7 / 6/lit/ is for the discussion of literature, specifically books (fiction & non-fiction), short stories, poetry, creative writing, etc. If you want to discuss history, religion, or the humanities, go to /his/. If you want to discuss politics, go to /pol/. Philosophical discussion can go on either /lit/ or /his/, but those discussions of philosophy that take place on /lit/ should be based around specific philosophical works to which posters can refer.
Check the wiki, the catalog, and the archive before asking for advice or recommendations, and please refrain from starting new threads for questions that can be answered by a search engine.
/lit/ is a slow board! Please take the time to read what others have written, and try to make thoughtful, well-written posts of your own. Bump replies are not necessary.
Looking for books online? Check here:
Guide to #bookz
https://www.geocities.ws/prissy_90/Media/Texts/BookzHelp19kb.htm
Recommended Literature
https://lit.trainroll.xyz/wiki/Recommended_Reading
Check the wiki, the catalog, and the archive before asking for advice or recommendations, and please refrain from starting new threads for questions that can be answered by a search engine.
/lit/ is a slow board! Please take the time to read what others have written, and try to make thoughtful, well-written posts of your own. Bump replies are not necessary.
Looking for books online? Check here:
Guide to #bookz
https://www.geocities.ws/prissy_90/
Recommended Literature
https://lit.trainroll.xyz/wiki/Reco
108 / 5What does /lit/ generally think of books written by anons/namefags? Do they shill their own work here, and how are they received? Assuming the work is freely available.
53 / 2Why is it so unusual in the history of thought for someone to be so thoroughly God-affirming yet so perfectly irreligious?
After Plotinus I can think of very few, and all are relatively recent. Even the germans, or the french spiritualists (think Ravaisson, Bergson) seem to remain open to religiosity on principle.
Notably, Eric Perl (neoplatonism scholar, former Roman Catholic) has apostasized in recent years, and theologian David Bentley Hart (though for some mysterious reason he still insists on calling himself a christian) does not seem terribly convinced about things like exclusivism or the real efficacy of religious rituals.
But by and large, people who are willing to admit that the world depends on a principle (call it what you want, really) tend to be open to or convinced of the notion that said principle could manifest or reveal itself in another special, priviledged way, that it could somehow act no longer as the principle, but as a being among beings, intervening among them and upon them.
This is obviously a very counterintuitive idea, and actually extremely hard to reconcile with what is commonly called "classical theism". It's not just that there is a gap between say, the quinque viae and religion, it's that there is an apparent (and I would say, probably actual) contradiction between the latter and any framework in which the former have any meaning.
So what gives? My bet is that historically most people working/writing in this field were initially religious and picked it up as apologetics. But they tended to surreptitiously equate theism and religion, metaphysics with legalism, ethics with casuistry. This, is turn, is off-putting to people who might otherwise have been interested in the topic, and, having been convinced that theology was essentially a part of religion, discard it altogether.
(Of course I'm not counting the deist thing as that has little to do with actual metaphysics/theology.)
After Plotinus I can think of very few, and all are relatively recent. Even the germans, or the french spiritualists (think Ravaisson, Bergson) seem to remain open to religiosity on principle.
Notably, Eric Perl (neoplatonism scholar, former Roman Catholic) has apostasized in recent years, and theologian David Bentley Hart (though for some mysterious reason he still insists on calling himself a christian) does not seem terribly convinced about things like exclusivism or the real efficacy of religious rituals.
But by and large, people who are willing to admit that the world depends on a principle (call it what you want, really) tend to be open to or convinced of the notion that said principle could manifest or reveal itself in another special, priviledged way, that it could somehow act no longer as the principle, but as a being among beings, intervening among them and upon them.
This is obviously a very counterintuitive idea, and actually extremely hard to reconcile with what is commonly called "classical theism". It's not just that there is a gap between say, the quinque viae and religion, it's that there is an apparent (and I would say, probably actual) contradiction between the latter and any framework in which the former have any meaning.
So what gives? My bet is that historically most people working/writing in this field were initially religious and picked it up as apologetics. But they tended to surreptitiously equate theism and religion, metaphysics with legalism, ethics with casuistry. This, is turn, is off-putting to people who might otherwise have been interested in the topic, and, having been convinced that theology was essentially a part of religion, discard it altogether.
(Of course I'm not counting the deist thing as that has little to do with actual metaphysics/theology.)
110 / 21/wng/ - Web Novel General>What is /wng/ - Web Novel General?
A general for readers and authors involved or interested in the growing phenomenon of 'web novels', serialized English fiction posted to websites such as: Royal Road, Webnovel, Scribblehub, Wattpad, Archive of Our Own, Spacebattles, HFY, various personal author websites, and more
>Why read web novels?
Not for prose or tight editing or deep themes, frankly. As a whole, web novels are infamous for content sprawl and pacing issues. If you enjoy having millions of words to sink your teeth into to get to know the world and characters, though, you may be interested. Keeping up with other readers on a weekly basis to discuss the story's events unfolding is another perk, in the same way discussing an ongoing TV show might be.
>Why write web novels?
Ease of access & potential for Patreon earnings. Many successful authors gain an audience on their website of choice and funnel their readers into a Patreon. See graphtreon.com/top-patreon-creators/writing for an idea of what some are earning.
Also, once an author has earned a fanbase, transitioning into an Amazon self-publishing career is several orders of magnitude easier than starting 'dry'.
>/wng/ authors.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/e/2PACX-1vSNZali-jIk2MASsAWVf8N7A8BlSyzPbAFV_BhsA5Ip3SWfMPWKxaXf8Pdb7f0TgFyWis31BzirtPeR/pubhtml
>Advice for Noobs!
##READ THE FOLLOWING BEFORE ASKING FOR HELP##
Running your story like the business it is:
www.royalroad.com/forums/thread/116847
On writing web serials:
alexanderwales.com/how-to-write-a-web-serial/
Sanderson's Writing Lectures 2025:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MEUh_y1IFZY&list=PLSH_xM-KC3ZvzkfVo_Dls0B5GiE2oMcLY
Recommended web novels
rentry.co/d2yvczro
Anon's guide to success
rentry.co/RRBasicGuide
FAQ
rentry.co/pytefpxn
A general for readers and authors involved or interested in the growing phenomenon of 'web novels', serialized English fiction posted to websites such as: Royal Road, Webnovel, Scribblehub, Wattpad, Archive of Our Own, Spacebattles, HFY, various personal author websites, and more
>Why read web novels?
