/lit/ - Literature

[Anonymous No.4634073]

If you could make one book required reading for high school students in your home country (or internationally I guess) what would it be?

[Anonymous No.4634075]

[Anonymous No.4634076]

high school students are stupid and are incapable of understanding any great literature that is not meant for children.

i would make them read dictionary so they would learn a lot of words.

[Anonymous No.4634078]

120 Days of Sodom
Cities of the Red Night

[Anonymous No.4634082]

my poetry.

[Anonymous No.4634084]

This one, before our society burns to the ground

[Anonymous No.4634093]

>>4634084
4chan is such that i dont even know if negers like you are trolling anymore
anyway if you were a real fascist i doubt you'd choose that, so you must be trolling
but maybe you actually are 15
fuck my life is hard

[Anonymous No.4634096]

>>4634084
Why not the greatest work of philosophy of all time?

[Anonymous No.4634100]

the heart sutra

[Anonymous No.4634101]

>>4634096
is it as good as everyone say it is?

[Anonymous No.4634110]

candide

might need some footnotes but holy shit what a good book

[Anonymous No.4634119]

>>4634101
It's beyond good.
Also evil.

[Anonymous No.4634122]

Philosophy in the Boudoir

[Anonymous No.4634182]

>>4634073

Uhh...some easy introduction to the philosophy of science by <insert author>.

Or did you mean prose? They have trouble with Lord of the Flies as it is so I wouldn't exactly throw Dostojevski at them.

Perhaps 'After Virtue' by MacIntyre in their final year.

[Anonymous No.4634294]

>>4634096
This
Also thus spoke Zarathustra

[Anonymous No.4634319]

>>4634073
Honestly? I don't know. At that level high school students who don't want to learn will just ignore it entirely.

What I would vote for is the removal of that Dick and Jane bullshit. Pictures-words? Pictures win every fucking time. I would demand more from the kids. Try to get them to understand the language rather than memorize key words and concepts. That was what killed the late twentieth century with language. Ninety nine percent of yuppies and hippies had no idea how to say or read anything. The other one percent was Pynchon, who was a hardcore yuppie.

[Anonymous No.4634788]

>>4634073
I'd make it an introduction to philosophy book that covered all the basic concepts and fallacies.

>Op's pic
Why is it everything really practical has to look so stupid.

[Anonymous No.4634793]

the world as will and vorstellung

[Anonymous No.4634840]

Enchiridion of Epictetus

[Anonymous No.4634904]

Why My Dick Is Bigger Than Yours (and why you should suck it), by me.

[Anonymous No.4634936]

Brave New World, it should be easy enough to keep their attention and hopefully the pedosex should grab it.

[Anonymous No.4634980]

Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (the omnibus edition).

There are other, more important works, but if we're talking about something every normal high school student needs to read, then it's got to be a highest common denominator.

The prose is accessible to anyone who speaks English, and foreign people learning the language can practice their idiomatic with it. The plotting is fairly linear, and focuses on a small cast of distinct and funny characters, so there isn't a lot of jumping through flashbacks. The digressions, such as they are, tend to be clearly marked, and where they don't factor into the plot directly, they're at least entertaining. The book is only deliberately obscure in service of either the plot or a good joke. It explores themes explicitly enough that you don't have to reach through dense symbolism to get at them, but if your reading comprehension is sufficiently developed there's plenty of subtext to support less obvious interpretations.

It touches on elements of language, philosophy, technology, sexuality, biology, ecology, and enough other fields that you could have a variety of jumping-off points for students to research.

It blends genres freely, so there's broad appeal. Sex and violence are present enough to justify having teens read it, but not so explicitly that it would generate intense controversy with conservative parents (at least on those particular subjects).

There are only two real risks: it's a male-dominated series, women being relatively super-competent, sensible, and ancillary to wacky hijinks, so there's a chance of alienating female readers. Also, the books don't treat god very well, so there's a fair chance the fundie students/parents would shit on it, but fuck 'em. The kids need to have their worldviews challenged, and if the worst they get is the Hitchhiker's Guide, consider it a blessing.

[Anonymous No.4635010]

>>4634980
>highest common denominator
I think I fucked something up there. Whatever.

I mean I want to find the best book with the greatest appeal for the most people.

[Anonymous No.4635038]

I'd totally ride that scooter.

[Anonymous No.4636651]

>>4634980
>There are only two real risks
There's also the problem of everything after the first being pretty shitty and a complete mess of narrative. so random though!

Eoin Colfer's addition to the series wasn't great by any means but compared to the final real book it was a relief.

[Anonymous No.4636653]

>>4634073
tractus

[Anonymous No.4636690]

>>4634073
A short guide to critical thinking.

