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/lit/ - Literature

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3462887 No.3462887 [Reply] [Original]

"What are you reading?"

"Infinite Jest"

"Never heard of it. What's it about?

>> No.3462894

"What are you reading?"

[nearly any book]

"Never heard of it. What's it about?"

>> No.3462908

A lot

>> No.3462927

>>3462908

"What do you mean, anon?"

>> No.3462929

>>3462887
"What are you reading?"

[nearly any book]

"What's a book?"

>> No.3462934

>>3462927
It's about loads of different things

>> No.3462937

"what are you reading?'

(any book)

"is there an audio version?"

>> No.3462939

'It's about tennis'

>> No.3462943

"Tennis and drug addicts"

Is that so hard OP?

>> No.3462951

>>3462943

Makes me sound like a fag to say I'm reading a book about tennis.

>> No.3462954

"It's about addiction."

>> No.3462956

>>3462951
Nobody fucking cares

>> No.3462965

>>3462951
As opposed to say you're reading a book about a vampire stalking a teenage girl?

>> No.3462986

>>3462951
>Makes me sound like a fag to say I'm reading a book about tennis.

Truth hurts, don't it?

>> No.3462992

>>3462986

You in charge of funny jokes

>> No.3462999

>>3462887
This exact thing happened to me, scary. I said "tennis and drugs an entertainment, but I'm only 200 pages in"

>> No.3463008
File: 62 KB, 700x921, 20121112-howtohugaman.png [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
3463008

>>3462887
Does anyone have the Finnegans Wake copypasta with someone asking if it's any good?

>> No.3463016

>>3462999

Are you still 200 pages in?

>> No.3463028

>>3462986

Jaja

>> No.3463033

>>3462887

"I think it's a bit too deep for you, but if you really want to know I'm reading the best American novel written during the last century, and it has been approved by countless literature experts on an internet forum that you've probably never heard of, and which I shall not name anyway because it's a secret club."

>> No.3463036

>>3463033
Which literature forum on the internet?

>> No.3463040

>>3463036
TRICKED!

>> No.3463041
File: 495 KB, 194x172, 1359515918299.gif [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
3463041

>>3463040
aw man

>> No.3463042

>Society's consumption of media, drugs, and entertainment and what dependence on escapism says about the luridness of reality

>> No.3463045
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3463045

>>3463036

>> No.3463046
File: 179 KB, 397x467, DFW.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
3463046

>>3463045

>> No.3463050

Must we have this thread once a day...you're not cooler for reading Infinite Jest

>> No.3463054

>>3463050

Who claimed to be cool!

>> No.3463057
File: 827 KB, 640x360, 1359046578485.gif [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
3463057

>>3463050
I'm the coolest kid in school

>> No.3463074
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3463074

>>3463050

>> No.3463108

>>3462887
It's a book about tennis.

>> No.3463109

>"What are you reading?"

Implying the average question to someone reading nowadays isn't so much 'what are you reading' but 'what are you doing?'

Also, the amount of hipster fags who walk past when your out reading and whilst passing you by make a snarky comment to whoever they're with: 'Reading is such a waste of time, life's too short to be spent reading' - makes my piss boil.

>> No.3463114

>>3463109
>Implying that people who read go outside and do so in public.
This doesn't happen, and we all know it. Let's stop lying to ourselves -- we don't need the outside world. It's superfluous.

>> No.3463121

>>3463114
b-but once I read a book when I was on a train.

>> No.3463123
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3463123

>>3463109
>Implying they don't always ask you what you're reading for.

>> No.3463124

"What are you reading?"

"I don't read. I dismember the text with all the logical force and rigour of my hermeneutic apparatus in order to get a glimpse at the underlying ontological and epistemological assumptions the author is unknowingly operating under, in an attempt to free myself from said hindering assumptions."

"But isn't that Harry Potter?"

"N-No..."

(OP runs away holding back tears of shame)

>> No.3463131

>>3462887
>What's it about?

After I tell them I always get the idea they aren't really interested in what's it about since they change the topic pretty quickly then

>> No.3463132

>>3463046
what episode?

>> No.3463135

>>3463132
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moe'N&#039_Lisa

>> No.3463136

>>3463131
It's about as smalltalky as asking someone how they are. If a stranger asks howdy you should brush it off regardless of how you are because it'd be weird to dive into your deepest personal troubles.

>> No.3463139

>>3463135
That's wrong, it's from "A Totally Fun Thing Bart Will Never Do Again"

>> No.3463144

>>3463139
first I thought you were a really cool guy, but apparently that is an actual episode

>> No.3463158

>>3463144
I'm still cool...

>> No.3463194

>>3462951
Then say it's about addiction and terrorism. It's equally true.

>> No.3463223

>"What are you reading?"
>"Infinite Jest"

Books /lit/ trolled you into reading thread?

