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/lit/ - Literature

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6238063 No.6238063 [Reply] [Original]

I want to read Romance of the Three Kingdoms, anything I should read prior to it? I'm reading The Art of War, despite it being written after the events of RoTK, I figure it will help me have a greater understanding of ancient Chinese warfare.

So basically that, any philosophical writings or old mythology that I could study/read to give myself a better understanding of Romance of the Three Kingdoms?

>> No.6238096

>>6238063
Start with the Greeks.

>> No.6238106

read kingdom the manga

>> No.6238117
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6238117

>>6238096
Implying I haven't already started with the Greeks.
My Gentoo fileserver is full of ebooks on the Greeks.

>> No.6238120

>art of war
>written after the three kingdoms period

>> No.6238131

>>6238063
The Art of War is incredibly boring, and I can't imagine you needing any of it for the three kingdoms.

>> No.6238133

Play every single dynasty warriors game from beginning to end and read the text of all the cut scenes
Same thing

>> No.6238138

>>6238120
Sun Tzu was a time traveler that died 100 years before he was born.

>544 - 496

>> No.6238158
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6238158

>not just watching Cao Cao be based on the telly

>> No.6238174

It's absolutely horrible, you will quit before you get 100 pages in.

>> No.6238181

>>6238174
Page 105 is fucking outstanding, though.

>> No.6238182

>>6238174
You might think that, and that's fine. But I'd still like to try.

I pirate all my books anyways.

>> No.6238216

>>6238063
Well Confucius (the Analects) and Mencius would be good for understanding why Liu Bei and his bros are so stupid yet admirable. And Han Feizi is your guide to acting like everybody else (though Cao Cao does it best).

>> No.6238232

>>6238216
...mind you, a survey intellectual history would probably be more comprehensible than the original texts. IIRC Benjamin Schwartz' The World of Thought in Ancient China and A.C. Graham's Disputers of the Tao are good for beginners.

>> No.6238256

Just play Dynasty Warriors

>> No.6238286

Does anyone have a link to Mao's writings on the three kingdoms era?

>> No.6238310

>>6238133
Or he could just read the book which would take significantly less time, cost significantly less money and follow the ACTUAL FUCKING BOOK HE WANTS TO READ MORE CLOSELY

>> No.6238321

What are the big differences between the fictional novel and the actual history?

>> No.6239195
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6239195

>>6238063
OP, I'm 100 pages into part 2 (The version I purchased came in two parts) and I'd literally suggest skipping it.

It's repetitive as fuck all, sure, it MIGHT has some interesting snippets (such as the part where a farmer kills and cooks his wife to feed Liu Bei) but the vast majority of it is just bland shit.

The "battles" are described as thus EVERYTIME: "such and such set his spear and charge so-so, and after X many bouts so and so is either A: killed B: Runs away or C: Only PRETENDS to run away and then turns around and attacks his pursuers"

That's literally have EVERY large army conflict is depicted, it's never anything about the soldiers, it's just the generals fighting each other rinse and repeat Ad nauseam and this shit goes on for like, 1200 pages.

>TL;DR skip it, it's not worth it.

>> No.6239199

>>6238158
BTW What's this called?

>> No.6239206

>>6239195
I respect that, and I'm expecting it to be dry.
But I still want to read it for myself.

>> No.6239213

>>6239206
Fair enough, consider yourself warned. I guarantee you won't enjoy it though.

>> No.6239220

>>6239213
I'm just going to be pirating it on my ereader or getting it from the library anyways, so worst case scenario I just close the book.

>> No.6239240

>>6238310
jesus you';re pissed off at that bad joke lol

>> No.6239241

>>6238063
Romance of the Three Kingdoms is too long, is there a movie version of it?

>> No.6239265

>>6238063
>I want to read Romance of the Three Kingdoms, anything I should read prior to it?
Kek. No. It's serialized genre fiction. Skim a Wikipedia page on Chinese history first.

>> No.6240883
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6240883

>>6239265
>It's serialized genre fiction.

>> No.6241923

>>6239265
Is it at least on the same level as a kurosawa movie?

>> No.6242135

>>6241923
Never watched any Kurosawa.

RotK is good though, despite being literally genre fiction.

>> No.6242354
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6242354

>Romance of the Three Kingdoms
>The three kingdoms aren't actually created until chapter 80

But yeah OP, give it a chance, as some people are saying, it can get really dry and repetitive, but man was it worth it. It's all online on threekingdoms.com so you don't even have to waste money if you don't like it.

>> No.6242561

>>6242354
Goddamn that man is based. And also kinda Nietzchean. He ain't got time for your Confucian slave morality.

>> No.6242663

>>6242561
Nietzsche was almost certainly influenced by the daodejing.

It focuses on your "personal way" almost like Nietzsche Dionysian impulses but with the sophistication of the Appolonian.

someones personal way will struggle against the influences of the world and society, and its about what is essentially your wills struggle to express itself in your life over and above the opposing forces.

recommend highly if you are interested in that kind of thought. very different than what most people assume eastern philosophy to be.