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/lit/ - Literature

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5374083 No.5374083[DELETED]  [Reply] [Original]

Hey /lit/ I need help increasing my reading comprehension.
could you direct a pleb in the right direction.

>> No.5374104

>>5374083
You can stop being a fucking retard with the mentality of an 8 year old

>> No.5374151

>>5374083
I will help you.
This will take many posts so pay attention.

>> No.5374154

>>5374151
First read the following works by Homer
The Iliad
The Odyssey.
When you are done reading those try to reread them around every couple years. After the second read through try to go through the different translations and compare them. After you're comfortable with the different translations you should probably start learning greek but that takes a while so be patient.

>> No.5374160
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5374160

>>5374104

>> No.5374176

>>5374154
After you have done at least the first reading of Homer, read the following works by Aeschylus:
The Orestia (Agamemnon, The Libation Bearers, and the Eumenides).
Prometheus Bound
Seven against Thebes.

and then the following works by Sophocles:
Oedipus Rex
Oedipus at Colonus
Antigone
Ajax
Electra.

The basic plan for these guys is pretty similar. Do a first reading. Then go back and do a second reading after you are done with the first reading of another author. After that try to shop around with translations. And then after the tenth reread or so try your hand at ancient greek. There's no rush here, so don't worry if it takes four or five years to get a handle on the language, there's no timer or competition here. The lists I have you aren't complete for those authors but you're just starting out and neither of us are immortal. If you feel comfortable though feel free to round out the oeuvre.

>> No.5374201

>>5374176
Ok after that read the complete poems of Sappho. Translation of poetry is a unfortunate reality that we have to deal with as lovers of literature, but bear with it for the tenth muse is worth it.
After that you should read the complete works of Pindar. Although Sappho is probably a better poet in many respects, her work is preserved poorly compared to Pindar. Nowhere will you find a more robust and virile application of a victory ode.
Then after you've rounded out Pindar you should move back to drama and read the following works by Euripides:
Medea
Electra (compare to Sophocles)
Ion
The Trojan Women

As always the usual juggle of initial reading, second reading, the waltz of the translations, and the slow laborious trek of the true language applies. If you ever grow weary the solution is always to move on to another section of the canon.

>> No.5374228

>>5374201
Ok now things start to heat up. We could do a more in depth true analysis of the greek canon, but we're just starting off after all. Baby steps. So after a primary and with any luck a secondary reading of Euripides, you should read the following works by Aristophanes:
The Knights
The Clouds
The Wasps
Peace
The Birds
Lysistrata
The Frogs

Then once you've given each of the plays a reading or two, move on to Plato. Now one can say reasonably that out interest here is literature and not philosophy. To an extent that is true, a philosophical investigation would have Thales et al. involved. However certain philosophers are basically necessary for an understanding of literature, largely through their influence on literary theory and hermeneutics, so I would emphasize the importance of not glossing over Plato's following works:
The Republic
The Symposium
The Laws
Apology
Crito
Phaedo
Timaeus
Plato wrote a lot more than that, but for our purposes which are literary and not philosophical in nature this should suffice. While one should probably look at different translations here, it is not necessary to focus on language as fervently as in literature esp. poetry, and with philosophy significantly more emphasis should be placed on metatext. So try to read the responses and followers of Plato slightly less than the works themselves. After that slight detour we should move on to the following works by Virgil:
The Eclogues
The Georgics
The Aeneid.
The good news here is that we're moving on to the latin(roman) canon, and that overall that canon is super small outside of experts. Moreover latin is a much easier language than ancient greek to an english speaker so when you try to read it properly in latin eventually it shouldn't take as long. Luckily the procedure is the same, do the reading, read the translations, work on the language when you can.

>> No.5374249

>>5374228
Ok so we get to move fast now. I would go with Marcus Aurelius's meditations next. Super short. In latin, which is a lot more forgiving than greek. The Philosophy is straightforward too, and it informs large swaths of the literature of the time period. We don't have time to dwell for much longer than that, but that should make it a lot easier for you to go back to the roman canon after you've made your initial trek.
After that it is indeed time for Dante. Read The Divine Comedy. Read it again. I'm assuming you've read the bible here.

>> No.5374274

>>5374249
ALLRIGHT. So now you're that much less of a pleb. We're going to make you a reader if it kills us. After Dante it's time to read Boccacio's Decameron. Like the roman canon I'm basically throwing the italian canon under a bridge here, but hey, you're a beginner. If you wanted a better list, you should have a different thread. But already things are looking up, the decameron is like three hours worth of reading, and there aren't 27 translations or so to go through, and Italian is a godsend as a language compared to ancient greek or latin.
After that you should read Beowulf by whoever the fuck. Pros: Shorter than my dick (pretty small). Incredibly pivotal to the english canon.
Cons: It's in Old English which unlike middle english is basically incomprehensible without some degree of serious study. Still you're not a pussy, you can do it.

