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2023-11: Warosu is now out of extended maintenance.

/lit/ - Literature

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7224792 No.7224792 [Reply] [Original]

>tfw just started a funded PhD in English Literature
>tfw I'm a good researcher / writer so only have to work 20 hours a week
>spend my free time reading and writing my novel
>tutoring qt freshmans in entry-level critical theory
>well-liked in the department so a job is guaranteed afterwards
>spending next week in Vienna with my qt history undergrad gf

Are you living the literary life /lit/?

>> No.7224811

Absolutely, I am. I'd argue my life is more literary than yours (or is that Lerner's?). My Oblomovian lifestyle allows me to read whenever I wish, and to spend countless hours meditating on what I've read.

>> No.7224819

>>7224811
I'm not Ben Lerner, though I have been told I resemble him both in physical appearance and literary quality. Also if you're little sliver of a CV is intended to imply that you're unemployed, then you receive neither my pity nor my contempt. After all, nobody else cares you exist, why should I?

>> No.7224825

>>7224819
>literary quality.

What's it like to write stuff that only auto-fellates?

>> No.7224858

>>7224825
It actually feels better than I thought.

I sometimes read the work submitted in my colleague's Creative Writing classes and we can only laugh at what they're writing. I recently gave him an excerpt of the novel I'm working on, and he phoned me at 1am to excitedly tell me he couldn't believe how contemporary and profound I was.

>> No.7224861

>>7224819
If you measure an individual's worth by his history of employment then I'm afraid your education in the humanities has been a failure. I do understand your defensiveness, though. No one wants to believe their time spent at work is a waste of time. Even worse is the thought that there's some privileged guy out there reading as much as he wants, spending as much time as he wants with his girlfriend, and generally enjoying a life without work. A few years ago, when I was contemplating a life in academia, I'd have hated a guy like me too.

>> No.7224862

>>7224819
>and literary quality
Sorry if I'm breaking this to you, but it's not a compliment.

>> No.7224868

My life is better than yours. Nice try, fam

>> No.7224869

>>7224858
Everything in this post is incredibly sad.

>> No.7224871

>>7224861
The way an individual decides to spend his or her life is as valid a means of inferring their quality as a human being as how much money they donate to charity or how many books they've read this quarter. Oh and I'm sure your non-academic life is so much more rewarding than my own. Oh well, I'll just enjoy the view from my ivory tower I guess.

>> No.7224872

>>7224792
>he thinks he's making it
>not realizing it's the exact contrary

>ONLY 20 hours a week
>not realizing high school teachers work 10 hours a week in glorious europe

mfw americucks and their shitty academia

>> No.7224874

>>7224862
Oh it is. Ben Lerner is something of a darling in academia. His writing proves that intelligence need not be sacrificed for the sake of mass appeal.

>>7224869
I think you're own miserable disposition is influencing your perception my friend.

>> No.7224879

>>7224874
How can someone have a PHD and write something this dumb ? Do they just hand them out in burger land ?

>> No.7224884

>>7224874
aynrandshitposter.jpg

>> No.7224888

>>7224792
>well-liked in the department so a job is guaranteed afterwards
Dohohohoho

>> No.7224896

>>7224888
Trips confirm layoff.

>> No.7224900

>>7224888
You can how all you like, my trips-getting friend. The fact is I've been very active in attending conferences and networking in my own college's department, and among my peers I stand out as the most sociable, outgoing, ambitious and interesting. Philosophy tends to make young men into anxious, withdrawn obsessives, and this obviously doesn't bode well for their career options. Fortunately I've managed to avoid that particular pitfall.

>> No.7224907

>>7224871
If you can somehow find a way to enjoy being trapped up there in that sterile tower, then I have no choice to commend you. You should note, however, that there are no windows in the ivory tower, so I can't imagine your view will be great.

In the meantime I'll be enjoying my freedom.

>> No.7224912

>>7224907
And what exactly does your being "free" entail, my anti-intellectual correspondent?

Also you'd be surprised. If you ever make it this far up the Babel-esque tower that is contemporary academia you'll realize just how broad the windows are. From our position on high, we can truly gain a more varied and accurate understanding of what goes on below.

