/lit/ - Literature

[Anonymous No.4130669]

so the other day i had a dream where someone i know got mugged
what is a nice book where the main character gets mugged? preferably no fantasy

[Anonymous No.4130675]

Jacques the fatalist and his master.

[Anonymous No.4130679]

>>4130675
That book is old, does thieves existed during that age? I don't want him to get killed, just mugged.

[Anonymous No.4130701]

>IF DFW

There are millions of books and countless writers.
Why /lit/ is so obsessed with DFW and IF?
It is mentioned every second post.

[Anonymous No.4130732]

>>4130701
IJ proves that people who've never done anything with their lives, don't really have anything to say, and spent their whole lives in some educational institution or other can become literary celebrities.

I think a lot of people here are college students who want to be writers but know they ultimately have nothing to say and know their lives are totally uninteresting and mediocre. DFW gives them hope, and they cling to it quite forcefully.

[Anonymous No.4130748]

>>4130732
Interesting aspect.

[Anonymous No.4130791]

>>4130732
or he's a legitimately great writer who articulated 21st century american malaise.

[Anonymous No.4130819]

>>4130791
Very difficult to see the validity of this.

[Anonymous No.4130845]

>>4130791
yeah I'm with you anon

[Anonymous No.4130849]

>>4130732
Being a nationally ranked (I think) high school tennis player doesn't count as doing anything?

[Anonymous No.4130857]

>>4130849
In an interview he said he was around 4000th in the nation. This is probably exaggerated due to obligatory self-depreciation, but so we can still probably place him around 500th at best - for comparison, I was nationally ranked in the top 100 for competitive math and I still don't really feel like I've done much of anything.

(that said, I do really like DFW and think IJ is easily one of the greatest pieces of contemporary literature)

[Anonymous No.4130868]

>>4130819
truth can be difficult

[Anonymous No.4131252]

Does the main character of IJ gets mugged too?

[Anonymous No.4131263]

The only one I can think of is The Overcoat by Gogol, or to a degree The Count of Monte Cristo, but it's more kidnapping than stealing if I remember.

[Anonymous No.4131264]

>>4131263
Just a normal mug, walking down the street, nigger comes ask for my stuff and leaves.

[Anonymous No.4131306]

>>4130857

>competitive math

[Anonymous No.4131327]

>>4131264
Kenneth Patchen's text for The City Wears a Slouch Hat has a mugging scene with an interesting twist.

[Anonymous No.4131341]

>>4131327
What twist? I want him just to get mugged, like when people get mugged on the street no superman or supernatural shit.

[Anonymous No.4131348]

>>4130849
>>4130857
I think he only played in the juniors at state level, which is still pretty good but not that special. I personally know several more accomplished athletes than that. I do enjoy reading Wallace write about tennis, though. The Tracy Austin and Michael Joyce essays are really good, he seems really passionate about it (haven't read the Federer one yet.)

[Anonymous No.4132100]

>>4130732
>>4130791

Reading IJ right now. Given time, will DFW be considered the greatest writer in the American canon? No. Was he amazingly good? Yes. He will be remembered as one of the best of the 90's/2000s/ postmodernism era.

[Anonymous No.4134163]

>>4130732
You're right, Anon. If artists want to truly be great, they shouldn't force themselves to create. They should practice their craft and bide their time until they have something of value to contribute to the world. Post-modernism is the opposite of value. It is the devaluation of all things.

[Anonymous No.4134196]

>>4130669
>Penguin Classics
>2014-1

[Anonymous No.4134227]

the lady on that book cover is such a qt

who is that?