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/lit/ - Literature

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4867885 No.4867885[DELETED]  [Reply] [Original]

Why is fictional literature so pointless /lit/?

I have read most of the books in the /lit/ essentials but I can never 'relate' to a fictional book. After reading fiction I just say "okay" and carry on. It didn't teach me or change my lifestyle like people on /lit/ claim books to affect them. Same with "philosophy" books, it's just old men chanting about their opinions and how their political spectrum is right. Educational literature interests me more since it actually teaches something, unlike philosophy books.

Does philosophical and fictional literature really affect the lifestyle of people here? Am I doing this 'reading' thing wrong?

>> No.4867895

>>4867885
You're probably an idiot.

>> No.4867898

i know STEM people that are like this it's hilarious

>> No.4867905

Sounds like you're putting a wall up and not allowing yourself to learn from these types of books. Unless you require things to be spelled out for you, there's more to reading than "educational literature", whatever that is. All literature is educational in its own way, I think. You just have to be willing to learn, to accept that it might be abstract or indirect, subjective even.

>> No.4867906

>>4867895
It's a possibility that I have a mental error dividing myself from 'understanding' fictional literature and letting it affect my lifestyle.

Sure didn't affect my Math and Physics major.

>> No.4867926

fictional literature is useful for acquisition of cultural literacy you fucking nerd

>> No.4867937

>>4867885
There is nothing wrong with you OP. Fiction is useless drivel without any value at all and it teaches nothing that can't be said in one sentence.

>> No.4867943

>>4867895
thread

>> No.4867947

>>4867926
>fictional literature is useful for acquisition of cultural literacy you fucking nerd

In other words, propaganda for /lit/erates who take fictional/philosophical books seriously?

>> No.4867960

>>4867947
what? you want to live in Western civilization without understanding the Bible, Shakespeare, Homer? I guess you could be a hardcore technocrat if you want but you'd be oblivious to large section of the history of human ideas

>> No.4867965

>>4867885
I've seen a similar disconnect with many "stem people"(if that can be a thing) and it really is puzzling. I would guess it has to do with how emotional someone is, or maybe it has to do with empathy.

>> No.4867976

>>4867885
You don't like Harry Potter? You cold hearted monster!

>> No.4867979

>>4867947
>what? you want to live in Western civilization without understanding the Bible, Shakespeare, Homer?
>the Bible

kek

>> No.4867985

Would you also only look at a painting for the sake of edification?

>> No.4867989

>>4867979
the bible is the most influential piece of literature of human history
btw im a fedora~

>> No.4867990

>>4867965
Meh, I'm a computer science graduate and not a particularly sentimental person, but I enjoy philosophy and fiction because it's interesting.

I don't think one needs to be very emotional to enjoy Russell's theory of denoting or Kripke's possible world semantics, for instance.

The reason OP and some other STEM people can't enjoy literature is this:
>>4867895

>> No.4868003

>>4867898
>>4867965
Partly it's just a matter of different tastes or way of thinking. I also don't care for fiction much, and get the opposite attitude where people think the books I read are dumb and pointless.

What I don't get is the insistence that fiction must be dumb 'cause 'I don't like it, therefore it really is useless and dumb'. STEMfags gonna STEMfag I guess.

>> No.4868004

>>4867965
>>4867965
No, some people are just natural philistines, which is often amplified by a complete devotion to natural science (or an affected devotion, like you see in the superficial science-fedora people).

I have an education within STEM and have always been able to appreciate art.

>> No.4868035

Why art is so pointless!?

>> No.4868041

the same would probably happen to a person who only watched documentaries and news and is suddenly confronted with a normal movie.
there should be an experiment with a bunch of kaspar hausers.

>> No.4868058

>>4867885

>hurr plz spoon feed me a moral or intellectual lesson

>mhurrr hurrr I can't derive things on my own

your life must suck

>> No.4868061
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4868061

>>4867885
>Why is fictional literature so pointless /lit/?

>> No.4868062

>>4867885
>educational books
u meant cooking books and travel guides, didn't u m8

>> No.4868599

>>4867885
>Am I doing this 'reading' thing wrong?

why yes, either that or you just aren't as easily influenced as most people on this board.

>> No.4868616

>>4867885
I understand you OP. I have been having the same problem with fiction. I'm entertained but don't really learn anything. Then I read about humming birds or the history of rhubarb and I'm fascinated. Ho hum.

>> No.4868646

>>4867885
>>>/reddit/
Fuck your fedora.

>> No.4868655

Where do you think your "educational books" stem from, asshat?

>> No.4868686

>>4867885
i used to be like you and now im pretty much the opposite. i basically only see value in poetry and fiction