[ 3 / biz / cgl / ck / diy / fa / ic / jp / lit / sci / vr / vt ] [ index / top / reports ] [ become a patron ] [ status ]
2023-11: Warosu is now out of extended maintenance.

/lit/ - Literature

View post   
File: 20 KB, 1920x1280, mother3_sunflowers-2.png [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
2409588 No.2409588 [Reply] [Original]

I need books or short stories that will tap the deep wells of emotion that are hidden away inside me. They don't have to be very intellectual as long as they're aesthetically perfect and saddening/joyous without being manipulative. I liked Ulysses a lot, but it didn't make me feel things, ya know?

Books that have made me FEEL (warning, entry tier):
>Grapes of Wrath
>Of Mice and Men
>Circus Parade
>Wind-up Bird Chronicle
>American Psycho

Albums that have made me FEEL
>In the Aeroplane Over the Sea
>Hospice
>Titus Andronicus- The Monitor
>Joanna Newsom

Games that have made me feel
>Mother 3
>Silent Hill 2
>Killer7
>ICO

Movies that have made me feel
>Paris, Texas
>Bicycle Thieves
>The Limits of Control (dat fucking cinematography)
>Fire Walk With Me
>FLCL

Why does it seem like books are often less 'vivid' and 'powerful' than these movies or games?

>> No.2409593

I don't think you have a very acute sense for when things are being manipulative, because if that list is anything to go by, you fall for works steeped in cheap pathos very often.

>> No.2409591

anyway, suggestions? this isn't a bump, because I know /lit/ is pretty slow.

>> No.2409596

>>2409591
>this isnt a bump
why do it?

Of Mice and Men? Really?

>> No.2409602

>>2409593
Give me an example, I bet I can counter your argument.

>> No.2409605

>>2409596
When I read it, at least, which was a while ago. I doubt I'd have a lower opinion of it now, since Steinbeck is pretty godlike.

>> No.2409608

>>2409602

I bet you can yell things until I stop talking too.

>> No.2409612

I would suggest The Little Prince. I read it and made me feel a kid again (in innocence way). Recommend it. In a afternoon u can read it fully.

>> No.2409613

hermann hesse is very spiritual and should make you feel a great deal

>> No.2409614

dubliners has loads of feels. the dead is p awesome

>> No.2409615

>>2409588
>aesthetically perfect
>American Psycho

Sounds about right to me.

>> No.2409616

>>2409612
I've already checked it out, and it's on my list.

>>2409608
That's not the way I do things, even on 4chan. If you give an example, I'll show you the distinction I see between manipulative direction and thoughtful direction.

>> No.2409618

>>2409616

>That's not the way I do things, even on 4chan. If you give an example, I'll show you the distinction I see between manipulative direction and thoughtful direction.

That's what I said. You'll make stuff up until I get bored.

>> No.2409627

>>2409613
I've read the translations of Siddhartha and Steppenwolf. The prose, at least in the translations, did little for me, and the psychological/spiritual aspects felt very factual and flat. Steppenwolf had some very interesting aspects, but was strangely devoid of emotion. It felt distanced. Perhaps I made bad choices, and it's another one of his books that stands out?

>>2409615
Near the middle, there's a chapter in which he goes on a date with a girl he once knew in college. It's the only glimpse at his past in the entire book. I thought it was quite beautiful, because it seemed very true that a man like Pat would be bothered by the feelings he still had for people from long ago.

>> No.2409631

>>2409618
And at the moment you've asserted something without explaining yourself, and you're attempting to leverage the fact that 'I'll respond to you' against me as some sort of bad thing. What the fuck are you doing on /lit/ if you're not prepared to write a paragraph and share your thoughts?

