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/lit/ - Literature

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5933168 No.5933168 [Reply] [Original]

How challenging is this book? I got into reading,(I've only read Brave New Wolrd,The Isaiah Berlin Biography, Steppenwolf and The Panic at Needle Park by myself, all the other books have been assigned to me), and i'm worried the book would go over my head. It might not, i am a second year philosophy major so i have a somewhat strong grasp on picking up on philosophy when it presents itself.

>> No.5933173

Don't read it now. It has nothing philosophical about it.

>> No.5933179

I haven't read the book so I can't offer advice there, but I have to ask. How is it that you've gotten to second year in your philosophy major without having read more than 4 books outside of school? I'm not familiar with actual philosophy academia, but I would assume the interest in it for most people would come from reading philosophy in the first place.

>> No.5933196

>>5933179
I read mostly articles on different philosophical topics. I've restrained myself from reading philosophy on my own because I don't have the tools to properly understand it by myself. I prefer to be guided by professors until i feel ready to start having my own thoughts. I'm a 19 year old kid, i understand that... i don't have delusions of grandeur.

>> No.5933199

I read it when I was 23. I saw around the internet that you were supposed to take notes and try to piece everything together.

I skimmed over some Canadian political faction stuff, and wasn't all that interested in President Gentle either. I didn't even try to follow the footnote about the eschaton game math.

The book has a lot to offer, and it's not surprising that it all doesn't stick for any one person. I was surprised to find that my favorite sections (AA, rehab house stuff) seemed to be other peoples' biggest problem with the book. So it's like that, I guess.

I don't consider myself very smart, and except for the parts I mentioned, I didn't feel like much went over my head. It's also a novel, not a philosophical tract or mathematical proof. So I wouldn't worry about it and just dive in. If you get to the end then it does reward multiple readings, so you might as well get the first one out of the way

>> No.5933214

>people recommend you take notes
>story is blatantly about some fucked mold reversing this kids aspie tendencies

>> No.5933218

>>5933196
>reading other people's thoughts
>having your own thoughts

>> No.5933225

>>5933218
>implying you're having your own thoughts if you're using socially conditioned common use language
>tfw Joyce was the only original writer in history

>> No.5933232

The book's style parodies the goals of literary postmodernism, which are dubious and often parodic themselves, so it might help to do a bit of reading in to such subjects first, if you haven't already.

>> No.5933345
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5933345

It's really not as hard a book as you'd expect. The first 100 pages or so things don't make a lot of sense because there's no easy exposition, but I found it a surprisingly easy read once I got into it.

I found Dune harder, to be honest.

It's good though. I say just go for it if you're interested. I first read it in my final year of high-school without much a background in literature, I'd say two years of post-secondary of any sort is overqualified to make sense of it.

Also, enjoy your useless degree.

>> No.5933362
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5933362

>>5933173

>> No.5933368

>>5933168
>How challenging
It's shit by a suicidal hack. Move on to something worthy of your valuable time.

>> No.5933369

honestly ij is one of the easiest books ive read this year; the storytelling and footnoted narrative leaves literally nothing obfuscated. dont expect it to be an index of novel philosophical ideas though, bcus it's essentially anti-drug anti-capitalist rhetoric in new "sincere" clothes. if you really want to read it and not just a summary online, practice your speed reading w/it.

>> No.5933374

>>5933168
you really need some more basic fiction under your belt first.

read a couple classics, some hemmingway fitzgerald faulkner etc.

>> No.5933387

>>5933225
>3225▶
>>>5933218
>Faulkner

>> No.5933653

>>5933179
>>5933196
I will always be amazed by how many philosophy majors I meet that don't read.

>I prefer to be guided by professors until i feel ready to start having my own thoughts

I understand the sentiment, but that is a terrible excuse not to be reading. If you wait for someone to hold your hand through everything you'll never get anything done. Just start reading some basic stuff with light philosophical themes on your own. You won't be challenged but at least you'll be stimulated.

>> No.5934600

Just finished this. I enjoyed it. It's kind of long and goes on a bit, I was glad when I finally got to the end, but it is funny and well worth reading. It's not hard at all, quite the opposite in fact. I found it slight difficult to keep track of the overall plot and characters of the plot but I think that was almost intentional considering what is it about. Well worth a read but I wouldn't worry if you don't get around to it.

The only other one I read by him is Crying Lot and I have to say they feel like the same book written by different people or maybe the same person at different times of his life.

>> No.5934604

it's an easy read, it's just really long and not that interesting for the first little while

>> No.5934642

it's not difficult at all, except for the barely intelligible drug addict passages

>> No.5934643

>I'm worried the book would go over my head.
DFW makes a point of making his work accessible.
He states this in most interviews.
>second year philosophy major
It won't be over your head.

200 pages in you'll see how silly this question is.

>> No.5934645

>>5934642
It's like talking to a Mexican kid in Texas over Xbox Live in 2007.

>> No.5934647

>>5934643
tbf, he does make things intentionally confusing in a lot of places, but yeah once you get past the first 100-200 pages you'll be fine

>> No.5934659

>>5934647
There's a stretch of like 30 pages of really dense poorly done dialect somewhere on the other side of 200 pages - somewhere around 215 maybe? - which is what did it for me

In fairness I read the first 200 pages while hungover and crashing on someone else's couch and the hangover was clearing up so I might have stopped reading anyway but

>> No.5934665

>>5934659
>while hungover and crashing on someone else's couch
Is there any other way to read ij?

