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/lit/ - Literature

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2563421 No.2563421 [Reply] [Original]

> you will never complete the western canon

>> No.2563424

it's only 1500 books. you can finish them off in about 17 years if you try hard enough. i don't see the reason for despair

>> No.2563430
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2563430

> that feel when you will never read Don Quixote in Spanish

>> No.2563432

>>2563424
hell, you can finish everything from before the 20th century in less than half that time..

>> No.2563434

>>2563431
Harold Bloom's, obviously. What other could OP possibly be referring to?

>> No.2563431
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2563431

THE Western Canon? I was under the impression that there were many lists, each slightly different. Could you like me to the one you're referring to?

>> No.2563438

>>2563430
>The feel when I know Spanish and still I havent read it

>> No.2563443
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2563443

>>2563431
Yeah, Harold Bloom's

>> No.2563451
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2563451

>ese sentir cuando nunca vas a leer el Ulises de Jaime Joyce en inglés

>> No.2563460

>>2563451
Por que no? No Ingles?

>> No.2563462
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2563462

>yfw you'd just be another dude who read a bunch of books that everyone reads.

>> No.2563474

>Harold Bloom's list
>Dostoevsky: Notes from the Underground. Crime and Punishment. The Idiot.
>no Brothers Karamasov
uhhh, if he was attempting to keep his list short then I'd probably replace The Idiot for Brothers K. It's quite an important work from everything he's written.

>> No.2563485

>>2563474
except he DOES have the brothers karamazov on his list. AND the idiot. don't know what you're looking at

>> No.2563486

>>2563474
The Idiot is good, but Brothers Karamazov is far better, in my opinion.

The Grand Inquisitor alone makes it a masterpiece.

>> No.2563488

>>2563474
use this site, it's more complete:

http://interleaves.org/~rteeter/grtbloom.html

>> No.2563494

>>2563438
>That feel when fapping to the mere thought that a German girl is possibly browsing /lit/

http://vocaroo.com/i/s0fnVsFPPhOf

>> No.2563509

>>2563485
I was using this
http://home.comcast.net/~dwtaylor1/democraticcanon.html

But I guess it's not complete

>> No.2563517

>>2563488
Why does he simply list
>tales
>short novels
Under Dostoevsky he lists "short novels", which could be anything. But apparently he had to list Notes from Underground separately.

And then for Gogol, Chekhov, Leskov, etc he simply lists "Tales"

>> No.2563524

>>2563517
by anything, I mean the works I can think of are The Gambler, The Double, The Eternal Husband, Uncles Dream, and Poor Folk as his short novels.

>> No.2563529

I'm trying to knock out the "Theocratic Age" and much of the "Aristocratic Age" in the next while, with quite a few supplements (mostly added Indian and Mesopotamian lit for flavour) and a lot of the Chinese classics. Boy was it fucking hard finding unabridged, properly translated/authoritative versions of some of the shit. Also holy hell, my reading list now has the Mahabharata, Water Margin, Romance of the Three Kingdoms, etc., on it. I am going to be busy. I even flirted with the idea of learning (written) Chinese for a bit, but the prospects of my ever reading Classical Chinese fluently are incomprehensibly bad.

The Greek and Roman contributions, taken by themselves, are almost embarrassingly easy to tackle, and most of that shit was required reading for European gentry for the last few hundred years. I say focus on that and the more renowned works of the European middle ages - everyone should read Dante - and you're golden.

>> No.2563555

>>2563529
Seriously. Where the hell am I supposed to find Diego de San Pedro's 'Prison of Love'? I'm pretty sure the only reason it's "famous" (but not really) is because it's the first epistolary novel. But still no one has actually heard of it

>> No.2563565

Goddamnit, the western canon is not a list of books. It's like a concept of influence.

Goddamn Bloom and his disowned list that he was pressured into putting in his book. This is his fault.

>> No.2563571

>>2563565
You're right. The Western Canon isn't a list of books. The list of books, however, is perfeclty useful as just that: a list of books. I don't think you'll hear anyone say otherwise

>> No.2563579
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2563579

• I only know to read classics because you can't find your preferred genre or niche

• I like to pretend you're really smart for reading from the eminent literary heroes but you secretly envy the 'plebs' who have realised their true enthusiasm for don patterson and nora roberts.

• I feel like a fraud when really you just find it impossible to know what you like or you're scared of enjoying something your peers disapprove of.

• I understand all the talk of authenticity after postmodernism as well as the self realisation of the existentialists but I still don't know what's authentic for me.

>> No.2563583

What about the eastern canon?

>> No.2563589

>>2563579
whoops, was gonna phrase that a different way. just substitute the you's for I's.

>> No.2563591

The Western Canon as a concept of influence is of no interest. As a list of books, however, it's pretty good.

>> No.2563595

>>2563579

I don't spend my time feeling superior to anyone, I wish more people would read the good shit. Hipsterism is vacuous and has no place in a serious thinker's worldview.