[Anonymous No.4636763]

>>4634073
Looking for Alaska by John Greene. It'll help you deal with death when someone you love dies.

[Anonymous No.4637023]

>>4636763
the last thing teens need more of is purple prose schlock.
except maybe generic books about girls with gumption

[Anonymous No.4637056]

>>4634936
class of 2009 here, read this in 11th grade AP literature. in fact, i'd want to make what we read in that class compulsory for all students, but i doubt most high schoolers would actually read that many books in a year. but shit man, we read some good ones

frankenstein, brave new world, dante's inferno, some shakespeare, jane eyre and madame bovary (both of which i found tedious as fuck, but hey i was 16 what can i say) amongst others

in the usual english classes at my high school, they were (un)lucky to read 2 full length novels in a year

[Anonymous No.4637058]

>>4634980
This is actually the most reasonable one so far.

Y'all motherfuckers need to remember that highschool students have trouble with "To Kill A Mockingbird." You can't throw philosophy at them and expect anything. The Hitchhikers Guide is at the very least a good introduction to witticisms and non-standard humor. (Standard humor in high school being puns and penis jokes.)

[Anonymous No.4637068]

>>4634073

[Anonymous No.4637088]

>>4636651
Haha, yeah, you really do have shit taste.

HG is solid stuff through and through. People seriously underrate Mostly Harmless, but it's a pretty great story about life not fitting the way you want it to in adulthood.

And if you really think the brunt of the humor in the series is 'random', I have to wonder how many pages you tore out for roach paper.

[Anonymous No.4637176]

>>4634093
>Fascist
>National Socialist
>The same thing
Not even that poster, but
hahaohwowlaughinggirls.jpg

[Anonymous No.4637774]

In all honesty, I wouldn't bother. Those with an interest in literature outside the current required reading will find it on their own.

In the meantime people can gripe about people talking old and not making any sense.

[Anonymous No.4637812]

Highschool students are stupid and therefore should not have access to specific books because they won't understand it? Wtf? You know that generalizing stuff is dangerous. And even if ALL highschool students were stupid I'm sure one or two books would help them improve. I think that's why required reading exists, tbh. To help kids broaden their once closed minds and their criticism. OK, I admit that nowadays highschool required reading is shit but nevertheless I stand behind my point. They're not stupid, they're teenagers and the right books might open their minds to other things other than Snapchat.

[Anonymous No.4637848]

>>4637176
Why don't you try teaching him something instead of shitposting

[Anonymous No.4637849]

>>4634084
I feel like people should read Mein Kampf as to simply just realize he had an actual perspective and wasn't just 'evil incarnate'.

Like the thought that everyone should read the bible, just to achieve that understanding of what it must have been like historically and mentally back in those times.

[Anonymous No.4637853]

George Orwell's Burmese Days.

1984 stopped being relevant when Stalin died, and Animal Farm stopped being relevant when the Soviet Union fell. And they both concern Russian history anyway. For British schoolchildren Burmese Days is a lot more interesting, since it A) involves British history, and B) is still relevant to the political state of East Asia today.

Of course, the only conclusion you can draw from it was that the Burmese were a thousand times better off with the British in charge, which is why the left-wing British teaching establishment won't touch it.

[Anonymous No.4639687]

>>4634075
>the Tractatus
>not PI

[Remember kids, enjoy is super-(...) No.4639694]

I don't know to what extent it is obligatory in some places but replace 1984 with Brave New World. Its much more in tune with our times and is much more probable of happening

[Anonymous No.4639702]

>>4636763
Most students interested in reading will discover it by themselves, so why bother?

[Anonymous No.4639713]

>>4637853
>British teaching establishment
>left-wing

Seriously, do you rightists just have a persecution complex about everything?

[Anonymous No.4639735]

>>4637853
What of Homage to Catalonia? I think that's still pretty relevant.

[Anonymous No.4639873]

>>4634182
Dostoyevsky is required tho, I don't think the smarter kids at my school had trouble with that or LotF.

[Anonymous No.4639879]

Pic related. Excellent short stories to engage you with the Western canon.

[Anonymous No.4639886]

Forcing people to read will not make them like reading

[Anonymous No.4639980]

>>4639713
lol

It's leftists who have a persecution complex, as evidenced by the fact that despite having won the culture war decades ago and being so utterly ascendent and dominant in Western society that the Party apparatchiks have nothing better to do than demand gender-neutral bathrooms, they STILL portray themselves as the underdogs.

Maybe you will find this Moldbug post on the subject relevant, maybe you are just another whiny progressivist retard with his head up his ass.

http://unqualified-reservations.blogspot.ca/2007/05/democrats-party-of-lies.html

[Anonymous No.4640028]

>>4639980
I think you're a bit stupid, they keep their winning position by portraying themselves as the underdogs.