Not for prose or tight editing or deep themes, frankly. As a whole, web novels are infamous for content sprawl and pacing issues. If you enjoy having millions of words to sink your teeth into to get to know the world and characters, though, you may be interested. Keeping up with other readers on a weekly basis to discuss the story's events unfolding is another perk, in the same way discussing an ongoing TV show might be.
>Why write web novels?
Ease of access & potential for Patreon earnings. Many successful authors gain an audience on their website of choice and funnel their readers into a Patreon. See graphtreon.com/top-patreon-creators
Also, once an author has earned a fanbase, transitioning into an Amazon self-publishing career is several orders of magnitude easier than starting 'dry'.
>/wng/ authors.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet
>Advice for Noobs!
##READ THE FOLLOWING BEFORE ASKING FOR HELP##
Running your story like the business it is:
www.royalroad.com/forums/thread/116
On writing web serials:
alexanderwales.com/how-to-write-a-w
Sanderson's Writing Lectures 2025:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MEU
Recommended web novels
rentry.co/d2yvczro
Anon's guide to success
rentry.co/RRBasicGuide
FAQ
rentry.co/pytefpxn
74 / 6/wg/ Writing General"There can be only one!" edition
Previous: >>24848643
/wg/ AUTHORS & FLASH FICTION: https://pastebin.com/ruwQj7xQ
RESOURCES & RECOMMENDATIONS: https://pastebin.com/nFxdiQvC
Please limit excerpts to one post.
Give advice as much as you receive it to the best of your ability.
Follow prompts made below and discuss written works for practice; contribute and you shall receive.
If you have not performed a cursory proofread, do not expect to be treated kindly. Edit your work for spelling and grammar before posting.
Violent shills, relentless shill-spammers, and grounds keeping prose, should be ignored and reported.
(And maybe double-space your WIPs to allow edits if you want 'em.)
Simple guides on writing:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHdzv1NfZRM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whPnobbck9s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YAKcbvioxFk
Thread theme: https://youtu.be/M4obZoDW-_A?si=Yqk1WCcl7addXAvY
Previous: >>24848643
/wg/ AUTHORS & FLASH FICTION: https://pastebin.com/ruwQj7xQ
RESOURCES & RECOMMENDATIONS: https://pastebin.com/nFxdiQvC
Please limit excerpts to one post.
Give advice as much as you receive it to the best of your ability.
Follow prompts made below and discuss written works for practice; contribute and you shall receive.
If you have not performed a cursory proofread, do not expect to be treated kindly. Edit your work for spelling and grammar before posting.
Violent shills, relentless shill-spammers, and grounds keeping prose, should be ignored and reported.
(And maybe double-space your WIPs to allow edits if you want 'em.)
Simple guides on writing:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHd
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whP
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YAK
Thread theme: https://youtu.be/M4obZoDW-_A?si=Yqk
39 / 3Why do you hate Stephen King so much? He writes some mediocre books, yet /lit/ hates him for some reason.
187 / 29/clg/ - Classical Languages GeneralOracular edition
>τὸ πρότερον νῆμα·
>>24816688
>Μέγα τὸ Ἑλληνιστί/Ῥωμαϊστί·
https://mega dot nz/folder/FHdXFZ4A#mWgaKv4SeG-2Rx7iMZ6EKw
>Mέγα τὸ ANE·
https://mega dot nz/folder/YfsmFRxA#pz58Q6aTDkwn9Ot6G68NRg
>Work in progress FAQ
https://rentry dot co/n8nrko
All Classical languages are welcome.
>τὸ πρότερον νῆμα·
>>24816688
>Μέγα τὸ Ἑλληνιστί/Ῥωμαϊστί·
https://mega dot nz/folder/FHdXFZ4A#mWgaKv4SeG-2Rx7i
>Mέγα τὸ ANE·
https://mega dot nz/folder/YfsmFRxA#pz58Q6aTDkwn9Ot6
>Work in progress FAQ
https://rentry dot co/n8nrko
All Classical languages are welcome.
9 / 0why are french romanticists like this? literally unreadable unless you happen to be aware of the gazillion literary alusions at every single line
10 / 0>Glanton spit while the forastero on huaraches slowly saddled his burro yonder the ocotillo. He then proceeded to the establo and called out to him "Hey venga muchacho, ¿comprende mucho, si?"
So this is the power of American prose?
So this is the power of American prose?
0 / 0Books for thinking disease?Hey I hate to be the guy who posts this kind of thing but I truly don't know where else to ask. I feel lost in life. I am undisciplined and rarely get things done. Most of my time I spend in my head, pondering over matters I cannot solve, yet failing to switch topics or get my head out of a thinking spiral. Maybe I lack the will to do so. I went over the self-help and psychology slop, but it all feels like a sham, a fad constantly trying to sell me more crap (just buy my book bro, just try my online course, just follow these ridiculous rules I made up). Perhaps I am foolish to think a book will help me, but I want to learn how to be a simpler man, a man of action, of less thought. Any literature on the matter?
60 / 13"Misogynistic" literatureI need some recs for "Misogynistic", anti-women, anti-feminist, etc. FICTION, but non fiction can also pass. Novels and novellas that explore female behaviour and the extent of their evil and stupidity and critique them
10 / 1what is the actual no bullshit bare minimumfor reading Kant?
I don't think I really care much for either Descartes nor Hume nor many of the others who fall within this. Spinoza I might be open to reading just out of curiosity. he seems pretty important I think to the kantian enterprise. who else? I've already read Plato and Aristotle. will be reading Augustine soon, and about Aquinas (I don't care very much for aristotelian style philosohy beyond what Aristotle himself wrote). I feel Kant can be into'd with nothing more than relevant secondary literature and a sharp mind.
I don't think I really care much for either Descartes nor Hume nor many of the others who fall within this. Spinoza I might be open to reading just out of curiosity. he seems pretty important I think to the kantian enterprise. who else? I've already read Plato and Aristotle. will be reading Augustine soon, and about Aquinas (I don't care very much for aristotelian style philosohy beyond what Aristotle himself wrote). I feel Kant can be into'd with nothing more than relevant secondary literature and a sharp mind.
70 / 2Do people in America even read novels?Women seem to be the predominant readers and it seems predominantly porn for them. If men read books it's predominantly long-running sci-fi series.