>> No.7224918 [DELETED] 

You may be getting a funded PhD and tutoring cuties and writing a novel and going to Vienna, but you've written "you're" when you meant "your" two or three times now.

>> No.7224925 [DELETED] 

>>7224918
Couldn't you just keep that to yourself until my shitposting reaches its peak or I lose interest in adopting this particular character?

>> No.7224928

>>7224925
Anything for you, N-P.

>> No.7224935

>>7224912
My being free entails spontaneity, an unfamiliar concept to you and the other captives held in that crumbling tower. Your perspective is rather like the view of a person looking out of an airplane window: there's no life in sight.

>> No.7224936

>>7224879
No they don't "just hand them out" I'm afraid. If they did my life would be much, much easier. You're anti-intellectual attitude is obviously a consequence of a poorly-articulated working class resentment. I recommend you rationalize your prejudices before allowing them to consume your worldview.

>> No.7224942
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7224942

>> No.7224944

>>7224935
I imagine you thought the airplane metaphor was an accurate one, and in some ways it is. But even if I am sitting on a figurative airplane, I can still turn to the cute girl sitting beside me, or to the other passengers who are all on their way to somewhere in life, and engage in lively and interesting discussion. You, my NEET friend, several dozen miles below in your mother's spare bedroom, occupy a lonely submarine in the seas of your own depression.

>> No.7224948

Should I delete that post too, N-P?

>> No.7224949

>>7224936
Try again, I'm a TA at my local uni and a high school teacher in philosophy, something much more difficult to obtain (3%) where I live than some meaningless english degree that's self-perpretating.

I also make more money than you and make less grammatical mistakes despite not being a native.

If anything you're the pseudo and the kind of people that's plaguing academia into the sterile and weak field it has become in your awful country.

>> No.7224952

>>7224792
When you're in Vienna, come to the Nightfly's American Bar, Friday or Saturday evening. I'll buy you a drink.

>> No.7224958

Just gimme the word, P.L.R.

>> No.7224959

>>7224819
You sound like a smug arrogant twat, well suited to the Ivory tower

>> No.7224960

>>7224949
>despite not being a native

And that's where I stopped reading. Also enjoy marking highschool papers, I'm sure they're a joy to read.

>> No.7224963

>>7224952
I may do that. Thank you. Are you a local?

>>7224959
Thank you, my resentful friend.

>> No.7224972

>>7224944
I have a hard time believing that the bespectacled girl sitting next to you, whose mind and body have atrophied from sitting for too long, is cute. I'm glad to be able to say that on ground level there are women with a little more vigor. And I'll have you know my mother's an excellent cook.

>> No.7224973

>>7224972
Oh wow, a misogynist to boot!

>> No.7224974

>>7224963
Yeah, born in Vienna, studying philosophy at the university of Vienna. Nightfly's is a pretty relaxed, old fashioned bar, so if you like good cocktails and music, you'd probably like it.

>> No.7224980

>>7224973

shut up i hate this guy but 4chan isn't the place to be complaining about misogyny, they have special websites dedicated to those types of complains

>>>tumblr

>> No.7224983

>not writing a book
>literary lifestyle
Jesus thank god i'm done with college.

>> No.7224984

>>7224963
Who are you proving to convince, us or you? You sound very insecure tbh

>> No.7224987

I always lurk OP but your posts are so smug and pretentious that I feel compelled to ask you to leave /lit/ and kill yourself

>> No.7224988

I love the Ben Lerner memer. He fakes sincerity very well.

>> No.7224989

OP is an obvious troll from the very first post

>> No.7224991

>>7224792
Congrats? What discussion did you hope to foster by making this post?

>> No.7224992

>>7224973
as if fam

>> No.7224993

>>7224984
Come on now, even armchair psychologists give provide more interesting insights than that.

>> No.7224994

>>7224991
Oh, there's a question involved. Try reading it again, you may spot it the second time.

>> No.7224995

Brian O'Nolan (Flann O'Brien) wrote some the greatest post modern literature ever produced, all while actually contributing to society working as a full time civil servent. If you are trying to impress me, you failed.

