/lit/ - Literature

[Anonymous No.19259869]

there's so much to read there's so much to read THERE'S SO MUCH TO READ
Before you can even begin reading "modern" novels, you have to be familiar with
>The Odyssey
>The Illiad
>Various other Greek myths and legends
>The Bible
>The Divine Comedy
>Paradise Lost
also extremely helpful
>The Brother's Grimm
>The Arabian Nights
And that's just fiction/narratives/myths! History? Philosophy? Theology? Oh boy!
Realistically, reading at a standard, consistent pace (upwards of an hour, maybe two, a day), how many years will it take to chew through this shit?

[Anonymous No.19259875]

>you have to
nonsense. you MAY

[Anonymous No.19259905]

I blame his parents.

[Anonymous No.19259923]

>>19259869
>Reading modern novels

[Anonymous No.19259937]

>>19259869
I agree with your sentiment that you'll be able to get a lot more out of more contemporary literature, classical music/opera and art if you're familiar with what you just posted, I disagree that you MUST read them first. I think there's an interesting debate to be had there: making the choice between on the one hand holding up standards and on the other hand making something accessible for newly interested folks (this discussion is especially relevant in teaching children about literature, at least in my country). I think it's beautiful that the classics exist and yes, you do benefit from reading them before anything else, the task of first getting people familiar with the Bible, Homer, Dante etc might be so daunting that people don't even start reading in the first place (inb4 'good').

As for your question, if you have a somewhat normie lifestyle (work/school, hang out with friends/gf few days per week) you'll not be able to get 2 hours a day done unless you have incredible discipline. I'd say it'd take me 1.5 - 2 years if I'd try to beeline your list, but I'd probably become very tired of it and would want to read some lighter books inbetween.

[Anonymous No.19259972]

>>19259869
Imagine having a full shelf of these.
>'Ah, I see Anon likes 'Great Books'.

[Anonymous No.19260033]

>>19259869
if you read 2 hours a day you should finish everything you want to read and then some in 5-10 years.

[Anonymous No.19260045]

you can comfort yourself in the fact that the list is finite, as its not like theres new must reads coming out.

[Anonymous No.19261456]

>>19259869
I got through all the classics you listed in like 1.5 years and I didn't read that much. Life is long desu

[Anonymous No.19261467]

Just pick up the book and start read no 4chan

[Anonymous No.19261575]

>>19259869
What's the point of reading the classics?

You already know that they're good otherwise they wouldn't be 'classics'. Reading something new.

[Anonymous No.19261585]

>>19261575
What's the point of having sex? You already know it's good, otherwise it wouldn't be called "sex".

[Anonymous No.19261595]

>>19259869
>You have to

Lmaooooo ok cuck

[Anonymous No.19261600]

>>19261585
>What's the point of having sex?
To provide pleasure for the other person.

[Anonymous No.19261602]

>>19261575
Yeah fuck sunsets, that's old news goober.

[Anonymous No.19261608]

>>19261600
Exactly, reading the classics will give (YOU) pleasure.
>To provide pleasure for the other person
Ngmi

[Anonymous No.19261614]

>>19261608
>Ngmi
Well then that's my problem, not yours.

[Anonymous No.19261754]

>>19259972
kek right
I'd be genuinely humiliated to own books that have the brand in bigger letting than the title

[Anonymous No.19261764]

>>19261600
>read classics
>vastly heighten literary prowess
>write top tier literature alluding to essential stories and myths
>provide stimulation to millions the world over in perpetuity
The priority here is clear.

[Anonymous No.19261881]

>>19261575
they embiggen your soul and give you beautiful poetic visions

[Anonymous No.19261942]

>>19259875
what the fuck is wrong withy ou

[Anonymous No.19261970]

>>19261754
imagine having such low self esteem

[Anonymous No.19262442]

you could finish all the things you named within 6 months. if you skip through the bible a little it would be even faster

[Anonymous No.19262460]

>>19259869
>you have to be familiar with
1) You don't have to, you get to
2) You don't need to read these books cover to cover to be familiar with them

[Anonymous No.19262470]

>>19261754
"Great Books" is not a brand you fucking retard.

[Anonymous No.19262524]

>>19262470
Smarter than you twatface.

[Anonymous No.19263125]

>>19261575
finding soul brothers lost in time, i am reading metamorphosis by ovid and i would kill to be in a party with that son of bitch

[Anonymous No.19263340]

>>19259937
The problem with contemporary education, which is lacking in the classics, is that students develop very incorrect views. In the high school English classes, many students thought Shakespeare was cliched, and I'm sitting there thinking, "You said what, motherfucker!? Shakespeare, the guy that everyone has praised in the past 400 years, copied the shit out of other people, especially your favorite contemporary TV shows and movies? No, it's the other way around." These people have been sorely neglected in their education.