I've had success and interest in readership but it's not sci-fi (Epic fantasy) and my most success wasn't even a proper novel but a comic. The problem is comics are pretty much dead as well for English speaking countries. Am I wrong or do I need to start prioritizing different countries?
I've had success and interest in readership but it's not sci-fi (Epic fantasy) and my most success wasn't even a proper novel but a comic. The problem is comics are pretty much dead as well for English speaking countries. Am I wrong or do I need to start prioritizing different countries?
28 / 8Alright I'm gonna read the bible and saw this 'thomas nelson' one on amazon for $20. Should I get it
48 / 5Which AI do you use, /lit/?
>inb4 *scoff* "HURR DURR I DON'T USE..."
Shut up, faggot. Yes you do. Stop lying. Just answer the fucking question.
>inb4 *scoff* "HURR DURR I DON'T USE..."
Shut up, faggot. Yes you do. Stop lying. Just answer the fucking question.
25 / 0Formal education thread>What type of university did you attend?
>What era?
>What did you learn? How do you feel about your education now?
I did an English Lit degree at the premier university in my country (hah!). The Australian National University. I was told it was the best, hardest to get into, highest ranked, etc. Turns out that just meant the place had more postgrads than undergrounds, was predominantly research oriented and got a shittonne of citations. Doubt it made it better than half the other universities in Aus. Was a helluva place though, beautiful, bright and stimulating.
My era - thank fuck! - was pre-woke. We still had blue hairs screeching but there were approximately zero mentions of critical race theory, gender theory, grievance studies or the like. 20-ish years ago.
My fading memory of the curriculum, in order of importance/volume:
- poets, poems and poetry
- shakespeare, milton, chaucer, donne, wordsworth, blake, probably a few others i'm forgetting
- literary movements (medieval through to modernism with the most time spent on romanticism - weirdly, don't think we did any postmodernism let alone postcolonial)
Another fun fact, we studied a shitload of australian authors, like books of poetry by former anu students, but not a single American work. Oh wait, no, Emily Dickinson was big and T.S. Eliot if you still count him as American. But I only learned about what Americans consider 'the classics' years after - Melville, Hemingway et al. Funny to think how invisible all that was to us back then.
Overall, it was an A+ experience. The professors were passionate and our student discussions were stimulating. I enjoyed the fuck out of deconstructing these works. Sadly, I've heard the old girl's gone so over the top giga woke these days, it's entirely unrecognisable. You can't really even study English anymore. It's like new star was level of discourse control.
Anyway, that's my story. Tell me yours.
>What era?
>What did you learn? How do you feel about your education now?
I did an English Lit degree at the premier university in my country (hah!). The Australian National University. I was told it was the best, hardest to get into, highest ranked, etc. Turns out that just meant the place had more postgrads than undergrounds, was predominantly research oriented and got a shittonne of citations. Doubt it made it better than half the other universities in Aus. Was a helluva place though, beautiful, bright and stimulating.
My era - thank fuck! - was pre-woke. We still had blue hairs screeching but there were approximately zero mentions of critical race theory, gender theory, grievance studies or the like. 20-ish years ago.
My fading memory of the curriculum, in order of importance/volume:
- poets, poems and poetry
- shakespeare, milton, chaucer, donne, wordsworth, blake, probably a few others i'm forgetting
- literary movements (medieval through to modernism with the most time spent on romanticism - weirdly, don't think we did any postmodernism let alone postcolonial)
Another fun fact, we studied a shitload of australian authors, like books of poetry by former anu students, but not a single American work. Oh wait, no, Emily Dickinson was big and T.S. Eliot if you still count him as American. But I only learned about what Americans consider 'the classics' years after - Melville, Hemingway et al. Funny to think how invisible all that was to us back then.
Overall, it was an A+ experience. The professors were passionate and our student discussions were stimulating. I enjoyed the fuck out of deconstructing these works. Sadly, I've heard the old girl's gone so over the top giga woke these days, it's entirely unrecognisable. You can't really even study English anymore. It's like new star was level of discourse control.
Anyway, that's my story. Tell me yours.
29 / 3PublishingI've gotten about half a dozen short stories and about a dozen poems published under my own name. Mostly in small venues, and only one ever paid me serious money. I've tried to get published at some of the big dog places like the New Yorker and the Paris Review, but no dice. This despite one of my poems actually being nominated for a Pushcart Prize a few years ago.
I have a major work I've been working on in installments for five years now, and there doesn't seem to be anyone who wants to take a chance on publishing the first book, so my plan is to put it up on a website I'm having built tailor-made for it, sections at a time, releasing it serially. Fortunately I have a decent social media presence which should hopefully help me slowly build an audience, if people think the story is good.
None of the big dogs seem to want to take a chance on me so I'm going to try to get my stuff out into the world myself.
I have a major work I've been working on in installments for five years now, and there doesn't seem to be anyone who wants to take a chance on publishing the first book, so my plan is to put it up on a website I'm having built tailor-made for it, sections at a time, releasing it serially. Fortunately I have a decent social media presence which should hopefully help me slowly build an audience, if people think the story is good.
None of the big dogs seem to want to take a chance on me so I'm going to try to get my stuff out into the world myself.
27 / 4>buddhism says "life is suffering"
>kills himself and ends suffering
Did he take Buddhism to its logical conclusion?
>kills himself and ends suffering
Did he take Buddhism to its logical conclusion?
5 / 0>be a supposedly superintelligent godlike supercomputer
>become totally undone by a simple logic conflict
Seriously?
>become totally undone by a simple logic conflict
Seriously?
15 / 1I really hate the way people and their favorite LLM are typing nowadays. The short, pithy imperatives. Matter-of-fact laconism. A few words at a time. Grok, Claude, Gippity, doesn't matter. In short — the fucking normies ruining everything as usual.
122 / 20I need an electornic word processor that
>cannot EVER connect to the internet
>can manage, import, and export text files via usb
>has little to no other function
There's too much shit on my laptop to distract me from writing. I realize there's pen and paper but I don't want to have to rewrite everything I've already written. Any recommendations?
>cannot EVER connect to the internet
>can manage, import, and export text files via usb
>has little to no other function
There's too much shit on my laptop to distract me from writing. I realize there's pen and paper but I don't want to have to rewrite everything I've already written. Any recommendations?