>> No.7224996

>are you living the literary life

shitpost/10

>> No.7224998

>>7224994
There's no such thing as a 'literary lifestyle'.

>> No.7225001

>>7224995
It's actually "servant". And the fact you fail to comprehend the contribution academia provides to society only highlights your own critical lack of intellectual capacity.

>> No.7225002

>>7225001
8/10

>> No.7225003

>>7224998
I'm sure that delusion is very comforting to someone like yourself, my nameless ally.

>> No.7225007

Looks like it doesn't matter. Well done, Lucio. I'm going to bed.

>> No.7225017

>>7225003
Expain how it is 'deluded'? The phrase 'literary lifestyle' is a 4chan meme that upon a simple google or jstor search yields very few results.

So again, besides 'riling people up' as these "literary lifestyle" meme threads go; what discussion did you hope to foster.

>> No.7225037

>>7224918
No one serious about prose would make such an error, this guy is a fink.

>> No.7225041

>>7224792
>undergrad gf
Spending time with plebs, lovely.

>> No.7225050

That's all very nice for you OP. I don't think I'd enjoy a similar position as I find academia stultifying and I don't care for that kind of social environment. I have a couple of friends in academia tho and they seem to like it. Personally I prefer my own career choices which pay enough to support my lifestyle and give me the amount of free time that I like.

I don't know if you're aware, but your tone comes off as a little smug. You might alienate people here if you're not careful. :)

>> No.7225058

>>7225050
what do you do for a living?

>> No.7225069

>>7225058

Not really relevant friend, I'm not interested in convincing anyone I've got it figured out.

>> No.7225073

>>7225069
not interested in being convinced, im just curious about a good paying job that allows you have a lot of free time

>> No.7225076

>OP is so feeble that he has to brag on an anonymous image board to get his kicks

Fucking funny thread dude. I give it a 9/10. Really enjoyable read.

>> No.7225088

>>7225073

Ah, I assumed you were OP wanting to pick holes. I'm an accountant. I wouldn't say I have a lot of free time, but I'm okay with that, I find having too much time on my hands makes me inefficient anyway (tfw insufficient self motivation to be a great writer). I read on my commute and for a couple of hours each night, have some time with my gf every day and can write at weekends. I'm pretty ok with it. In like ten years I should have made enough money to buy a house and live comfortably on a lower income so then I can work part time and step up my writing, if I feel like it.

>> No.7225106

>>7225088
sounds cool, good luck!

>> No.7225111

>>7224792
>great literature written by academics

". . ."

Still OP - congratulations. Enjoy life and all the best for your novel writing.

>> No.7225147

>>7225050
Oh I'm not concerned about "alienating" people. Those individuals who have the capacity for nuanced thought won't be alienated in the slightest. Only the insecure and the resentful will react in such a way.

>>7225088
>an accountant

Oh, now I've heard it all. I really do envy your "lifestyle". I truly hope that in a decade or so your glamorous debut is received favorably by your national press. It's so cliched to work a terrible, mind-destroying job and harbor private ambitions of one day making it big in the world of publishing. We occasionally run adult writing courses here on campus and each class is full of middle-aged men who have a lot of money but no passion or enthusiasm left. Each session with them reminds of of the psychiatrist scene from "Happiness".

>> No.7225160

>>7225088
>I find having too much time on my hands makes me inefficient anyway

Literally a wagecuck.

>> No.7225168

>>7225147

>terrible, mind-destroying job

I've been a teacher; that was terrible and mind destroying. My current job is pretty varied and interesting. Not saying it's an unmitigated delight, but it's not a bad way to make a living, and from my perspective it's way less annoying than an academic career would be.

Maybe indeed I'm not destined for literary greatness, but I can deal with that. I'm living a fulfilled and enjoyable life, so my chief ambition is already fulfilled.

>> No.7225171

>>7225160

>cuck

Literally a retard

>> No.7225178

>>7225168
I'm sure the monotony of accountancy is superior than the creative, consistently novel subject of English literature for someone as dull and domesticated as yourself. I hope your life goes well, and I suppose I'm glad that your "chief ambition" has apparently been achieved, though what this has to do with literature I don't know. Anyway, I'll let you get back to number-checking, I have some course notes on Dostoevsky to write up.

