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/lit/ - Literature

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2566603 No.2566603 [Reply] [Original]

Why is there so little literature about shut ins, misanthropes, hermits, hikikomoris, etc.?

Seems like it's an area that should be explored more than it is.

>> No.2566616

>>2566603

Read Thousand Cranes, anything by Kafka, Catcher in the R--

Waiiiiiiit a second! 10/10 good troll

>> No.2566613

What is there to explore? Not going outside and shitposting on forums and imageboards isn't terribly interesting to read, much less write about.

>> No.2566618

Because it would be really boring. Who wants to read a book about a guy that's sit around the house all day and doesn't do anything.

>> No.2566622

wasnt gk chesteron a self confessed misanthrope. does it come through in his works?

also theres that paper crush czech guy

>> No.2566624

>>2566618

Well I do, for one.

>> No.2566631

>>2566622
>that paper crush czech guy

Elaborate, please.

>> No.2566635

>>2566622

Not sure if trolling, but Chesterton is just about the least misanthropic writer in English literature.

>> No.2566640

Japanese apartments always look so cozy. It's too bad that it's so culturally unacceptable to lounge about on the floor in the West. It looks like you really save on floorspace, not having seating everywhere

>> No.2566642
File: 21 KB, 400x311, sad cat.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
2566642

There's a Japanese guy who wrote about being an Otaku. Some think volume about his life and philosophy. He comes home to a pretend family of anime girls who don't judge him. I forgot where I read about it. Sounds so sad, even while he tries to spin it into a superior lifestyle, with his "If only more people were like this, the world would be at peace" kind of thing.

>> No.2566646

Moliere's Le Misanthrope I presume is about misanthropy.

Also, Notes from Underground and Invisible Man.

>> No.2566661

>>2566635
hm might have been another writer . i dont have their books i only read it on the wikipedia that they were misanthropic and christiani kept that from gong overboard . pretty sure it was chesterton. maybe. just didnt come throug in his books. or maybe it was him a all. idk

>>2566631

too loud a solitude

henry david thoreau is another loner

>> No.2566662

>>2566661

Kierkegaard, probably.

>> No.2566700

There's plenty of lit about that. See /r9k/'s suggested reading list.

>> No.2566702

>>2566662
no wait it was evelyn waugh. dont know how true it is but he seemed a bit of a moaner so might be something op wants

>> No.2566709

I actually am in the process of editing a story about a hikkikomori guro artist, hopefully my friend will get back to me soon enough and tell me what he thinks of it.

I agree, it's a limited field. Nothing about the hardcore, don't go out of their house for years at a time. As someone who lived that way for a while in his life I thought I should put some of it in writing. I read Shutting out the Sun, which was basically a long deconstruction of why people turn to this lifestyle and why it mainly happens in Japan. If you're looking for a serious look at hikkikomori stuff, try that out.

>> No.2566721

>>2566603
Journey To The End Of The Night by Celine sounds right up your alley OP.

>> No.2566729

Chesterton is not at all a misanthrope; rather incredibly kind, in fact. But there was a whole generation of post-war English writer types who were. Think Larkin, Kingsley Amis, Evelyn Waugh, etc etc. Mean sons of bitches, drunks mostly, but covering it up with a veneer of class. But they could write like hell, so I suppose that makes up for it.

>> No.2566732

>>2566642
Anyone know what this book is? I'd give it a shot.

>> No.2566733

>>2566721
What do when you've read it and Death on the Instalment Plan and Genet?

>> No.2566736

>>2566618
>Who wants to read a book about a guy that's sit around the house all day and doesn't do anything.

Oblomov

>> No.2566739

>>2566736
I have also read it. Along with Against Nature.

I need more

>> No.2566740

Because boring people make for boring stories.

>> No.2566745

What is there to write about here really? Writers should be shut-ins but they shouldn't write about them..

>> No.2566749

>>2566745
I just like depressing literature.

Need more, please

>> No.2566756

>>2566749
There's plenty of depressing literature about interesting people doing interesting things. No need to be depressing AND boring.

>> No.2566757

À Rebours by Huysmans is basically this, if the shut in is a French aesthete with unlimited funds. it is awesome.

>> No.2566759

>>2566756
Yes, like Celine and Genet. But I read their books

>> No.2566773

>>2566603
there's shitloads

my favourite is beautiful losers by leonard cohen

>> No.2566781

Man in the Holocene is about a hermit pretty much

>> No.2566791

World War Z included a small segment about a hikikomori, but his story mainly concerned how he stopped being such a loser when the zombies came.

