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/lit/ - Literature

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9190464 No.9190464 [Reply] [Original]

ITT: 20th century masterpieces you've never seen discussed on /lit/

>> No.9190469
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9190469

>> No.9190480

bump

>> No.9190510
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9190510

>> No.9190536

>>9190510
this is posted all the time you faggot

>> No.9190546

>>9190536
by me, faggot.

>> No.9190555
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9190555

>>9190546

>> No.9190570
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9190570

>>9190464

>> No.9190572

>>9190546
i thought it was decent - whatd you like about it so much

>> No.9190605
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9190605

>> No.9190615

>>9190570
What is this?

>> No.9190619

>>9190572
Reminds me of a friend that I've had for a decade who is drinking himself to death: going to dangerous bars and driving drunk. He refuses to say he has a problem so this book means something to me. I've been there myself, too, but got my shit under control now.

>> No.9190635
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9190635

>> No.9190646

>>9190570
Looks interesting

>> No.9190828

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/1263469-gil-orlovitz

>> No.9190836

>>9190605
Praise kek

>> No.9190881

>>9190605
Kek be praised

>> No.9190997
File: 348 KB, 1062x1600, have good books__ The Lime Twig by John Hawkes.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
9190997

>>9190464
>>9190469
Never heard of these two.

Pic related used to be talked about and recommended. Not for a while now.

>> No.9191039

>>9190615
A 20th century masterpieces I've never seen discussed on /lit/

/s It's a fairly obscure work so I'd suggest starting here https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16079778-milkbottle-h, or with the thread someone else posted about Gil. It's not an easy read at all, but it's very rewarding. The style is completely on its own and the pictures it conjures are vivid and dreamlike. It also has one of the deftest treatments of the Holocaust I've ever seen in literature buried deep within (the subtle and disciplined nature of it is what constitutes the deftness). I read it as a novel about escapism, but it could easily be about a lot of other things.

It's fairly hard to get a copy right now but mine was around $10 and I only bought it about a year ago--copies of a similar price pop up here and there. I used bookfinder.com to get a copy.

It's definitely worth a shot if you can stomach experimental poetic prose and aren't afraid to roll your sleeves up a bit when it comes to unearthing narrative and character (as with all good writers, it has more to do with what Orlovitz doesn't say, than what he does).

>>9190997
I really dug The Lime Twig (which has a similarly fog-like quality to its plot) when I read it but I haven't delved any further into Hawkes since. Any recommendations?

>> No.9191255

Bump

>> No.9191302

>>9190546
I've posted it several times too. It's well-known 20th century classic and you aren't special for liking it

>> No.9191329
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9191329

>> No.9191339

my diary desu

>> No.9191430
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9191430

I've been quietly shilling pic related and Take Five by D Keith Mano for a few months now, both have incredible meme potential and are actually good books

>>9190510
>you've never seen discussed on /lit/

>>9190570
Some guy tried to meme this heavy a year or two ago

>> No.9191436

>>9191339
let's see some then

>> No.9191463

>>9191430

>introduction by Joshua Cohen

doubt.jpg

>> No.9191467

>>9191430
:( mano died the day I got my take 5

>> No.9191480

Power's Morte D'Urban
Exley's A Fan's Note
M.F.K. Fisher and Penelope Fitzgerald, in general.

>> No.9191483
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>> No.9191489
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>> No.9191552

>>9191039
> Can't find it on library genesis
> Can't find it on torrents
> Can't find it on emule
> The only used copies I can find on Amazon or on any online store that ships to my country have obscene prices

I'm really angry at you right now

>> No.9191703

>>9190469
This one was pretty funny, but i wonder if it has become very dated, with all the 90's jokes.

At least Mendoza is popular here in Spain, last year he won the Cervantes Award.

>> No.9191710

Any Zebald, but especially Rings of Saturn. Once I posted it in a thread and someone said "Zebald is pretty based" but that's it.

>> No.9192251
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9192251

i'm entry level but this book seems like it should be memed on /lit/ a lot more. simple language, easy but powerful themes.

i really like the scene with the main character's dad walking outside after he slips on the steps

>> No.9193574

>>9192251
That book is a meme in itself, I had to read it senior year of high school

Get outta here boy

>> No.9193714

>>9191463
He's terrible, and his intro is an embarrassment. It's clear that he took the intro as a personal challenge to show how clever he is, Cohen's inferiority complex really shows when placed next to Newman. The book is fantastic though, and it has a legitimate preface which accomplishes what Cohen's intro does not.

>>9191467
I was sad to hear he died but also slightly happy because it means a small boost in public interest in his work.

>> No.9193742

Gary Lutz

>> No.9193843

bump

>> No.9193864

>>9190464
I did some work in this author's apartment. He had some interesting items in his bedroom like nipple clamps and poppers and shit. I stole some of his weed

>> No.9193879
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9193879

>> No.9193914

>>9193879
This is a good one, if not for all the Americana and politics Coover would probably be meme status

>> No.9194016

>>9191430
>>9191463
>go to look up excerpt on amazon and it's only cohen's intro

fucking christ

>> No.9194202

>>9194016
If this thread is still up I'll post some excerpts when I get back to my dorm tonight. It's got a Gass quote on the back which counters Cohen slightly.