>> No.7225216

>>7225178

>English literature
>Dostoevsky

Interesting department you've got there.

Anyway yeah cheers mate, all the best to you, I hope you get over your self-satisfaction and tendency to make sweeping generalisations about strangers based on totally insufficient information.

>> No.7225219

>>7225216
Thanks, I'll be sure to pass your compliments on to the head of department. There's no need to thank me, my domesticated friend. Good luck with your novel, I'm sure it'll be as interesting as your occupation!

>> No.7225224

I'm 19 years old.

I am handsome, smart, athletic and virile.

I have a novel that is in it's final editing stage, and a creative writing professor at my college has read the first draft and thinks it's saleable.

I have a girlfriend who is confident, articulate, playful and spontaneous.

I have a small group of interesting friends from different social and academic backgrounds, and I also have many other acquaintances who see me as a reliable source of humour and good company.

Both my parents are alive and in good health.

I have no regrets.

I have already experienced three existential crises, the latter of which was described as having the depth and profundity of a man twice my age.

I am a passionate lover, a sharp thinker, and a trader of witty repartee.

I am not self-pitying, meek or needlessly humble.

I will live a good life at your expense.

>> No.7225241

>>7225219

>domesticated

Steady on man, we can't all be wild, untamable intellectuals like you with your course notes on the English literature of Dostoevsky, your department's approbation of how sociable and outgoing you are, and your week in Vienna.

>> No.7225247

>>7225241
I know we can't, which is why society relies on s steady supply of tame, easily satisfied worker bees to fill the roles allotted to them and ask no more from life than a home, a family, and financial security. Not everybody has the will or desire to reach greater heights.

>> No.7225255

>>7224819
>you're little sliver

Are your 20 weekly work hours spent learning basic rules of grammar?

>> No.7225257

>>7225247

Bang on

>> No.7225260

>Lerner image

you're gonna need a bigger bait

>> No.7225278

>>7225247

Yeah i mean i guess all the shit you described is ok but i prefer having beers with the lads, smashing shit up with JCBs and fingering freshers

i suppose being an insufferable pseudo intellectual who probably has a weak jawline and a safe 5/10 girlfriend can satisfy some people, so keep it up. by the way, your friends all hate you

>> No.7225286

>>7225278
Oh my, the resentment is is almost tangible. Ok who was it who hurt you, mummy or daddy?

>> No.7225297

>>7225286

Maybe he just doesn't like cunts

>> No.7225302

>>7225297
Perhaps, or maybe he is simply too fond of those pleasures JS Mill refers to with pity and contempt. But, I repeat, not all of us are destined for great heights.

>> No.7225305

>>7224792
>tutoring them in critical theory
>not fucking them in their cunts

Goddamn you pathetic bastard

>> No.7225326

>>7225088

>telling him your job

you got baited son

>> No.7225340

>>7225088
>caring so little about writing that you're willing to allow TEN YEARS to pass before you give it a proper shot

Disgusting.

>> No.7225345

>>7224960
I don't grade, I teach. I only grade in uni.
Sour grapes ?

>> No.7225350

>>7224973
>>7224972
Can you both just fuck now and get it over with?

>> No.7225359

>>7225345
Well then, have fun teaching a class full of edgy Nietzscheans. I'm sure it's a blast.

>> No.7225369

>>7224900

Pretty vapid I-presence tbh.

>> No.7225375

>>7225326

True tbh

>>7225340

You kind of have a point, but then again couldn't one also say

>caring so little about literature that you wouldn't ensure you're financially independent and have total creative freedom before giving it a proper shot

>> No.7225387

>>7225375
No, "one" couldn't also say that. Burning your youthful energy and passion in a dull career (accountancy!) with the delusion that once your wife can take care of little Timothy and Hyacinth and you can sit in your house totally detached from contemporary life and culture, completely gelded by years of obedience and monotony, that you still can somehow muster the requisite energy and talent to write something that's actually good. It's pure fantasy. It's about as naive as a woman thinking she can be a good mother while working 60 hours as head of a company.

