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/lit/ - Literature

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13189001 No.13189001 [Reply] [Original]

>"He rose and stood tottering in that cold autistic dark with his arms outheld for balance while the vestibular calculations in his skull cranked out their reckonings"

What does autistic mean in this context?

>> No.13189013

>>13189001
autism[ aw-tiz-uhm ]
noun
1. Psychiatry. a pervasive developmental disorder of children, characterized by impaired communication, excessive rigidity, and emotional detachment: now considered one of the autism spectrum disorders.
2. a tendency to view life in terms of one's own needs and desires.

Probably number 2.

>> No.13189019

You kinda undestand what he means when you're outside alone in a field at night and the silent, isolating sky lies above you.

>> No.13189202
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13189202

thought OP was bullshitting, but it turns out that Corncob really does use the word 'autistic' here. absolutely hilarious

>> No.13189210

>>13189202
>>13189001
holy BASED

>> No.13189240

>>13189013
>impaired communication, excessive rigidity, and emotional detachment:

sounds like a good way to describe the cold dark to me

>> No.13189428

>>13189001
Cold, indifferent, uncaring, of a calculated and systematic nature unconcerned with the sympathies of men.

Its a fantastic word to use in this way, although its anachronism is slightly jarring.

>> No.13189446

>>13189019
>>13189428
this

>> No.13189473

>>13189001
i dont understand how people can enjoy mccarthy
his sentences are so overdramatic that they swing back around and come off as tooty fruity garbage to me

>> No.13189480

>>13189473
Well, to be fair, I do need a little drama in my life.

>> No.13189539

you lads are reading it as a modifier of dark, it's also modifying him

>> No.13189684

>>13189473
I find his prose sweet. But they also have that wonderful knack of carrying extremely serious metaphysical or existential overtones.

Shakespeare excelled in this regard.

"And shake the yoke of inauspicious stars from this world weary flesh"
"Thus conscience does make cowards of us all, and thus the native hue of resolution is sicklied over with the pale cast of thought"

That's also Emily Dickinson's schtick. Actually a lot of great writers do it.

To call the sky autistic is to say: the entire majesterial universe has its own grand purposes, is quite busy making its symphonic orbits and designs, and does not at all care for your poor lost self.

The sky and the stars are an amazingly rich source of metaphor. In the first Shakespeare quote one has to recognize the prevalence of astrological thought in pre-18th century minds. It was assumed that the stars had some sort of profound and fateful influence on human life, and thus to "shake the yoke of inauspicious stars" means to "shake off the influence of a terrible fate I am always subjected to and yet never free from." If that isn't the human condition I don't know what is.

Then there's the other ideas: the stars as heavens, as witnesses of the Godhead. The stars as navigation aids.

Depending on their usage, they invoke fate, Epicurean indifference of the Gods, guidance from beyond out of the chaos and majestic promise to human life. Add in a healthy dose of irony and they can say everything one wishes about life.

Thus Hamlet says "What is he whose grief
Bears such an emphasis, whose phrase of sorrow
Conjures the wandering stars, and makes them stand
Like wonder-wounded hearers? This is I,
Hamlet the Dane"

Amazing. Now the stars are turned into the subject itself, they become the ones who are forced to stop and listen to what human life has to say. And don't they twinkle like a bleeding wound, or like weeping eyes?

>> No.13189703

>>13189001
I remember a Kubrick quote that went sort of like "The hard truth about the Universe is not that it is hostile but that it is indifferent." That might explain the "autistic" dark here.

>> No.13189859

He's a pariah, just like all other genre fiction "writers." If you ever publish a piece (and I do mean piece) of genre fiction, it's pretty much the kiss of death as far as real writers are concerned. You're consigned to the kiddie table from then on, and will forever dwell in that ghetto. Hacks simply aren't invited to the parties. What serious artiste would ever address an envelope to a name like King or Steel or Brown? Well, I do have one story. I once attended a cocktail party in the French Riviera hosted by a indomitable poetess. Several of the big name novelists were in attendance, including many of my fellow Oxford alumni. The mood was merry until a certain hack (in)famous for writing horse stories decided to gatecrash the villa. He was no doubt emboldened by a recent prize he won for (wait until you hear this) a post-apocalyptic survival horror novel. Sorry, just let me catch my breath. The moment this lost soul stepped under the veranda the entire party went dead silent and everyone turned to look at him with a single united look of disgust. The poetess, ever the angel, swooped in and engaged the poor fraud in his level of conversation. The talentless nobody was already sopping drunk, of course. No doubt he'd needed courage to even approach the door, and so decided to "party rock" from a flask in his tiny rundown rental car outside. She graciously asked him if he was working on a new horse novel, and he replied (and I'll remember these words until the day I die), "No, a crime screenplay." The entire villa erupted in laughter and the sad little nothing was so mortified he simply slunk away. Only then did we return to our shimmering conversations about the craft. Who do these people think they are, really?

>> No.13189880
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13189880

>>13189001
>>13189202
Last paragraph was the best.

>> No.13189881

>>13189859
I think all his books are literary for the most part. Shakespeare wrote in genres, too. As well as many other great writers.

>> No.13189892

>>13189881
copypasta is a joke bro

>> No.13189921

god i hate mccarthy's prose

>> No.13189970

>>13189684

Damn well put, bravo anon

>> No.13189991

>>13189859
I welcome this brave new pasta

>> No.13191413

God damn. Corncob "tortilla" memecarthy literally is reddit, the author

>> No.13191452

>>13189921
i thought OP was a joke
not gonna read blood memeridian after all i guess

>> No.13191699

>>13191452
>He posted autistically

>> No.13191715

>>13191699
What does autistic mean in this context?

>> No.13191718

>>13191715
It means you're retarded.

>> No.13191871
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13191871

>>13191452
>can't think for myself, instead, I will listen to a retard's opinion about a cherrypicked quote from another novel.

>> No.13191878

>>13191413
Reddit would never condone "ableist" terms. McCarthy is anti-reddit.

>> No.13191880

>>13191871
>>13191718
why do redditors get so triggered when people decide not to read their favorite author?

>> No.13191894

>>13191880
Pretty sure Neil Gayman is widely read these days.

>> No.13191973

>>13189684
>shitpost gets a goddamn scholarly article in response
never change, /lit/
never change

>> No.13191983

>>13191973
>he thinks that's a """scholarly article"""
holy fucking dilettante the bar is so fucking low these days