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/lit/ - Literature

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521881 No.521881 [Reply] [Original]

On a scale from 1 to 10, how hard is this book to read?

>> No.521886

i dunno lol

>> No.521885

inb4 cum's rainbow

>> No.521889

meh. 10 being Finnegans Wake, i'd say....7?

>> No.521888

>>521885
I'd prefer "Gravity's Cum" and a picture of Newton and delicious cock.

>> No.521896

>>521889
So you would say Finnegan's Wake is a 10? What other books approach it's difficulty?

>> No.521899

it requires more faith than actual reading ability. You need to believe everything will make sense in the end and read it....cause it does...kinda

>> No.521914

>>521896
Have you not tried reading FW?

>> No.521921

8

>> No.521942

>>521896
The Infinite Jest, Gravity's Rainbow, and Finnegans Wake are widely recognized as the most difficult post-modern works. other notorious works? hmm. le morte d'arthur? gravity's rainbow isn't too difficult, it just requires tenacity and mental stamina. FW is gibberish, i can admire it as poetry, looking solely at joyce's diction and language, but i cannot for the life of me find a single thread or plot strung throughout the entirety of the book. yes, dublin is recurring, but it means nothing to me, many of the cultural and lingual references are lost on me.

>> No.521944
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521944

The Infinite Jest pic, somewhat related.

>> No.521955

I only got through part of it, but I think mainly because I'm a bit of a slow reader, the book is long, and it was due back at the library. I never reborrowed it, but I do want to try reading it again sometime. I didn't find it that hard to get into. It is definitely convoluted, but I think once you get into the atmosphere of it, it is really enjoyable. Sort of like getting used to the vocabulary in A Clockwork Orange to me.

It was sorta like something you just have to absorb and synthesize... just absorb the words and you'll get where it's going.

>> No.521963

9/10.

Harder than Ulysses, easier than Finnegans Wake.

>> No.521972

>>521963

this

but i think this is easy to read, but hard to understand.
i mean, you can make up what is happening, but everything is out of context. like a big puzzle

>> No.521987

>>521942
>I'm not smart enough to understand it, means it's gibberish
Nice logic, faggot.

>> No.521992

gravity's rainbow is quite rewarding
you only need a simple guide, not an extensive throughout guide, just something to explain what is going on in every chapter.

>> No.522028
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522028

most contemporary poetry's way more headache-inducing than Gravity's Rainbow

>> No.522844

>>521987
>>521987
And you are?

>> No.522862

anyone got an ebook :3?

>> No.522872

>>522028
But most contemporary poetry is not 700 pages long

>> No.522882

Gravity's Rainbow belongs in the young adult section because that's the minimum kind of intellect required to read it

>> No.522921

This book sucked. inb4 HERP U ARNT SMART ENUFF, I don't give a shit that i didn't pore over this turd to glean every last dumb little metaphor, i have better books to read like Infinite Jest, which actually has a method to its madness. Eat a dick.

>> No.522934

>>521889

Lit books aren't hard.

Read Kant's Critique of Pure Reason if you want hard.

11 / 10

>> No.522936

>>522934
You read Finnegans Wake, I'll read Kant's Critique. We'll see who understands first.

>> No.522943

>>522936
There is no understanding to Finnegan's Wake.

>> No.522960
File: 7 KB, 191x234, happy.png [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
522960

>>522936

I accept your challenge anon!!!!

>> No.522964

>>522960
No supplemental materials (except alcohol and smokable substance of your choice). Wikipedia, Sparknotes, Skeleton Key, they're all out. You're on your own with Joyce and his mastery. Me and Kant are getting a room.

>> No.522988

OT, I know... but...

apparently, the words meme and quark were first used in Finnegans Wake... anyone know any other words that first appeared there?

>> No.522992
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522992

>>522964

i never use supplements on my first reading anyway.

Enjoy your time with Kant, try not to throw the book against too many walls.