>> No.2566794

>>2566791
And World War Z ain't exactly literary

>> No.2566808

Hikikomori != misanthrope. I like people. It's the system in which they operate that's terrible.

>> No.2566821

I've been wondering something for a while, which should I read first; Journey to the End of the Night or Death on the Installment plan?

>> No.2566913

>>2566661
A loner, probably. But, he at least ventured outside. He also took part in several social issues... such as being an abolitionist, as well as moral opposition to an unjust state.

Loner and shut-in aren't synonymous. Probably one of the most notable shut-ins was Emily Dickinson.

>> No.2566915

>>2566729
Actually Larkin was a pretty sociable fellow from the biographies and interviews that I've read with him. He was definitely a skirt-chaser as well.

He was definitely an introvert... but that doesn't necessarily mean shut-in or hermit.

>> No.2566946

>>2566794

Check out this faggot.

>> No.2566964

>>2566642
>>2566732

The book is called Welcome to the NHK. The author its Tatsuhiko Takimoto.

There hasn't been an American edition in print for a while. I actually got my copy in 2007 just before it went out of print.

>> No.2567007

A Man Asleep by Perec

It's about a young man who shuts himself away from everybody and spends his days looking at the cracks in the ceiling.

The Steppenwolf by Herman Hesse

Insightful book about a lonely, suicidal misanthrope.

The Temple of the Golden Pavilion by Mishima

I might be reaching a bit with this one, but you should check it out.

>> No.2567011

>>2566964
Oh sweet, I've actually seen the anime, had no idea it was a novel. Thanks man.

>> No.2567012

Confederacy of Dunces

>> No.2567017

>>2567011

Yeah, good luck finding it for a reasonable price, though.

>> No.2567018

>>2566640

>giving a fuck

>> No.2567021

>>2567011
Novel>anime>manga
Read that shit right now. An awesome read for a LN. More depressing, more realistic but pretty short, maybe to goofy at times and doesn't really explore in depth. Just keep in mind it's a LN.
You can find it with a quick google search.

>> No.2567027

>>2566646
The Misanthrope is a pretty funny play. I laughed regularly while reading it. Moliere is pretty funny in general. I've only read The Misanthrope and Tartuffe, but thinking about them right now makes me think I should read more Moliere.

>> No.2567030
File: 16 KB, 318x445, 1332317561320.png [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
2567030

>>2566603

>> No.2567037
File: 95 KB, 600x338, sato-nhk.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
2567037

I'm pretty sure Welcome to the NHK (the lite novel) will run you a pretty penny.

>> No.2567048
File: 60 KB, 483x599, Dickinson.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
2567048

>> No.2567054

>>2567037
behold the wonders of the internet
http://libgen.info/view.php?id=538718

>> No.2567057

Japan has had a field day with hikikomori stories. Most of it isn't translated, though.

>> No.2567060

>>2567054
Sweet, thanks. This is actually the first I've heard of LN's. What's the consensus? Are they generally shit or are there some decent ones or what?

>> No.2567064

>>2567054
I bow to nothing.

That said, huzzah, sir.

>> No.2567066

>>2567060
LNs are generally light reading, like YA stuff here. There are some that are respected like Boogiepop, but for the most part they're not taken for serious literature.

>> No.2567074

>>2567060
Comics with fewer images. Good stories, easy, fast reading, ideal for the bathroom readings.
Don't expect great literature.
Expect shitty translations.

>> No.2567098

>"I was certain I
would beat out other hikikomori regardless of country, whether it was a
Welcome to the N.H.K.
12
Russian hikikomori who escaped through vodka, an English hikikomori
whose escape was through drugs, or an American hikikomori who found
escape by randomly shooting guns indoors."

I lol'd.

>> No.2567347

War and Peace. Read it, or watch the 1965 Soviet epic, Voyna i Mir. I think it's the most expensive film on earth.

>> No.2567638

there's absolutely shit loads of great books about sad and lonely people, as illustrated by this thread (which still omits a hell of a lot). and much of it is of a much higher standard than bullshit like 'on the road', so all you shallow cunts saying things like "boring people write boring stories" can shut up now.

>> No.2567872

>>2566709
Shutting Out the Sun, while addressing an important topic, is a very ethnocentric book. The author is not a scholar of Japan--he does not know Japanese nor does he have any real knowledge about Japanese culture. The whole book reeks of ethnocentrism and patronizing Japanese--especially when it comes to individuality. It is clear that he is trying to promote Western civilization as superior. Yes, Japan does has its problems, like all nations, but I feel that this book does not properly address the issue in its entirety