/lit/ - Literature

[Anonymous No.4590589]

The plens and degenerates over at /tv/ are praising Infinite Jest in this thread:

>>>/tv/41740106

Being that /tv/ is full of pedos, proles and pinheads, this probably shouldn't surprise anyone, right?

[Anonymous No.4590593]

Why is it Infinite Jest is so horrible?

I want a clear concise reason, something other than "DFW is a hack."

[Anonymous No.4590596]

so is this the 4chan equivalent of "man you don't even wanna KNOW the guys I hang out with, that's just how rad they are"

[Anonymous No.4590599]

this board is horrible

[Anonymous No.4590603]

>>4590596
everyone on this website is retarded and builds up imagined pictures of the boards and their communities and comes to the conclusion that /tv/ only has pedos and /lit/ only has people who eat sleep and breathe joyce and /mu/ only has hipster shits who hate the beatles and /co/ is just rage and SJW infiltration and /fit/ is squatz n oatz and etc. and then they talk about the boards as collective personalities instead of realizing that maybe they're composed of a large number of unique posters with semi unique opinions that tend to coagulate into recommendation charts and shit

infinite jest also deals with the contradictions present in addiction/sobriety and depression better than anyone else

[Anonymous No.4590606]

DFW was the king of the spergs.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_sQrxAorDo

[Anonymous No.4590607]

>>4590589
2deep4u

[Anonymous No.4590610]

>>4590603
the beatles are fucking garbage, how pleb do you have to be to enjoy that shit?

[Anonymous No.4590611]

>>4590589
Who gives a shit?
Let 'em like whatever they want.
btw you sound buttblasted

[Anonymous No.4590613]

>this whole thread

[Anonymous No.4590617]

Narcissistic claptrap. One of the most overrated books of the past century, for sure.

With that said, who gives a fuck. You're talking about a board that thinks Drive is a brilliant film. Let it go.

[Anonymous No.4590619]

>>4590589
Goddammit I hate his fucking bandanna

I like IJ but I reckon he'd be an insufferable person

[Anonymous No.4590620]

>>4590610
2melodic4u?

[Anonymous No.4590622]

"He can’t think, he can’t write. There’s no discernible talent."

[Anonymous No.4590623]

>>4590603
the exception doesn't make the rule faggot.
for the most part, these stereotypes are accurate

[Anonymous No.4590625]

>>4590622
>I'm a fat bitter jew

[Anonymous No.4590630]

>>4590617
>thinks the Drive maymay is for serious

top lel

[Anonymous No.4590633]

>>4590625
He's still, for better or worse, a brilliant man.

[Anonymous No.4590647]

>>4590606
HOLY FUCK.

I was going to read a bunch of other books I have before IJ but I guess I'm gonna go ahead and crack this as soon as I'm finished Don Quixote

[Anonymous No.4590649]

>>4590647
If that clip actually makes you want to read DFW, you're a lost cause.

>as soon as I'm finished Don Quixote

You should read A Confederacy of Dunces instead.

[Anonymous No.4590650]

>>4590619
I read the author's biography. He kind of was, but he got better.

I felt for him.

[Anonymous No.4590652]

>>4590649
I already had that in my cart but thanks for using meaningless bullshit to hoist yourself over my small plebeian self regarding a book you either have or have not read, neither option being one that would make you less of a bitter, pooplord nigger.

[Anonymous No.4590656]

>>4590610
This man should be president.
I'd once mentioned how the Beetles, while important to their time, are nowhere near as great as everyone today makes them out to seem.
Same with Kurt "This Gun Tastes Funny" Cobain.

[Anonymous No.4590659]

>>4590649
Confederacy of Dunces is a much smoother read. I wonder how the Neon Bible compares.

[Anonymous No.4590661]

>>4590652
I have read it. I've read it many times, as it's one of my favorite pieces of 20th century American literature. It's better than IJ, in case you're wondering.

And I don't need to hoist myself above someone I'm intrinsically better than. Thanks.