>> No.522997

>>522988
Bababadalgharaghtakamminarronnkonnbronntonnerronntuonnthunntrovarrhounawnskawntoohoohoordenenthurnuk

It means 'Oh fuck, thunder!'

>> No.523004

>>522997
oooooh, I've always wondered where Bababadalgharaghtakaminarronnkonnbronntonnerronntuonnthunntrovarrhounawnskawntoohoohoordenenthurnuk came from, every time there's a thunderstorm and people say it

>> No.523006

8 maybe? It's not unpleasant hard, but you have to concentrate cause Pynchon's prose is dense.

>> No.523007

>>523004
*Bababadalgharaghtakamminarronnkonnbronntonnerronntuonnthunntrovarrhounawnskawntoohoohoordenenthurnu
k

>> No.523016

>>523007
I was going to correct you but didn't want to be a dick.

>> No.523018

>>522988

Neither of them did.

>> No.523058
File: 132 KB, 500x750, infinite-jest.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
523058

>>521942

I actually think Infinite Jest shouldn't be included on this list. I'm 1/3 done, and I find it enormously enjoyable to read (not just 'intellectually stimulating' but ENJOYABLE). I'm not trying to impress anyone- I'm no English major. But Infinite Jest is not that difficult to read! ...Well, in a few parts maybe (I'm looking at YOU, sections in eubonic-ish prose) but I really don't think it's even on the same tier as Finnegans Wake. Especially if you read it with something like the WallaceWiki nearby:
http://infinitejest.wallacewiki.com/david-foster-wallace/index.php?title=Main_Page

But it does deserve the reputation as being hard to finish. The thing is fuckin' huge, and the segmented nature means any place is as good as any to take a break. Some blogger described reading Infinite Jest as trying to stay submerged in the Dead Sea.
But it's fun to try to do so.

>> No.523061

>>521881

Anyone planning on reading this: you might wanna use
http://gravitys-rainbow.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Main_Page

>> No.523067

GR is tough going mostly because the narrator talks to you as though you already know all about what he's talking about. You can kind of figure out from context what TsAGI is, for instance, but it's another straw on the camel's back. Or he'll tell you about Rozhestvensky sailing all the way around the world to have his ass handed to him at Tsushima, and, well, either you're up on the Russo-Japanese War or you're not, and if you're not you are, again, going to have to figure it out from context. He'll mention that Gavin Trefoil is a lovely shade of maroon today, which makes no sense if you don't remember the *one time* Gavin Trefoil was previously mentioned, and that he's got conscious control of the melanin production in his skin cells, which you can maybe be forgiven for not remembering because when he first brought it up there was this discursion into the ontogeny of neural cells and the epidermis, as sort of an explanation for how this mechanism works, that then segued into this, well, conversation between two skin cells on their way to the surface (one says he's heard that the scenery is outlandish once you go epidermal), and so you might, just *might*, not remember 500 pages later that Gavin Trefoil can change his skin color at will. You can generally be pretty sure that if he tells you a character's name - and there are over 400 of them - you're going to see him or her again at some point. Like, I can't remember the fucking name of the kid who had the pet lemming, but the lemming's name was Ursula.

>> No.523068

>>523061
Isn't it kind of missing the point to read this kind of thing before the book itself? This isn't a contest to see who understands the most the first time through. I can't imagine it being fun to read a book that's already been completely spoiled for me.

>> No.523078

It's not hard to read. It's hard to give a shit about what you're reading.

>> No.523111

>>523068
I apologize, I wasn't clear; you might want to use the wiki of page annotations
http://gravitys-rainbow.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Pages_3-7

Might it go into too much detail for some people? Hell yes, but if you want to read it with a portable professor this is really useful.

>> No.523122

>>523111
You were completely clear.

>> No.523167

>>523068
>>523122

Ah. Okay then. I think we just disagree that using annotations implies a competitive attitude or spoils a book. I read a page or so and take a look at the annotations, going back and forth, and my appreciation of the book goes up a LOT. I can understand the hassle though.

I hope YOU have fun reading without cheating.