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/lit/ - Literature

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7049975 No.7049975 [Reply] [Original]

"...toothbrush in the jaw toothbrush brush brush tooth jaw foam dome in the foam Roman dome come home home in th jaw Rome dome tooth toothbrush toothpick pickpocket socket rocket..."
Peter Keating squinted his eyes, his glance unfocused as for a great distance, but put the book down. The book was thin and black, with scarlet letters forming: Clouds and Shrouds by Lois Cook. The jacket said that it was a record of Miss Cook's travels around the world.
Keating leaned back with a sense of warmth and well-being. He liked this book. It had made the routine of his Sunday morning breakfast a profound spiritual experience; he was certain that it was profound, because he didn't understand it.
Peter Keating had never felt the need to formulate abstract convictions. But he had a workign substitute. "A thing is not high if one can reach it; it is not great if one can reason about it; it is not deep if one can see its bottom"-this had always been his credo, unstated and unquestioned. This spared him any attempt to reach, reason or see; and it cast a nice reflection of scorn on those who made the attempt. So he was able to enjoy the work of Lois Cook. He felt uplifted by the knowledge of his own capacity to respond to the abstract, the prfound, the ideal. Toohey had said: "That's just it, sound as sound, the poetry of words as words, style as a revolt against style. But only the finest spirit can appreciate it, Peter." Keating thought he could talk on this book to his friends, and if they did not understand he would know that he was superior to them. He would not need to explain that superiority-that's just it, "superiority as superiority"-automatically denied to those who asked for explanations. He loved the book. (Rand, A. 1943 p.233)

>> No.7051389

Bump

>> No.7051469

>>7049975
how are we even sure she's talking about GR?

>> No.7051517

>>7051469
The Fountainhead came out years before GR. She isn't necessarily referring to any specific book, but it's pretty spot on for a lot of supposedly profound 'postmodern' literature that people claim to like or understand.

>> No.7051519

>>7049975
>It had made the routine of his Sunday morning breakfast a profound spiritual experience; he was certain that it was profound, because he didn't understand it.
So she's mad because she sucks at reading comprehension?

>> No.7051591
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7051591

>>7049975
I'm convinced this passage is inspired by Gertrude Stein, but it could also be Joyce or T.S. Elliot. While a lot of that stuff is shit, the idea that poetry is shit and revolting against existing style never produces anything worthwhile is nonsense. Rand is basically jumping on the awkward adolescence of methods that are much better executed by other writers later on. Because she's such a brilliant prose stylist herself, obviously.

>not getting Gravity's Rainbow
Pynchon did once say that he was "so fucked up while writing it, I look back at some passages and can't imagine what I meant," but notice that he only says "some sections" and even then he didn't edit them out. Why? Because they contribute to the overall tone of a novel about mental disintegration and death, topics Rand's stilted prose can only dry-hump like a rutting chihuaha while Pynchon rails it with his cracked-out PoMo schlongus. If you're too slow or impatient a reader to take those passages in and set them in context, then GR isn't for you and you deserve to read Rand.

>> No.7051621

>>7051591
This guy gets it.

>> No.7051881

>>7051591
>cracked out PoMo schlongus
ayy lmao

>> No.7051896

>>7051591
>Because they contribute to the overall tone of a novel about mental disintegration and death
There was no overall tone. It read like a schizophrenic's word salad.

>> No.7051995
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7051995

>>7051896
>no overall tone
>schizophrenic's word salad
Huh, that last bit sounds like it could be describing the overall tone of a novel.

>> No.7053750
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7053750

I've never read Ayn Rand but I want to. Where would you anons recommend I start?

>> No.7053879

>>7049975

Rand's prose sucks so she has no room to talk

>> No.7053919

>>7053750
>but I want to
Trust me tou don't

>> No.7054054

>>7053879
At least her prose is comprehensible.