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/lit/ - Literature

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File: 495 KB, 2750x2112, Grossman, Vasily.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
1562702 No.1562702 [Reply] [Original]

ITT: INTRODUCE /LIT/ TO AUTHORS WHO YOU BELIEVE ARE UNDER-APPRECIATED, OR AT LEAST GET LESS MENTION THAN THEY DESERVE.

FOR ME, VASILY GROSSMAN, JEWISH RUSSIAN WHO WAS KILLED BY THE USSR REGIME. HIS MAGNUS OPUS BEING 'LIFE AND FATE', AROUND 800 PAGES OR SO, WHICH IS OFTEN REFERRED TO THE LEO TOLSTOY'S WAR AND PEACE OF THE 20TH CENTURY.

THIS BOOK DETAILS THE LIVES OF A FAIRLY LARGE AMOUNT OF PEOPLE DURING THE SIEGE OF STALINGRAD, WITH CHARACTERS FROM BOTH FRONTS, WITH MANY EVENTUALLY HAVING SOME AT LEAST LOOSE CONNECTION TO EACH OTHER (THOSE WHO HAVE READ WAR AND PEACE WILL PROBABLY GET A SIMILAR VIBE).

MANY OF THE REVIEWS I HAVE SEEN OFTEN EXCLAIM HOW HORRIFYING HIS WORKS ARE IN THE DETAILING OF THE HORRORS DURING HIS TIME, I FOR ONE FELT IMMENSE SYMPATHY FOR QUITE A FEW OF THE CHARACTERS IN 'LIFE AND FATE'.

FROM TODAY, I WILL BE READING 'THE ROAD', A COLLECTION OF HIS SHORT STORIES, WHICH IS APPARENTLY A GOOD ACCOMPANYING PIECE TO 'LIFE AND FATE'. WILL LET YOU KNOW HOW IT GOES.

YOU CAN FIND 'LIFE AND FATE' AND 'THE ROAD' ON #BOOKZ.

NOW /LIT/, IT IS YOUR TURN! FEEL FREE TO ASK ME QUESTIONS, I AM AWARE I AM QUITE INEPT IN THE DISCUSSION OF LITERATURE, BUT I CAN'T HELP BUT ENJOYING WHAT I HAD READ, AND HOPING TO SHARE IT WITH OTHERS.

INTERESTING FACT, 'LIFE AND FATE' WAS NEVER ALLOWED TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE USSR BECAUSE OF THE ANTI-COMMUNIST THEMES, SO IT WAS SMUGGLED OUT OF THE USSR THROUGH MICROFILM, PAGE BY PAGE. HE DID NOT LIVE TO SEE THIS WORK EVER PUBLISHED.

LASTLY, KUDOS TO THE ANON WHO RECOMMENDED ME 'LIFE AND FATE' MONTHS BACK.

>> No.1562713

capsyguy your posting about books has improved at least :)

>> No.1562744

arabian nights

scrooges favorite childhood book

>> No.1562944

>>1562744
WOULD BE NICE IF YOU OFFERED A BIT MORE INFORMATION.

>> No.1563010

Keiji Nishitani's 'Self-Overcoming of Nihilism' and 'Religion and Nothingness' are two strongly overlooked texts in the philosophical tradition that deal with nihilism from a distinctly asian POV with the benefit of synthesising western continental thought

>> No.1563496

FUCK YOU /LIT/, EXCEPT D&E AND THAT OTHER ANON WHO POSTED.

THAT IS ALL.

>> No.1563516

Dude, Capsguy, whatup. Been a while. I finished Life and Fate, and I just started on "The Gulag Archipelago," by Alexander Solzhenitsyn. The shear wealth of information packed into the first five pages is baffling.

>> No.1563517
File: 219 KB, 800x1090, fitzreading.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
1563517

this guy

>> No.1563518

maya angelou

>> No.1563524

NIcholoson Baker

>> No.1563553

>>1563516
SWEET MAN, COULDN'T FIND IT ONLINE, BUT MY LIBRARIES HAVE A FEW COPIES. MIGHT PICK IT UP SOON.

