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/lit/ - Literature

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1472016 No.1472016 [Reply] [Original]

Well.

I've read most all of the great American novels, like Catcher in the Rye, The Great Gatsby, The Scarlett Letter, Moby Dick, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, For Whom The Bell Tolls, Fahrenheit 451, To Kill a Mockingbird, Grapes of Wrath as well as some Faulkner, Cather, etc.

And I'm wondering. Seriously is this the BEST of American literature? REALLY?

Most of these stories are bad folk tales or hillbilly ramblings about how mean girls and how life is UNFAIR BAWW (Great Gatsby), or blaring stories about how you shouldn't judge a book by it's cover (To Kill a Mockingbird).

One is about a teenage boy bitching and complaining for 150 pages, and it's 'required reading' in American high schools? (Catcher in the Rye) Another is about a slut with HURT FEELINGS attention whoring. (Scarlett Letter)

These stories are pathetically bad, and not DEEP at all. You could get the same content browsing /r9k/, even though it's not around anymore. You could browse /b/ for a half an hour and get more culture than reading these books.

>> No.1472020

most american literature is retarded short stories from emos with funny accents, people only read it for lols

>> No.1472022
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1472022

Fahrenheit 451 is about books being burned and old men bawwing about it

lol americans

>> No.1472027

>>1472016
0/10

/b/ is where you belong. Troll someone else.

>> No.1472029

>High schooler complaining about high school reading
>>>/r9-
Oh shit, wait...

>> No.1472030
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1472030

> The Great Gatsby is the 2nd best novel of the entire 20th century
> mfw it's underage ramblings from a sad gay man

>> No.1472031

I thought Gatsby was pretty good, but then I read little about how mean girls were or how life was unfair... Also no hillbilles...

>> No.1472033

The Classics are very rarely as good as their reputation might suggest, especially if you read them for entertainment. Nothing unique to America there.

>> No.1472034

I agree OP, but you have to understand that Americans didn't have television or internet back then, so anything they could relate to was cherished and considered a classic.

People only read them today because they want to feel sophisticated and cultured, when in reality they are just hipsters.

>> No.1472038

>>1472031
> hillbilles...

he was probably talking about huckleberry finn, which is filled to the brim with hillbilly nonsense

>> No.1472039

So this is totally a troll and all, but sidetrack for a moment here you guys...

>like Catcher in the Rye, The Great Gatsby, The Scarlett Letter, Moby Dick, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, For Whom The Bell Tolls, Fahrenheit 451, To Kill a Mockingbird, Grapes of Wrath as well as some Faulkner, Cather, etc.

Why does no one automatically consider 'Invisible Man' by Ralph Ellison one of the greats? This is one of the best books written in America, but an idiot on the street mentions fucking Cather before him when disparaging amazing American literature?

Something is very wrong with this world.

>> No.1472042

Wow, OP. You're just too badass for literature, I suggest you to leave this board and go play some God of War like a fuckin man.

>> No.1472045
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1472045

>>1472039

>Why does no one automatically consider 'Invisible Man' by Ralph Ellison one of the greats?

As if you don't know the answer to that already...

>> No.1472044
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1472044

>>1472016
> about how mean girls and how life is UNFAIR BAWW (Great Gatsby)

If you think that's bad, You should read Winter Dreams.

It's basically about how perfect F. Scott Fitzgerald is, and how mean girls are, and girls ruin his American Dream by cheating on him and sending him into depression.

typical /r9k/ content

>> No.1472049

>>1472039
> invisible man

i can already guess what it's about

> man: bawww nobody loves me, nobody pays attention to me, i wish somebody would appreciate me, i so sad

yeah it sounds like a fuckin masterpiece

>> No.1472055

I agree with OP.
In comparison to "the greats" of non-American literature, American literature isn't even worthy as toilet paper.

>> No.1472057

>and it's 'required reading' in American high schools?
BAAAWWWWW MEANY TEACHS WONT LET ME READ FANTASY AND SCI-FI!!!!

>> No.1472059

>>1472049
>>1472045
Bitches don't know how awesome this book is!

>> No.1472066

>open thread
>control+F
>'vonnegut'
>no vonnegut
>this thread is dildos

>> No.1472067

>>1472057

The point is that these stories are simple with no value other than "lesson of the day" bullshit, which is why so many kids aren't interested in reading.

Required literature should have more meaning than "girls are mean, bawww"

>> No.1472072
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1472072

> or blaring stories about how you shouldn't judge a book by it's cover (To Kill a Mockingbird)

Also Of Mice and Men. Same hurp, but twice the durp.

>> No.1472080

>>1472055
agreed

>> No.1472082
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1472082

>>1472045
Deal with it nigga. My books are classics.

>> No.1472090

Reduce a novel to one sentence : it will appear as crappy as it can be.

