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/lit/ - Literature

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16523773 No.16523773 [Reply] [Original]

>"If a book bores you, leave it, don't read it because it's famous, don't read a book because it's modern, don't read a book because it's old. If a book is tedious for you, leave it... that book has not been written for you."

>Green loved the study of literature. In a 2014 interview, he was asked, "And literature is written to be entertaining?" to which he replied emphatically, "Absolutely. My God, to read without joy is stupid. If you follow charts, if you talk about how many books you have managed to get through in X period of time, if you talk about "entry-level" literature, if you think reading literature is self-improvement, if you think it is like lifting heavier and heavier weights, stop reading.

>> No.16523794

>>16523773
/lit/ is not your personal blog fuck off

>> No.16523820

>>16523773
And we can see tbe products of his perspective...

>> No.16523828

Yes isn't this obvious? Too many smooth brains eat up shit by sole virtue of popularity and only pretend to like it to fit in..

>> No.16523981

>>16523773
Isn't this guy just some youtube fag?

>> No.16524031

>wanting to have fun

can't wait for this faggot to get exposed as a hebe or a pedo

>> No.16524074

>>16523773
John Green is proof that our civilisation is circling the drain.

>> No.16524093

>>16523981
No, you're thinking of the other homo -- Daniel Greene

>> No.16524286

He's right

>> No.16524291

>>16523773
Of course he would say that.
He wants as many people as possible to buy his books...

>> No.16524298

>>16523773
>if a book is tedious, leave it
Ah yes the sole reason I read is to mindlessly consume entertainment a la netflix and twatter

>> No.16525573

>>16523773
He wants kids to read his propaganda and be dumb. It's that simple.

>> No.16525598

>>16523981
>>16524093
I think he's really the guy in mental floss

>> No.16525626

>>16523773
I don’t fully agree or disagree with him. On one hand, reading definitely shouldn’t feel like torture. If you’re forcing yourself to read and deriving no enjoyment or insight from it at all, there’s something wrong. It might be way above your level, you might not get the references and works it builds, you’re not engaging with it correctly or it just might not be for you. But when people like him say things like this they’re usually justifying reading nothing but the literary equivalent of junk food (simplistic YA, fantasy, science fiction) and disregarding ‘classics’ as irrelevant or lacking in value. It makes sense why most people who grew up on the internet would crave constant stimulation and not want to put it any effort to actually understand and enjoy things gradually, but it’s an impulse we should resist not embrace.

>> No.16525807
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16525807

If there is a John Green does that mean there is a John Red?

>> No.16525823

>>16523981
Yes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4kz-C7GryY

>> No.16525827

He also (iirc) loved IJ so it's not like he's saying don't read hard books at all, or that you can't find enjoyment in them, but that the ones in which you really don't aren't worth persevering with
I disagree, I think you can grow to appreciate something you initially found kind of inaccessible or dull, but this thread/ that quote without context is dishonest

>> No.16525911
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16525911

I know what I'm reading next

>> No.16525930

>>16525827
Oh no we can't be dis-heckin-honest! We have to be as charitable as possible with this little pervert and known libtard!!!

>> No.16525942

thankfully, there can be joy in a challenge, and this guy's a pleb

>> No.16525945

>>16525930
post chin

>> No.16525977

Sometimes books dont come to you at the right time.

>> No.16527037

>>16523773
>Green loved the study of literature. In a 2014 interview, he was asked, "And literature is written to be entertaining?" to which he replied emphatically, "Absolutely. My God, to read without joy is stupid
Hmm...This sounds eerily similar to the John Williams quote...

>> No.16527205

>>16523773
You're absolute brainlets. Green is wholly correct here. He's not saying to read escapist trash, but there's no reason to read something that doesn't bring you real joy, which comes, not from reading the easiest books but from struggling to understand more difficult texts and their ideas. Genuine pleasure requires effort

>> No.16527309

>>16523773
John Green may be a YA author, but he's more intelligent than this board gives him credit for.

>> No.16527352

>>16523773

He answered the wrong question
The question was "is literature written to be entertaining" (which it isn't) not "should literature be written to be entertaining"

>> No.16527384

>>16523773
He is right LOL. Lit needed to hear this. Self-improvement fags and "start with the Greeks fags" BTFO

>> No.16527385

>>16523773
If we're talking about fiction he's absolutely right. Academic texts are another story.