[Anonymous No.4640031]

>ctrl-f
>Protocols of the Elders of Zion
>0 results

You fail me YET again, /lit/

[Anonymous No.4640050]

>>4634075

I thought of this, but then I realized how obscure it is, and how much prior reading it would require to really understand.

[Anonymous No.4640053]

>>4640028
They portray themselves as the underdogs because of their persecution complex. The fact that this has caused them to win is not the result of some kind of grand strategy but simply a self-organizing, self-reinforcing consequence of the expression of that part of their character.

[Anonymous No.4640929]

[Anonymous No.4640934]

>>4640053
>persecution complex
>modern right-wing politics

Pick any two.

[Anonymous No.4641334]

>>4639694
brave new world sucks dick though

[Anonymous No.4641365]

My brain would make them read something easy to grasp, yet teasingly complex. The only purpose being an introduction to the merits of classic literature. I can't tell youth to enjoy literature, they have to figure that shit out for themselves.
My heart however, would make them read the Sun and Steel.

[Anonymous No.4641385]

>>4640934
remember the NBC blogger who lied about some "right-winger" calling her son a faggot for hearing a bow in his hair?

remember that waitress who wrote "none NIGGER" on her receipt to get sympathy?

remember that lesbian waitress who wrote "sorry i can't tip because i don't agree with your lifestyle" on her receipt and ran away with 10k donations?

remember that feminist activist in santa cruz who met a man from craigslist, asked him to SHOOT her (he declined), fuck her and then tried to file rape charges and whined about rape culture at a UCSC LGBT conference? these all happened in the past year.

you probably don't, because you don't follow the news, but do you think these people ascribe to right-wing politics?

[Anonymous No.4641390]

>>4634182
we'll just be disillusioning them before they can get to college where they stimulate our economy with loans, and they'll all want to go live on a commune. don't encourage that.

[Anonymous No.4641405]

>>4634840
>come into thread
>about to type Enchiridion
>think "better ctrl+f it first"
>someone's already posted it
Cool.

Anyway, I agree.

[Anonymous No.4641410]

>>4637812
>Highschool students are stupid and therefore should not have access to specific books because they won't understand it? Wtf? You know that generalizing stuff is dangerous
Alright, you judge them all individually, every single student, and designate they read an appropriate book.

Go on, I'm waiting.

[Anonymous No.4641414]

>>4637853
> Animal Farm stopped being relevant when the Soviet Union fell
You clearly haven't ever heard of Scandinavia.

[Anonymous No.4641417]

Most US schools don't require philosophy in high school, so I'd just throw in Plato/Aristotle or some other foundational book.

[Anonymous No.4641431]

>>4637849

He wasn't evil incarnate, just idiocy incarnate, which resulted in a lot of evil things. The man as too dumb to be evil.

[Anonymous No.4641435]

I wouldn't choose one whole book by him, but a selection of essays/excerpts from William T. Vollmann. They'd have to be chosen carefully so retarded parents wouldn't go apeshit though, which would be tricky considering his usual subjects. I think someone like Vollmann would be approachable enough to make a high school student keep reading, but difficult enough that they'd have to actually read it.

[Anonymous No.4641437]

>>4637853
Down and Out in Paris and London is his best book.

WHy are so many teachers leftwing btw? I remember when 9/11 happened I had a a world issues teacher telling the class it was the U.S. fault...

[Anonymous No.4641443]

>>4639713

Seriously, in Canada all my teachers were communist. It was insane when I think about it now.

[Anonymous No.4641451]

>>4639713
No, leftists just pretend to live in a world where they aren't the hegemony.

[Anonymous No.4641453]

>>4634073
mein kamf

[Anonymous No.4641456]

>>4641453
>Hitler's Mein Kampf is banned in Europe
[citation needed]

[Anonymous No.4641459]

>>4641385
Those people make sensible liberals look bad, just like Congressmen talking in front of a wall of deer heads about how evolution isn't real makes conservatives look like babbling illiterates.

[Anonymous No.4641464]

>>4641459
oh i'm well aware, but i'm just saying it's more common for leftists to exploit the victim narrative to grasp at a moral high ground.

[Anonymous No.4641470]

>>4639713
Sweden here. 42% of journalists support the greens(communists in all but name) which has only 7.3% of votes. Over 50% of journalists in state media. The left party(communists even in name until 1990) supported by 15% with only 5.6% of the votes.

