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/lit/ - Literature

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5841442 No.5841442 [Reply] [Original]

Are there any examples of writers who didn't read in their youth, or who didn't read a lot?

t. 19 y.o. fag who's just starting to read literature and is thinking of becoming a writer

>> No.5841446

No.

>> No.5841448

Machado de Assis was almost illiterate in his youth.

>> No.5841457

>>5841448
No. He published a poem when he was 15, so he already had a serious interest in literature and already was good enough to be published by a small newspaper.

>> No.5841466

There are plenty of poets and musicians and other artists that come to mind of other mediums. If this so-called artistic impulse is able to be generalized, then I think there is no question you are in good company.

>> No.5841469

>>5841457

He probably had read less than OP had at the same age.

He just happened to be a genius while OP is nothing.

>> No.5841474

>>5841442
you don't want to be a writer, you like the idea of being a writer, narcissist. (I speak from experience)

>> No.5841484

>>5841442

19 isn't too late.

Literature is dead, so it wouldn't even matter if you do have it in you to be a brilliant writer. If you're able to be a passable one and enjoy the process then you'll be fine.

>> No.5841526

Please do not conceive of writing as a ticket to fame or importance.

For many years I read bios of important men- thinkers, writers, scientists and so forth.

Each time I read through their childhood I would search for things in common to my own, my heart would jump for a moment when I discovered they struggled academically or found their passion late in life.

This is not a healthy way to think. We have to be indifferent to our skills as relates to others: we have to be cool-headed and humble about our skills and accept our limitations.

This is your entire life! This is not some game of superlatives or some series of efforts to achieve a position in statue-dom, and there's no better illustration of the delusions of ours stupid society and era than the unhappy man's incessant quest for admiration.

Perhaps I'm assuming too much, but I wish someone had told me this all earlier.

"You must learn how to admire men without wanting to be them."
-A wise man

>> No.5841529

>>5841474
Prove it.

(You know you can't.)

>> No.5841530

>>5841526
>we have to be cool-headed and humble about our skills
>name is BigPenis

hmmm

>> No.5841537

>>5841529
If he really wanted to be a writer he wouldnt a) care how one is supposed to do that and more importantly b) come here looking for reassurance, for someone else to tell him what he can and can't do. If he really wanted it he would feel the urge to write, not fantasize about it. Also, if youre op, you revealed yourself by frantically propping up a defense mechanism.

But yeah, obviously I can't "prove it". You can go from that to actually wanting to be a writer, at least I think I did, but I might be conning myself once more.

>> No.5841548

>>5841530

It's the best advice I could give to anyone who is young and intelligent.

>> No.5841549

>>5841442

OP- you're probably not a great writer, but brilliance doesn't matter because art of any real gravity has essentially become irrelevant. You can probably be a serviceable writer if you work at it and find yourself enjoying the process. You'll probably never be able to support yourself doing it, but you might get lucky and win the popular YA lottery. Don't sweat it if it doesn't work out, you can find some other way to support yourself down the line

>> No.5841564

>>5841549
>win the YA lottery

I could never write something that appeals to the masses, however, since I find them detestable.

>> No.5841635

>>5841442
Pretty sure Delillo says he became a reader later in life in a Paris Review interview.

Augustine writes he disliked school and was uninterested in academics. Some think he downplayed his early literacy and oratory skills so he could appeal to more people.

>> No.5841636

>>5841442
Cormac McCarthy claims not to have read much until his early 20s.

>> No.5841680

>>5841564
weeeeeeeeeeeoooooooooooooooooeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeooooooooooooooooeeeeeeeeeeeeoooooooooooo

do u hear that

its the pedant alarm, it only goes off when someone says something SUPER FUCKING PRETENTIOUS

its especially prone to go off when someone says something pretentious after they admitted to not reading until they were 19

>> No.5841695

Of course, just look at Mohammed. He write the Koran, and he was illiterate until his thirties!

>> No.5841704

>>5841680
Being a pedant and being pretentious are not the same thing.

>> No.5841722

>>5841548
No, it's not. Comparing yourself to others can be very constructive.

>> No.5841734

Charles Bukowski

>> No.5841736
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5841736

Mate, if you really wanted to be a writer you'd write and not ask 4chan about it. Considering writing fiction as a career and not a hobby is inconsiderate. Each person with a successful career in creative stuff like music, writing etc. did that just because he enjoyed it.

>> No.5841748

>>5841736

*Mishima swoon*

>> No.5841928

>>5841704
But you would be pretentious if you were pretending to be "above the masses" when you have already admitted that you are a pleb when it comes to literature. Why don't you just start reading books and figure out if you even enjoy them? I'm sure you can find one or two writers who "didn't read" and made it big to pad your ego. You still won't have written anything. Start trying to write, and start reading or do neither.

>> No.5841936

>>5841736
There are plenty of musicians and writers that did it for other reasons than 'they just enjoyed it'

>> No.5841942

I say this out of kindness: it's very unlikely that you'll write a book.

That doesn't mean you shouldn't try, it means that you probably won't even really try.

>> No.5841950

>>5841928
Why are you telling me this? I'm not the guy you think is pretentious, I'm the pedant who told you you're misusing the word "pedant".

>> No.5841981

>>5841950
I'm not the person who said that. I assumed you were the person who said they wouldn't stoop to the masses. Apologies. But not to that guy. I'd agree with whoever said that he was being pretentious though. He pretending to posses a greater degree of culture/talent/knowledge than he has by stating he hasn't read much literature but is somehow above the common reader. I think that is about as pretentious as it can get. Young adult readers are still reading...

>> No.5841999

Great writing is great because its divergent from the norm or superior to what's already been done. If you were the only person to become interested in literature later in life, and no writer before you had done so, shouldn't this be an exciting fact as you have a great opportunity of a novel life experience?

>> No.5842555
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5842555

>>5841484
>>5841549
>Being this bitter

>> No.5842631

>>5841442
why do you need such an example? become the example. cheesy but true

>> No.5842699

>>5841442
I don't think you'll need to have read very much to write well. You just need to be able to control English (or whatever language it is) to a great degree, which comes more from writing and learning in general. Reflection on what you've read is going to do loads more for you than simply reading a large volume of works.

I've never read any of the Romantics or the Modernists, but my work gets compared to them a lot. People who are more well-read than I often give me feedback that is referential, and that I don't actually understand ("Reminds me of X writer I've never heard of"). Which I guess just shows that nothing is original, but that's another topic.

Honestly, as long as you're not technically shitty and you're not writing about something vapid, you're going to be good enough. Things become more about taste than anything else at that point, in my opinion.

>> No.5842702

>>5841442
>thinking of becoming a writer

There are soon going to be more "writers" than readers. Do you guys not realize this?

>> No.5842725

>>5841442
Su Xun