142 / 7After seeing the catfights go on over the past year, I decided to read the book for myself. Joe Sachs translation. Fantastic book. The autist in me loved Metaphysics Delta in particular. But I felt like I left with more questions than answers.
I feel like the topic that Aristotle dealt with goes beyond what it means for something to be universal or particular, and it seems like Aristotle thought that essence is a form that is neither universal nor particular. But Aristotle made it clear that boilerplate Platonism does not logically work, although Sachs makes an effort in his footnotes to point out that something like Platonism can still be salvaged.
I also don't know how we can think of the active intellect aka the unmoved mover as the pure being-at-work of thinking with its object being itself. How can it be akin to wakefulness or meaningfully compared with anything we call thinking when our own wakefulness relies on a capacity or a power to be moved, something that the unmoved mover does not have? It seems like such an austere concept that we might as well treat it as the thinnest, brute fact aspect of being that we were looking for all along.
Idk. Thoughts?
I feel like the topic that Aristotle dealt with goes beyond what it means for something to be universal or particular, and it seems like Aristotle thought that essence is a form that is neither universal nor particular. But Aristotle made it clear that boilerplate Platonism does not logically work, although Sachs makes an effort in his footnotes to point out that something like Platonism can still be salvaged.
I also don't know how we can think of the active intellect aka the unmoved mover as the pure being-at-work of thinking with its object being itself. How can it be akin to wakefulness or meaningfully compared with anything we call thinking when our own wakefulness relies on a capacity or a power to be moved, something that the unmoved mover does not have? It seems like such an austere concept that we might as well treat it as the thinnest, brute fact aspect of being that we were looking for all along.
Idk. Thoughts?
150 / 27/grrm/ - George R. R. Martin General #95hizdahr zo loraq edition
ASOIAF wiki: https://awoiaf.westeros.org/index.php/Main_Page
Blog: https://georgerrmartin.com/notablog/
Old blog: https://grrm.livejournal.com/
So Spake Martin (interviews): https://westeros.org/citadel/ssm/
Book search: https://asearchoficeandfire.com/
SSM search: https://cse.google.com/cse?cx=006888510641072775866:vm4n1jrzsdy
General search: http://searcherr.work/
TWOW samples: https://archive.org/details/411440566-the-winds-of-winter-released-chapters
old: >>24822405
ASOIAF wiki: https://awoiaf.westeros.org/index.p
Blog: https://georgerrmartin.com/notablog
Old blog: https://grrm.livejournal.com/
So Spake Martin (interviews): https://westeros.org/citadel/ssm/
Book search: https://asearchoficeandfire.com/
SSM search: https://cse.google.com/cse?cx=00688
General search: http://searcherr.work/
TWOW samples: https://archive.org/details/4114405
old: >>24822405
81 / 6When you read a book, do you visualize the landscape and the people, like a movie scene flowing through your mind?
7 / 0>if something happens... then something else might also happen later
so this.... is the power.... of philosophy... what a good use of your time.......
so this.... is the power.... of philosophy... what a good use of your time.......
24 / 2so now that philosophy has been going for a couple thousand years, what is their conclusion? have they've even gotten anywhere? i suspect it's all a meme.
16 / 1I'm 60 pages in, when does it get good? So far it's a book about a woman being a woman. Please tell me it changes, I hate women.
11 / 2Fiction in which anything can happenPlease recommend skeptical fiction in which there is a sense that anything can happen and which is not based on taken external world for granted
89 / 9>writes a juvenile book with simple black and white morality for children
>filled with plotholes
>bad guys are all cartoonishly evil and have no redeeming features
>80 years later manchildren still think he's a genius
Is he the biggest hack to ever hack? Being an adult fan of Tolkien is the easiest way to tell someone is low IQ.
>filled with plotholes
>bad guys are all cartoonishly evil and have no redeeming features
>80 years later manchildren still think he's a genius
Is he the biggest hack to ever hack? Being an adult fan of Tolkien is the easiest way to tell someone is low IQ.
18 / 1>so many books so little time
How do you cope with not being able to read as much as you could due to the busyness of life?
How do you cope with not being able to read as much as you could due to the busyness of life?
3 / 0Unpopular opinion maybe but in hindsight I think maybe he was less genuinely wise and the like and more just a bitter fuck who hated that maybe somebody somewhere actually believed in some kind of ideals or the like. He legitimately seemed to just violently attack basically anyone who he perceived as being both popular and who didn't conform to his grungy takes on the human condition by basically always claiming they're either stupid and vapid or that they were actively malicious without any room to consider that maybe they just didn't agree with him that everything was a shithole and had always been a shithole without any higher aspirations or beliefs.
12 / 2Favorite female author?The only female author in my collection is Mary Shelley and she might not of even written all of Frankenstein. I thought Lewis Carrol was a girl’s name turns out it’s not.
10 / 1brutalit's like this guy grew two extra cocks just so that he could rape hegel, kant, and heidegger simultaneously while writing this
35 / 3I don't get it.
So Ezra Pound's works are something only a genius could make, but the only reason why he isn't labeled as a genius by academia, experts and readers is because he had the wrong opinion?
That makes no sense all.
So Ezra Pound's works are something only a genius could make, but the only reason why he isn't labeled as a genius by academia, experts and readers is because he had the wrong opinion?
That makes no sense all.
45 / 4The freemasons and the powers behind them lied to you about literally everything. Either half-truths, false concepts, or blatant lies to confuse you and give you a false understanding of the world, mankind, time, history, and your place in it so that you dedicate your life, soul, and energy to their doctrines in which they have full authority over every aspect. They control Science™, they are the priests that ex-plain and ex-plane the earth for you, they wield that trademark, and that means they control our space in life (if we give them authority over the earth).
Right from the start this world lied to you about the very ground you stand on, the 3 dimensional reality you live in. A fundamental lie, and everything people derive from this false reality will consequently be some kind of falsehood. We are now at the point where mankind believes they are mutated animals, and they are spinning around themselves on a perfectly spherical rock in random space that exploded once. A psy-op, mental conditioning. Do not underestimate the spiritual life-guiding implications of this godless concept. Most people are not level-headed, they are not stationary, they are not based, they are incapable to see physical truth at this point. Common sense isn't really all that common anymore. They rather believe in jewish mysticism like space-time and relativity, which leads to everything being "relative". No distinct up and down, which leads to good and evil being "relative", male and female being "relative", all empty space and imaginations in our mind. Let that sink in, the majority of people ultimately don't even know what is UP and what is DOWN. In other words, there is no absolute truth in this universe.
