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/lit/ - Literature

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6144899 No.6144899 [Reply] [Original]

This guy is much better at capturing the zeitgeist than Tao Lin, why is he rarely discussed on /lit/?

>> No.6144944

He doesn't have as strong an internet presence making him less memeable. He's certainly a far better writer than Tao Lin though

>> No.6144946

>>6144899
Is that book good?

>> No.6144948

>>6144899
/lit/ doesn't read contemporary fiction after the 50's

>> No.6144951

I'm looking at the wiki article for his other book.

>Gordon, however, spends his time reading Tolstoy, smoking spliffs, and observing himself observing his surroundings.
>smoking spliffs

Dropped and mentally noted to forever ignore.

>> No.6144962

>>6144951
What's wrong with weed?

>> No.6144968
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6144968

>>6144948

>> No.6144975

>>6144899
how does he capture the zeitgeist, anon ? to me he seems like a less uptight version of franzen akin to a male lena dunham. hopefully he never turns into either.

>> No.6144992

I'm so tired of late-20's-early-30's NEET dorks writing about NYC.

>> No.6144999

>>6144992
He's not NEET though and the only reaosn you're using that word is because this is 4chan

>> No.6145009

>>6144999
All apologies.

>> No.6145279
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6145279

>Chapter 1, Page 1

The purple prose is so noxious it makes me want to throw up.

>> No.6145327

>>6145279
maybe it's because i read tao lin first but this seems utterly unimpressive

>> No.6145345

Is there any phrase more meaningless than "captured the zeitgeist"

>> No.6145349

>>6144962
>>>/420chan/

Kill yourself.

>> No.6145353

>>6145279

I prefer Tao

>> No.6145373

>>6145279
Absolutely disgusting

>> No.6145391
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6145391

>>6145327
>>6145353
>I prefer Tao

Here is page 1+2 of Chapter 1 of TaiPei.

It's god awful purple prose on 420 steroids.

>> No.6145393
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6145393

>>6144899
>capturing the zeitgeist
Jesus. Maybe he's capturing yours, i.e., a narrow zeitgeist with which you--with your narrow experience--identify. But there is no "the".

>> No.6145399

>>6144899
because in my opinion Tao Lin is better at capturing the zeitgeist

>> No.6145425

>/lit/
>caring about how well an author can catch a Pokémon.

>> No.6145460

>>6145391

oh nevermind then, I've never read Tai Pei, just his earlier American Apparel type of work (which I enjoyed, I thought he executed a minimalist writing style better than Ellis etc.)

This doesn't look like the Tao Lin I know

>> No.6145468

>>6145391
>middle school vocabulary
>purple prose on 420 steroids

there isn't a single word in that passage over four syllables

>> No.6145547

>>6145279
>sentences too long, adding unnecessary detail because muh maximalism
>three sentences in a row start with 'We'
>so bland it could have been written by anyone
>formatting is offensively bad/non-existent

>> No.6145590

>>6145391
this writing has personality and intuitive coherence
it reads well, not clumsily
do you really think this is inferior to that other excerpt?

>> No.6145601

>>6145393
lol

>> No.6145609

>>6145425

well done

>> No.6145618

The only reason Tao Lin is discussed on /lit/ is because Tao Lin goes on /lit/ and talks about himself.

>> No.6145621

/lit/ still does not know what "purple prose" is

>> No.6145627

>>6145279
This is actually extremely interesting if you pay attention to what he's saying

>> No.6145628

>why is he rarely discussed on /lit/
he is when he's spamming his own shit here
fuck off lerner you're fucking lame

>> No.6145630

>>6145618

I'll take him over John Meme any day

>> No.6145646

>>6144899
/pol/ was right, yet again...

>> No.6145650

>>6144999
>He's not NEET...

He's a fucking Brooklyn writer who teaches creative fiction at NYU or The New School or some other bullshit MFA program. Yeah, technically he's not NEET, but come on...

>> No.6145655

>>6145279
>>6145373
>>6145547
Hmm this reminds me of that time someone posted a paragraph from The Recognitions and a bunch of people on /lit/ called it purple. I guess not much has changed over the past few years

>> No.6145675

>>6145650
Has society really reached a point where people who post on a literature message board believe that writing and teaching aren't real jobs

>> No.6145684

>>6145675

lol

>> No.6145719

>>6145675
You seem to be misinformed as to the reality of all the New York writing schools. Those are the programs that hire the most snobbish, talentless hacks just because they're the cool writers that everyone seems to be writing about. Their teaching ammounts to standing in front of an audience of trust-fund 30-year-olds with too much free time on their hands and spouting off bullshit such as "Writing cannot be taught. My job is not to tell you how to write, but to facilitate the process...".

