/lit/ - Literature

[Anonymous No.14839073]

>tfw soon to finish reading the entire western canon by Bloom. I'm 26 years old right now
>tfw have only read each book once and absolutely no secondary literature so I dont know SHIT about literature

[Anonymous No.14839099]

>tfw have read +200 novels, +50 history books, ~20 philosophy books, but can't get through a single physics or math book

[Anonymous No.14839248]

There are countless masterpieces that are regarded as secondary but are actually worth remembering. Stop reading only what illiterate pseuds recommend you and pick up anything that catches your attention, look into the literary historical periods and find out about the authors who were overshadowed by the most successful writers of the era.

[Anonymous No.14839586]

Why would you let yourself be memed by Bloom? It's ok to get a few recs, but why take it as sacrosanct? For some reason I also think you're simply fucking lying on the internet.

[Anonymous No.14839612]

>>14839073
>secondary literature
Why do you care about the opinions of some fraudster academics? Bloom is alright, however.

[Anonymous No.14839716]

>>14839073
>>14839099
>”at least my son might be able to do what I haven’t been able to. Yes, he’ll learn Latin and Greek and know every important mathematical, scientific, and philosophical work ever written!”

[Anonymous No.14839728]

>>14839586
I can’t think of a bad book recommendation made by the former guardian of the canon, though.

[Anonymous No.14839759]

>>14839728
But reading every single thing he told you to is a cuck move.

[Anonymous No.14839832]

>>14839759
Why? It feels like you got pleb filtered by the canon, my guy.

[Anonymous No.14839854]

>>14839073
How many fucking languages did you learn to read all that shit

[Anonymous No.14839893]

>>14839832
Harold Bloom does not get to establish the canon, my fellow reader. One is allowed to rebuke his opinions. Plus, Bloom was a monolingual retard.

[Anonymous No.14839903]

>>14839073
Dante doesn't belong to the western cannon
go fuck yourself
HE BELONGS TO MEEEEEEEEE

[Anonymous No.14839909]

>>14839073
sounds like it's time to decolonize your bookshelf

[Anonymous No.14839918]

>>14839716
There are more important philosophical and scientific works in German than in either Greek or Latin

[Anonymous No.14839947]

>>14839854
Just 1 - Chinese

[Anonymous No.14840051]

>>14839893
You haven’t answered my question, though. I guess you got pleb filtered.

[Anonymous No.14840145]

>>14839073
>spending years reading the entire canon with a highschool-tier capacity for analyzing, evaluating and understanding what you read instead of spending two or three years focusing on one or two great authors, reading and re-reading them and reading all available criticism amount them, so you can actually learn what goes into intensive and critical reading and analysis first
i hate to say it, kid, but you fucked up

[Anonymous No.14840197]

>>14840145
How can you know which authors you like and want to specialize in unless you've already read a great number of them?

[Anonymous No.14840453]

>>14840145
can you give an example of author that would be suitable for what you suggest? including the secondary literature that critiques them?

[THE PROBLEM SOLVER No.14840505]

>>14839073
>tfw I have skimmed the first pages of novels and have already decided which authors are retarded and which are sufficient
Joseph Conrad, John Milton, Holderlin, Joyce (only in Dubliners and APOTAAAYM), Viginia Woolf (I was surprised how proficient she was for a woman), John Steinbeck, Nabakov, Dostoyevski, Shakespeare, and Unica Zurn are all extremely good writers.

[Anonymous No.14841229]

>>14840453
Plato or Aristotle for philosophy
Shakespeare or Dante for literature

Read their most seminal interpreters first and then follow the trail of critical crumbs where it leads you

[Anonymous No.14841251]

>>14841229
>Listening to what others think instead of forming your own opinion
Never gonna make it. I skip all introductions and ignore all footnotes. Think your own thoughts and argue them with your friends.

>inb4 >friends
Argue with the voices in your head then. You ought to be able to argue for multiple views anyways.

[Anonymous No.14841274]

>>14840197
What you like is irrelevant. You haven't learned how to like things worth liking yet. You know which authors to read by listening to what a self-proclaimed master of reading tells you to read:

2-3 years in total:
Plato or Aristotle (pick one)
Shakespeare or Dante (pick one)

As you read criticism write your own responses to it. Reading criticism is no substitute for wrestling with all aspects of an issue an author raises (or an argument a critic makes) to the point that you understand the issue well enough to write about it coherently and defend your position against compelling alternatives.

[Anonymous No.14841286]

>>14841251
Your friends are idiots. So are you, and, therefore, also the voice in your head.
Know who aren't idiots? Know who understand more about your favourite authors than you or your friends? They people who have dedicated their lives to studying those authors, and are recognized by other specialists as being exceptionally good interpreters of those authors.

[Anonymous No.14841326]

>>14839248
>There are countless masterpieces that are regarded as secondary but are actually worth remembering.
Me with Jack Kerouac. Fuck anyone who says otherwsie. Good post, fuck Bloom

[Anonymous No.14841345]

>>14841286
Guess I struck a chord huh? It's okay to be a follower, someone needs to read my critiques :^)

[Anonymous No.14841374]

>>14841345
Nope didn't strike a chord I'm just an incorrigible cunt online and talk to everyone like this

[Anonymous No.14841446]

The amount of exsisting and continually produced content, each year will outstrip any human lifetime


Reading the gauntlet of human produced media even if its 'curated' is a pointless task if you yourself do not derive some enjoyment from it.

[Anonymous No.14841458]

>>14841345
>struck a chord

[Anonymous No.14841982]

>>14839893
>Bloom was a monolingual retard