Right from the start this world lied to you about the very ground you stand on, the 3 dimensional reality you live in. A fundamental lie, and everything people derive from this false reality will consequently be some kind of falsehood. We are now at the point where mankind believes they are mutated animals, and they are spinning around themselves on a perfectly spherical rock in random space that exploded once. A psy-op, mental conditioning. Do not underestimate the spiritual life-guiding implications of this godless concept. Most people are not level-headed, they are not stationary, they are not based, they are incapable to see physical truth at this point. Common sense isn't really all that common anymore. They rather believe in jewish mysticism like space-time and relativity, which leads to everything being "relative". No distinct up and down, which leads to good and evil being "relative", male and female being "relative", all empty space and imaginations in our mind. Let that sink in, the majority of people ultimately don't even know what is UP and what is DOWN. In other words, there is no absolute truth in this universe.
2 / 0Argonautica>An alexandrine epic written before the events of the Iliad
>A crew of badass heroes, from Heracles and Orpheus to the fathers of Ajax and Achilles
>Starring a young man ushered by the orders of a tyrant king into traveling to far off lands on a pointless suicide mission
>numerous monsters, strange locales, cameos from other epics, alongside new and powerful characters
>all written with the benefit of hindsight and centuries of literary/scholarly advancement
>essentially the perfect premise for an epic to rival Homer
>turns to complete and utter shit after the first two books
Genuinely how did Apollonius fuck this up?
>A crew of badass heroes, from Heracles and Orpheus to the fathers of Ajax and Achilles
>Starring a young man ushered by the orders of a tyrant king into traveling to far off lands on a pointless suicide mission
>numerous monsters, strange locales, cameos from other epics, alongside new and powerful characters
>all written with the benefit of hindsight and centuries of literary/scholarly advancement
>essentially the perfect premise for an epic to rival Homer
>turns to complete and utter shit after the first two books
Genuinely how did Apollonius fuck this up?
41 / 5What books should I read if I want to develop Dark Triad traits? I've already read 48 Laws of Power and How to Win Friends and Influence People
84 / 10I'm Going To Write Girlporn For $$$This is the only genre that makes money and the money train isn't stopping any time soon. Short of a puritanical John Carpenter style government, there will always be demand for this shit.
The question is, can a dude write successful girlporn? This is the literary question.
I'm going to read this milking farm thing and see if I can't get a knack for how women write. I'm suspecting it's a bit like this:
>Minimal attention to details and the world, emphasis on personal impressions and feelings; the world as a set of things that make you feel different ways.
>Braindead, 12-15 year old brain simplicity.
Imagine a Middle School girl trying to "speed download" social gossip updates to a friend.
>Vanity, ego, zero accountability, petty delusions, cliches.
This will require a bit of research and marketing savvy just to collect up what today's cliches are. Fortunately, women are dead simple and just go on TikTok/Twitter and see what buzzwords come up a lot.
>Sultry language.
This one's tough. From what I understand explicit, gross language is what sells this shit and is the female equivalent of visually seeing porn. On the other hand, I have a feeling that I could write porn that is vastly more detailed and explicit than what women read and would alienate them. I have a feeling it's just stuff like, "sweaty" "bulge" "heaving" "cock!" "pulsing". Words that sound distinctly naughty but remain vague. It's not about visualizing, even through text, sexual mechanics. It's about breaking social taboos so women feel "naughty" and liberated from their neurotic sexual restraints.
>Female attraction
This is tough. How far do you go with "big muscles, ripped body"? How much do women want to read that, and when is it too much? Women like being dominated but they like to feel it was their choice to be dominated. As a man who understands women very well, I don't want to tap into their sexual triggers too accurately because that might lead to a sense of "revealing too much" about female sexuality which women don't like. They like most of it to remain implicit and simple.
That said, after I nuke my brain with Morning Glory Milking Farm, I'm going to try a couple more to see if my sense of the format is correct.
It should be utterly trivially to right one of these things after that. They're poorly written and short. I can easily embellish the sexual acts to be ten times as spicy as long as I'm aware of the boundaries, men visualize way better than women do. Secondly, as long as I pander to women, I could probably produce a plot a thousand times more compelling.
I literally need like $50k in my life right now for a couple things and I have a feeling I could just pump out 10 of these fuckers in a series and get there.
The question is, can a dude write successful girlporn? This is the literary question.
I'm going to read this milking farm thing and see if I can't get a knack for how women write. I'm suspecting it's a bit like this:
>Minimal attention to details and the world, emphasis on personal impressions and feelings; the world as a set of things that make you feel different ways.
>Braindead, 12-15 year old brain simplicity.
Imagine a Middle School girl trying to "speed download" social gossip updates to a friend.
>Vanity, ego, zero accountability, petty delusions, cliches.
This will require a bit of research and marketing savvy just to collect up what today's cliches are. Fortunately, women are dead simple and just go on TikTok/Twitter and see what buzzwords come up a lot.
>Sultry language.
This one's tough. From what I understand explicit, gross language is what sells this shit and is the female equivalent of visually seeing porn. On the other hand, I have a feeling that I could write porn that is vastly more detailed and explicit than what women read and would alienate them. I have a feeling it's just stuff like, "sweaty" "bulge" "heaving" "cock!" "pulsing". Words that sound distinctly naughty but remain vague. It's not about visualizing, even through text, sexual mechanics. It's about breaking social taboos so women feel "naughty" and liberated from their neurotic sexual restraints.
>Female attraction
This is tough. How far do you go with "big muscles, ripped body"? How much do women want to read that, and when is it too much? Women like being dominated but they like to feel it was their choice to be dominated. As a man who understands women very well, I don't want to tap into their sexual triggers too accurately because that might lead to a sense of "revealing too much" about female sexuality which women don't like. They like most of it to remain implicit and simple.
That said, after I nuke my brain with Morning Glory Milking Farm, I'm going to try a couple more to see if my sense of the format is correct.
It should be utterly trivially to right one of these things after that. They're poorly written and short. I can easily embellish the sexual acts to be ten times as spicy as long as I'm aware of the boundaries, men visualize way better than women do. Secondly, as long as I pander to women, I could probably produce a plot a thousand times more compelling.