Thus, reducing a novel to one sentence can only be done by douchbags who didn't understand the meaning of reading a book.

>> No.1472096
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1472096

>>1472049
>mfw it has nothing to do with anything like that and you are a fucking idiot.

>> No.1472097
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1472097

> The GREAT Gatsby is an EXCITING tale of prosperity set in the ROARING 20's. From the author of such RIVETING tales as "The Baby Party" and magnificent classics like "Bernice Bobs Her Hair"

>> No.1472105
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1472105

>>1472097

>> No.1472115
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1472115

>>1472097
­

>> No.1472123
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1472123

>>1472097
­­

>> No.1472127
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1472127

> F. Scott Fitzgerald

NOPE

>> No.1472142

>>1472039
> The Invisible Man addresses many of the social and intellectual issues facing African-Americans in the early twentieth century, including black nationalism, the relationship between black identity and Marxism, and the reformist racial policies of Booker T. Washington, as well as issues of individuality and personal identity.

baww im black and hurt feelings, why wont you let us free so we can create bad rap music, spread aids, and ruin your country with bad culture and skyrocketing crime? i so sad

>> No.1472168

reading sucks

>> No.1472212

They make books into movies for a reason. Books are outdated and a poor man's story.

You might as well say cave dravings are better than 1080p High Definition visuals.

Get the with times people, embrace the future.

The only people still reading books are pretentious hipster faggots stuck in the past.

>> No.1472264

> American literature is trash and garbage

what else is new

>> No.1472309

The Best American Literature is sci-fi.

>> No.1472324

>>1472142
>>>/new/
Oh wait...

>> No.1472328

Tender is the Night motherfuckers.

>> No.1472359

It's clearly either The Sound and The Fury or Moby-Dick

>> No.1472521

>Catcher in the Rye
Teenage Woody Allen. Didn't like it.
>The Great Gatsby
He really wasn't so great.
>The Scarlet Letter
Typical Protestant bullshit
>Moby Dick
Never read it, don't plan to.
>Huckleberry Finn
I actually like Twain. This was pretty good.
>Fahrenheit 451
BAWWW CENSORSHIP
>To Kill a Mockingbird
I liked this book
>Grapes of Wrath
BORING. Read East of Eden, much better book by Steinbeck.

>> No.1472551

OP's a retard.
0/10

>> No.1472572

>>1472072
>>1472072
>>1472072

How in the HELL is Of Mice and Men a "don't judge a book by it's cover" story?

>> No.1472580

So...Edgar Allen Poe is a shitty writer, eh?

>> No.1472602

Since we're on the topic of disparaging the collective literature of entire countries: watch a daytime soap opera and you've basically read every Russian novel.

>> No.1472615

The only one I've read is To Kill A Mockingbird, that book is god awful. I agree and I'm American. Another book that wasn't deep at all was Romeo and Juliet,

>> No.1472619

>>1472615
>To Kill a Mockingbird
>8th Grade American required reading

>Romeo and Juliet
>9th Grade American required reading
>not American literature, but you think it is

Go back to Gaia Online, you philistine.

>> No.1472620

>>1472615
>>1472615
>>1472615
Shakespeare's all hype anyway. It's not like he invented hundreds of words in the English language or anythi-owait.
But bearing that in mind, why the fuck can't everyone do it? Why doesn't EVERYONE get credit for the words they inven-owait, they didn't write Hamlet.

And they sound like morons.

>> No.1472628

>>1472619
I never said that I thought Romeo and Juliet was 'merican

>> No.1472679

>>1472067
Yeah, Moby-Dick, some real "lesson of the day bullshit"

Also OP, I'm wondering what literature you consider to be "DEEP"

>> No.1472687

>>1472212
I wish I actually believed you were trolling, but I really do think you're just that stupid.

>> No.1472838

>>1472212
why are you here? /tv/ is that way

>> No.1472853

I know right, it's almost as bad as that god damned Ruske /lit/ -
>white aristocrats have problems - and it's cold

>> No.1472865

>>1472580
Yes, he is.

>> No.1472898

Gaddis, Gass, Pynchon, Barth, D.F. Wallace

The "greatest" American novelists are post-WWII. Almost everything you listed is really good pop fiction; its intention is to tell a great story. It's not trying to test the bounds of literature or psychology.

>> No.1472900

>>1472572
Nobody has answered your question yet because it's beyond idiotic. I'm following suit.

>> No.1473002

Tennessee Williams? no one? he was fucking brilliant. And as for the other classics, they're pretty good.

>> No.1473016

>>1472016
That's not the best american lit, that's a highschool reading list.

Kurt Vonnegut. Cormac McCarthy. Sylvia Plath.

>> No.1473020

>Ctrl+f 'John Updike'
>Nothing

Bitches don't know about Updike.

