/lit/ - Literature

[Anonymous No.15387968]

In the past 5 years there have only been a few novels that I've really liked. I get an overwhelming feeling of pointlessness when reading most books, and especially novels when they're not extremely enjoyable.

I have the sense that novels are on their way down as an art form, have been going down for a long time, and are nearing poetry levels of pretentious irrelevance, as they become merely an ornament for a certain class of people: mainly women, Jews, middle class to upper middle class public sector / media / university parasites, etc. Basically the wives of bankers who need a hobby.

The above feeling is no longer avoided by reading old books because things clearly haven't changed significantly. It's not that I dislike these people automatically, I just dgaf about them and have little to gain because I'll never be part of the circlejerk.

I'm not sure if /lit/ really cares though. It is filled with 18 year olds on the ground floor of their intellectual journeys. Each individual needs to exalt what they are told to exalt because, unlike the other hopeless suckers, they'll be the one to get ahead.

[Anonymous No.15388032]

>>15387968
It doesn't matter to me what the state of "literature" is, whether it is in an age of decline or growth.

If the best stained glass artist came after the heyday of stained glass, would you tell them their art is no longer beautiful because it is more niche and rare? I wouldn't, I would say "Fuck the world bro, make your stained glass shit, do that shit no matter what if that's what you love." To create something beautiful which goes against the times is, in my mind, more beautiful than engaging in whatever art is mainstream for the sole purpose of gaining a larger audience.

[Anonymous No.15388436]

>>15387968
Everything in any way beautiful has its beauty of itself, inherent and self-sufficient: praise is no part of it. At any rate, praise does not make anything better or worse. This applies even to the popular conception of beauty, as in material things or works of art. So does the truly beautiful need anything beyond itself? No more than law, no more than truth, no more than kindness or integrity. Which of these things derives its beauty from praise, or withers under criticism? Does an emerald lose its quality if it is not praised?