I literally need like $50k in my life right now for a couple things and I have a feeling I could just pump out 10 of these fuckers in a series and get there.
40 / 4So I finally got around to reading this book and I must say, it's a pretty good apolitical introduction to the history of migration. I came out believing the same thing I did coming in, that we humans are a nomadic species and migration is a fact of life. The right to roam shall not be infringed, chuds.
115 / 9/wolw/ - Writing of Literary WorksA thread for writing literary fiction, non-fiction, and other genres, and discussion of literary craft.
Rococo edition
Previous: n/a
Be polite and cordial. Do not feed the trolls.
Share your work, but retain some grace and limit yourself. Do not spam.
Follow thread prompts and discuss these exercises to enrich our understanding of the craft.
Thread prompt:
Write a scene where a small, ordinary object (a ticket stub, dented spoon, chipped mug) reveals a secret about the narrator. Begin in medias res with a sensory detail. End with a line that reframes the object’s meaning.
Rococo edition
Previous: n/a
Be polite and cordial. Do not feed the trolls.
Share your work, but retain some grace and limit yourself. Do not spam.
Follow thread prompts and discuss these exercises to enrich our understanding of the craft.
Thread prompt:
Write a scene where a small, ordinary object (a ticket stub, dented spoon, chipped mug) reveals a secret about the narrator. Begin in medias res with a sensory detail. End with a line that reframes the object’s meaning.
69 / 5Mainlander's PhilosophyHow is this guy not even relevant ? His Metaphysical and Epistemological arguments about Will-to-live being the Will-To-death and that Death is not a phenomenon of the Will-to-Live but the true halt to life and the will to death strives to die because the Universe is the corpse of a suicidal god.
Seriously how the fuck these genius is not popular it's literally the best argument
Seriously how the fuck these genius is not popular it's literally the best argument
63 / 4I reread The Dark Enlightenment at least once a month and it's probably the most impactful piece of writing I've ever laid my eyes on. How comes his reactionary writings get so little attention compared to his earlier methed-up schizo nonsense, asides for hand-wringing dismissal and moral grandstanding disapproval from political opponents? They try to act like it doesn't exist or that it's just "stupid" and nobody should ever read it, despite embodying one of the most compelling critiques of the Leftist project ever made.
57 / 7I'm a 32 year old loser (not a neet) with practically no life experience who spent the last 10 years playing vidya and smoking weed although I don't do either anymore. Can I still be a writer?
2 / 0>Add a random passage where the story enters a POV of a Fox
>You can hear the sentient thoughts of this animal
>This is never ever mentioned or brought up again throughout the entire LOTR Trilogy
What did Tolkien mean by this?
>You can hear the sentient thoughts of this animal
>This is never ever mentioned or brought up again throughout the entire LOTR Trilogy
What did Tolkien mean by this?
99 / 5>ermm anon why don't you have a single female author in your book case?
>but you have all the Pynchons? Seriously??? Are you literally an incel or something?
>but you have all the Pynchons? Seriously??? Are you literally an incel or something?
2 / 0Book recommendationsCould you recommend me novels with similar themes? Bonus points if they were originally written in russian, preferably pre revolution. Complex and lengthy novels are welcome but less serious works are ok too (i already know of Lidia Charskaya's works).
23 / 3Any of you doing NaNoWriMo this month? We're only three days in, plenty of time to start still. I haven't, but maybe if enough people call me a fag I will.
294 / 53/wbg/ - Worldbuilding GeneralTropical Beach Edition
FAQ:
>What is worldbuilding?
Worldbuilding is the process of creating entire fictional worlds from scratch, all while considering the logistics of these worlds to make them as believable as possible. Worldbuilding asks questions about the setting of a world, and then answers them, often in great detail. Most people use it as a means of creating a setting or the scenery for a story.
>"Isn't there a Worldbuilding general in >>>/tg/ already?"
Yes, there is. However, that general is focused on the creation of fictional worlds for the intended purpose of playing TTRPG campaigns. Here you can discuss worldbuilding projects that are not meant to be used for a roleplaying setting, but for novels, videogames, or any other kind of creative project.
>"Can I discuss the setting of my campaign here, though?"
If you want to, but it would probably be better to discuss it on >>>/tg/ . We don't allow the discussion of TTRPG mechanics, however. If you want to discuss stats or which D&D edition is best, this is not the place.
>"Can I talk about an existing fictional setting that is not mine?"
Yes, of course you can!
>"Does worldbuilding need to be about fantasy and elves?"
Worldbuilding, as already stated above, and contrary to what many believe, does not inherently imply blatantly copying Tolkien. In fact, there are many science-fiction setting out there, and even entire alternative history settings which do not possess supernatural elements at all. Any kind of science fiction book has an implied setting at least, which involves a certain degree of worldbuilding put into it.
Old Thread: >>24667235
FAQ:
>What is worldbuilding?
Worldbuilding is the process of creating entire fictional worlds from scratch, all while considering the logistics of these worlds to make them as believable as possible. Worldbuilding asks questions about the setting of a world, and then answers them, often in great detail. Most people use it as a means of creating a setting or the scenery for a story.
>"Isn't there a Worldbuilding general in >>>/tg/ already?"
Yes, there is. However, that general is focused on the creation of fictional worlds for the intended purpose of playing TTRPG campaigns. Here you can discuss worldbuilding projects that are not meant to be used for a roleplaying setting, but for novels, videogames, or any other kind of creative project.
>"Can I discuss the setting of my campaign here, though?"
If you want to, but it would probably be better to discuss it on >>>/tg/ . We don't allow the discussion of TTRPG mechanics, however. If you want to discuss stats or which D&D edition is best, this is not the place.
>"Can I talk about an existing fictional setting that is not mine?"
Yes, of course you can!
>"Does worldbuilding need to be about fantasy and elves?"
Worldbuilding, as already stated above, and contrary to what many believe, does not inherently imply blatantly copying Tolkien. In fact, there are many science-fiction setting out there, and even entire alternative history settings which do not possess supernatural elements at all. Any kind of science fiction book has an implied setting at least, which involves a certain degree of worldbuilding put into it.
Old Thread: >>24667235
14 / 0This guy is a great writer. I vaguely remember having a read a few of his short stories in a high school class. It seems kind of odd that he isn't talked about that much, or propped up as a major American writer. I mean, maybe he is, since I read him in school, but I'm talking about outside of school. And I didn't even remember I read him until I read "A Watcher by the Dead" this morning.
