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/lit/ - Literature

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8693509 No.8693509 [Reply] [Original]

ITT: God-tier book titles

>> No.8693555

To those who have read it, is the title relevant to the book? Or did Faulkner just choose it because it sounds cool af?

>> No.8693558
File: 73 KB, 1280x853, Img-1-CBIJ.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
8693558

>>8693509

>> No.8693561

>>8693555
it signifies nothing

>> No.8693563

>>8693555
Keep in mind the original line and it is relevant to anything really

>> No.8693565

>>8693558
infinite jest really is a god-tier title

i feel like it would be so much less mythological without that name

imagine if it had been named A Failed Entertainment, like wallace originally planned

>> No.8693573

>>8693555

It's utterly relevant. The first part is narrated by an idiot.

>> No.8693574

>>8693555
'life is a tale told by an IDIOT, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing'

first part of the novel is through the perspective of a mentally disabled guy

>> No.8693575

>>8693565
eh that still aint a bad title. reminds me of kafka and khaarms for some reason.

>> No.8693577

>>8693565
>imagine if it had been named A Failed Entertainment, like wallace originally planned
I wouldn't have read it, for one thing

>> No.8693584

>>8693575
Fine for a short story. Would you pick up a 1000 pages long Failed Entertainment?

>> No.8693587
File: 19 KB, 302x475, 67064.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
8693587

>>8693575
>reminds me of kafka

What, his titles are pretty epic

>> No.8693589

Steinbeck slayed the title game
>Of Mice and Men
>Grapes of Wrath
>East of Eden
>Cannery Row
>Tortilla Flat
>In Dubious Battle

>> No.8693594

>>8693589
>Of Mice and Men
>Grapes of Wrath

Brilliant

>East of Eden
Great

>Cannery Row
Good

>Tortilla Flat
Mccarthy tier

>In Dubious Battle
Awful

>> No.8693601

>>8693584
good point, definitely a short story name, which is probably why it reminds me of those writers lol.

infinite jest is grander.

>> No.8693610

kafka for best titles, hands down

example: "die verwandlung"

perfect. gets your attention immediately and has you thinking: who's this guy verwandlung? and why on earth does somebody want him DEAD?

>> No.8693633

>>8693509
O'Connor's
>Wise Blood
>Everything That Rises Must Converge
>The Violent Bear It Away

>> No.8693647

>>8693610
god damnit

>> No.8693685

The Recognitions was great because of the multiple meanings behind the word that he put into use over the course of the book.

>> No.8693700

>>8693509
Some off my favorites as they come to me

Spaceman Blues
1984
Everything and More
Slaughterhouse Five
Bleeding Edge
Inherent Vice
Pale Fire
Darkness at Noon
There Are Doors
Fragile Things
Things Fall Apart
The Deep
Engine Summer
Brave New World
Speaker for the Dead

And for a totally non-lit shout out let me mention how damn good David Bowie was at titles,
Life on Mars?
"Heroes"
Sons of the Silent Age
Sense of Doubt
Speed of Life
Sound and Vision
Where Are We Now?
Blackstar
Dollar Days
Diamond Dogs
Ian Fish UK Heir

Great stuff

>> No.8693706
File: 50 KB, 531x800, in_cold_blood.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
8693706

Perfect

>> No.8693721

>>8693594
Both Blood Meridian and An Evening's Redness in the West are fantastic titles

>> No.8693724

>>8693633

cosigned. Also the bitter irony of A Good Man is Hard to Find

gonna add Calvino to the list:
If on a winter's night a traveler
The Crow Comes Last
Difficult Loves

>> No.8693727

>>8693721
Its a tortila meme

>> No.8693753

>>8693509
Ambar waves.

>> No.8693790

>>8693700
>And for a totally non-lit shout out let me mention how damn good David Bowie was at titles,
Same for Zappa even if his titles were ironic
>Watermelon in Easter Hay
>Invocation and Ritual Dance of the Young Pumpkin
>The Duke of Prunes
>Twenty Small Cigars
>Peaches en Regalia
>Who Are The Brain Police
>The Legend of the Illinois Enema Bandit
>Florentine Pogen
>The Deathless Horsie
>The Yellow Shark
>The Purple Lagoon
>Son Of Orange County

>> No.8693829

>>8693610
Fuckin kek'd

>> No.8693865

>>8693790
My favorite Zappa title is "Who Needs the Peace Corps?"