>> No.7225390

>>7225387
>implying Knausgaard didn't do exactly that

>> No.7225411

>>7225302

For the record i had a wonderful childhood, Mill was a (literally autistic) hack, and you are by no means achieving any "great heights" with your run of the mill academic "achievements".

Your work will never be a fundamental part of any area of study, but I hope one day you could fix your disgusting personality, or better off, throw yourself into traffic. I also vouch that I'd easily beat you in a fight because you sound like a limp wristed bitch

>> No.7225419

>>7225387

But your projection of my future is filled with assumptions and prejudices. I could retaliate in kind with some garbage about how a life in academia will find you in 10 years still hoping for tenure, venal and irrelevant, circlejerking with a group of equally pompous colleagues in ultimately fruitless efforts to convince each other that your precious output is of some sort of importance.

But I won't assume that, because actually I don't think everybody's future is predetermined by the worst stereotypes about their occupation or their low points of shitposting on 4chan.

>> No.7225429

>>7225390
Oh my you really are poorly informed. Knausgaard gave himself until the age of 30 to get published or he would be forced to get a full-time office job. Until then he avoided work as much as possible, often earning money during periods on the oil rigs on the coast of Bergen. His debut was published when he was 29.

>> No.7225437

>>7225411
Resorting to physical threats always has been the way of the peasant. I really do envy your poorly contained frustration.

>> No.7225439

>>7224792
I don't understand why /lit/ is projecting this kind of shit onto Lerner. >>7224819
>>7224825

>> No.7225449

>>7225439

bedtime, Ben

>> No.7225450

>/lit/ is for the discussion of literature.

>> No.7225455

>>7225437

That wasn't a threat. I'm saying if the opportunity arose; I'm obviously never going to meet you (at least not consciously), but I'm just mentioning that for what it's worth (a lot) you are probably physically weak

also don't throw words like "peasant" around without understanding their implications; you don't sound smart, or important. You just sound like you were bullied at school.

>> No.7225465

>>7225455
>for what it's worth (a lot)

Oh dear. Equating intellectual dominance for physical dominance really is rather pathetic. However, I'm sorry to disappoint you but my athletic youth has been followed by years of physical self-discipline. But I'm sure your masculine self-image compensates for your lack of intelligence.

>> No.7225472

Anyone ITT who is legitimately mad at OP is an embarrassment to the board

>> No.7225479

OP isn't Ben Lerner. It's actually Joshua Cohen.

>> No.7225494

>>7225465

shut the fuck up you bender

>> No.7225525

>>7224858
This is where I became 100% sure of the bait.

>> No.7225534

>>7225525
Well we're 100 posts in so I may as well give up the game.

>> No.7226304

bump

>> No.7226328

>>7224792
I've read 2666. Academics are mediocre and scummy.

>> No.7226339

>>7224819
>his only redeeming qualities are a series of resemblances to pre-established authors

lol

>> No.7227216

>>7224861
>>7224871
>>7224907
>>7224912

Never in my entire life have I encountered such raging homosexuals.

>> No.7227218

>>7227216
You speak truer than you know.