>> No.5374295

>>5374274
Ok so if you have the attention span of a small rodent this is probably the most important of the posts. Because this one has shakespeare in it who is easily the most important writer ever. Read The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer. Read The Fairie Queene by Edmund Spenser. And then prepare you anus and read everything ever written by William Shakespeare. I'm not even going to bother enumerating what that actually entails in toto because his complete works are like 20$ which is like 1% of what I need to pay to get a girl to sleep with me. It's a bargain. After you finish shakespeare you will have reached a crucial (preschool esque) step in your literary education.

>> No.5374318

>>5374295
>I'm not even going to bother enumerating what that actually entails in toto because his complete works are like 20$ which is like 1% of what I need to pay to get a girl to sleep with me. It's a bargain.
I was just ignoring your rambling and happened to read this. I lol'd. You're cool, dog.

>> No.5374319

>>5374295
After that whole thing is over with you start to grow some literary hair on your chest / scrotal region. Read Faust part I and II by Goethe. Then read The Sorrows of Young Werther by Goethe. Do not worry about the drop in quality. Then read the following works by Schiller:
The Robbers.
Fiesco
The Maid of Orleans
Mary Stuart
Don Carlos.
German is a very melodious pretty language so I'm sure you'll enjoy learning it. You can get away with just Goethe and Schiller for the german canon for absurd quantities of time. As a pleb that is. Still the journey continues.

>> No.5374339

>>5374319
Showtime. And by showtime I mean french time. Still read Les Misreables and The Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo. Did Hugo write like ten times that? Yes he did. Still you don't have time because you're a filthy casual. Showtime dude, time to keep going. After that read The three musketeers, and The count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas. Don't worry, there is a reward at the end. The reward is the most fun you will have in a long time: Proust. Read all of A la recherche du temps perdu. It takes somewhere between a week and a month. When you finish you will have an understanding of what it means to be human, and of the incredible brevity of your life.

>> No.5374350

I remember the first words out of my son's mouth was in English. I beat him, harshly. It's all well and good that he wants to learn English, but he should have started with Greek. And I'm not bringing a pleb into this world.

>> No.5374352

>>5374339
That should start you off for now. Remember pleb steps are baby steps. After you've read all of those works you will have come that much closer to knowing something. But you still won't.

>> No.5374376

>Tfw when no more Eleusinian mysteries
>No more Hierophants

>> No.5374383

>>5374339
Why would anyone even care about Dumas at that point? It's pretty much like turning on the tv for a couple of hours.

>> No.5374393

>>5374339
pleb as fuck

>> No.5374405

I laughed at most of your little jokes, and you did a good job with a joke a lot of people would had botched by the first post. You're a good man, keep on trekking.

>> No.5374560

>>5374083
pay attention

>> No.5374589

>>5374352
> After you've read all of those works you will have come that much closer to knowing something. But you still won't.

Why instead of telling us what you've read, don't you tell us what you know? What have you learned from reading the above works?

>> No.5375307

>>5374589

Spoiler alert: if he wasn't trolling he was posturing

>> No.5375519

>>5374083
How to read a book by Charles E. Mortimer

Thank me later.
The reading list included and the exercises are great.

>> No.5375799

>>5374589
>taking someone who tells you that the base level is learning greek, latin, german and french at face value.

>> No.5375834 [SPOILER] 
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5375834

>>5375307
>Spoiler alert
>spoilerizes the text

>> No.5375865

>>5374352
That was a whole lot of typing for you to essentially give a less thorough version of Bloom's Western Canon.

>> No.5375892

>>5375519
this book has no exercises other than read 'good' books and look at the toc

>> No.5375910

>>5374083
Read Ivanhoe.

Also read Tristram Shandy

>> No.5375923

>>5375865
>That was a whole lot of typing
half of it were jokes
you sound like that people that feel there's no need to read a book if they know how it ends.

>> No.5375971

>>5375892

Toc?

>> No.5375982

>>5375971
table of contents

>> No.5375999

>>5375971
total of chapters

>> No.5376003

>>5375982
>>5375892

Depends on the edition you got, assuming you are using an ebook.
Ive got two of them and the one with the exercises is 440 pages long while the other one is 202 pages long and doesn't have exercises.
Check which one you've got.

>> No.5376524

>>5375923
>half of it were jokes
Are they still jokes if no one except you thought they were funny?