>> No.2409632

Johnny got his Gun

It's about a soldier who got all four of his limbs blown off in war, his face completely scarred, his ears and mouth and nose burned off, and his only connection to the world is what his skin can feel.


quotes:
"Put the guns into our hands and we will use them. Give us the slogans and we will turn them into realities. Sing the battle hymns and we will take them up where you left off. Not one, not ten, not ten thousand, not a million, not ten millions, not a hundred millions but a billion, two billions of us all — the people of the world. We will have the slogans and we will have the hymns and we will have the guns and we will use them and we will live. Make no mistake of it, we will live. We will be alive and we will walk and talk and eat and sing and laugh and feel and love and bear our children in tranquillity, in security, in decency, in peace. You plan the wars, you masters of men — plan the wars and point the way and we will point the gun."

"Never again to wiggle your toes. What a hell of a thing, what a wonderful, beautiful thing, to wiggle your toes."

>> No.2409634

>>2409631

>What the fuck are you doing on /lit/ if you're not prepared to write a paragraph and share your thoughts?

Sharing my thoughts.

>> No.2409639

>>2409634
yeah nah

fuck off you pseudointellectual cunt

>> No.2409643

>>2409632
mitebgood

I just recalled that Great Gatsby was actually quite powerful at times. Particularly the final page, which blew me away.

>> No.2409644

>>2409614
Seconded

>> No.2409650

>>2409614
>>2409644
I've heard that Dubliners is made of more 'normal' stories than Ulysses. I suppose that has something to do with how effective it is in making you feel?

>> No.2409659

you might like Catch-22 OP.

>> No.2409661

>>2409650
it's the least complex of his books, i think the plots it focusses on, rather than the simplicity of it, is more effective in making it emotive.

>> No.2409664
File: 53 KB, 475x346, 1-15--guillotine[1].jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
2409664

I cried a couple times while reading A Tale of Two Cities.

Especially during the end.

And I even knew how it ended before reading it, but I still "felt feels".

>> No.2409667

OP, your taste in movies isn't bad but your taste in music is offensive. Titus Andronicus? Neutral Milk Hotel? Jesus Christ, OP.

>> No.2409694

>>2409667
I am not a very knowledgeable person about music. I don't understand what makes it tick, and I don't 'get' the complexities that make a rich piece of music the way that I 'get' what makes movies or video games good. With that said, I do think that The Monitor and ITAOTS (moreso the Aeroplane) tell very good stories and have beautiful sounds along with them. If someone were to tell me what was wrong with them (aside from hur dur hipster shit of course), I'd probably agree. But as long as we can say that there is good rap and poetry out there, I think Mangum's works deserve a fair shake.

>> No.2409705

>>2409667
and again, these are just some of the things that felt strong to me

they're not necessarily what I think are the absolute best, though some of them are. if I were to list out some absolute bests, there'd be probably be a bit less entry tier stuff.

>> No.2409708

>>2409694
Well, I was only being a dick. If you like it, more power to you I guess. I like my share of wussy music, too (Codeine, Slint, etc).

>> No.2409712

>>2409667
>>2409694
The Monitor was the first album in a while that I had a really strong emotional reaction to when I first heard it.
I'm with you OP. Who the fuck is this rando to tell you he knows your feelings better than you do?

>> No.2409719

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao.

>> No.2409722

>>2409712
the frontman for titus andronicus is like that self-important windbag fucking up your lit 101 class. don't ever read an interview with him. he sucks.

>> No.2409729

>>2409712
Nobody, but there are some people who say, for instance, that The Monitor seems to sort of sag in the musical interludes between the lyrical bouts, which is something I could see bothering a listener if they weren't (like me) imagining a vast canvas of long gone wars and dysfunctional relationships to go along with the music.

Also, anything that quotes multiple Abe Lincoln addresses gets points with me, because his speeches are fucking prophetical and have a very morbid awe surrounding them.

>> No.2409732

>>2409618
>>2409608
>>2409593
Did you learn to be so cool in graduate school?

>> No.2409736

>>2409722
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=enGV-NLIA4A
I don't know, he seems like my kind of guy. Make of that what you will.

>> No.2409738

>>2409732
My guess now is he's a passive aggressive troll.

>> No.2409746

>>2409738
There seem to be a lot of those on /lit/

>> No.2409752

>>2409736
"how loquaciously should i answer these questions?"

try-hard faggot.

