/lit/ - Literature

[Anonymous No.19784338]

>Supposedly the greatest Novel that Americans are capable of producing
>Is literally High School tier literature

What did the Americans mean by this??

[Anonymous No.19784342]

>>19784338
It's the Jews, unironically.

[Anonymous No.19784356]

>complexity = good
Being an insufferable autistic faggot doesn't make you an interesting person, op

[Anonymous No.19784365]

>>19784338
I didn’t like it very much either. I’m not American so the rags to riches story doesn’t resonate with me that much. Also his whole life was just fake and absurd. He really did all that for a shallow, stupid gold digging bitch? I understand it’s a tragedy and idealism is meant to be his hamartia but he had no redeeming qualities to make me feel sorry for him in the end. He was just a faggot basically.

[Anonymous No.19784377]

>>19784338
>Supposedly the greatest Novel that Americans are capable of producing
Who is Pynchon?

[Anonymous No.19784380]

>>19784338
I don't think it's considered the greatest American novel but you might want to stop thinking of art in terms of "tiers", or equivocating between accessibility and quality, the world will make more sense then.

[Anonymous No.19784390]

>>19784377
Nobody

[Anonymous No.19784460]

I'm reading Fitzgerald's letters, he hated the title Great Gatsby, he wanted to call it the High-Bouncing Lover.

[Anonymous No.19784522]

>>19784380
DAAAAMN
This anon made sense of the world!!!! EVERYONE!! He made sense of the world!!!

[Anonymous No.19784527]

>>19784522
I said the world will make more sense to OP if they do as I said. Didn't make any claims about myself having "made sense of the world", and it is false if you mean I've entirely made sense of the world. But yes an implication of my post is that the world makes more sense to me than it does to OP, hence me not being confused as to why the Great Gatsby is revered.

[Anonymous No.19784537]

>>19784527
>But yes an implication of my post is that the world makes more sense to me than it does to OP
Damn, I wish I can reach your level on the gradient of world sense-making one day

[Anonymous No.19784576]

>>19784537
I don't know you but it probably wouldn't take much.

[Anonymous No.19784755]

>>19784338
I might need to read it again. I hated it in high school, but I was more interested in football and vidya than reading.

[Anonymous No.19784769]

>>19784365
the book is unironically Fitzgerald's self insert fanfiction. he was a major ass kisser for the rich.

[Anonymous No.19784773]

>>19784769
If that's true, why does do all the rich people in that book end up dead, cucked, or both?

[Anonymous No.19784780]

>>19784338
americas greatest novel is pierre or m-d

[Anonymous No.19784913]

I liked Tender is the Night and The Last Tycoon better.
Fitzgerald did write some nice sentences but thought that the plot and themes were pretty basic.

[Anonymous No.19784929]

it's better than /lit/ gives it credit for

[Anonymous No.19784952]

>>19784338
What are they teaching you guys in school? It's like every book is either kino or YA to you.

[Anonymous No.19784989]

>>19784952
In the USA English classes are designed to make students hate reading and ideally create lifelong "non-readers". Plan B is okay, we can't stop them reading entirely, but we'll make sure they never touch anything considered a classic ever again.

John Taylor Gatto talks about the problem in general, but surprisingly TLP's new book (picrel) goes into some specific problems with how books are taught (primary sources vs secondary sources, and goes in depth on The Scarlet Letter which I remember being "taught" and hating when I was 14).

>>19784338
Why are you reading anything published later than 1850 anyway? I know you haven't finished with the Greeks and Romans.

[Anonymous No.19784990]

>>19784460
even funnier, the cambridge edition mentions that another one of the working titles was "trimalchio in west egg." somehow, i can't imagine the book ever becoming the greatest american novel with that name

[Anonymous No.19785010]

>>19784989
It's like they are insecure about the thought of reading a book that isn't "mature" audience

[Anonymous No.19785067]

>>19784338
>greatest Novel that Americans are capable of producing
You don't read much, do you?

[Anonymous No.19785244]

>>19784460
>High-Bouncing Lover
hmm, I wonder what Google would suggest?

[Anonymous No.19785256]

>>19784377
An Anonymous user.

[Anonymous No.19785515]

Only one post modernist maximalist redeems American literature and it isn’t funny banana song man

[Anonymous No.19785563]

I had to read Macbeth in school when I was 12.
Shakey BTFO

[Anonymous No.19785776]

>>19785067
Neither do you.

[Anonymous No.19786025]

>>19784989
>The Scarlet Letter which I remember being "taught" and hating when I was 14).
Hated that too.

Maybe it's a strong powerful idea of society's ability to outcast it's members, and about morality and stuff but the pride was so dry and blandband slow, the entire spirit and flesh of the book needs only a sentence or two to achieve:

(I don't even remember it was about adultry right?)

This girl did something society didn't like and they made her wear a symbol on her clothes because of it, isn't that interesting. The end

Literally that is all that's needed.
I geuss it is revered for it's relation to Nazi Germany

[Anonymous No.19786189]

Dumb poster is dumb. Germans read Goethe in high school, Italians read Dante. “High school tier” isn’t an insult.

[Anonymous No.19786262]

>>19784338
The Great Gatsby is a masterful telling of the dangers of being a simp.
Behold Gatsby, a selfmade Millionaire, an officer of the Great War, Student of Oxford, Man who rubbed elbows with the mobsters during roaring twenties by being a distributor of illegal substances and walked away from it with enormous wealth! Behold Gatsby who educated and refined himself so thoroughly as to make himself the spitting image of a gentleman!