[Anonymous No.19263368]

>>19259972
I have the Pascal one, its pretty good.

[Anonymous No.19263395]

>>19259869
I have to say it's worth it to read and understand those you listed. Not only are they valuable on their own, but when you read references or allusions to it you've already removed a barrier to understanding what you're reading.

[Anonymous No.19263646]

>>19259869
>Before you can even begin reading "modern" novels, you have to be familiar with [list]
pretty much all reference to these in a modern novel will be annotated and explained. that's how i know about greek mythology... footnotes. This is how you can tell people have read nothing at all, if they'd read a single novel they'd be aware of this.

[Anonymous No.19263672]

Homer
Plato
Virgil
Bible
Dante
Don Quixote
Shakespeare
Spinoza
Goethe
Kant
Tolstoy
Flaubert
Nietzsche
Proust

there I simplified it for you

[Anonymous No.19263709]

>>19259869
>Before you can even begin reading "modern" novels, you have to be familiar with
No you don't.

[Anonymous No.19263779]

>>19263646
>that's how i know about greek mythology... footnotes
Yikes buddy imagine admitting this

[Anonymous No.19263785]

>>19263779
oh no i skipped the Edith Hamilton book, God save me

[Anonymous No.19263885]

>>19259869
It's not much of an ask. I had a decent understanding of the bible from my religious schooling and I knocked over pretty much all of your list of essentials in the first six months of serious reading.

>>19263646
This has to be bait.

[Anonymous No.19263889]

>>19263885
noooooo before you read Thomas Hardy you must read the plays of Euripides in translation!!!

[Anonymous No.19263911]

>>19263785
>edith hamilton
I puked a little. Read the Fitzgerald versions of the odyssey and Illiad

[Anonymous No.19263915]

>>19263889
Thomas Hardy is kino without having read anything, but maybe to enjoy Tess it's good to read Moby Dick etc etc. It all feeds into itself

[Anonymous No.19263916]

me
>read novel
>it mentions a gordian knot
>what's that?
>consult footnote
>oh okay
>another novel talks about a gordian knot
>i know what that means and refers to
pseuds
>NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

[Anonymous No.19263937]

>>19263915
>It all feeds into itself
no doubt, that's the joy of reading. every novel you read is in dialog with what you've read before and experienced. how someone reached [novel] will be different from anyone else...except chartfag automatons. How you read a novelist at 18 will be different from 30, etc.

[Anonymous No.19263975]

>>19261942
Do you not get it? You may do as you please. You have no obligation to read this and that and the other before reading anything else.

[Anonymous No.19263984]

>>19261608
has to be bait

[Anonymous No.19264196]

>>19263916
What novels have fucking footnotes?

[Anonymous No.19264205]

>>19264196
>What novels have fucking footnotes?
Most non-contemporary novels. You clearly don't read much.

[Anonymous No.19264326]

>>19263975
yes i got it
you do have an obligation to read it

[Anonymous No.19264329]

>>19259869
>Realistically, reading at a standard, consistent pace (upwards of an hour, maybe two, a day), how many years will it take to chew through this shit?
you can read through all of this in a year or less if you are consistent

[Anonymous No.19265232]

>>19264326
says who

[Anonymous No.19265437]

>>19259869
>be me
>10 years ago
>go to estate sale, ril nice estate sale
>all the furniture is gone or "sold"
>scraps left
>walk into personal home library
>exquisite hand carved wood paneling
>exquisite hand carved marble fire place
>shelves full of book
grabbed this entire great books collection in perfect condition for like 30 bucks

[Anonymous No.19265523]

I dunno, I skip between classics and more modern novels pretty regularly and things are going fine for me. I think getting the most comprehensive possible foundation is useful if you're engaging in scholarly inquiry, but if you're engaging with literature on your own you can afford to be a bit haphazard. It even allows you to draw nonstandard connections of your own as you explore lit that falls outside of the standard /lit/ lists.

[Anonymous No.19265768]

>>19265437
Estate sales really are the greatest thing.

[Anonymous No.19266256]

What is the most based material for bookshelves? Currently planning a home library.

>Just use wood bro
Lignin and other acids in wood will leech into your books, causing the paper to yellow and become brittle, ultimately destroying them.

>Just use melamine bro
Plastics like melamine offgas VOCs and other vapour pollutants which cause unknown, likely deleterious, effects on books in the long term. They also cause infertility. Not to mention plastic is generally the material of globohomo and modern degeneracy, and therefore anti-/lit/ on principle.

>Just use metal bro
True, it is the material of choice in professional archiving settings, but it is expensive af and it looks terrible in your home.