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/lit/ - Literature

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2894932 No.2894932[DELETED]  [Reply] [Original]

How the hell does one go from Nabokov's playful and entertaining prose to the dry vaseline-desperate prose of every other writer on earth?

>> No.2894933

Read Faulkner and Pynchon

>> No.2894940

You bite the pillow, obviously.

>> No.2894949
File: 28 KB, 200x256, ADLHD V.gif [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
2894949

>dry vaseline-desperate

>> No.2894973

>>2894949
how come your gifs never move, REI?

>> No.2894980

I've found that same problem myself OP. Not sure what to tell you.

>>2894933
Faulkner, maybe. Pynchon, fuck no. His style is complex to the point of convolution. Nabokov 's is playful, masterful, yet easy to understand; a joy to read. Pynchon is just... weird, with the odd well-written phrase thrown in.

>> No.2895042

Many have had the same problem OP, which is why people like Martin Amis have spent their whole careers trying to squeeze out some last drop of brilliance from the dessicated teats of Nabokov's corpse.

Anyway, you'll never find another prose stylist as good as Nabokov, but if you read some of his imitators you may come to realise that after all there are other things in literature than brilliant prose. (John Banville comes particularly recommended, his prose is actually rather nice but his books are insufferable)

>> No.2895078

>>2895042
Not only is Nabokov's prose brilliant, but his content is too. He's quite simply spectacular in all aspects. An All-star author.

The thing is, I'm not looking for someone who is exactly like or similar to him at all. I just want to read someone else who has this same bewitching balance if prose+content+everything else.

Fuck....The way he even structures the story arch of his chapters...man...so brilliant.

>> No.2895081

With the sensation of relief, I suppose.

>> No.2895139

Read Joyce, chronologically.

>> No.2895144

>>2895139
you only read joyce so that you can say you've read joyce--the pleb who likes to think hes something more, ahaha

>> No.2895145

>>2895144
If you can't appreciate Joyce's prose then you, my friend, are the pleb here.

>> No.2895158

By not being a 15 year old faggot.

>> No.2895159

>>2895144

You read Joyce so you can enjoy some of the finest writing to ever be. Not that you would appreciate it, you seem to have a terrible grasp on the English language.

>> No.2895167

Read Ada

>> No.2895169

>>2895159
because i didnt capitalise a letter, precisely elucidating your preoccupation for appearences and the dogmatic avowal of joyce you harbour

>> No.2895176

>>2895169

If you think that was your only mistake, I cannot help you.

>> No.2895543
File: 160 KB, 650x435, krudy-sunflower2.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
2895543

>>2895078
I recommend this

>> No.2895576

>>2894980
Pynchon is playful and entertaining, but yes, he can be a bit hard to understand at times.

OP, I'd recommend reading The Sot-Weed Factor by John Barth. It sounds like just waht you're looking for...

>> No.2895580

ITT we make educated guesses about the literary sources of clicheed metaphors, similes, and other various figures of speech.

"He wouldn't hurt a fly" - Tristram Shandy (to ironically refer to a military officer)

>> No.2895591

>>2895580
"She was a dark and stormy lesbian."

>> No.2895592

>>2895580
I got a bit upset when I learned "making the beast with two backs" wasn't originally from Othello

>> No.2895605

>>2895592

What's it from, then?

>> No.2895609

>>2895605
Rabelais, apparently.

>> No.2895619

>>2895609
But it's not like Shakespeare read it and stole it from Rabelais.

http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/58450.html

>> No.2895623

>>2895609

Rabelais was a real mensch. I'm not mad.

>> No.2895631

>>2895619

These two did oftentimes do the two-backed beast together, joyfully rubbing and frotting their bacon 'gainst one another."

OMG I need to reed Rabelais.

>> No.2895695
File: 38 KB, 282x260, RabelaisPF.gif [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
2895695

If you study it deep enough, you understand that everything comes from Rabelais. Look at this guy.

>> No.2895712

It's a feel I'm very well acquainted with. I've almost finished with his bibliography, I only have three more books to read, and that thought is at the back of my mind while I'm reading.

>> No.2895730

>>2895712
Worst tripfag ever.

>> No.2895742

Is pale fire a difficult read? Can a pleb enjoy it?

>> No.2895751

>>2895742
It's not especially difficult. You could probably enjoy it. Just don't take everything the narrator says at face value