/lit/ - Literature

[Anonymous No.17315375]

What are some Schopenhauerian novels? >The art lies in setting the inner life into the most violent motion with the smallest possible expenditure of outer life; for it is the inner life which is the real object of our interest - The task of the novelist is not to narrate great events but to make small ones interesting.

[Anonymous No.17315395]

>>17315375
Based quotes but didn't we recommend you some novels yesterday? Have you read them all already?

[Anonymous No.17315412]

>>17315375
I cherish my fantasy's, of my inner eye, I would die without them, mentally, but not physically.

[Anonymous No.17315415]

>>17315395
That wasn't me who posted that, I only saw it. I've been a fan of Schopenhauer for a while, so I've read the four novels he wrote about, with the exception of the one by Rousseau because it's hard to find an English translation of.

[Anonymous No.17315455]

>>17315415
What did you think about Wilhelm Meister? It's one of my most favorites. Very relatable if anything because of its art vs business theme.

[Anonymous No.17315478]

>>17315455
I enjoyed it, although The Sorrows of Young Werther remains my favorite work by Goethe. I'm surprised that Schopenhauer prefers Wilhelm Meister considering his views on love.

[Anonymous No.17315726]

>>17315478
Werther was surely a masterpiece, but a very painful one, so I mostly try to block the memories. I remember a discussion in Wilhelm Meister comparing novels to dramas, novels being long, and the events playing out slowly to display the growth of the characters and their inner lives (similar to Schopenhauer's comment in OP). On the other hand, dramas being violent and short, the focus being on the actions and characters themselves rather than their growth. While Werther perhaps not a "drama" (at least not in form), I thought this was a nice "meta" comment from Goethe that shows the difference between the two. Wilhelm was a very different person by the end of the book, and the growth happened very organically following his journey, but Werther was the same person, perhaps to show the kind of life a person with that highly romantic worldview would have to go through. At any rate I think both are excellent but mostly misunderstood. People find Wilhelm Meister boring and make unfair comments on Werther.

[Anonymous No.17316820]

bump

[Anonymous No.17316854]

>>17315375
The Posthumous Memoirs of Bras Cubas
Boek by Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis references different parts of Schopenhauer's philosophy, like the suffering that humans inflict on each other (i.e. why do we do it if we're all manifestations of the same will?). It doesn't refer to Schopenhauer directly but the influence is definitely there. Penguin has a new translation with notes which are really useful for those who aren't familiar with the history of Brazil/Rio.

It's also a very creative novel in terms of structure and narration, the kind of stuff you rarely see.

[Anonymous No.17316863]

>>17316854
> boek
Looks like I left that in when I copy pasted the title, my bad.

[Anonymous No.17316932]

>>17315726
I just finished Meister and loved the start until he leaves the company and the end after he got his scroll. The middle part about Aurelie, Natalie, Therese, Lothario was a real slog though (but there are still always good passages and observations).

[Anonymous No.17316985]

>>17316932
One interesting feature of Wilhelm Meister is that I feel like all of Wilhelm's experiences somehow transferred to me. It was all so vivid and genuine that I noticed it made me more sociable and more comfortable with the world, and there was less of that sense of inexperience that one feels as a young man. Maybe that's the point of a good Bildungsroman anyway, or maybe it's that I read it at the right time, but even those seemingly mundane parts made a strong impact on me.