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/lit/ - Literature

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[ERROR] No.2141096 [Reply] [Original]

"Storytellers are not priests who commune with an ethereal realm, but artisans, like dumpling makers, if somewhat slower"

- David Mitchell, "The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet"

What does /lit/ think of this theory? I've always seen writers as craftsmen, some of whom elevate the craft to art, but even the greatest writer is still a craftsman at heart.

One of the writers whose attitude/method of working I've always admired is Pablo Neruda, probably the greatest craftsman of poetry ever, and incidentally one of the greatest artists.

pic unrelated

>> No.2141106

Are we talking about storytellers or writers? The two are very different. Storytellers can be writers, but not all writers are mere storytellers.

>> No.2141109

"Stories are body-substitutes for losers." - John Dolan

>> No.2141121

>>2141106
Good questions, though I take issue with "mere." But yes there is a distinction between storytellers and writers.

>> No.2141125

Depends on what your definition of a story is.

>> No.2141134

Socrates compared a good idea to making pottery. You need practice and time to create a good pot with no holes, but people think they can create a good idea with no holes in seconds.

So, comparing a writer to a dumpling maker, I guess I can agree if I'm reading into this correctly. Writing is a practice that takes work, not having some ghost granting genius on a person.

>> No.2141144

neither metaphor is totally applicable

also david mitchell has a stupid haircut

>> No.2141149
File: 105 KB, 212x256, David_Mitchell_(author).png [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
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>>2141144
Are you thinking of the right David Mitchell?

>> No.2141158

>>2141149

yes; equally applicable w/r/t other david mitchell

>> No.2141215

>>2141144

>also david mitchell has a stupid haircut

I think we've found /lit/'s level now - possibly the best writer of his generation? Nah, just some dude with a stupid haircut.

>> No.2141218

>>2141106

In the context of the quote, he was (I think) referring to the so-called "art" of writing/literature altogether.

Also, any writer who is not also a storyteller is probably not worth reading, since he's probably about to vanish up his own arse any moment.

>> No.2141231

but some storytellers are priests who commune with an ethereal realm. the best stuff i've come up with when trying to write have been channeled rather than crafted. actually, i think if you're not communing with an ethereal realm, your story will be staid.

but i'll agree that the REALITY of what a storyteller does is a craft since i don't really believe in the supernatural.

>> No.2141244

>>2141215

try telling me he doesn't

>> No.2141249

Priest don't commune with no ethereal realms, they're the medieval psychotherapists.

And so are writers.

>> No.2141280
File: 12 KB, 179x216, flaubert.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
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>>2141244

I'm not even going to engage the question, you superficial piece of shit.

I guess Flaubert was just some cunt with a stupid moustache?

>> No.2141289
File: 20 KB, 460x276, david_mitchell_not_that_one.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
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>>2141244

The other guy was right, you are superficial. You're also a moron, because he has a perfectly normal haircut. Pic related.

>> No.2141292
File: 63 KB, 168x192, David_Foster_Wallace_headshot_2006..jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
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>possibly the best writer of his generation? Nah, just some dude with a stupid haircut

this isn't even an insult imo, it's just a thing that happens

>> No.2141296

>>2141280

actually that mustache fuckin owns

i suspect your sense of style is just about as feeble as that dumpling analogy

>> No.2141307
File: 3 KB, 91x127, basstsq.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
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what is a craftsman without a craft?

Stolen by a little girls acts outside social convention a game that everyone plays but one.

>> No.2141309
File: 9 KB, 241x285, flaubert2.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
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>>2141280

Stupid moustache? That 'stache is fucking awesomesaus.

>> No.2141310
File: 7 KB, 200x191, images..jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
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>>2141144
>mfw I have the same haircut

>> No.2141321
File: 28 KB, 400x291, hipster.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
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>>2141296

Your sense of style is obviously impossibly hipster, since you think Mitchell's perfectly normal haircut is "weird" - the love of ironic facial hair is only the confirmation.

Pic related: It's you.

>> No.2141323

>>2141292

No - that really is just some dude with a stupid crypto-lebowski 'do. He's not a very good writer at all.

>> No.2141327

>>2141321

i didn't say it was weird i said it was stupid

>> No.2141329
File: 8 KB, 251x201, whore.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
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FUCKING WHORE.

GO SELF MEDICATE.

>> No.2141332

>>2141310
I'm this guy >>2141149
As a faggot, I think David Mitchell is a handsome devil.

>> No.2141333

>>2141310

Toon, is that you? You huge hipster faggot.

>> No.2141338

>>2141329

i'm not basedsquirrel

>> No.2141353
File: 373 KB, 680x468, ic5t1z.png [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
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google image search reveals that david mitchell the novelist seems to rotate among a small range of completely unremarkable gay-uncle-with-gym-membership haircuts. why did i spend time trying to understand this.

look how cute the other david mitchell used to be, though!

>> No.2141363

>Storytellers are not priests

Is there anyone who disagrees with this?

>> No.2141364

>>2141327

You're still blatantly a massive hipster twat. Have you even read any of Mitchell's work?

>> No.2141369
File: 98 KB, 600x450, derp_derp_derp.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
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>>2141363

The point is that the author is saying that writers are not mystical, nor magical, they are craftsmen who have to put things together in the correct way, or it will not work.

You're either deliberately misunderstanding for trollific purposes, or you're an absolute idiot.

Either way, your post made you look like an absolute idiot.

Captcha: dingibu theory

Why yes, captcha, his theory is completely fucking dingibu, thanks for pointing that out.

>> No.2141378
File: 55 KB, 478x720, bri_newman.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
[ERROR]

OP here - I pop out for an hour or two and this is how you treat my thread? Haircuts? The bloke out of Peep Show? FUCKING OBLIGATORY DFW REFERENCE?

For shame, /lit/, for shame.

>> No.2141383

>>2141369

>writers are not mystical, nor magical

My point is that this is not something that should even need to be stated. It's self evident.

>> No.2141405

>>2141383

I don't think that it's a very good point, to be honest. A lot of people (writers in particular) seem to believe a lot of superstitious bullshit about inspiration and the art of writing which has always seemed to me to be utter bullshit. An example is the idea of "Writer's block" - you never hear of "dancer's block" or "builder's block" and the best writers have never ever been blocked.

You see the attitude here on /lit/ a lot, amongst people who want to think of themselves as writers:

>Oh /lit/ I'm two pages into my great novel of bourgeois youth and their troubles but I'm suffering from writer's block, how do I wrote book?

YOU WRITE BY SITTING DOWN AND WRITING, THERE'S NOTHING MYSTICAL INVOLVED, JUST WORK.