>> No.8693872

>>8693509

The Infernal Desire Machines of Doctor Hoffman
Ask the Dust
The Day of the Locust
The Lathe of Heaven
The Last Picture Show
A Sport and a Pastime
Desolation Angels

>> No.8694170
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8694170

Legend.

>> No.8694177

>>8693509
by this metric Infinite Jest is a masterpiece

>> No.8694188

50 Shades of Grey

>> No.8694268

"You Can't Go Home Again"
Thomas Wolfe

>> No.8694271

>>8693509
pretty much anything by Chuck Tingle

>> No.8694282

>>8694188

Fuck, he's not wrong.

>> No.8694328

>>8694188
think how great a title Twilight could have been if it was used for something actually worthwhile. Stephanie Meyer ruined a perfectly good word for an entire generation.

>> No.8694335

Atlas Shrugged

Say what you want about the book itself but it is a great title.

>> No.8694339

>>8693561
underrated

>> No.8694371

>>8694328
It's the title of a William Gay novel too, little known Southern Gothic author. Provinces of Night, another of his, isn't too shabby either, it's taken from a line in Child of God I believe.

>> No.8694490

>>8693589
The Winter of Our Discontent

>> No.8694536

'A fart, perchance my dear?'

- James Joyce

Makes me proud to be Irish. Such an icon.

>> No.8694757

Philip K. Dick is king

The Man in the High Castle
Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch
A Scanner Darkly

>> No.8694804

>>8693561
great post.

>> No.8694809

>>8693509
V.
Dark as the Grave Wherein my Friend is Laid
The Seven Pillars of Wisdom

Those come to my mind right now.

>> No.8694959

>>8694757
>Philip K. Dick
He's literally crazy, his books are a madman's schizophrenic ramblings.

>> No.8694964
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8694964

>>8694328
Twilight sounds like a great title for a dismally depressing novel, maybe something like a young and depressed author striving for excellence and grandeur while he abandons all of his prior world for the sake of his books.

I would read it.

>> No.8694971

>>8693574
u a woke nigga

>> No.8694983

>>8694959
Haven't read any besides Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep and I though it was excellent. A Scanner Darkly was a great film, too. To be a great author one doesn't need to be sane and neither does one's writing.

>> No.8694991

>>8694335
Came here to post this.
Other great "noun verb" titles:

Thus Spake Zarathustra
When Nietzsche Wept
Finnegans Wake

>> No.8695002

>>8694991
Also, Twilight of the Idols; Or, How to Philosophize with a Hammer.

>> No.8695015

>>8695002
>How to Philosophize with a Hammer.
It sounds too gimmicky, trying to hard to be funny.

Götzendämmerung is a great pun though, "twilight of the idols" does not do it justice.
In case some people do not know, the german word for "idol" is "Götze", which sounds like a belittlement of "Gott" (which is "god"). "Götterdämmerung" is the german translation for the nordish "Raknarökr" - "twilight of the gods". Nietzsche probably got the idea from Wagner, oh whom he was a big fan and good friend early on in his life.

>> No.8695018

>>8693594
>Cannery Row
>not brilliant
Time for you to leave.

>> No.8695019

>>8693589
>>Tortilla Flat
I thought this was a corncobs mccarthy book xD

>> No.8695021

Objectively, "As I Lay Dying" is the best book title that exists. Try to prove me wrong.
Protip:you can't.

>> No.8695022

>>8695015
You're right, but at that point I don't think he was friends with Wagner anymore, since Wagner was a pretty crazy anti-Semite and German nationalist.