I understand why the 20th century seems to overshadow all literature these days, but I don't understand why we give it so much space, especially for leisure reading.
I understand why the 20th century seems to overshadow all literature these days, but I don't understand why we give it so much space, especially for leisure reading.
5 / 1a book about PTSD has more reviews on Amazon than the first book of A Game of Thrones. has anyone read this book? how's it?
1 / 1Santa Claus and Talking BeaversThrowing random shit in a world and figuring it out later. Tolkien hated it (allegedly).
If it's so bad, why does this fascinate me? I don't want Tolkien to think I'm a Midwit.
I don't need or care for the 1,000 year history of how the beavers learned how to talk.
It's part of the mystery. Not everything needs to be explained.
And I like Christmas and Santa Claus. And I like Halloween. I really liked The Nightmare before Christmas.
Is it because I'm American?
If it's so bad, why does this fascinate me? I don't want Tolkien to think I'm a Midwit.
I don't need or care for the 1,000 year history of how the beavers learned how to talk.
It's part of the mystery. Not everything needs to be explained.
And I like Christmas and Santa Claus. And I like Halloween. I really liked The Nightmare before Christmas.
Is it because I'm American?
17 / 3The literature of a century priorWhat is your favorite novel, short story, or poem from 1925 (the year which some have called “the greatest year of literature”)?
6 / 1Books for when I’ve read the entire Western canon yet everything in this Leddit post describes me?
9 / 0Whitehead>Isn't it strange that modern physics embraces process over substance but our metaphysics doesn't?
>Hmm I guess you're right Whitehead.
>Alright so everything is conscious and has free will, occasions are the real actors in everything, every moment anywhere influences every other thing that occurs and objects absorb every piece of data from anything they interact with.
Uh what?
>Hmm I guess you're right Whitehead.
>Alright so everything is conscious and has free will, occasions are the real actors in everything, every moment anywhere influences every other thing that occurs and objects absorb every piece of data from anything they interact with.
Uh what?
57 / 8>peak
>mid
>slop
>crash out
>unalive
What the hell is up with modern speech turning into newspeak straight out of 1984? The word "ungood" genuinely wouldn't look too out of place with all the neologisms I just listed.
>mid
>slop
>crash out
>unalive
What the hell is up with modern speech turning into newspeak straight out of 1984? The word "ungood" genuinely wouldn't look too out of place with all the neologisms I just listed.
9 / 0this is the most farcical contradictory nonsense i have ever read LMAO and im only at the preface. the balzac quote had me draw the line bro. call me a nonplayer if you want rofl
is there any merit for me to continuing reading this at this point?
at least its been fun for how ridiculous it is.
feel free to discuss guys
is there any merit for me to continuing reading this at this point?
at least its been fun for how ridiculous it is.
feel free to discuss guys
47 / 2>“Youth was the time for happiness, its only season; young people, leading a lazy, carefree life, partially occupied by scarcely absorbing studies, were able to devote themselves unlimitedly to the liberated exultation of their bodies. They could play, dance, love, and multiply their pleasures. They could leave a party, in the early hours of the morning, in the company of sexual partners they had chosen, and contemplate the dreary line of employees going to work. They were the salt of the earth, and everything was given to them, everything was permitted for them, everything was possible. Later on, having started a family, having entered the adult world, they would be introduced to worry, work, responsibility, and the difficulties of existence; they would have to pay taxes, submit themselves to administrative formalities while ceaselessly bearing witness--powerless and shame-filled--to the irreversible degradation of their own bodies, which would be slow at first, then increasingly rapid; above all, they would have to look after children, mortal enemies, in their own homes, they would have to pamper them, feed them, worry about their illnesses, provide the means for their education and their pleasure, and unlike in the world of animals, this would last not just for a season, they would remain slaves of their offspring always, the time of joy was well and truly over for them, they would have to continue to suffer until the end, in pain and with increasing health problems, until they were no longer good for anything and were definitively thrown into the rubbish heap, cumbersome and useless. In return, their children would not be at all grateful, on the contrary their efforts, however strenuous, would never be considered enough, they would, until the bitter end, be considered guilty because of the simple fact of being parents. From this sad life, marked by shame, all joy would be pitilessly banished. When they wanted to draw near to young people's bodies, they would be chased away, rejected, ridiculed, insulted, and, more and more often nowadays, imprisoned. The physical bodies of young people, the only desirable possession the world has ever produced, were reserved for the exclusive use of the young, and the fate of the old was to work and to suffer. This was the true meaning of solidarity between generations; it was a pure and simple holocaust of each generation in favor of the one that replaced it, a cruel, prolonged holocaust that brought with it no consolation, no comfort, nor any material or emotional compensation.”
6 / 0check this out
https://www.gururamana.org/Resources/Books/Who_Am_I_English.pdf
if it is for you, you're blessed. if it is not, then one day it will be
https://www.gururamana.org/Resource
if it is for you, you're blessed. if it is not, then one day it will be
10 / 0Thank you Elon for finally killing the Spinoza meme by forever associating it with this pseudery.
7 / 0ReadingFor reading in general, what's the best to retain information?
Should I get a journal and note stuff after reading?
What methods do you guys use?
Should I get a journal and note stuff after reading?
What methods do you guys use?
5 / 1post books on general/philosophical grammar
Principles of General Grammar
Antoine Isaac Silvestre de Sacy
https://archive.org/details/principlesgener00sacygoog
The general principles of language
Thomas Jaffray Robertson
https://archive.org/details/generalprincwest00robeuoft
General and Rational Grammar
Antoine Arnauld, Claude Lancelot
https://libgen.li/edition.php?id=137309368
A grammar of logic
Alexander Jamieson
https://archive.org/details/grammaroflogicin01jami
General principles of the structure of language
James Byrne
vol 1
https://archive.org/details/generalprinciple01byrn
vol2
https://archive.org/details/generalprinciple02byrn
The principles of grammar
Solomon Barrett Jr
https://archive.org/details/principlesofgram00barrrich
Principles of General Grammar
Antoine Isaac Silvestre de Sacy
https://archive.org/details/princip
The general principles of language
Thomas Jaffray Robertson
https://archive.org/details/general
General and Rational Grammar
Antoine Arnauld, Claude Lancelot
https://libgen.li/edition.php?id=13
A grammar of logic
Alexander Jamieson
https://archive.org/details/grammar
General principles of the structure of language
James Byrne
vol 1
https://archive.org/details/general
vol2
https://archive.org/details/general
The principles of grammar
Solomon Barrett Jr
https://archive.org/details/princip
10 / 0>"whoso has sixpence is sovereign (to the length of sixpence) over all men; commands cooks to feed him, philosophers to teach him, kings to mount guard over him,–to the length of sixpence."