The education department sounds exactly like the left party itself openly stating its responsibility to "compensate for the students circumstances" and portraying a lack of "equality" as the main problem in our notoriously bad educational system most iconic for it's high amount of "equality". And then going on to define equality by your points:
Small correlation between parents educational background and income and student result(meaning if your parents are engaged and helpful or wealthier they have a self-admitted "responsibility" to give you a worse education to equalize the results, keep in mind private schools don't exist as tuition fees are illegal)
Small variation between schools(meaning wealthy areas with a well read intellectual population must have worse schools to compensate)
Small inverse correlation between an immigration background and educational achievement(meaning if you know the language and are white they have a responsibility to give you a worse education, so as to make things more equal)
And finally, and possibly most disturbing, small variance between individual students result at the same school. Meaning the sabotage of a gifted individual is a great achievement in terms of equality and something they have a "responsibility" to do.

At least here the culture war has been a decisive far-left victory. It's simply undeniable.

[Anonymous No.4641504]

>>4641456
you're trolling right?

[Anonymous No.4641512]

>>4641504
no, what shitholes is it banned in?

that thing doesn't even mention race and its hardly offensive.

[Anonymous No.4641520]

>>4641470

Sweden contributes nothing to the world of culture, because liberalism abhors any opinion that might be on the fringe, unless it is made by and arabic immigrant. Seriously, the only thing people know from Sweden is IKEA, Acne, and all the pastiche rock bands that came out of the country circa 2001. Europe is a cultural void.

[Anonymous No.4641552]

>>4641512
>what shitholes is it banned in

Germany

[Anonymous No.4641572]

>>4641470
What a time to be a Swede, eh? I'm truly sorry for what American Puritanism has unleashed on your country and all of Europe. It would have been so much better for the world if America had never existed.

[Anonymous No.4641590]

>>4641572
I wouldn't have much issue with it if only private schools were legal. Most of it is our own doing and I see more communist influence than american. A damn waste though. We could've been something.

[Anonymous No.4641616]

>>4641512
how is this level of ignorance allowed on lit?

[Anonymous No.4641631]

>>4641616
sorry i didn't know mein kampf was banned in germany, friend

[Anonymous No.4641649]

>>4634073

Just science books and nothing else.

[Anonymous No.4641652]

>>4641631
I think he means the part about race not being mentioned in Mein Kampf, which is totally and verifiably not true.

[Anonymous No.4641662]

>>4641616

how is this level of ignorance allowed on lit?

>4chan

[Anonymous No.4641779]

>>4641572
You are a homo sapiens sapiens, contained completely when standing upright with arms at your side within about 5'9"x1'9"x3' of space, and you are sitting in a room. All of history is narrative and dependent upon languages which can do nothing but describe things. You unwillingly became an operator of language when you were born and raised in specific spatial coordinates on the crust of a planet moving uniformly through set coordinates of no accord other than that which can be described. You had no say of your own because you never have to within the system which has been constructed by means of a temporal feedback loop.

The only thing I can't stand anymore is a fucking nationalist.

[Anonymous No.4641809]

>>4641779
Wow, you probably thought that was... profound, or something? How sad.

[Anonymous No.4641829]

>>4641779
>You had no say of your own because you never have to within the system which has been constructed by means of a temporal feedback loop.
>you never have to within the system
You accidentally a verb.

>You are a homo sapiens sapiens
Why stop there? I've a race, then an ethnicity, then a nation, then a family.
You really expect me to value some gook or nigger like my brother just because we're humans? The only ting I can't stand anymore is, well a lot of people but you too.

[Anonymous No.4641830]

best book ever written

[Anonymous No.4641956]

>>4641779
i'm not a nationalist but what if i'm proud to be an american and i think the ideas my country were founded on are great?

you seem to think people should only take pride in their own accomplishments, not who they are or where they come from. i carry pride in my race too, but i'm not white either.

[Anonymous No.4641988]

>>4641956
If you're not white taking pride in your race is not only A-OK but actively encouraged by every arm of the Cathedral. Enjoy inheriting the West. I hope you don't turn it into a collection of third-world shitholes just like all the places non-whites originally come from, but I'm not holding my breath.

[Anonymous No.4642013]

>>4641988
take your dark enlightenment monarchist dogma and shove it up your wazoo m8

i was born here stormnigger

[Anonymous No.4642037]

>>4642013
>i was born here

Doesn't change the fact that your people and their descendants have and will have a significantly lower average IQ than the existing white population, and that your race's inferiority is manifested in its glaring lack of cultural, intellectual, artistic, and scientific achievements compared to whites.

So anyway, now that whites are on the decline, hate themselves, and are headed for underclass status and possibly extinction, I guess East Asians are going to step up to the plate as the next global hegemons, so like I said enjoy inheriting the West, but you and the rest of the non-whites and mongrels who will be living there should resign yourself to being de facto ruled from Beijing.

[Anonymous No.4643068]

>>4642037

God Nick Land's the worst. Is he a troll?