>> No.8695027
File: 1.86 MB, 1028x1641, yoursexualfuture.png [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
8695027

God tier title/cover combo

>> No.8695037
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8695037

Threads like these really make it obvious how many /lit/ users are entry-tier teenage plebs

>kafka is d best man!
>no way dude, faulkner is so much cooler XD
>guys how bout steinbeck tho hehe

>> No.8695041

>>8695022
I don't think Wagner really was a nationalist (atleast not to the degree that he was an antisemite.)

But yeah, I worded that badly. I don't think Wagner walked up to Nietzsche and said: "Hey Fritz, I've came up with a mad pun, check it out!" I just think that because Nietzsche spend so much time with Wagner earlier in his life, who worked on his Ring der Nibelungen which heavily touches upon Ragnarökr (one part of the cyclus is even called Götterdämmerung), Nietzsche probably got the idea from there just by being exposed to the word so much.

>> No.8695049

>>8695041
It was also conveniently related to his ideas too though.

>> No.8695094

>>8695037
buttfflabergasted

>> No.8695168

>>8695015
Everybody knows what Götterdämmerung is, could've just kept the original title and subtitled it with translation

>> No.8695266
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8695266

>>8693610

>> No.8695274

'Everything that rises must converge', probably.

>> No.8695352

To Rise Again at a Decent Hour

>> No.8695638

All the pretty horses is good. Fight me

>> No.8695686

>>8693594
Flip Of Mice and Men and East of Eden and you're list is good.

>> No.8695691

>the sun also rises
i think this would be my pick, but its full names is fiesta:the sun also rises, something about the colon just kinda kills it for me

>> No.8695694

>>8693574
If shakespeare actually believed it then why live? Why continue living such an utterly pointless and of depressing existence?

>> No.8695696

>>8694991
I know the title is intentionally ambiguous, but do you really read FW as "Finnegans, wake up" instead of "The wake of Finnegan"? Sounds weird.

>> No.8695708

>Trivia, or: the Art of Walking the Streets of London
>Wind, Sand and Stars

>> No.8695745

>>8695694
He didn't believe that.

>>8693610
>>8693561
nice

>> No.8695750

>>8695745
How do you know?

>> No.8695784

>>8693610
lel

>> No.8695791

>>8695750
How do you know he did?
Anyway, he would be clinically insane or would have killed himself if he believed everything he wrote. There is simply no reason to assume he did.

>> No.8695816

The Savage Detectives
Midnight's Children
How the Dead Live
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Dog
Under the Volanco

>> No.8695826

A Confederacy of Dunces

>> No.8695862

>>8695696
I read it as Finnegans wake. As in, the Finnegans are waking.

>> No.8696007

>>8693561


unbelieavable post

>> No.8696019

>>8695862
The Finnegans are holding a wake

>> No.8696054

>>8694268
>>8695826
These are great

>> No.8696090

>>8695826
It's a quote from Swift, orginally

>> No.8696182

>>8693587
I love the finnish name of this book, "Oikeusjuttu", literally meaning "justice thing" :D

>> No.8696224

>>8693509
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

>> No.8696225
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8696225

>>8693610

>> No.8696230

>>8695862
Weird.

>> No.8696233

>>8696019
>>8695696
What's a wake?

>> No.8696241

>>8696233
Its where Irish families get together to arrange a dowry

>> No.8696243

>>8696233
When someone dies the corpse is balsamated and lies in the open coffin for a few days for the friends and family to say their farewells. In some countries people get pisshorsedrunk while doing that.

>> No.8696248

>>8696243
Come on if you're going to lie say something believable

>> No.8696251

>>8696241
>tfw when your question is answered but you have a question about the answer too
What's a dowry?

t. still learning english

>> No.8696260

>>8696251
It was originally when farm land is divided when a younger brother married and left but now means any swap of property

>> No.8696264

>>8696248
He's literally right though, what about that sounded like a jape?

>> No.8696265

>>8696251
>>8696260

I thought it was the property you received from your bride's family when you got married. I've only ever heard it in that context, but maybe I'm a little dumb.

>> No.8696275

>>8693509
The sound and the fury is my favorite book title. I never read the book, but it reminds me somehow of rites of spring, with the name and the book cover.

