading, and actually open something you enjoy.

>> No.1296244

I hate how discussing most authors' work simply gets blank looks or the occasional obsessive fan. No inbetween, no forum for discussing their works.

>> No.1296247

>>1296242
WHAT IF YOU DON'T EVEN FUCKING STUDY ANY ARTS SUBJECTS?

THEN AGAIN, I'M NOT AMERICAN.

>> No.1296249

>>1296242
why would anybody (professor or young american) ever say that russian literature is the best literature.

Hell, that professors even issue anything like a single "national" literature being "best" is laughable and shows that the terrorists better succeed quickly before those tea partisans start nuking Frisco and NY in order to cleanse the US from faggots and liberals

>> No.1296250

I make fun of sci-fi fans on /lit/, despite the fact that I recently had a sci-fi short story published in an indie press anthology.

>> No.1296251

>>1296242
But what you enjoy will be informed by the calibre of the classics you've read (be they Russian, British, French or if you consider recent works sufficient, American)

>> No.1296256

>>1296251

Wrong. "What you enjoy" is exactly that, there are no prerequisites.

>> No.1296259

I engage with /lit/ the same way I do with music. If I enjoy a lot of an author's work then I'll read the authors who inspired them. George MacDonald for CS Lewis, say. I am feared of regressing as far as "UG COLD - UG MAKE FIRE" though.

>> No.1296262

That wishlist attention whore with glasses posting pictures of her with the books she got really pisses me off.

>> No.1296263

>>1296256
No prerequisite was stated, merely a benefit.

>> No.1296266

>>1296262

But why does she piss you off? Get things off your chest man, don't just make statements. Does she piss you off because someone bought her a book based on her looks? Perhaps the world pisses you off then? Or is it the dirty world's influence spoiling your secret /lit/ clubhouse?

Or maybe you're just a fat femanon who's jelly?

>> No.1296271

Most of the best writers were Catholic.

>> No.1296272

>>1296262
WE TALKING ABOUT BEGCHAN? THAT WAS THE DAY CAPSGUY WAS BORN.

>> No.1296277

>>1296272
thats makes it even worse

>> No.1296288

I like Hemingway because I am an alcoholic and I like to shoot things.

>> No.1296298

>>1295937
>>1295937
>>1295937
>>1295937
>>1295937
this
it isn't funny, the characters are nonsensical, there is no plot. I'd rather watch Strangelove.

>> No.1296300

>>1296271
Yes, were. Probably back when everybody was catholic.

>> No.1296347

>>1296009

OHMYGODIKNOWRIGHT?

>> No.1296378

you'rE all DELUDING URSELF and should join /sci/

>> No.1296422

God damn, do I hate Southern lit with a passion.

>> No.1296425

magic realism is always just a nigger with telepathy

>> No.1296428

Anytime someone says a novel was 'too dry' for them they mean that it was '2deep' for them.

>> No.1296437

The Doll by Prus is a much better book than The Great Gatsby and Count of Monte Cristo combined.

>> No.1296441

>>1296425
No, Steven King is not a good example of magical realism.

>> No.1296463

If you ever read more then one book at a time, or if you cant read a book for more then 100 pages at a time without time constraints, just stop reading that fucking book because you don't, like it no matter how much you want to.

>> No.1296488

Can't stand Lord of the Rings.

>> No.1296491

>>1296463
>or if you cant read a book for more then 100 pages at a time without time constraints
hurr 10 page chapters

>> No.1296493

Nobody has ever liked Jane Austin on her own merits. It's just a bunch of smelly girls that use it as fuel for their own sexual imaginings.

Also, American Gods is overrated. Not bad, but certainly not amazing.

>> No.1296499

>>1296493
>Nobody likes Jane Austin
I had to read Wuthering Heights or some shit like that for summer reading in High School. At one point I literally had someone lock me on a porch with the book so I couldn't distract myself from finishing it.

>> No.1296515

>>1296493
I disagree with your first point but agree with your second.

>> No.1296580

The only reason Dune is considered amazing among sci-fi fans is because they've never read a book before that was metaphorical in nature. When they find out it is, they act like it's some wild new development in literature. Dune is shit.

>> No.1296584

>>1296580
lol.

>> No.1296593

i would burn A Farewell To Arms

>> No.1296602

This isn't exactly a /lit/ issue, but I couldn't understand Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit at all. I don't know if that's an indictment of my intelligence or his ability to say something meaningful, though.

>> No.1296605

>>1296602
the latter or rather the way he says it.

>> No.1296611

>>1296593
Why? 2deep4u?