And what did this man do with his wealth and talents? This man who had gambled with his life on several occasions and won?
He pursues a married woman of mediocre qualities, hoping to dazzle her with the blood money of organized crime only to die simping and have nobody show up at his funeral except for his dad and his neighbor despite throwing parties 24/7.

A man of his means could have died a legend, yet dying as a simp, you die without anyone giving two shits about you as the woman you were pining for gets jackhammered by her husband for decades to come as they forget about you and never mention you ever again.

[Anonymous No.19787729]

>>19784338
That's not Moby Dick

[Anonymous No.19788006]

>>19784338
>Great American Novel means greatest novel made in America
holy shit, i don't think i've ever read something this retarded on /lit/ before in my entire life. why am I not surprised it's posted by ESL eurotrash?

[Anonymous No.19788011]

>>19786262
>The Great Gatsby is a masterful telling of the dangers of being a simp.

The internet was a terrible mistake

[Anonymous No.19788158]

Westerners don't understand Gatbsy.

[Anonymous No.19788184]

Man I'm surprised at how much /lit/ seems to dislike Gatsby. It's one of my favorite books. I think the prose is divine and some of the best ever written. Fitzgerald said he wanted to write something "simple and elegant and intricately patterned" and I think that's exactly what he did. The book has such a nostalgic and wistful feeling to it.

[Anonymous No.19788233]

>>19784338
it is okay to be rich so long as you dont talk about it

[Anonymous No.19788272]

>>19784338
>the greatest Novel that Americans are capable of producing
>the great gatsby
?????????????

[Anonymous No.19788340]

>>19788184
It does, but it also feels like a repugnant attempt to try and make me feel sorry for a man committed homewrecker by merit of his circumstance.
I can appreciate the quality of writing, but it is also in direct opposition to common decency.

If Daisy went with Gatsby and got a divorce, would Gatsby have any right to complain when another man did unto him as he did unto Tom and used their wealth and connections to seduce Daisy once more?

I cannot feel sorry for him despite the book's attempts to paint him as a better person than he was.

[Anonymous No.19788362]

>>19788340
I'm not sure if Gatsby is meant to be a totally sympathetic character. I think it's moreso that we are meant to relate to Gatsby's longing for something more. Yes Gatsby may be a fool for clinging onto the past; but who among us does not?

[Anonymous No.19788366]

>>19784338
As far as HS shit goes, Of Mice and Men is the best America produced.

[Anonymous No.19788471]

>>19786025
It's actually quite a bit deeper than that but at least in my case the english teacher didn't understand it beyond "wow slut shaming" and using it as a stick to beat the boys over the head with. I got into it a lot with her. Sadly I got rid of my copy back in high school as soon as we were done with it so I'll need to get a new copy for a re-read.

>>19786262
See now the book feels worth re-reading again, after having been taught it poorly in high school (I don't even remember what the taught point of it was other than "the 20s were a thing").

>>19788011
I mean is he wrong?

[Anonymous No.19788492]

When will retards learn that there is no such thing as entry or exit level literature?

[Anonymous No.19788508]

>>19784460
>>19784990
Those tittles are so awful. What the fuck, man. The Great Gatsby is a great tittle because it already tells you it's going to be great.

[Anonymous No.19788727]

Because amerimutts are cucks in essence.

[Anonymous No.19788770]

>>19788492
exit level literature? not a thing
entry level? dude your fables

[Anonymous No.19788789]

>>19788770
>start with Aesop

[Anonymous No.19788797]

>>19788789
my mom read me those stuff. good times.

[Anonymous No.19789201]

>>19788011
I mean, as hyperbolic as it was, Gatsby was a massive simp. Bought a mansion and threw parties constantly in hopes the girl he was interested in would just show up.
Literally had to arrange a proxy via his neighbor that he was willing to bribe to get the woman he wanted to come out for tea.
The woman herself isn't even that impressive by her qualities beyond being somewhat wealthy.

Everything about Gatsby stinks of the sort of person who is lurking in the sidelines, prowling for any opportunity to pounce and break apart a couple so he could enter himself on the scene, all because he never understood the concept that there's plenty of fish in the sea.

Still, it was the roaring 20's where women and men fraternized in speakeasys, had affairs and broke social norms.
Some people celebrate that, but I don't particularly care for it.

[Anonymous No.19790255]

>>19789201
Long time ago a guy pinning for a woman like that would have simply been a poet. Like Dante was, spent a lifetime of putting Beatrice on pedestal as some divine being, when she was just another girl, at most a bit smarter and more eloquent than average. Difference was that Beatrice died young, so Dante only really had politics to ruin his life.
Fitzgerald's style is rough around the edges, but it's still an interesting piece dealing with idealism vs reality.

[Anonymous No.19790450]

>>19784338
Nobody in the universe thinks that garbage is any kind of Greatest American Novel except for kikes and teenagers who never read another book.

[Anonymous No.19790462]

>>19784338
The Great Gatsby plagiarized an almost unknown British novel from 20 years prior. It also sold almost zero copies during Fitzgerald's life. The book was bought bulk and given to US soldiers during WW2 which resurrected it from obscurity.

[Anonymous No.19790999]

>>19790462
What is it called?

[Anonymous No.19791210]

>>19788770
>exit level literature?
hegel