>> No.2563603

>>2563579
If you're reading Homer, Cervantes, The Arabian Nights, Shakespeare, Ovid, Herodotus, Aquinas et al., and not enjoying yourself just as much as a pleb reading pleb authors, you're either reading stilted translations or you are terminally stupid.

>> No.2563610

>>2563603
i don't like shakespeare since he is so misogynist

>> No.2563634

>>2563488
Try the library
http://www.worldcat.org/title/prison-of-love-1492/oclc/433175323&referer=brief_results

>> No.2563639

Women have been known to lament, "Always a bridesmaid, never a bride." For Johnny Smith, the problem is, "Always a Best Man, never a groom." At age 33, housepainter Johnny has been Best Man eight times. The ultimate man's man, Johnny loves the Mets, the Jets, his weekly poker game, and the hula girl lamp that hangs over his basement pool table. Johnny has the instant affection of nearly every man he meets, but one thing he doesn't have is a woman to share his life with, and he wants that desperately. When Johnny meets District Attorney Helen Troy, he decides to renounce his bro-magnet ways in order to impress her. With the aid and advice of his friends and family, soon he's transforming his wardrobe, buying throw pillows, ditching the hula girl lamp, getting a cat and even changing his name to the more mature-sounding John. And through it all, he's pretending to have no interest in sports, which Helen claims to abhor. As things heat up with Helen, the questions arise: Will Johnny finally get the girl? And, if he's successful in that pursuit, who will he be now that he's no longer really himself? THE BRO-MAGNET is a rollicking comedic novel about what one man is willing to give up for the sake of love.

>> No.2563638
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2563638

I never got this. Why not just read what you enjoy as opposed to what Bloom enjoys? I mean, if you spend your whole life trying to read what's in the canon then odds are you're going to miss out on a lot of stuff you'd enjoy that isn't. Yeah, Bloom is an educated guy and his opinion is probably one that should carry a lot of weight, but Bloom's opinion is just that, Bloom's opinion. To not indulge yourself in a little literary freedom every once in a while is pretty much just ego-masturbation. "I read only the finest literature and could never be bothered with such filth as that." is pretty much the battle cry of the pompous. Read what you like.

>> No.2563643

>>2563579
I'm sorry you do all of that. Why can't you just read good books?

>> No.2563648

>>2563638
Because the development of human literary culture is the greatest narrative ever

>> No.2563650

>>2563638
I do read what I like, and I only like good books. If it makes you feel any better, plenty of those good books aren't on Harold Bloom's list, as they were published recently.

>> No.2563655

Most of what I read is on Bloom's list, usually because I'm curious about the work. I end up enjoying many of them. I don't see what's wrong with that.

>> No.2563656

>>2563603
>Aquinas
>enjoying yourself

erm hrm

>> No.2563658

>>2563634
none of those are nearby :(

>> No.2563659
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2563659

>That feel when you will never be as handsome as a young Joseph Stalin

>> No.2563672

>>2563659
old joseph stalin aint bad either he has that kind of "dom dad" swag

>> No.2563846
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2563846

Ernest Hemingway was a hansom man as well.

>> No.2563851

>>2563846

I wish I could be as cool as Hemingway...

>> No.2563854

>>2563846
>>2563851
Hemmingway.

It's spelled with two m's.

>> No.2563855

thanks for correcting me.

>> No.2563857

>>2563854

nigga I hope you're pulling my chain right now, I seriously do.

>> No.2563862

>>2563854

Fuck you, you actually made me check my books.

Every time...

>> No.2563865

>>2563857
Are you fucking new here, nigger?

Jesus shit, learn a forced meme every now and then, faggot.

>> No.2563880

MAN, I'M SO FUCKING GULLIBLE.

>> No.2563887

>>2563865

Back the fuck up cunt, I actually spend more time reading and writing than I do on /lit/, if you can believe that, so forgive me if this particular "meme" slipped under my radar.

>> No.2563894
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2563894

>you will never stop believing in a western canon

>> No.2563900

>>2563887
Ignorance of the forced memes is not a defense any more than ignorance of the law is not a defense.

"Oh, officer, I didn't know it was a forced meme that's been around for a year."

We don't give a shit, you proceed with caution faggot.

>> No.2563940

>>2563900
you're a fucking nerd

>> No.2563943

>>2563940
and you're a fucking loser. Big fucking deal, shitbreath.

>> No.2563947

>>2563943
>>2563940
I'm sorry to break this to you two but you're on 4chan.

>> No.2563955

>>2563943
>calls someone "shitbreath"

I guess somebody struck a nerve with you, son. LOL.

>> No.2563972

>>2563947
Thanks for the newsflash, bore.

>> No.2563981

>>2563972
Lol, calm your tits, madfag.

>> No.2564364
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2564364

>>2563579
Classics are my preferred niche, you dirty peasant.

>> No.2564380

>>2564364
lel