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/lit/ - Literature

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20377030 No.20377030 [Reply] [Original]

Kicking off with the most influential work of literature ever made by mankind.

>> No.20377052

>>20377030
>kicks off table

>> No.20377094
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20377094

>> No.20377315

>>20377030
Tropic of Cancer
Apologia pro sua vita
The tunnel by Gass
Sot-weed factory
Darconville's Cat
Hemingway short stories
Proust
Tom Jones too but unfamiliar with high tier Victorian prose
John Updike

>> No.20377376

If you want to have a shot at actually selling your book then read screenplays. Prose is obsolete.

>> No.20377399

>>20377030
The Bible isn't prose.

>> No.20377402

>>20377376
Does prose affect how your book will perform in the market? I do want economic returns but it pains me to write bland, unless I really need to.

>> No.20377404

>>20377315
>Tom Jones
His lyrics?

>> No.20377424

>>20377402
Yes. I'm in a horror books group on FB (I know, I know..) and people poo-poo any attempt at contemporary literary prose. Fuck, someone shat on Bradbury's "Something Wicked This Way Comes" for being too complicated for them. I've seen similar bad reviews on IG about the classics or the canon. There's a reason there is zero posting about these books on "bookstagrammers'" pages.

Big words? Lyrical prose? Forget about it. It doesn't resonate with today's audience. It's sad but I understand why, given our culture.

>t. wannabe writer who suffers from reading only classics when he began writing, now struggling to adjust

>> No.20377504

>>20377424
>Big words? Lyrical prose? Forget about it. It doesn't resonate with today's audience. It's sad but I understand why, given our culture.
Sad stuff here.

>> No.20377554
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20377554

>>20377030
Bible isn't literature and it ESPECIALLY isn't prosaic. go back to redd*t LARPcuck

>> No.20377906

>>20377030
Bible has literary worth and the aspiring writer can learn from it and it has had a good amount of influence, but very little influence on prose itself. You either lack perspective or do not know what prose is.
>>20377315
Sot-Weed Factor has really amazing prose, really fun to read and almost effortless.
>>20377504
>Sad stuff here.
Meh, literary fiction has always been a niche market, majority of people read genre, before that pulp, before that penny dreadfuls and before that reading itself was a niche market. If you want literary fiction you don't seek it out in groups dedicated to genre fiction and if you want to write literary fiction you do not try and shoehorn yourself into a completely unsuitable market unless you want to fail.

>> No.20378606

>>20377376
>>20377424
Is it really this bad? Am I working on my prose for nothing?

>> No.20378619

>>20378606
No, it is not that bad, just take the time to identify your audience, do not try and write like Proust if you want to write YA. But that does not mean you can not do YA with good prose, plenty of fantastic authors with very simple and accessible prose styles that would make a fine influence to draw from for YA.

>> No.20380117

>>20378606
Much like this guy said:>>20378619
It's completely relative to the market. Maybe you could be a stick in the mud and just churn out your own literary works, regardless of your contemporaries. Theres a market for everything, its just whether you'd ever find an audience. I doubt you'd be published if you're so against the grain but self-publishing is a lot more mature now and has gained traction. Again, the indie horror scene exclusively uses Amazon for publishing and there's a lot of people making a living off it there. They're not JK Rowling rich, obviously, probably minimum wage really, but its their source of income, and their signed book packages sell-out surprisingly quickly. Some even work part-time to supplement their author income.

But if you're bored, go to a bookshop or Google your contemporaries. Take a skim of their prose. Popular YA authors are best-sellers but they're writing for teenagers, so their prose is pedestrian valuing feels over literary ambition. Airport thrillers will value plot over it.

It sucks but gone are the days of good prose I think. Kids don't have the attention span to learn it when everything is an acronym or slang or experiences are summed up into 30 second videos.

>> No.20380160

>>20377030
honest to god the odyssey

>> No.20381913

>>20377030
I found George Eliot's novels to be very helpful for me in finding my voice as an aspiring writer. Her prose has that true balance. Sentences can span an entire page and still feel well constructed.

>> No.20381946

>>20377315
>Sot-weed factory
the poem or novel

>> No.20381956

>>20381946
>prose
Hmmm

>> No.20381971

>>20381956
its not incorrect to say reading poetry can improve your prose

>> No.20382009

>>20381946
>>20381971
You are a dumb fuck. Go read some Barth.

>> No.20382705

>>20382009
Sure thing buddy. Reading Tennyson and Virgil have given me the space to develop my voice that no one else has. Ever heard of prose poetry? You're miserable i get it jeez