>> No.5934670

>>5933168
DAVID

>> No.5934678

Why are we posting at 12am during new year's? We're losers

>> No.5934683

>>5934678
yr right
david f would be having a threesome with his 19 yo students and spitting up tobacco in his sippy cup and crying after he kicked the girls out

>> No.5934688

>>5934678
Hey motherfucker I made a conscious choice to be a loser ok

>> No.5934690

>>5934683
and getting up early to go to 'church' and crying about Mary Karr and going over to a neighbor to watch 17 hours of wheel of fortune

>> No.5934697

yeah then David with sincerely (not ironically) hang himself

>> No.5934698

>>5934690
i always smugly look down on dfw and his pathetic tv addiction, ten minutes of daytime tv at the laundromat and i'm ready to end it all...but then i post on this dump for like 20 hours

>> No.5934700

>>5934678
I would feel this way if I wasn't such a solipsist.

>> No.5934703

>>5934698
/lit/ is the extremely cool rad as fuck thing to be addicted to imo

>> No.5934707

>>5934703
where else can I write dfw fanfiction

>> No.5934708

>>5934703
imagefap in one tab, /lit/ in the other.

>> No.5934786

CAN SOMEONE LINK ME TO THE VIDEO OF THAT GUY YELLING "DAVID FASTER WALLACE 420 BLAZE IT!" Out a cars window? Can't find it.

>> No.5934805

>>5934786
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sXvAd7COpJY

>> No.5934809

>>5934805
boifran

>> No.5934838

>>5934805
God damn it, thank you Anon.

Best New Meme 2014

>> No.5934883

The only problem is the length

>> No.5934893

>>5934883
I bet women say the same about you

>> No.5934894

>>5934883
Like my dick, what kind of criticism is that?
Fuck off, loser.

>> No.5934902

>>5934805
This is exactly how I imagine a standard American /lil/ user

>> No.5934909
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5934909

>>5934902
>/lil/ user

>> No.5934914

>>5934909

>2015
>not getting reference about Lilith from Jewish mythology.

Americants when will they learn

>> No.5934923

>>5934894
That wasn't criticism. That was only a statement. Infinite Jest's most challenging aspect is it's length. It intimidates people.

You are an idiot.

>> No.5934929

zull

>> No.5934933

>>5934929
zull

>> No.5934934

god damn how long is that madonna album going to be on the front spot on newalbumreleases jesus christ sick of that shit its been there for a week

>> No.5934961

>>5934934
Didn't even know she had a new album coming out, I thought she was irrelevant at this point

>> No.5935019

>>5934604
how long is the first little while?

>> No.5935061

I was bored so I decided to bring in the new year by starting Infinite Jest, I was hoping to get some profound chapter around midnight but it was some retarded redneck like speech about someone complaining about that mother. I thought I would give post modern novels a chance but this is just retarded, Im not going to read it.

>> No.5935115
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5935115

>>5933173

>> No.5935121

>>5934697
he hung himself, and with sincerity not "with sincerely"

>> No.5935125
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5935125

http://www.aaronsw.com/weblog/ijend

^

Every IJ thread forever, because so many vacuous cunts didn't get the book.

>> No.5935131
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5935131

>>5933168
People shy away from books like IJ, Gravity's Rainbow, and Ulysses.
They honestly aren't difficult.
Harder to read than other books, but if you're browsing a /lit/board and have done some reading it's nothing abstruse.

>> No.5935625

>>5935131
and IJ is way easier and less complex than GR
>>5935061
I KNOW PROB B8, BUT IF YOU WANT TO read something 'profound' buy one of those inspirational quote books by the cash register at the bookstore. caps accidental but appropiate

>> No.5935627

>>5935131
ulysses is brutal. hardest of the three. i dont see myself reading it anytime soon, unless someone were to convince me it really is a life changer.

GR is easy if you are a creative type. i feel like a complete philistine could read it with ease while some technical scholar could be stuck on the first part for months.

IJ is simple, i dont see why people say its a challenge other than the repetition and extreme length.

>> No.5935776

>>5933199

Do people find it difficult to understand the eschaton game math? It's simple calculus most people should understand by age seventeen.

>> No.5935892

Not a difficult book, more of a war of attrition while reading it. Took me ages but by the end it was very much worth it.

>> No.5936987

>>5935776
This, is it true most Americans don't take it in high school?

>> No.5939461

>>5934700
It's weird when my mind creates characters that talk about being solipsists.

>> No.5939470

>>5935627
gr is harder than ulysses imo but every time i say that people freak out

ulysses's hardest parts are far harder than gr but most of ulysses is just a normal novel with fewer pronouns.

>> No.5939473

>>5935125
Come on now, you didn't know all that on first read though, don't act like you did.

>> No.5939476

>>5936987
Can confirm.

>> No.5939496

DAVID
A
V
I
D

>> No.5939506

>>5939470
>gr is harder than ulysses imo but every time i say that people freak out
gr is harder (whatever that means) because it's not particularly coherent, even on a sentence level. that's part of pynchon's project, investigating the zone of incoherence instead of just describing its limits like he does in lot 49. a lot of it just comes across as zany random shit because that's what a lot of it truly is, even viewed sympathetically. i just found it boring after 500 pages of it, even though the prose is mostly beautiful

>>5935627
i can confirm that ulysses is a life changer, of course with relation to my life. it's like a freaky machine from god, from a craft perspective

>> No.5941767

>>5933168
It's not to difficult. The hardest part is that it's 1000 plus pages and small print. If you do read the book make sure you read the first chapter after finishing the book.