>> No.16527404

>>16523773
Based & Redpilled

>> No.16527412

>>16523773
Fiction: Right
Non fiction: Nah senpai

>> No.16527414

>what is a book club
>what is reading to join conversations
There is a reason to read a book you don't necessarily like in order to gain access to conversations about said book

>> No.16527418

I read one of his books in high school and it took a few years to deprogram myself from his faggot worldview

>> No.16527429

>>16527309
>John Green may be a YA author, but he's more intelligent than this board gives him credit for.

When you get older, you start to realize that life is too short to read shitty books. That said, I am myself rather stubborn when it comes to giving a book up and I rarely do it.

To put Green's quote in a bit of context, if I recall correctly he's read Infinite Jest multiple times, so that would make him more tenacious in his reading that many of the retards who post here.

>> No.16527444

>>16523773
>"If a book bores you, leave it, don't read it because it's famous, don't read a book because it's modern, don't read a book because it's old. If a book is tedious for you, leave it... that book has not been written for you."
The normiest of the normie take.

>> No.16527451

That's the mindset that causes adults to read YA all their lives. Idiots.

>> No.16527463

>>16524298
I don't think you know what "consume" means bro

>> No.16527584

>>16523773
The top quote is Borges.

>> No.16527589

How is he wrong?
>>16527451
What's wrong with that?
>>16527444
>The normiest of the normie take.
Is that supposed to be a criticism?
>>16525930
Well then you're exposing yourself as not caring about having only empty claims.
>>16525942
If there's joy in the challenge, and you read it for that joy, then you're agreeing with him.

>> No.16527620

EAT THE CUM

>> No.16527644

>>16527414
incel

>> No.16527650

>>16527584
Well he was a pleb then

>> No.16527653

>>16523773
>protestantism in a nutshell

>> No.16527663

>>16527650
Only plebs do things they don't enjoy, though.

>> No.16527768

>>16527644
What tipped you off from what I said?
Also I'm not an incel

>> No.16528182

Ah yes another classic John "My Wife's Bull is Black" Greene, thanks /lit/

>> No.16528370

Borges is wrong.

Don't judge a book by its first pages.

I used to dislike Jazz, I thought it was boring, convoluted and snobby, I hated the thing. After some time going out I came across Miles Davis "so what", I thought it was elevator music.
After some digging I got to who Miles actually was, so after that I said "Why would this guy be famous when his music sounds like shopping music for old men clothes" so I tried to listen, again, and again, and again, same thing, then I did it again, but you know every time i did more details began to catch my ears, more complexity arose from the same thing I was listening thinking it was elevator music, it got to the point that I was listening so what 10 times the hour, every Jazz tune after that flew naturally towards my ears.

You don't know that you like something until you like it.

>> No.16528392

Kant bored me on many occasions yet struggling through was quite edifying.

>> No.16528439

>>16527384
>he doesn't experience immense joy when reading the Greeks

>> No.16528843

>>16527384
Except the Greeks are awesome

>> No.16528907

>>16523773
this is why I have never read atlas shrugged, harry potter, ulysses, IJ, lotr and all the other gay shit that gets spammed

>> No.16528996

>>16528370
some genres/songs require you live a bit before you understand, relate to, or like them. jazz, country, blues, etc theres plenty to pick from

for the genres that don't look at the current top 10 songs for kids/teenagers

now this obviously isn't definitive or absolute but generally its true

>> No.16529054

>>16523773
Borges would agree.
So would Samuel Johnson.

It's just that their tastes were incomparably superior.

>> No.16530412

>>16528392
ergo, it was enjoyable

>> No.16531629

>>16527584
he was wrong just as about the milicos

>> No.16531730

>>16527444
Borges said the same thing and he was not a normie

>> No.16531807

>>16525807
There's a John Redcorn

>> No.16531878

>>16528843
yeah, IN GREEK

>> No.16531937

>>16523773
This is such a terrible piece of advice. It ignores that what you enjoy changes with your perspective and your experience.

At 15 years old, I loved 90s Hip Hop, beatboxing and Runescape. I didn't read, I didn't care about literature. So if I had read his advice (the age-group that would likely listen to him), I would have gone on to justify my poor comprehension of any of the classics and opted for some fantasy or YA tripe.