[Anonymous No.4590665]

>>4590661
>Doesn't know what book I was even talking about
>"Intrinsically better than" someone who is interested in an author
>Is probably a fat unemployed communist

Yeah and I probably won't ever read Joice. UMAD patriche?

[Anonymous No.4590667]

>>4590665
Are you the same fag from /tv/? You bear the same anti-intellectual and lame insults.

[Anonymous No.4590668]

>>4590606
He really had an active interest in grammar, since his mother (on whom Avril Incandenza is based) was a prescriptivist professor who would chide her children for using bad grammar.
He wrote a couple of essays about English usage.

[Anonymous No.4590674]

OP your conclusion is flawed because at least half of those pedos, proles, and pinheads are disparaging IJ.

[Anonymous No.4590672]

>>4590665
You thought that DFW clip was mind-blowing. That's enough for me to know I'm better than you.

>Is probably a fat unemployed communist
I weigh 180, have a decent job and most identify with anarcho-primitivist political philosophy

>I probably won't ever read Joice
0/10, apply yourself

[Anonymous No.4590677]

>>4590667
Oh man the insecure faggot who has to demean someone who wants to read a book because they think they dude who wrote it is kind of funny is upset that he is actually a TRANSPARENT, fat, unemployed communist.

What were you even doing on /tv/, you maestro of culture? Surely you cannot partake in an activity that even an abhorrent pleb like myself thinks is fucking gay?

[Anonymous No.4590676]

>>4590672
>have a decent job
>identify with anarcho-primitivist political philosophy
Bro, you are 10edgy5me.

[Anonymous No.4590682]

>>4590672
>Mind-blowing

Ahahahahaha you've got quite the imagination for a couple of words buddy.

>I weigh 180, have a decent job and most identify with anarcho-primitivist political philosophy
I don't even think you are lying on the internet, which means you are pathetic enough to justify yourself on the internet. Of course, from such a retarded, impotent and whiny hypocrite I -really- expected nothing less.

[Anonymous No.4590683]

>>4590676
Just because I identify most with anarcho-primitivism does not preclude me from having a job, especially as an American.

Furthermore, you don't even have an idea as to what my job could be.

Epic reaction images though. I bet the guys over at /s4s/ get a real kick out of them.

[Anonymous No.4590690]

>>4590683
You're just an edgy tool that's stuck in freshman year, really.
No level of *quality* existence permits complete anarchism nor complete tyranny. Grow up.

[Anonymous No.4590691]

>>4590683
>Just because I identify most with anarcho-primitivism does not preclude me from having a job, especially as an American.
See
>>4590682
>retarded, impotent and whiny hypocrite

>Furthermore, you don't even have an idea as to what my job could be.

It's something fucking stupid and you get paid very little to do it and now you've probably thought up and obscure yet slightly non-hypocritical title with the time your posturing has bought for you.

[Anonymous No.4590711]

>>4590682
No imagination is required to understand that the clip had quite an effect on you, when it should have had the opposite effect on you.

>pathetic enough to justify yourself on the internet
Is not justifying your claims less pathetic? Interesting.

>>4590690
>No level of *quality* existence permits complete anarchism nor complete tyranny

Define *quality* existence. Does that mean permanently receding ice caps and the honey bee facing extinction so you can enjoy a "*quality* existence" made up of shit posting on the internet via trite, reddit-tier reaction images of Charlie Sheen? If that's your idea of a *quality* existence, I think I'll remain standing behind, say, Thoreau's idea of a *quality* existence.

Also, if you can manage, please define "complete anarchism."

>>4590691
>paid very little

On the contrary. Then again, my lifestyle does not require me to make a large deal of money.

As for me being retarded, impotent and a hypocrite, riveting ad hominem bro.

[Anonymous No.4590720]

DFW is the lil wayne of American fiction.

Meaning though he's really popular he's still unanimously dismissed by high schoolers and first year english students with tastes that are the literary equivalent of dad core. That is, they dismiss all (or vast portions of) contemporary literature merely because it is not explicitly canonical, and thus offers no concrete cultural currency. Since they lack the cultural literacy to figure out "good" from "bad" they desperately latch onto whatever everyone can agree is "good."