>> No.7227226
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7227226

>>7224792

>you will never be OP

>> No.7227235

my dick is |-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| that big

>> No.7227264
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7227264

>>7227226
>you're not OP

>> No.7227301
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7227301

>went to grad school to live a life like the OP
>went to top 20 university in the world, like top 15 for my program
>finally i've escaped undergrad
>finally i've escaped the endless classes full of people who don't care, who didn't do the readings, who have spent four or five years studying something and still barely know anything about it, who say stupid awful shit with overflowing confidence in class, to a professor who is just indulging them and cringily patronising them like they're an overconfident child, drowning out any earnest attempt to actually meaningfully grapple with high level stuff because it's still lumped in with the dipshits and passed over
>fucking finally please god can i just do deep, real research, and not have to write 160 pissant essays for 35 different classes, with meaningless weekly response papers and quizes on horseshit trivia and For Dummies breadth courses that take up 80% of your time despite having nothing to do with what you are studying to do for the rest of your life and POINTLESS participation carnivals of pretending to give a fuck about lazy undergrads' stupid opinions
>fucking please can i just go to the library and read real books in depth instead of reading pages 35-62 of book A and pages 377-402 of book D in week 15 of class #824-B and listening to people say things in seminar that clearly reveal they couldn't even care enough to do THAT much
>please can i transcend this ocean of 8th year classics majors who have never read a single real text in depth because they spend all their time being fed useless quizes on secondary sources by mummified oxford professors who read all the real texts in high school in 1825
>finally i'm here
>finally i will be left the fuck alone to do something real
>first year
>forced to take fifteen courses from outside my specialty (DO I TAKE DEPICTIONS OF CORN IN SOVIET FILM, OR POST-COLONIAL TRASNGENDER NARRATIVES OF POO IN LOO?) that are no better than undergrad, filled with the EXACT same people from undergrad doing the exact same shit
>forced to write 358 papers for shit outside my major
>forced to attend Graduate Student Puppy-Petting Week and 257,000,000,000 intro to introductions classes on how to turn the knob on the library front door, how to type the name of a book into google, and how to find your dick before taking a piss
>forced to write 14 grant proposals and navigate through labyrinthine bureaucratic channels to submit them, requiring the eldritch summoning of at least 9 referees
>haven't done one lick of research on my actual research
>probably won't even get to until 2/3 through the year
>it's literally just Undergrad 2.0 aka High School 3.0
>talk to a PhD student who is in his second to last year and who went to fucking Yale for undergrad
>jokes about how he doesn't know anything about his field aside from his ultra-specific topic and doesn't care to
>centuries of BRILLIANT academics in my field, and I enter it fifteen minutes after it died on the toilet

>> No.7227622

Cool pissing contest

>> No.7227643

>>7227301
>Americans having to take idiotic courses during their PhD, not allowed to do self-directed research because they're big babies

every time I laugh

>> No.7227652
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7227652

>>7227301
>my fucking face
ultimate school complaint post
thats it guys, wrap it up, we dont need any more threads about this ever again

>> No.7227661

>>7227301
On the other hand I study maths and I have quite some time to read on my own. My classmates like to discuss epistemology and versification too.

>> No.7227698

>>7227301
i know that feel at least for the undergrad part.

>> No.7227737

>living in a arthouse styled loft, under construction and sans furniture - rent free
>spend days finding inspiration in-everything from shady telemarketing businesses to kids playing on the bus
>getting compliments from quasi famous people, including authors, that I email
>guaging a the web press arm of a certain publishing house that I plan on getting my first web-publish through
Mildly

>> No.7227774

This whole thread is like a sequel to Stoner; especially >>7227301

>> No.7227802

>>7225439
He wrote a book about a pot-smoking grad student on a prestigious scholarship in Spain after being a pot-smoking grad student on a prestigious scholarship in Spain.

If that's not masturbatorily self-indulgent nothing is.

>> No.7227876

>>7227802
Yeah, it's a real shame too because now novelists are copying him and they too are writing novels based on experiences they have. There's this guy Hemingway who's ripping him off badly, and another guy named Philip Roth who goes so far as to name his characters Philip Roth. Like, are you kidding me? Not to mention this guy James Joyce.

>> No.7227884

>>7227876
You're an idiot.

>> No.7227894

>>7227802
i think you're an idiot because the whole book is about what it means to be a shitty self indulgent liar and how much of an asshole the main character is

criticizing it for being self-indulgent is just dodging the point

>> No.7227901

>>7227894
That was self-evident to begin with so there was no point to the whole thing. The act of writing it already tells you everything the book itself possibly could.

>> No.7227903
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7227903

>>7227301

>academia
>2015

>> No.7227904

Personally I don't even think novels about assholes have to apologize or 'critique' itself, but that's just me. I don't think all protagonists have to be 'likeable,' or that all novels have to deal with the plight of the working class.

>> No.7227907

>>7227901
Perhaps the point was good writing?