>> No.9194233

>>9190510

This is literally on the 2016 /lit/ top 100.

>> No.9194267

>>9192251
>>9193574
What's meme about it? I thought it was good

>> No.9194614

>>9194202
i would appreciate that, thank you

>> No.9194695

>>9193864
Yeah, he's a bit of a faggot, wrote a book called The Joys of Gay Sex. What kind of work did you do?

It's an excellent novel though, would highly recommend

>> No.9194804

>>9194614
The Esteemed Traveler may have noticed that known artistes often resort to introducing just such little choruses of chromatic chums who are mostly empty canvas, whose sidereal appearance illuminates a larger theme, amplifies a point, or assists in pulling through a packthread of some secret motive. But truth be told, there are no minor characters in Cannonia, everyone gets their aria as well as their comeuppance. And in my experience, it is best to keep such folk on the same page, because if they begin to wander aimlessly, like electrons or deviations from a tonic chord, nothing good can come of it. There is nothing more dangerous than a person who wants to become a character in a novel. So when one of these little black keys is sounded, never put the other two out of mind. Their tempos are set well beyond our egos, and if they do not strictly belong to a given key, each character constructs its own society. Whether embracing, confronting, echoing, fracturing, or inverting one another, they are simultaneously all melody and all accompaniment, and as such are difficult to kick out of the composition. And What's most interesting about such people is not the freshness of their entrances, but how, one by one, they disappear. (P. 162)

I opened to this passage at random. The book has these little Musil-esque musings throughout but they are grounded in a narrator who is at the center of the story, and as such is playing a Nabokovian narration game with the audience that is much more nuanced than the average "unreliable narrator". In spite of the high metaphor, erudite prose, and formal experimentation, the story still manages to achieve sincerity in its content. In fact the core of the story is a simple discussion on the values of friendship as explored by two (very different) intellectuals attempting to tame a series of unruly dogs. This book is truly unlike any other, it's clear in its inspirations and reflections but the final product takes on a configuration of style, content, form, and technique that I had not seen before and have not since. To quote Gass, "you are parachuting into the four paws of a dog. And into one of the most intriguingly original fictions ever."

>> No.9195033

>>9190510
this book literally convinced me to stop drinking

>> No.9195058
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>> No.9195168

bump

>> No.9195382

?

>> No.9195394

>>9190464
Infinite Jest

>> No.9195428
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9195428

>> No.9195492

>>9195428
Middlebury student?

I'm taking the semester off, thank god I wasn't there

>> No.9195553
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9195553

But then again I don't spend that much time on /lit/

>> No.9195556

>>9195553
sorry m8 this is posted all the time

>> No.9195645

Bump

>> No.9195713

>>9194804
thanks, i liked this a lot. i'll add it to my list

>> No.9195732

>>9195713
No problem dude, glad you liked it

>> No.9195738

>>9195553
>2666
>not often posted

It's ok, the fact that you don't know that probably makes you better than me. I've become part of the ship down here

>> No.9195815

bump

>> No.9196033

Nothing else???

>> No.9196091

bump

>> No.9196148

>>9191552
Use bookfinder. There're a couple at reasonable prices. (Somehow I scored mine for $3).
Good luck with Ice Never F though.

>>9191710
He's fantastic, and RoS is in my Top 5, but it's no surprise that he's not popular with /lit/; the wandering walls of digressions and references make him pretty hard to get into.

>>9193742
FUCK YEAH GARY LUTZ
I just finished Divorcer a couple of days ago and was just blown the fuck away. Legitimately has some of the best and tightest sentences I think I've ever read - or at least that I've read this year...
Can't wait to get my hands on Partial List of People to Bleach.

>> No.9196164

>>9196148
Also, I forgot to throw Evan Dara in here as my contribution.

>> No.9196239

>>9196164
have you actually read dara or are you memeing? plz b hnst

>> No.9196242
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9196242

>Only fiction.

>> No.9196247

>>9196242
>this fucking guy again

can you tell us more about the obscure and outdated economic texts you read or would you rather talk about conics again?

>> No.9196252
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9196252

>>9196247
someone is hella f*cking mad...

>> No.9196255

>>9190464
Reflex & Bone Structure by Clarence Major
Tales of Neveryon by Samuel R. Delany
Black Sunlight by Dambudzo Marechera
Solitudes Crowded With Loneliness by Bob Kaufman
Erasure by Pervical Everett
The Wig by Charles Wright

>> No.9196257

>>9196242
>Keynesian economics
Not even once

>> No.9196271

>>9196255
Yesterday Will Make You Cry by Chester Himes
The Naked Soul of Iceberg Slim by Iceberg Slim
Freelance Pallbearers by Ishmael Reed
Guide by Dennis Cooper
The Tenant by Roland Topor
The Farm by Clarence Cooper Jr.
Senselessness by Horacio Castellanos Moya

>> No.9196389

>>9196239
If I wanted to be memeing, I would've said DFW.

