Chill Literature & Poetry Thread

[Anonymous No.14937055]

Hi anons,

In the midst of this pandemic, what are you reading and what are your thoughts on it? Do you have a laid-out reading plan for after you finish your current project?

Let's have a friendly, respectful, and - most of all - productive prose, poetry, and rhetoric thread.

I'm currently reading The Iliad; it's the beginning of my "foundation of all fine fiction" project. I will follow with The Odyssey, of course, and then move on to Hesiod's "Theogeny" and "Works and Days." In terms of broad strokes, I will also study the Bible and ultimately finish with Shakespeare, at which point I will have covered amassed the knowledge I would like to seriously begin producing my own work(s).

As far as The Iliad goes - it's brilliant so far (about 165 pages in). I love the dramatic irony set up in the very beginning regarding Achilles' hamartia (rage). I am also enjoying the strong amount of repetition as it drives home just how the Homeric tradition of oral narration kept itself perpetuated. The constant similes are also a pleasure as they often contain brilliant imagery that gives the reader a glimpse into the culture of the time, what with all the calls to nature's beauty and wrath.

My one point of concern so far - and it's a personal issue, not a literary critique - is how difficult it is to keep track of all the names that Homer lays out while setting up his scenes, particularly when it comes to the preparations of war. There is simply no way to retain the names of all the heroes and lands from whence they came and the historic events they participated in on an initial read - but I'm sure Homer's contemporary audiences didn't have that issue. To them, I imagine it was the equivalent of our cult of personality and geographical knowledge of (at least) our own countries now.

Overall, I am loving the work and look forward to seeing how the pettiness of the Gods drives the black fates of men.

What are you up to? Again, I want to stress that this thread is not limited to fiction; poetry, philosophy, and all other forms of the written word and abstract are warmly welcomed to the discussion. I simply ask that we have an insightful discourse to better ourselves.

[Anonymous No.14937086]

Reading Anna Karenina. Love it so far.
I’m also writing something. It was going badly on my laptop so I switched to a notepad and it got better. I’m weird in that way: I seem to alternate between writing physically and on my laptop, as if I get bored of one and switch to the other just for the sake of having a new writing environment. It seems to work though so it’s good.

[Anonymous No.14937092]

>>14937055
I should mention I am reading the Fagles translation. However, I would like to eventually return to Homer via the Pope translation. I own a rare set of The Iliad and The Odyssey produced by The Limited Editions Club in 1931; it was printed letterpress in Holland; only 1,500 copies were made; less have survive to this day.

[Anonymous No.14937111]

>>14937086
I look forward to tackling Tolstoy soon! I've heard nothing but the highest praise for his work. Even I in my ignorant state know of the famous opening line to Anna Karenina. I'm very glad to hear you're loving it.

Flights of fancy are something all writers know, anon. As long as you are able to reconcile the work between both areas, it's all good. I wish you luck with your project.

[Anonymous No.14937129]

>>14937086
Also reading some Tolstoy. Just finished a bunch of his short stories, Ivan Ilyich, Cossacks, happy ever after.

Honestly a bit disappointed after all Tolstoy been hyped to me, but he does have a terrific eye for human behaviour. Does Anna Karina have female characters that are developed? My grip about the Cossacks is only the male viewpoint is expanded, which I already understand. I want to see if his vision expanded to females as well.

Also writing. I'm trying to write a litrpg by writing as many words as I could per day and monetizing it when I have enough backlog. It's utter trash but so are all the ones I see that and they make good money - the top ones are 10k USD per month atleast just for pumping a lot of words per month

[Anonymous No.14937203]

>>14937129
>My grip about the Cossacks is only the male viewpoint is expanded, which I already understand. I want to see if his vision expanded to females as well.
I'm dead serious when I say I believe George R.R. Martin does a fine job at writing from the female point of view.

In terms of more classically celebrated authors, I would recommend Shakespeare's Taming of the Shrew; Stoker's Dracula; and perhaps Sophocles's Antigone, albeit Greek tragedy doesn't develop characters as much as it exposes them.

[Anonymous No.14937223]

[Anonymous No.14937264]

>>14937203
Not going to read Shakespeare, honestly too lazy to struggle to understand his English. Maybe in the future. I'll try Dracula.

[Anonymous No.14937285]

>>14937129
You should read Anna Karenina. It’s a lot different from Ivan Ilyich and his short stories. It’s really amazing, probably the best novel I’ve read.

As for the female point of view: yes, Anna Karenina includes all sorts of different characters, even dogs, and Tolstoy develops them masterfully. The only thing I would say is that the female characters, from what I’ve read so far, seem to be chiefly concerned with family matters and romance in a way the male characters are not. I know a lot of women are concerned with precisely this trope in literature, so maybe that will irk you. Still, I think Tolstoy’s intimacy with his characters more than makes up for it, and the novel is definitely worth reading.

[Anonymous No.14937463]

>>14937285
Thanks, I'll give it a read. Have a (you)