Columbia has Orhan Pamuk standing in front of hundreds of MFA students. Do you think he actually teaches anything? Do you think a Nobel Prize winner actually sits down to individually read the dribble these people type out as a writing exercise?

>> No.6145738

>>6145719

Orhan Pamuk's professorial duties are probably limited to delivering lectures on the subject of literature and selecting a small enclave of ambitious graduate students to form phalanx against the un-ryhthmic waves of shit prose that flow from undergraduate pens. He may also have to tolerate raving undergraduates for up to thirty minutes in his office hours.

>> No.6145781
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6145781

>>6145719
Their teaching amounts to standing in front of an audience of trust-fund 30-year-olds with too much free time on their hands and spouting off bullshit such as "Writing cannot be taught. My job is not to tell you how to write, but to facilitate the process...".
This is so fucking true

>> No.6145798
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6145798

>>6145391
>was not incurious

>> No.6145804

>>6145738
Well there you go, you just proved you have no idea what you're talking about.

The literature department is very different from the creative writing department. In most cases, the faculty of one program do not teach classes in the other's department. Pamuk 'teaches' writing, not literature. Which, again, is a joke, since he only sees his 'students' maybe 3 times a year.

>> No.6147571

great literature is timeless, not a pop-culture time capsule to "capture the zeitgeist"

>> No.6147604

>>6144948
>McCarthy
>Pinecone
>David "Infinite Jest" Foster Wallace
>Virtually all sci-fi
>Daily "Are we allowed to read Stephen King?" threads
>Daily "John Green is a cuck" threads

>> No.6147650

>>6147571
Exactly. This is why Nabokov hated topical literature.

>> No.6149060

>>6147571
I think there's a lot in this book that will last

>> No.6149064

>>6145345
....nope.

>> No.6149105

>>6145719
>dribble

>> No.6149112

>>6145468
>automatically
>meditatively

fuck you and counting syllables in prose, you're not even good at it

>> No.6149118

>>6145279
Literally nothing wrong with this.

You guys don't know what purple prose is. Purple prose is so flowery that it literally makes no sense anymore. Read Amanda McKrittick Ros to know what purple prose is really like.

>> No.6149128

>>6147571

Spoken like a true unpublished amateur.

>> No.6149134

>>6149118
Just ignore them, you can always identify dilettantes by certain phrases or terms of useless criticism/description (eg 'purple prose,' 'boring,' 'simple,' etc).

>> No.6149154

>>6145547
>sentences too long, adding unnecessary detail because muh maximalism
I don't think any of the details are more unnecessary than what you'd find in any other novel, and some of them are quite interesting. It's hardly an example of "maximalism"

>three sentences in a row start with 'We'
Nothing inherently wrong with this.

>so bland it could have been written by anyone
I actually find the tone of the book engaging. Not sure what you're looking for here.

>formatting is offensively bad/non-existent
Don't know what you mean by this

>> No.6149155
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6149155

>>6145391
>"Yes," said Paul automatically.

>> No.6149171

>>6145279
What the fuck is that last sentence

>> No.6149178

>>6149171
It's something he felt after eating octopus, animals that are often considered intelligent

>> No.6149208 [DELETED] 
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6149208

>Son, I've recently become intimate with a professor and writer from a country called Slo-VEE-nia and he's coming over for dinner tonight to meet you. I want you to be nice because he's not from here and isn't accustomed to dating women like me. Maybe you two can talk politics! I don't expect him to replace your father, but please be respectful of his mannerisms, and refer to him as "Sir" or "Mister". He requested crab cakes.
>post yfw

>> No.6149259

>>6145627
Agreed, the metaphor there is incredible. Deeply saddening. Everything he says an octopus does, a human does. A fairly facile point to make, but it's made well and engages me.

>> No.6149264

>>6149259
*does in the paragraph

>> No.6149308

>>6147571
if great literature is timeless, is it also on that account placeless?

>> No.6149314

>>6149308

anon he was talking about the ephemeral nature of pop-culture. not the total concept of place.

>> No.6149318

>>6149308
So is this a question of timelesslessnessless?

>> No.6149321

>>6149308
Great literature transcends even language and words.

>> No.6149322

>>6145279
If you call this "purple prose" nigga you can't fucking read.

>> No.6149336

>>6145279
If you don't think this is good writing, you're a pleb or jealous.

>> No.6149348

>>6149322
>>6149336
This smells like samefaggery, but ti's true

>> No.6149358

>>6149322
>>6149336
>>6149348
This smells like samefaggery, but ti's true

>> No.6149362

>>6149358
DOn't copy my posts.

>> No.6149395

>>6149318
>Timelesslessnessless and the Loch Ness Monster