>> No.8696281

>>8696265
Yeah you're a dumbo, keep quiet

>> No.8696569

>>8696182
miks meiän kieli on niin meemikäs

>> No.8696909

All Quiet On The Western Front
The Mooring Of Starting Out

>> No.8697034

The Year of Living Dangerously
The Moon and Sixpence
They Shoot Horses, Don't They
A Movable Feast

movies:

Written on the Wind
The Beat that my Heart Skipped
All That Heaven Allows
Imitiation of Life
The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
Things to Do in Denver When You’re Dead
One of Our Aircraft is Missing
The Man Who Knew Too Much

>> No.8697042

>>8697034
I like titles with a rhythm to them.

>> No.8697050

>>8693700
>non-lit shout out
Bowie is /lit/ as fuck, should've won a Nobel.

>> No.8697299

F. Scott Fitzgerald anyone?

Tender Is the Night
This Side of Paradise
The Beautiful and Damned
The Great Gatsby

>> No.8697340

>>8696909
All Quiet On The Western Front is one of my all time favorites because of the meaning that's revealed at the end

>> No.8697394

God Emperor of Dune

>> No.8697403

>>8695021
I do agree it's one of the best titles. And Falukner's title game is at the top.

>> No.8697406

I often like Stephen King's titles. Mr. Mercedes is my favorite, catchy and really matches the tone of a hardboiled detective novel. He was going to call his latest book "The Suicide Prince" and I wish he did, that's an awesome title.

I am also fond of 11/22/63 as a title; simply putting it as the date makes it very dramatic.

>> No.8697418

A Series of Unfortunate Events

>> No.8697427

>>8694490
kinda cheating, because its a shakespeare quote

>> No.8697428

The Scarecrow Walks at Midnight.

>> No.8697449

Never Let Me Go
The Age of Innocence
The Human Stain
House of Leaves
The Naked and the Dead
Dead Souls
One Hundred Years of Solitude
From Dawn to Decadence
The Satanic Verses

>>8693565
There's something beautiful about a novel that long having "infinite" in the title.

>>8693724
Invisible Cities is also lowkey a great title. Logic-wise, he should've gone with Impossible Cities, since that's what they are, but "Invisible" introduces the possibility that the cities exist, just aren't attuned to our senses.

>>8697299
It would've been hilarious if he had written all those bitchin' titles and then his best novel was called Trimalchio in West Egg like he originally wanted.

>> No.8697471

>>8697299
>>8697449

One of the titles he was considering for Great Gatsby was "Under the Red, White, and Blue". That sounds amazing to me.

>> No.8697735

Brave new world
Hero of our time
Woe from wit
Divine comedy

>> No.8697753
File: 254 KB, 594x895, i love dick.png [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
8697753

>>8693509

>> No.8697782

>>8697299
Great titles, though like many others ITT some are quotes from other works - Tender is the Night from Keats and This Side of Paradise from Rupert Brooke.

I think The Last Tycoon is a good title too - many 'The Last [x]' titles have an evocative quality to them. Fitzgerald's preferred title (which is increasingly being used on newer editions) The Love of the Last Tycoon just doesn't have the same ring to it.

>> No.8697871

Around the Day in Eighty Worlds

>> No.8697884

>>8695694
>A character's beliefs always reflect the author's beliefs
>Especially when those beliefs are expressed after that character has experienced his life in a nonstop downward spiral for the entire last half of the play
Are you fucking retarded?

>> No.8697930

I have no mouth and I must scream

It is a bit convoluted, but rightfully so.

>> No.8697935
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8697935

>>8693610

>> No.8697936

>>8693589
>>Tortilla Flat
COMPTON VARRIO TORTILLA FLATS X3
TORTILLERO POR VIDA

>> No.8697937
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8697937

>>8693509
Satan Burger

>> No.8697940

>>8693555
I personally hate Faulkner's style, and no, it doesn't, he was an alcohol so he didn't make much sense to begin with.

>> No.8697943

>>8693706
fuck that book.