>> No.7227910
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7227910

Don't think this exactly counts, but fuck it, ill tell it anyway
>went into university for statistics
>4.0 grade average first three years
>senior year comes
>mental breakdown happens for reasons i still don't understand
>leave school, friends, and qt neuroscience gf
>travel across the country to the east coast
>i had been a small time standup comedian back at home, plan to try and 'live my dreams'
>move to LA
>Stand-up is much more competitive, seems like there's nothing but good comics
>get a gig
>first night there i bomb
>i don't get another gig (besides open mics) for a month
>i go on to a packed house
>Greg fucking Daniels is in the second table away from the stage
>try and play it cool
>keep eyeing him during the entire set
>it goes alright
>Sit down a few tables away from him
>there the whole night
>finally get the courage to introduce myself
>Go over
>im drunk and awkward as fuck
>start talking, It's obvious he wants to get away
>panic, call him danny for some reason
>apologize, fall over him
>everyone is looking at us now
>he gets up and storms out
>follow him to the parking lot
>he tells me I'm a creep and to fuck off
>drives away
>I'm drunk, follow him
>loose him
>in rage and despair i find a highway and push my car as fast as it will go
>determined to drive my life away
>Ooh I'm driving my life away, looking for danny greg

>> No.7227913

>putting down a book because the main character isnt likable

>> No.7227914

>>7224792
>Have my Masters because I don't want to go into PhD debt or move halfway across the country to end up with a non-tenured instructor position.
>With my Masters I'm teaching intro writing and Brit Lit (all the young teachers despise British literature, fucking trash)
>Drowning in 100 intro essays every three weeks
>Want to work on my novel but most nights I'm busy
>Spending half my time on campus chilling in my office is pretty nice though. Originally taught high school but got tired of the bullshit.
>Not bad overall. Students find me useful, that's what matters I guess. Hoping to travel and push out publications, both research and fiction, more in the near future.

>> No.7227917

>>7227901
> The act of writing it already tells you everything the book itself possibly could
no. no it doesn't. a novel can't be summed up by a paraphrase, a novel is about execution. leaving the atocha station is a very well executed novel and is much more than "wow this guy is an asshole." the point is how he's an asshole

>> No.7227919

>>7227904
If it's a my diary tbh: the novel about an asshole who's basically just the author himself then it better justify itself.

>>7227907
It didn't have any though.

>> No.7227922

>>7227919
Well i havent read it so you got me there. Ive heard he is good though.

>> No.7227926

>>7227919
What about knausgaard. You might say he justifies it. But again wth, novelists have been drawing on personal experience and writing about themselves forever. Why pick on this guy so much? Have you read the book?

>> No.7227941

>>7227301
My concern about this is precisely why I am postponing my grad school plans. I was willing to accept the job instability, the low pay, and the bureaucratic pressures, all for the sake of actually conducting my research plan. But every academic, every TA I had during my undergrad, has told me a similar story (to varying degrees of frustration). Until I'm financially stable enough to drop out, I don't want to risk having an experience like this. I'm follow the business/systems analysis track until then.

>> No.7227943

>>7227926
I think Knausgaard's worthless too.

>> No.7227951

>>7227943
Well i like his books a lot. And i think good writing justifies itself. Guess we're just different in our tolerance for autobiography.

>> No.7227967

>>7227951
I don't have anything against autobiography itself. It's just that autobiography in fiction is the laziest fucking thing ever if it's all you have to offer. Using aspects of your life and experiences as part of your stories is inevitable, but writing your life story and calling it fiction is horseshit.

If I want to read a memoir, I'll read a memoir.

>> No.7227972

>>7227967
you're too caught up with wanting fictional things to be fictional which is just a stupid bias that happens to be archaic

>> No.7227976

>>7227967
Mmm to me it doesnt matter what you call it. knausgaard mixes novel and memoir, and he calls it a novel, doesnt matter to me, its good, i like it. The nonfiction novel's been around since at least in cold blood. Wasnt in search of lost time all about proust? And i dont know how much lerner invents in his novel, but i didnt get the impression it was just a memoir with the names changed.

>> No.7227981

>>7227972
Why even bother writing fiction if it can barely even be considered that?

There are plenty of people who just write nonfiction and fill it with lies. If you want to go on and on about yourself just do that instead of pretending your diary is a work of art.