>> No.3463232

>>3463223

Fucking Kant.

>> No.3463247

>>3463232
You take it that /lit/, a board on 4chan, TROLLED you into reading Immanuel Kant, the second or third most important philosopher of the Modern era?.

In other news, my school trolled me into reading Shakespeare.

>> No.3463249

"What's it about?"

"I don't know, I haven't read it yet."

Then they might ask me why I read books when I don't know the premise and we have a conversation that I don't mind.

>> No.3463252

>>3463232

>three weeks into first semester at college
>no friends
>see classmate reading Kant
>engage in philosophical chit chat

>tfw friend

>> No.3463260

>what are you reading
>naked lunch
>what's it about
>a gay junkie and aliens

>> No.3463261

>>3463252

Is that the only interest you two share?

>> No.3463262

>>3463223
>Books /lit/ trolled you into reading

The Book of the New Sun

>> No.3463265

>>3463247

No, Shakespeare is good. Kant is not. Or, more to the point, I don't agree with him. I also got trolled into reading Locke and Benoist.

>> No.3463282

>>3463265
It's more a matter of their influence, you can't be trolled into reading Kant in the same way you can't be trolled into reading Shakespeare.

>> No.3463334

>>3463223
wuthering heights

>> No.3463351

>>3463350

Fuck man, I got caught by my relatives. It's not funny.

>> No.3463350

>>3463223
Shoplifting from American Apparel

>> No.3463361

>>3462934
I find this funny.

>> No.3463365

>>3463361
That's nice. why?

>> No.3463573

DFW's constant jumping of narrative styles in this book really pisses me off. I'll absolutely love one passage and then 2 paragraphs later it will seem like he's purposefully making it difficult to comprehend.

Anyone else notice this?

>> No.3463586
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3463586

>>3463040

>> No.3463622

>>3463573
>infinite jest
>difficult to comprehend
lol

>> No.3463649
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3463649

>What are you reading?
>Naked Lunch
>What's it about?
>

>> No.3463658

>>3463573
That's because he is.

>> No.3463667

>>3463649
"Stuff"

>> No.3463672

>>3463573
The only narrative style I saw him 'play' with (other than his own, naturally dreadful style) was some cringe worthy bit of fake AAVE.

I had to put the book down before page 200 because it was just embarrassingly bad.

>> No.3465062
File: 499 KB, 1410x2100, infinitejest.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
3465062

Just closed the book a few minutes ago at pg.729.
I've been telling people it's "a social dissemination on our culture's addiction to entertainment and its deep internal effects on humanity's social structure." Then I say that "it's changed my life."

Then they call me pretentious.

>> No.3465064

>>3463050
I wish I could unread this book and revert back to the childish awareness I had for the world. Because this shit feels far from cool.

>> No.3465065

>>3463114
Before I stopped going to college completely, I always read out in quads and on various benches across campus instead of attending classes, you dolt.

>> No.3465088

>>3465062
>a social dissemination on our culture's addiction to entertainment

I think you don't know what 'dissemination' means.

>> No.3465092

>>3465088
Yeah, and neither do the people who ask me what the book is about.

>> No.3465094

>>3465092
But they realize that you are pretentious, so maybe they knew that you don't know.

>> No.3465110

>>3463247
there's a reason the majority of philosophers immediately dismissed his work by diverging from his theories once he became inactive.

>> No.3465142

>>3463261
We also have gay sex together.

>> No.3465225

>>3462887
>"What are you reading?"
>"Infinite Jest"
>"Never heard of it. What's it about?
> It's a sci-fi novel about a future America that is controlled by corporate consumer culture.

Problem solved.

>> No.3465300

>>3465142
4real? Are you homosexual or just into everything?

>> No.3465327

>>3465064
Let your inner infant out!

>> No.3465801

>>3465062
why don't you just tell them it's about tennis? Nobody will ask any further.

>> No.3465843

>>3462934
lol, this is what I genuinely replied when someone asked me that question about Brief Interviews. The conversation died a death after that.

>> No.3465882

"Drugs."

>> No.3465907
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3465907

It's about the rage of looking gross.

It's about the sexy of bandanas.

>> No.3465928

Since we're talking about the book; does anyone ever get the same vibe from watching Always Sunny as you do reading IJ?

>> No.3465947
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3465947

"What are you reading?"

"Infinite Jest"

"What are you a hipster? Also fiction is retarded"

"No i'm not a hipster, actually, I'm--

-- nah you're a hipster. I mean, look at your ironic nerd outfit and those fake prescription glasses. Plus, you read fiction lol"

"but fiction is srs busness..."

>tfw when I actually need these glasses and hipsters have ruined my life

>> No.3465949

>>3465947
Not if you never read

>> No.3465954

>>3465062
Foster Wallace indulged American weakness and implied that we are slaves to the entertainment and that our only choice is to opt for or against it, but once subjected to it we are powerless.