>> No.1473038
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1473038

>> No.1473043

enough said. Probably too much said.

>> No.1473056

Hemingway.

/thread.

Poe and Twain are good too. Twain is hilarious, I don't care how many hillbillies he writes.

>> No.1473071

>>1473056
I personally think Faulkner, Twain, Poe, and Hemingway alone redeem American literature. Gods of their craft.

>> No.1473096

>>1473071

I support this post.

>> No.1473114

>>1472309
Perhaps not literature per se, or classics, but American Science Fiction is best Science Fiction. Dick, Heinlein, Asimov, Card, Simmons, Zelazny, Vonnegut, Niven, Ellison, Gibson, Herbert etc.

>> No.1473115

>>1472521
>Fahrenheit 451
>BAWWW CENSORSHIP

That isn't what the book was about.

>>1472016
>hillbilly ramblings about how mean girls and how life is UNFAIR BAWW (Great Gatsby),

That's not what the book was about. Also, hillbilly rambling? Great Gatsby? Are you the most fucking retard human ever? YES, YOU ARE.

>> No.1473131

I thought the message of The Great Gatsby was that rich people are douchebags and that money can't buy you love, well it can but not always, and then you get shot in the pool by an angry guy who thinks you killed his wife.

>> No.1473133

>>1473020
>>1473016
>>1472066
BITCHES BEST BE RESPECTING KURT VONNEGUT.

John Updike as well.

No Joseph Heller? I thought Catch-22 was a great read...but that could be because I'm weird.

Also, OP, PLEASE divulge books that you think are "deep". Since apparently American authors are all worthless.

BTW, /b/ is
<---that way...

>> No.1473161

Dear OP, seeing as The Great Gatsby went way over your head, your opinions on what is deep or insightful or what has culture are extremely worthless. If you were too dense to get The Great Gatsby, how the hell will you be able to understand Moby-Dick or The Sound and The Fury? There is no way. OP, the problem lies with you. You are not ready.

>> No.1473176

>>1473115
F. 451 actually is about censorship.

Bradbury says the idea for it came to him when some stupid bint asked him to rewrite "The Martian Chronicles" to include more female characters. To him, that was like book burning. So he wrote F. 451.

>> No.1473189

>>1473176
Not about censorship. Bradbury said so himself.

"Now, Bradbury has decided to make news about the writing of his iconographic work and what he really meant. Fahrenheit 451 is not, he says firmly, a story about government censorship."

http://www.laweekly.com/2007-05-31/news/ray-bradbury-fahrenheit-451-misinterpreted/

He has said so many times and if you actually look past, lolol burning book means censorship, it is actually obvious that the novel isn't about censorship.

>> No.1473190

>>1472142
/b/
<-------------------

>> No.1473199

>>1473189
He says "government censorship"

Do you not realise that the word government is there for a reason?

>> No.1473203

>>1473189
Interesting...I never knew this. Thanks, anon.

>> No.1473212

>>1473189
Bradbury on F. 451:

"There is more than one way to burn a book. And the world is full of people running about with lit matches. Every minority, be it Baptist / Unitarian, Irish / Italian / Octogenarian / Zen Buddhist / Zionist / Seventh-day Adventist / Women's Lib / Republican / Mattachine / FourSquareGospel feels it has the will, the right, the duty to douse the kerosene, light the fuse….Fire-Captain Beatty, in my novel Fahrenheit 451, described how the books were burned first by the minorities, each ripping a page or a paragraph from this book, then that, until the day came when the books were empty and the minds shut and the library closed forever.
Only six weeks ago, I discovered that, over the years, some cubby-hole editors at Ballantine Books, fearful of contaminating the young, had, bit by bit, censored some 75 separate sections from the novel. Students, reading the novel which, after all, deals with the censorship and book-burning in the future, wrote to tell me of this exquisite irony. Judy-Lynn del Rey, one of the new Ballantine editors, is having the entire book reset and republished this summer with all the damns and hells back in place."

I'd capitalise the important parts, but don't want to insult.

>> No.1473220

>>1473199
What the fuck are you even talking about? In the fucking article Bradbury tells what the book was actually about. STOP BEING A RETARD. ITS NOT ABOUT CENSORSHIP. It's about the fading of literature. The loss of an artistic medium. It's about how people rather watch hours of shitty ass reality TV instead of open a book.

>> No.1473271

... Vonnegut isn't a classic?
H-how about Catch-22?

>> No.1473273

>>1473220
Oh dear. I guess I do have to emphasise the important part:

"Students, reading the novel WHICH, after all, DEALS WITH THE CENSORSHIP AND BOOK-BURNING IN THE FUTURE, wrote to tell me of this exquisite irony. " --Bradbury

>> No.1473289

Best american writers are Tennessee Williams and William Carlos Williams.. .