But then if you actually listen to Tha Carter III you realize it's actually really good (although maybe still overrated).

[Anonymous No.4590727]

>>4590720
>Lil Wayne
>really good

[Anonymous No.4590744]

>>4590720
> retards attempting poetry
> good

this is exactly what you'd expect from DFW fans

[Anonymous No.4590752]

Honestly, I used to dislike DFW, but this video helped change my opinion: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TzFNh2_dSBg

[Anonymous No.4590756]

>>4590720
>mfw I stopped talking to you and then 45 minutes later come to see you have decided to write a short essay on your autism

How's that sweet job and anarchy-mindedness going for you buddy?

[Anonymous No.4590759]

>>4590720
ethno musicology friend?

[Anonymous No.4590764]

>>4590756
>thinking >>4590711 and >>4590720 are the same person

How dense are you?

[Anonymous No.4590767]

>>4590756
not that guy

>>4590759
umm, also not that guy, sorry

[Anonymous No.4590771]

>>4590752
I'm the guy who wants to read IJ, I like how he outlines what is wrong with the world but then gives people the benefit of the doubt, gives a short blurb about college and muh importance, and then apparently killed himself.

Pretty sweet. I bet he had his optimism crushed horribly. Still looking forward to reading this and that other book, I hope my patrician friend is doing okay over there in piss-bottle land though.

[Anonymous No.4590777]

The man does writes the way we think. He does stream of consciousness better than anyone else, including Joyce.
As >>4590603 said, the book is a brilliant study of addiction and dependence as well as self-image and depression.

[Anonymous No.4590782]

>>4590771
I'm still waiting for you to respond to my previous post.

It's funny how you call me a hypocrite, when you're the one glorifying a huge hypocrite (DFW). He was incredibly weak-minded and weak-willed. Must be why you and so many like you are drawn to him.

[Anonymous No.4590783]

>>4590752
His essays/non-fiction are great. Almost all of his work has this desperate happiness to it-the world is awful, but you can choose how you see it/Don Gately can be reborn, etc.

While op clearly has issues with IJ, I liked it and have never really found a book that describes depression as accurately nor the mind-numbing, menial addictions, from drugs to entertainment/internet, one uses to self-medicate. Learning how he died, trying to switch anti-depressants after finally finding stability in his life, was rough for me, especially after the themes of continuance and rebirth in IJ.

[Anonymous No.4590788]

>>4590783
DFW's depression was as bullshit as the shit culture his was a victim of.

Maslow's Hierarcy. How many people in, say, Darfur are prescribed Narfil for depression? None, I'd wager. DFW was a weak-minded bitch that couldn't consciously see past the all the shit around him (namely our ugly, horrible culture) in order to reach self-actualization.

[Anonymous No.4590793]

>>4590788
Then it's a tragedy he never did considering what creative content he produced without actualizing the self.

[Anonymous No.4590806]

>>4590656
Wow, those are some hot new opinions you got there, you special snow flake!

I mean, I doubt anyone ever in the history of mankind had the guts to say that while those two extremely successful bands, while successful and popular, might be overrated!

Tell me: is your name Piero?

[Anonymous No.4590808]

>>4590793
He certainly transcended the self while writing IJ. He used to speak about how while he was writing it, he would forget that he was writing and would basically lose all sensation. As if he was channeling it (obviously not, but just to illustrate the point).

He never was able to really feel that transcendence again after finishing IJ, which was a big factor in his depression I guess. But that still makes him a bitch. The transcendent is always fleeting. We taste it, and then the taste disappears. That doesn't mean you go and fucking hang yourself. It means you continue your journey "up the tree of life" as it were, until you find that fleeting moment of transcendence again and until, finally, you reach a permanent state of self-actualization and individuation.

In a sense, it's a shame he opted for fucking pharmaceuticals and electro-shock therapy instead of proven methods of psychotherapy. Oh well.

[Anonymous No.4590824]

Faulkners so much cooler than Joyce fuck that

[Anonymous No.4590831]

>>4590610

Some of the songs from the acid years are pretty good but the majority of their music is unbearable. I want to leve every time I hear hey jude,