I disagree with this.

>> No.3465980

>>3465954

Amusing Ourselves to Death

by Neil Postman.

>> No.3465989

>>3465954
>>3465980
also
Amused To Death by Roger Waters

>> No.3465991

>>3465954
Wasn't that tired theme around since Fahrenheit 451?

>> No.3465994

>>3465991
I think it takes a different approach though

>> No.3465996

>>3463042
wow. when you put it like that it makes me a bit sad.

>> No.3466008

>>3465991
>>3465989
>>3465954
one wonders if the popularity of this motif reveals some masochistic guilt at daring to receive hedonistic gratification in defiance of the traditional calvinist fixation with work and self denial

>> No.3466016
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3466016

>>3466008

>> No.3466044

>>3462887
I've heard of it. Is it good?

I find postmodernism annoying as fuck. It's been shit since AHWOSG

>> No.3466093

>>3466044
>AHWOSG

Which is what again?

>> No.3466097

>>3463033
>I think it's a bit too deep for you

wow, you're a turd. have you found any friends in your 15 years of trying?

>> No.3466104

Only /lit/ thinks highly of IJ anymore. In the real world, IJ is forgotten and when mentioned, regarded as an oddity more than an achievement, just like Pynchon.

>> No.3466105

>Expecting anyone who enjoyed Infinite Jest to show the smallest iota of reading comprehension

Oh, how naive.

>> No.3466131

>>3466105

I'm always toying with the idea of reading this book. I actually have an MA in literature and wrote my thesis on Melville; what sayest thou?

>> No.3466136

>>3466097
that was obvious satire, idiot.

>> No.3466194

>>3466104
lol, shows how out of touch you are.

>> No.3466196

>>3466136

I think he understood that.

I think.

>> No.3466199

>>3466104
What? Where do you live? That is not the case in America.

>> No.3466201

>>3466131
Meh.

>> No.3466202

>>3466044
IJ came before AHWOSG (which is not particularly pomo, anyway), and DFW is lightyears ahead of Eggers -- as Eggers himself would probably admit, judging by the fawning foreword he penned for IJ.

>> No.3466242

>>3466194

>ten years studying literature at uni, nobody ever mentioned Infinite Jest

Sorry, sir, I think you've confused /lit/ with a university.

>> No.3466244

>>3466242

Same here, that novel wasn't even on any canonical list. Wake up, /lit/, you're being autismal.

>he played tennis and masturbated
>GIVE HIM A NOBEL!

>> No.3466657

>>3463622

You're so cool

>> No.3466679

I've yet to see any favorable criticism of "Infinite Jest" by a reputable critic (meaning someone who actually knows a shit about literature).

I think /lit/ is bamboozled by reviews from "Newsweek" and "The New York Times", and actually considers these to be venues of true literary scholarship. It breaks my heart.

>> No.3466754

>>3466679

It's a best seller you twat

>> No.3466762

>>3466679

Good to know people have personal opinions still

>> No.3466777

It's about a movie that's so entertaining that everyone who watches it dies. And tennis.

>> No.3466786

>>3466754
So is Dan Brown. What on earth is your point?

>>3466762
Paying attention to renowned critics doesn't exclude one from having a personal opinion. Try again.

>> No.3466800

Every time I see an Infinite JEst thread the OP picture just zooms in more and more on the cover.

Eventually all you're gonna be able to see is the giant "E."

>> No.3466821

>>3466800

But saying that /lit/ is tricked into thinking its a good book because no 'reputable' literary critics have given it a good review, but a few non reputable sources have, is an implication that critics opinions are what defines a book as 'good'.

Inb4 you try and deny your implication

>> No.3466826

>>3466786

Are you trying to imply there's anything wrong with Dan brown? Were you pretentious as a child or did /lit/ make you like this?

>> No.3466837

>>3466826
>Are you trying to imply there's anything wrong with Dan brown?
Oh god, the pretension from you is overwhelming. And over Dan "the famous man looked at the red cup" Brown.

>> No.3466844

What are you reading?

>insert book

Does it sufficiently distract you from the knowledge of your imminent mortality?

being friends with robots is not very fun...

>> No.3466846

>>3466821
It's totally awesome that you come from a world where literary analysis doesn't need to go beyond "I like it", but that's pretty much the only thing Infinite Jest's defendants say about it on /lit/.

It doesn't fly. I'm sorry, it doesn't.

>> No.3466854

>>3462887
It's a meandering demonstration of a liberal arts education. Also, he kill hisself.

>> No.3466863

>>3466846
No, you're right. I didn't really like it. Nobody did. It was all just an act. You win.

>> No.3466869

>>3466863
You miss the point.

Your "I like it" isn't worth a fuck.

>> No.3466886

>>3466869
Who cares?