/lit/ - Literature

>>8134945
>>8134969
>>8135000
I'd take the shit out of it.

>>8133831
Fantasy and Literature

Long-maligned and too often incorrectly pigeonholed as "Magical Realism" (which is a distinct literary movement, and not an umbrella term), tales of alternate realities and magic have a rich and thriving history in literature. This course will examine a sample of contemporary iterations, all written by some of the most successful and lauded authors of our time. This is an introductory course, with no prior coursework necessary for enrollment.

The Dwarf, Knausgaard
Waiting for the Barbarians, Coetzee
The Hundred Brothers, Antrim
The Plot Against America, Roth
The Antelope Wife, Erdrich
Grendel, Gardner

>>8134153
If I knew Italian, sure.

>>8134914
> doesn't include Disgrace
yeah i'd take it anyway

>>8105381
> balanced

The first 50 pages are an American treasure.

The last 800 are muddled, at best.

>>8104903
> never

>>8105116

A male author who doesn't accurately represent women has nothing to do with class.

Further, there are two reasons why Franzen receives extra scrutiny: he's the most recognizable living literary author, and his Perchance to Dream essay reeked of privilege and outright racist language. There's no serious critic who has hit him for being too "white-boy-y." In fact, his most vocal detractors agree that The Corrections is fantastic.

You've got to find a source of someone being criticized for their background in order to have a point here. Shouts to Egon tho.

>>6484354
/fitlit/ threads, though rare, tend to be extremely entertaining

>>6484804
> tfw haven't read Spenser

I'm so, so sorry, /pol/

>>6484674
> Why is /lit/ so pbsessed with communist revolution?

B/C the White Nights are aesthetic as fuck. It's like you've never read Gorky.

Also, /pol/ instigators.

>>6481678
Colm Toibin's article comparing Obama to Baldwin is fantastic. Any interested in some actual criticism of Obama's prose should check it out.

>>6481872
> not getting down with the incognito cherokee powpow re-enactment tent

>>6472258
Years later, do reviewers regret their hyperbole?
Or are they too well-paid?

>>6472216 (OP)
It's a great book. It's comedy is often understated in discussions about it, but certainly makes the reading experience more buoyant.

Also, new sincerity is nonsense and even if it wasn't I doubt that Franzen would fall under that umbrella.

>>5894655
High-five

>>5894051

No one in the thread has claimed that the family is a capitalist construct.

>>5890122
>>5890521

Word.

>>5889943
>>5889990
>>5889913
>>5889958

I'd argue that the traditional family structure was actually reinforced and supported by capitalism, as it allows for a stable mechanism for keeping both large amounts of capital and the means of production in the hands of a small few.

A true leftist wants to destroy the family structure just as much as the church.

Just my 2 cents.

>>5889982
The book of the five rings doesn't get enough love around here.

>>5885343
There are too many and their purpose has been obscured by the argument surrounding them, but a spot where you can get a 2-5 year job reading and writing on taxpayer dime?

Hell yes. I'm applying next year.

>>5889855
One of my favorite
> MUH PROSE
books. It was obviously very meticulously constructed when it comes to sentence length, structure, and narrative movement. Despite the ostensible "list," it flows beautifully.

If you're into 'nam shit, check out Tree of Smoke!

>>5889514
Yo check out the love letters of abelard and heloise, the sculpture of bernini, and paradise lost

As for contemporary shit, can't help

Heard it's a tough book.

GL.

>>5840496
Yo I want a source

Not because I don't believe, but because that's fucking hilarious

>>5840247

Sometimes I miss you

>>5840062
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4NW3RLnXmTY

>>5840338
In that case, the Best American Short Stories collection from 1993 is widely considered to be one of the finest ever published. Also one of the few to give the nod to a "genre" writer, and it's edited by one of the finest writers alive today, Louise Erdrich.

It covers, as you might imagine, a wide swath of topics and issues.

Tracking down writers who also write literary journalism might get you started. Franzen gets hate on this board for his fiction, but writes about the acts of writing and reading better than anyone in How to be Alone. The collection also includes meditation on defunct technology, a interview with Tupac's father, and smoking. If you're super ambitious, though, Vollmann's nonfiction is possibly the best being written today (though Joan Didion deserves eternal acknowledgement for Slouching Towards Bethlehem). He is an adventurer in the classic sense of the word. He went to fight with the Taliban against the Soviets in the early 90s. He traveled the world asking people why they were poor. Unsurprisingly, this put him on a number of government watchlists, which he writes about in Life as a Terrorist.

Enjoy!