But no, I didn't hear this retard, and I grew up and realised that the reason people read classic literature and philosophy is to gain a greater understanding of life, which becomes its own enjoyment.

Yes, I found works like Crime and Punishment difficult when I attempted them at first, but guess what? I persevered and learnt about the Raskolniki, serfdom and its abolishment, nihilism, the Tsars, the Dosto's exile etc, I researched and gained a perspective that led me to understand Dosto, and now in my late 20s, I have read his complete works and he is not only my favourite author but has provided the basis for a philosophical and spiritual personal conviction - along with Plato and the Church fathers and the stoics, etc all people I've read (at times with difficulty) in my pursuit of a greater understanding - and thus a greater enjoyment out of life.

I haven't listened to hip hop, beatboxed or played a videogame in over 10 years - but at the time I would have seen them as my life. Don't be so naive or arrogant to think that books that have be passed on to us over the course of hundreds if not thousands of years will not become a source of your enjoyment, just because you currently enjoy shit.

>> No.16532105

>>16524031
/board

>> No.16532121

>>16528996
>for the genres that don't look at the current top 10 songs for kids/teenagers
no. the same things apply for that too. you have to learn to like those things. everything has its place in the pleroma. nothing is superior

>> No.16532143

>>16531937
>realised that the reason people read classic literature and philosophy is to gain a greater understanding of life
maybe philosophy but not literature. literature is art. its sole purpose should be aesthetic engagement, not understanding life. like john said, its not self improvement.
>I haven't listened to hip hop, beatboxed or played a videogame in over 10 years
u became boring and shut yourself off from litteraly the only worthwhile thing doing in existance which is to do things you love and enjoy beauty.

>> No.16532155

>>16523773
If you're not enjoying your bowl of cheerios, don't force yourself to eat it. Cereal should be fun!

>> No.16532290

>>16531937
>It ignores that what you enjoy changes with your perspective and your experience.

It makes me wonder exactly why we force high school students to read literature when they haven't really entered the world yet. Even Nietzsche said you shouldn't study philosophy before turning eighteen, otherwise you'll fuck yourself up.

>> No.16532335
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16532335

>>16525930
t.

>> No.16532337

>>16532335
I don't get it. This is like a normal cross section of 20 year old pimply dudes. At least they don't have their mouths open.

I'm not White by the way.

>> No.16532880

>>16531730
>>Borges said the same thing and he was not a normie

>atheist bourgeois is not a normie

huh, he i the Argentinian guenon

>> No.16532952

>>16531937
hip-hop is pretty good though

>> No.16532966

>>16532143
>its sole purpose should be aesthetic engagement
what do you mean, should, you faggot?
literature can have multiple "purposes" and what purpose it "should" have is not for you to make out

>> No.16533028
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16533028

>If a book bores you, don't quit. Finish it. Best case scenario: you'll learn and grow as a human being, and you'll understand why others have deemed it an important work of literature. Worst case scenario: you'll be able to articulate why you disliked the book.

>To run away from things you dislike is childish. To lock yourself in an echo chamber of good feels and agreeable opinions is infantile. The best way to learn and grow not just as a reader or a writer but as a human is to make yourself uncomfortable and try new things that maybe don't yield immediate rewards. I purposefully hate fucked my way through books and now I can say with confidence that those authors and their writings are idiotic and I can articulate why in my own words. Can you say the same? No. You can only say "it was boring" or "it wasn't entertaining." Grow up.

>> No.16533130

>>16533028
Imagine forcing yourself to waste time on things that make you miserable. What a sad existence.

>> No.16533135

>>16533130
Imagine thinking time spent becoming smarter and more articulate is time wasted.

>> No.16533138

>>16531937
>writing all that and missing the point completely

lmfao

>> No.16533146

>>16523820
True. We can all unite in hating him for this.

>> No.16533150

>>16533130
>every wagie in existence btfo

>> No.16533270

>>16532966
the "should" is imo of course, im not the head of arts. but approaching it like its supposed to give you enrichment or make you a better person is insulting to the transcendent aesthetic experience. id dismiss artists who dont get that but i suspect everyone on some level understands this and thats why art is appreciated at all. still, my opinion i guess

>> No.16533280

>>16533135
it is. self improvement is a waste. the only worthwhile thing is having experiences. dont deprive yourself of experiences youll enjoy just to get gud and die