>> No.7227988

>>7227981
I dont know, you seem to feel a sense of betrayal, or as though the author is getting away with something if his novel is too autobiographical. I personally dont get it, life and art has been mixing forever now to various degrees. Some novelists invent a lot, some draw from their experiences heavily and invent very little. David markson's late novels are just anecdotes about famous writers. In the end its all about good writing i think.

>> No.7227995

Also as an aside about knausgaard, although it is all about his life, it would be impossible for him to recall all that he does, so to fill in his memory gaps he actually invents quite a lot.

>> No.7227998

>>7224792
>well-liked in the department so a job is guaranteed afterwards
Noice b8 m8. This is where it derailed. This is either obviously bullshit, or you're sadly deluded.

Speaking from my funded PhD in EngLit, with multiple publications and teaching experience, no job is guaranteed.

>> No.7228001

>>7227981
why are you so concerned with genre. people write books, there's no need to write off a book labeled "fiction" because it's largely autobiographical. if "leaving the atocha station" was sold in the memoir section, would it be a better book?

>> No.7228018

It's funny that you think you'll have a secure job because the people in the department like you. What university would you study at that doesn't hire from a better tiered schools? Maybe you're just not familiar yet with what the academic job market is actually like. Otherwise, if you're like this in person, it's likely that people only pretend to like you because no one wants to hear your self justifications.

If academia gets you off we are all happy for you. It's sad though that you've developed a sense of grandiosity. Let's be honest. You're not going to be a famous writer. And if you were to be, would that satisfy some goal of yours?

>> No.7228152

>>7227894
this sounds promising and I assume what 90% of /lit/ is like

>> No.7228402

people on here despise Lerner because he beat them to their sincere novel of detachment

>> No.7228413

>>7225340
>stepping up

>> No.7228457

>>7227988
>>7228001
The acceptance of this kind of attitude is exactly why contemporary literature is complete shit.

Now every retard thinks their life story told in slightly fictionalized mediocre prose is good enough to publish. And guys like you legitimize it by buying into the idea that anything can be called fiction while dismissing any objections to it as "old-fashioned" or "unfair biases".

It's pure cancer on both ends.

>> No.7228511

ITT
>2015
>self-proclaimed prolific writer shitposts on /lit trying to convince people how great he is

>> No.7228515

>>7228457
writing novels out of life experience is not a contemporary phenomenon. there are plenty of examples of classic novels that are autobiographical- portrait of the artist as a young man, in search of lost time, the sun also rises, dostoevsky's house of the dead - just to name a few high points. so the practice itself can obviously lead to great work.

>> No.7228520

>>7224792
Damn.
I'm like half done with my MFA and then I think I want to do the same.
Not sure how I'm gonna get funding, though.
Any tips on that?

>> No.7228542

>>7228515
Of course not, but arbitrarily accepting it is. Even those classics weren't universally praised. Besides that do you really want to compare hacks like Lerner and Knausgaard to Joyce or Proust?

>> No.7228555

>>7228542
i dont know what you mean by arbitrarily accepting it. if a novel is good, then it's good.

>> No.7228563

you also bristled at the label 'old-fashioned,' but believing that liberal attitudes about autobiography in fiction is causing its debasement doesn't just strike me as just old-fashioned - it's way beyond. autobiographical fiction has never been a scandal.

>> No.7228681

>>7228542
lerner is obviously not as good as joyce or proust but calling him a "hack" is just 4chan memeing because you want to pretend you know better than everyone else

>> No.7228689

>>7228681
yeah, and i consider calling knausgaard a hack not even tenable as hyperbole, but i didnt mention it because its beside the point.

>> No.7228864
File: 930 KB, 270x270, 1437729393566.gif [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
7228864

>>7224792
am to be impressed?

PLZ give example of moderate, to even barely, successful/ reputable individuals who have done vaguely similar?

>> No.7228893

OP here. I guess the Amerifats revived the thread when I was asleep. I admitted after 102 posts or so that it was a fake thread. I just enjoying adopting the personalities of different individuals to entertain myself and possible others on /lit/. Most girls you speak to on /lit/ are just me. I post at least 10 threads a day and spread my posts throughout a dozen or so threads in the morning and then regularly check up to see what kind of response they had.