>> No.1296614

>>1296611
A laconic and pathetic love history behind the war scene written with the most IRRITATING prose ever, more or less.

>> No.1296618

>>1296614
lol I knew it. 2DEEP4U

>> No.1296621

>>1296618
probably. tell me the reason you like it.

>> No.1296623

Cuz its got fuckin and gunz nigga

>> No.1296628

>>1296623
very deep indeed

>> No.1296652

>>1296602
He does say meaningful stuff, but there's this whole tradition in the germans of the period, to employ ridiculous obfuscation for no reason. It has to do with romanticism.

>> No.1296660

>>1296628
Really, I must have missed that symbolism, went right over my head. [/I'm being so sincere right now]

>> No.1296670

>>1296605
>>1296652
Thank you. That's reassuring.

>> No.1296680

>>1296242
I have never heard of this happening. I have heard people claiming to like Russian lit on their own, but never because their professor told them how "deep" it is.

>>1296007
I guess I'm in the latter category then; for the most part anyway. I tried reading a little bit of "Freedom" by Franzen the other day and was put off by all the examples of violating "show, don't tell" right off the bat.

>> No.1296686

I'm pissed off with Spook Country. I've read it twice and a majority of the novel is still vague to me.

>> No.1296701

>>1295979
>>Anybody who uses Twitter or livejournal is an irredeemable cunt.

I'm sick to death of LiveJournal users and their superiority complexes. ONTD is full of assholes, Fandom Secrets is full of idiots and most of the fan fiction writers are fucking bimbos that think the only purpose for their favorite print or film media is for half-baked erotica to be made from it.

>> No.1296707

>Anybody who uses Twitter or livejournal is an irredeemable cunt
Agreed.

>> No.1296903

Only one out of every 5 nobel winners are worth reading.

>> No.1296931

All metaphysical philosophy is superstitious, conjectural bullshit with no real value beyond providing amusing thought experiments and demonstrating how ignorant we once were (and in many cases, still are).

feel free to hate me now.

>> No.1296940

I have a list of over 400 books I'd like to buy and read.

I won't get through it any time soon.

>> No.1296958

>>1296903
Corollary:
Of those worth reading, most have only one book worth reading.

>> No.1296959 [DELETED] 

I like Catcher in the Rye.

>> No.1296962

I never finished reading my signed copy of The Keeper's Shadow.

>> No.1297147

>>1296680
Fuck people who think prose writing has specific rules that must be followed.

>> No.1297165

>>1296940
>I have a list of over 400 books I'd like to buy and read.

>I won't get through it any time soon.

I bought a lot of books this year and I doubt I'll get through them by next summer. I'm still weeding my way through vampire fiction. It's an okay genre but a lot of the newer stuff is stale as hell because every writer has the same idea.

>> No.1297193

I FUCKING LOVE CROOKED LITTLE VEIN

>>1296686
It's got a pretty weak plot. Just read it for the prose.

>> No.1297397

>>1295864
oh god, you're the worst. like, david sedaris is a little corny but getting escorted out of an author q&a is shit you do when karl rove comes to give a talk at your school, not some dude from this american life

>>1296493
nobody has ever disliked jane austen on her own merits. it's just a bunch of smelly boys who don't know what to do with the twin dragons of hate and forbidden lust their hearts bear for their own mothers

>>1297193
warren ellis is a hack and a terrible excuse for a writer

>> No.1297423

I don't fit in with /lit/'s elitism at all. I read whatever the fuck I want. Regardless of author, time of publication, and genre. I think it's retarded that /lit/ denounces entire genres as shit.

>> No.1297426

I think Derrida was right about a number of subjects, but is often pushed aside because of his satiric tone and his juvenile distrust of the mental capacity of his peers.

>> No.1297427

CRIME AND PUNISHMENT IS THE BORINGEST BOOK TO BE EVER WRITTEN

>> No.1297433

>>1297423
>I don't fit in with /lit/'s elitism at all
>I think it's retarded that /lit/ denounces entire genres as shit.
+1

I hate it when people try to make out that 'the classics' is a genre & that you're a 'hipster' if you read them. it's like unless you read something about magic or predictions about the future you're just being pretentious, which is not true at all. Limiting yourself to those genres is just elitism.

>> No.1297457

>>1297397
Did you hear the sonic boom?
That was the point of this thread passing you at mach 3.

>> No.1297466

>>1297397

Agreed. Warren Ellis gets praise because comic book readers are practically illiterate.

>> No.1297485

When I was younger, I used to read television and VCR instruction manuals and thoroughly enjoyed them.

>> No.1297487

>>1297466
see
>>1297457

>> No.1297491

>>1297485

Ha! you must be having a laugh.