>> No.2409755

>>2409752
he's clearly joking and having fun.

>> No.2409767

>>2409752
U mad because your vocabulary isn't developed enough to use big words casually?

And I don't mean on the internet.

>> No.2409784

>>2409767
using "big" words is often completely unnecessary and the people who do it are more than likely just trying to be perceived a certain way.

>> No.2409785

>>2409767

The point of a developed vocabulary is to be able to use appropriate words. Not big words.

>> No.2409791

>>2409784
You said 'percieved' instead of viewed. What a tryhard faggot.

>> No.2409797

>>2409791
actually, i spelled "perceived" correctly. anyway, its okay if you take the dude's dick out of your mouth for a second and realize that his vocab isn't necessarily developed because he awkwardly used a big word.

>> No.2409802

>>2409791
>>2409797
How about you guys discuss emotionally resonant books.

>> No.2409833

>>2409802
Or we could just go full 4chan and make this thread about doubles.

>> No.2409838

>>2409833
hah, the only challenge of getting dubs on /lit/ is having the patience for the post number to go up by nine.

>> No.2409844
File: 1.78 MB, 300x242, dubs.gif [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
2409844

>>2409833
Would you kindly check them please?

>> No.2409843
File: 116 KB, 472x591, Young lady plays a Neo-Geo.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
2409843

>>2409614
brofist, right here, right now. I'm writing my first semester paper on Araby as we speak. That story has so many god damn feels.

>implying her name isn't a summons to all your foolish blood
>implying you aren't a creature driven and derided by vanity
>implying you didn't abandon all your childhood friends in pursuit of a girl you didn't know anything about

>> No.2409853
File: 19 KB, 451x389, 1324486893596.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
2409853

>>2409844
fuck you, this is not /v/ or /b/

its nothing special on such a slow board like /lit/ to get dubs. faget.

>> No.2409878

OP here, the Dubliners recommendation seems pretty consistent. I'm glad it's short stories, because I've felt rather distracted in the past year, and I think I've not maintained the will required to consistently read a large book. It sounds charming from what I've read. Do you think it sheds some light on Joyce's later books? I do intend to re-read the big U eventually, and perhaps even read Finnegan's Wake some year.

>> No.2409890

>>2409853
Oh jeez it's a joke, lighten up. I know how doubles work.

>> No.2409927

Les Miserables by Victor Hugo made me feel more than any other book I've read. It's huge though...

>> No.2409934

Lolita will make you feel. But maybe not quite the feelings you're talking about.

>> No.2409942

>>2409934
A boner isn't quite what I'm looking for, but my friends have been telling me about Nabokov for quite a while.

>>2409927
I'm aware that Les Miserables involves the French Revolt, but I don't know much else. Where does the drama in it originate?

>> No.2409945

>>2409878

The Dubliners is not a collection of short stories. It's a whole work arranged in short stories.

>> No.2409946

The Road, by Cormac McCarthy. Completely fucking wrecked me.

>> No.2409953

>>2409942
Joking aside, it is an emotionally powerful work. The merit of the story and Nabakov's writing are the reactions he draws from his reader. The entire time you're aware of how horrifying everything he describes is. However, he works in a full spectrum of emotion into it. It is much more than hurr how fucked up would it be if I did this with a tennis racket. It's hard to describe, but it is a strong book.

>> No.2409966

Sea of Regret by Wu Jianren

It is probably the most depressing novel.

Also, Barefoot Gen by Nakazawa Keiji and A Grave for Fireflies by Nosaka Akiyuki will cause you to really hate people--they are that sad

>> No.2410044

>>2409953
in the vein of 'Russian works,' I've been considering Crime and Punishment

is it a purely clinical examination of its subject?

>> No.2410070

>>2410044
Couldn't say, I have not read it.

>> No.2410090

>>2409588

Only book that ever really stirred human emotions in me was Les Miserables. A combination of sadness and anger.

I guess I'm dead inside, and can only enjoy books on an intellectual level.

>> No.2410096

>>2410090
>>2410090
personally, the less I care about the people around me, the stronger I feel about art.