>> No.8698685

Scott Pilgrim

>> No.8698958

>>8695696
I thought it meant wake as in a vigil

>> No.8698982

>>8693610
oh sweet jesus anon

>> No.8698992

>>8693509
Nietzsche's book titles are the best in Philosophy. Kierkegaard's are great too

>> No.8699005

>>8696265
>>8696260
>>8696251
Not a wake
>>8696243
This is a wake

>> No.8699031

Japanese lit has some GOAT titles

The sailor Who Fell From Grace With The Sea
Confessions of a Mask
Almost Transparent Blue
No Longer Human

>> No.8699235

>>8693555
To quote Nucky Thompson: Read a fucking book.
Same context

>> No.8699441

So what is the secret behind a good title? I think it depends on the context of the story, but it will be the title that you see first most of the time.

>> No.8699462

Fanged Noumena

>> No.8699477

I thought Blue is the Warmest Color was a great title even though I have no interest in the comic/film

>> No.8699628

>>8693555
It is a tale (Compsons) told by an idiot (Benjy), full of sound (Quentin) and fury (Jason), signifying nothing.(Dilsey)
Hope that stimulated some neurons.

>> No.8700247

>>8697034
If we're doing movie titles...

>The Three Burials of Melquidas Estrada
>Blade Runner
>A History of Violence (also a book title I suppose)
>Blue Velvet
>Cool Hand Luke
>Full Metal Jacket
>High and Low
>Memories of Murder
>Pontypool (also a book)
>Paths of Glory
>Videodrome

>> No.8700278

>>8700247

Pontypool just sounds like bumfuck nowhere in Wales. It literally just means the bridge pool.

>> No.8700369

>>8693589
You left out The Moon is Down, buddy

>> No.8700731

>>8700278
It's the name of an actual town in Canada where the story is set so that's not surprising, but you can't tell me the word doesn't sound cool and evocative.

>> No.8700749

>>8700247

>Pontypool

Horrible title. What?

>> No.8700765

>>8696909

>All Quiet on the Western Front

A case where the title of the translation (in english) sounds better than the original. A literal translation of the German title would be "Nothing New in the West" which sounds worse

>> No.8700773
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8700773

>>8693509
This amazing piece of literature. I just love it!!

>> No.8700781
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8700781

>>8693610

>> No.8700784

>>8693561
kek

>> No.8700788
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8700788

>>8693610

>> No.8700814

>the unbearable lightness of being

>as the wind behaves

>there are doors

>if on a winter's night a traveller

>things that never happen

>> No.8700827

>>8697299
Should have been

>Gold Hatted Gatsby

>> No.8700836

>>8697449
Seconding "The Naked and the Dead"

such a great title

>> No.8700864

The Stench of Honolulu

>> No.8700876

The Things They Carried

Pafko at the Wall

>> No.8700894

>everyone praising Faulkner's titles
>not one mention of Absalom, Absalom!

>> No.8700947

Absolam, Absolam! (From the Bible I believe, but I don't remember where.)

The Moon is a Harsh Mistress

In Evil Hour

The Mote in God's Eye

>> No.8701114

In Search of Lost Time

>> No.8701839

What We Talk About When We Talk About Love

>> No.8701852

>>8693509
Stoner
Or The Stoner originally was even better

>> No.8701856

>>8701114
this

Also, American Pastoral

>> No.8701861

The Ocean at the End of the Lane

>> No.8701954

>"Repent, Harlequin!" Said the Ticktockman

is the most aesthetic ive ever heard.

>> No.8702002
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8702002

If on a Winter's Night a Traveller
Absalom, Absalom!
The Unbearable Lightness of Being
The Chemistry of Tears
Strekaza
Tender Buttons
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
Angle of Yaw
The Madness of the Day
As You Like It

>> No.8702207

Virtue and Vice in the Middle Time
Near to the Wild Heart
A Third Name for Gaul
Sudden Shower
The Scores Descend
Wheel with a Single Spoke
Parts of a World
He That Drove the Nails
The Violent Bear It Away
Bleak House
A Route for the Lost

>> No.8702226

>>8697427
So are "The Sound and The Fury" and "Infinite Jest" though.