>> No.1297496

>>1297487

Uh, what? Are you retarded or something?

>> No.1297501

>>1297496
see
>>1297496

>> No.1297507

<dicks>

>> No.1297514

>>1297485
>>1297485
how do you do that black text thing?

>> No.1297515

I think J.K. Rowling is terrific.

>> No.1297520

>>1297514
[spoilers] & to end them [/spoilers]

except its 'spoiler' instead of 'spoilers'.

>> No.1297523

I enjoy James Joyce, and don't take the fact that I don't ''get'' every bit of his work as proof that he is shit.
Problem?

>> No.1297524 [SPOILER] 
File: 42 KB, 500x500, Ass_Goblins.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
1297524

>>1297514
New here, are you?
>TYPE SHIT HERE
Fucking kids

>> No.1297551

>>1297515
I like to think that Stephenie Meyer, James Patterson, Dan Brown, J.K. Rowling, Beyonce, Katy Perry and Lady Gaga are all the same person.

>> No.1297631

<spoiler> lol </spoiler>

>> No.1297655

The majority of English majors can never write a good fiction novel.
Also who the fuck decided we needed to tell the reader how the character felt/thought instead of showing it?

>> No.1297662

>>1297147
There's prose that defies the accepted norms and then there's "this is what you're supposed to think/feel about these characters".

>> No.1297670

I wish I liked Harry Potter.

>> No.1297679

I rarely read post-modern literature mostly because I hate post-modernism in general. It's just, an excuse to be lazy at art, writing, music, etc.

>> No.1297688

I tried to read The Great Gatsby, I really did.

Gave up.

>> No.1297741

for an english major and future english teacher, i am not very well-read

>> No.1297745

>>1297741
Judging by many of the English teachers who taught me during high school you aren't at all alone.

>> No.1297759

>>1297741 here

what kinds of things could an english teacher do to make class more interesting? it has been a long time since i have been a high school student

>> No.1297830

I hate mi parents and my whole family, every time they find something I write, they read it aloud and laugh of it, and even worse, they show it to my whole family and they all laugh, It makes me sick and sad, i feel like a stranger in my own house. I have to hide everything i write, my notebooks are the only kind of privacy i have.

And writing songs is even worse, every time I try to sing something i write, I can hear them laughing from their room, making fun of me.

I just want a place of my own, where i can scream, write, sing, and do everything I want to do without being opressed.

>> No.1298591

bump

>> No.1299735

Manifestos are always pretentious.

>> No.1300367

I never read the introductions to novels when they aren't written by the author.

>> No.1300378

>>1297830
Well you probably are a fag

>> No.1300395

>>1297830
I feel for you man, sometimes it's tough to be CRAWLING IN MY SKINS

>> No.1300400
File: 400 KB, 1499x1000, 1278138541347.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
1300400

The books I loved the most are the books I stopped halfway through and came back to many months later.

>> No.1300449

>>1300400
What are they?

>> No.1300622

African Literature is all worthless and only read by white liberals.

>> No.1300628

>>1296009
Whoa
To each his own and all but, for me, of authors from the 19th century, Poe is sooo straighforward

>> No.1300645

Harry Potter is my favorite series, and every time I read it, it makes me laugh, cry, and feel adventurous.

>> No.1300646

I read Atlas Shrugged for plot

>> No.1300650

I like popular fiction and believe that at least some of it should count as literature, based on its nigh-universal philosophy of a lack of symbolism and no-bullshit attitude

>> No.1300654

All writing is literature, dammit. Critics are too pedantic.

>> No.1300683

Back to James Joyce, how can you not enjoy the scene in Ulysses where the dude beats off in public? He'd post on 4chan if he were alive today.

>> No.1300694

>>1300654
>>All writing is literature, dammit.

Even bestsellers that sell millions in mass market format?

I do love how Black Lizard is trying to bring back pulp detective novels as classic literature. I can't wait to pick up the new compilation they just put out.

>> No.1300756

>>1300694
"If it sells, it can't be art."

>> No.1300765

>>1300694
>All writing is literature

but not all literature is writing

>> No.1300825

>>1300654
Critics are too pedantic, but you are too forgiving. Most writers do it to fill space rather than to communicate ideas. See: most amateur speeches and highschool essays. "He made us laugh, and, sometimes he made us cry." etc., it's cliché ridden because they are reproducing other's writing, lacking anything of their own, a patchwork of entire phrases lifted from the newspaper and pulp fiction. The latter two are of better quality because they know writing well will get them more money - but they still lack their own impulse towards communication.