>> No.1563557

>>1563532

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Deep and Edgy loves you all

>> No.1563555

I've tried promoting Thackeray a few times on here.
I mean, if nothing else, Vanity Fair is worth reading. It's one of the best--if not the best--satires of the Victorian period, and contains many of Thackeray's most memorable characters. Becky Sharp, love or hate her (or both), is easily his most well known rogue. And the scene when the French are (supposedly) invading the Belgium town the soldiers' wives are staying in is brilliant, with all it's insanity. It's compared to War and Peace a lot, and I see that book mentioned on here all the time. Of course, as Thackeray always is, he's more pessimistic than Tolstoy.

>> No.1563581

>>1563555
WELL IF IT'S ANYTHING AT ALL LIKE WAR AND PEACE, I'LL DEFINITELY HAVE TO GET AROUND TO CHECKING IT OUT SOMETIME OR OTHER. I'VE HAD IT ON MY GOODREADS 'TO-READ' LIST FOR QUITE SOME TIME NOW

>> No.1563595

WHY

>> No.1563609

>>1563595
WHY DID YOU BOTHER REPLYING WITHOUT ANYTHING MEANINGFUL? GOOD QUESTION.

>> No.1563629
File: 10 KB, 300x300, 41qAuo992KL._SL500_AA300_.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
1563629

For you OP.

>> No.1563688

Sir Walter Scott is pretty underrated, I'm sure some of you have read Ivanhoe, but Waverley, Rob Roy and Heart of Mid-Lothian are also really good too. His writing can be a little impenetrable for the first 50-60 pages while he sets the scene, but once he gets going, he's a pleasure to read.

>> No.1563702

>>1563688
Kenilworth is my favorite by Scott. The ending, while expected (historical fiction's main flaw), was fantastic. He's not always accurate, but he's always entertaining.

>> No.1563762

Good call on Vasily Grossman OP, Life and Fate blew my mind. Comparing it to Tolstoy is a horrible insult to Grossman imo.

Contributan: Julio Cortazar. His masterpiece is Hopscotch, a big, sprawling, tangled, sticky mess of a book. The first half of the book is a regular novel, and can be read as such, something quite remeniscent of Henry Miller but with less of an autobiographical slant and broader philosophical influences.

The second half of the book is where things get interesting; it's pretty much a collection of fragments, notes and scraps, much of it pertaining to a fictional author who is studied by the main character of the novel. These (mostly non-narrative) chapters are designed to be interweaved with the story (each chapter has a number at the end, pointing you to the next chapter in the order), and when read in this back-and forth manner the book takes on whole new fascinating dimensions.

It's by no means an easy read, but it's hugely rich and satisfying - the kind of book that you can keep coming back to throughout your life and milking more goodness out of.

Also, if you're an American and you're smart enough to be learning Spanish in preparation for the future, you can read it in the original.

>> No.1563767

>>1563762
I MEANT IN THE FACT THAT THEY ARE PORTRAYING THE LIVES OF VARIOUS PEOPLE THROUGH PLOTS BASED ON EVENTS (WAR) THAT HAD CATACLYSMIC REPERCUSSIONS IN RUSSIA. THAT AND THE LENGTH OF THE BOOKS ARE QUITE SIMILAR TOO.

>> No.1565431

BUMP

>> No.1565437

CAN SOMEBODY PLEASE PROVIDE A LINK TO LIFE AND FATE I HAVE TRIED TORRENTS, UPLOAD SITES, USENET AND IRQ AND NOTHING!!! NOTHING!!!

IF YOU WOULD BE SO KIND AS TO OBLIGE ME I WOULD BE FOREVER GRATEFUL

THANK YOU

>> No.1565465

>>1565437
DOWNLOAD X-CHAT 2 OR SOME OTHER IRC PROGRAM
GET LIST OF SERVERS, JOIN UNDERNET
JOIN BOOKZ CHANNEL
@SEEK LIFE AND FATE
RECEIVE .TXT FILE IN A .RAR FILE WITH LIST OF AVAILABLE DOWNLOADS
COPY AND PASTE ENTIRE FILE NAME YOU DESIRE TO DOWNLOAD
PRESTO

I JUST RE-CHECKED, IT IS THERE

>> No.1565486
File: 596 KB, 1280x724, james bond villain.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
1565486

Trevanian. His novels are cheesy as shit, but the guy is an amazing writer and some of his dialogue is just brilliant.

I consider "The Main" his best due to being the least ridiculous and having the most coherent storyline.