>> No.9196696

>>9191483
I've had this for a long time on my shelf on a /lit/ recommendation from five years ago. Glad to see it again. I hope it's worth it. What is it like?

>> No.9196714
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9196714

>>9193879
That cover makes it look like the name of the book is The Universal Basketball Association, Inc. and then some faggot signed his name on the corner.

And then there's this one which is one of my favourite covers, ever.

>> No.9196732
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9196732

Has anyone here read this book? (Pay no heed to the retarded cover, I can't find the original.) I've been looking for it for a long time.

>> No.9196743

>>9196732
yes, I don't remember much of it but I do remember it being good. planning to reread it soon.

>> No.9196747

>>9196743
Do you have it as an ebook maybe?

>> No.9196749

>>9192251
>simple language, easy but powerful themes.

this is why Ishiguro is not memed more you goob. No matter what you think of then, the meme trilogy are the meme trilogy because of their complexity and inaccessibility. I'm yet to read Remains of the Day but as far as Never Let Me Go Is Concerned the guy sure can write a page turner but it didn't exactly leave me with a newfound appreciation for literature.

>> No.9196754

>>9196747
no, paperback.

>> No.9196758
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9196758

M-E-T-A-F-I-C-T-I-O-N

>> No.9196761

This one's pretty crazy. I read the first of the four. I have no idea what it's about but I liked it.

>> No.9196764
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9196764

>>9196761

>> No.9196796
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9196796

Don't mind me, just the best German-language pomo shit

>> No.9196917
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9196917

>>9196796
Anyone read this?

>> No.9197425

bump

>> No.9197435

Wie Deutsch ist Es by Walter Abish

>> No.9197453
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9197453

Yi Mun-yol - Our twisted Hero.
A story about authoritarianism in school - and beyond.

>> No.9197460

>>9196389
so is dara as good as people say? Are the gaddis comparisons apt?

>> No.9197465

>>9196796
>pomo shit
You got that right, pomo is certainly shit.

>> No.9197472
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9197472

>>9190464

>> No.9197479

The recognitions by william gaddis

/lit: wouldnt get it tho... le sigh

>> No.9197494

>>9197435
Yes! Such a funny and totally excellent book. Much too subtle for /lit/'s taste.

>> No.9197526

>>9190464
Dropping by to say I've recommended this a few times as well as the author in general, but I've never seen a discussion either

>> No.9197888

>>9196749
I think calling it a "pageturner" is a little disingenuous. It's certainly more literary than like, DaVinci Code, which is what I think of when I hear page turner. It's kind of in that David Mitchell spot between genre fiction and literary fiction. I most enjoy reading things from that spot though

>> No.9198024

>>9197526
It's pretty good isn't it?

Don't know why it isn't more popular, especially in queer fiction

>> No.9198059
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9198059

>> No.9198530

>>9198059
Beautigan's brought up every now and then, he should be discussed more though.

>> No.9198554
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9198554

Anyone like this?

>> No.9198564

>>9198554
(((Roth)))

>> No.9198754

>>9198564
what a keen insight you have, maybe you should be an author yourself

>> No.9199661

>>9198754

Already am, my name is David Ruggles Franzen

>> No.9199987
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9199987

Perhaps a bit of a stretch to name it a "masterpiece", but it is very good

>> No.9199994
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9199994

>>9190510
It does come up now and then, but not nearly enough.

>> No.9200133

>>9199987
huh, didn't know white wrote non-fantasy literature

really shows the infectious effect of genre fiction on how people perceive talent; genre fiction is the fiction equivalent of a how to ore recipe book

>> No.9200438

bump

>> No.9200506

>>9190605
S H A D I L A Y

>> No.9200697

bump

>> No.9200703

Someone compile this thread into a list and then put it on goodreads

>> No.9200719

>>9200703
There's nothing in here you wouldn't have read if you had a good reads account and looked at recommendations.

>> No.9200732

>>9200719
but I thought goodreads sucked balls

>> No.9200800

bump

>> No.9200810

>>9200732
It does but its the easiest place that I know of to make book lists with all the necessary information

>> No.9200812

>>9190464
my diary to be honest

>> No.9200828

>>9200732
That's because you choose to believe the kids strung out on memed. You have to be pretty brain dead to think the way those kids do. It's useful for cataloguing and recommendations. That's what you should be using any site like that for, not complaining about how the highest density of readers think the hunger games is a 5/5 and Don Quixote is a 3.8/5. Water is wet ya know? Collect some shells.

>> No.9201072

>>9197472
Anyone else read this?
It is effectively unlike any other book I've read and actually made me feel trapped inside my own head by the obsessive iteration,
>and i cried at the end

>> No.9201141

>>9194804
dont insult musil like that please

>> No.9201145

>>9196164
dara is the best contemporary author

The Lost Scrapbook is very good

>> No.9201174
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9201174

>> No.9201217

>>9201145
What are his novels like? is he actually like dfw at all or is it the common weak comparison?