13 / 5Post interesting and obscure books you learned about from /lit/.
Also on a related note I came up with something called /lit/‘s law. That being that, if a book exists that is worth reading, it has almost definitely already been mentioned by someone on /lit/ at some point.
Also on a related note I came up with something called /lit/‘s law. That being that, if a book exists that is worth reading, it has almost definitely already been mentioned by someone on /lit/ at some point.
0 / 0>I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.
>so that all may know, from where the sun rises to where it sets, that there is none but Me; I am the LORD, and there is no other. I form the light and create the darkness; I bring prosperity and create calamity. I, the LORD, do all these things.
>so that all may know, from where the sun rises to where it sets, that there is none but Me; I am the LORD, and there is no other. I form the light and create the darkness; I bring prosperity and create calamity. I, the LORD, do all these things.
12 / 4How many planets are in the universe?
If you take every single grain of sand on earth and imagine that every single grain of sand on earth is 1 billion planets, thats how many.
Any books with some philosophy to address this? I'm finding it very hard to imagine humans are important against such numbers as these. Like how could you possibly argue we matter at all vs that?
If you take every single grain of sand on earth and imagine that every single grain of sand on earth is 1 billion planets, thats how many.
Any books with some philosophy to address this? I'm finding it very hard to imagine humans are important against such numbers as these. Like how could you possibly argue we matter at all vs that?
367 / 48/sffg/ - Science Fiction and Fantasy Generalye olde: >>24835665
Recommended reading charts (Look here before asking for vague recs).
https://mega.nz/folder/kj5hWI6J#0cyw0-ZdvZKOJW3fPI6RfQ/folder/4rAmSZxb
>Archive:
https://warosu.org/lit/?task=search2&search_subject=sffg
>Goodreads:
https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/1029811-sffg
>Thread Question:
What's your favourite decade of sci-fi?
Recommended reading charts (Look here before asking for vague recs).
https://mega.nz/folder/kj5hWI6J#0cy
>Archive:
https://warosu.org/lit/?task=search
>Goodreads:
https://www.goodreads.com/group/sho
>Thread Question:
What's your favourite decade of sci-fi?
3 / 1Meaning of this verse?>"Your style is much too sanctified —
>your cut is too canonical" —
From the Gilbert and Sullivan comic opera Patience duet ‘So Go to Him and Say to Him’.
I struggle to understand what is meant by ‘canonical’. I’ve tried Wiktionary and I still don’t get it.
https://www.gsarchive.net/patience/webop/pat15.html
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=JutFKM17Pl4&pp=ygUkc28gZ28gdG8gaGltIGFuZCBzYXkgdG8gaGltIHBhdGllbmNl
>your cut is too canonical" —
From the Gilbert and Sullivan comic opera Patience duet ‘So Go to Him and Say to Him’.
I struggle to understand what is meant by ‘canonical’. I’ve tried Wiktionary and I still don’t get it.
https://www.gsarchive.net/patience/
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=JutFK
30 / 1>human knowledge is limited to phenomena, the world as structured by our mind’s categories (space, time, causality, etc)
>the noumenal world, things as they are “in themselves,” independent of perception, is unknowable
this distinction was meant to preserve both empirical science (which studies appearances) and metaphysical limits (beyond which reason cannot go).
but If we truly can’t know anything about the noumenal world, then how can we even assert its existence or claim it causes appearances?
>the noumenal world, things as they are “in themselves,” independent of perception, is unknowable
this distinction was meant to preserve both empirical science (which studies appearances) and metaphysical limits (beyond which reason cannot go).
but If we truly can’t know anything about the noumenal world, then how can we even assert its existence or claim it causes appearances?
11 / 2Does anyone have a link to download the anarchist cookbook? It doesn't matter if it's in Spanish or English.
8 / 1>I read fiction!
what are you, 5?
how are y'all not embarrassed to admit, with a fully adult body, that you still read story books?
what are you, 5?
how are y'all not embarrassed to admit, with a fully adult body, that you still read story books?
11 / 0Any books that will give me the same feeling as listening to Bill Evans does? Or just has a similar mood/vibe?
17 / 2>beta readers love it
>the edgy dick in my writers group begrudgingly likes it
>I followed elements of style to a T
>yet still, out of 500 queries, I get one partial request
Am I missing something? Is there, like, an automaton approach to send out queries and i just have to numb my heart and just focus on hitting every even somewhat open minded agent with automaton bullshit?
>the edgy dick in my writers group begrudgingly likes it
>I followed elements of style to a T
>yet still, out of 500 queries, I get one partial request
Am I missing something? Is there, like, an automaton approach to send out queries and i just have to numb my heart and just focus on hitting every even somewhat open minded agent with automaton bullshit?
3 / 2Post Some Aphorisms"On Being Born"
Born. What is there to do after the fact? A life, an existence, but what for? We are conscious in the pale mirror of our own eyes. But nothing is seen except the strangeness of our self-realisation. Nothing is born as soon as we enter the world, screaming. As the curtains of death draw, to reveal a stage; at its centre dances a clown named Life. We clap. We cheer. What a cosmic joke!
"On Night"
What is the point of sleep when life itself is a nightmare? When night descends, beasts and demons rise out of the tenebrae. These creatures are hungry for flesh and thirsty for blood. But what dreams can monsters infest if all they know is the darkness?
"On Resentment"
Why do I resent the world after the tears of society's lamentations have dried away? If there is a god, he must see that I am angry over his Creation... The anhedonia of crazed hatred infests the mind and makes me wonder why I deign to mock the heavens! My bile, my black blood, all surge in the moment of realization that my own father mocks my very existence. He has committed every crime, the worst of which is being a father.
Born. What is there to do after the fact? A life, an existence, but what for? We are conscious in the pale mirror of our own eyes. But nothing is seen except the strangeness of our self-realisation. Nothing is born as soon as we enter the world, screaming. As the curtains of death draw, to reveal a stage; at its centre dances a clown named Life. We clap. We cheer. What a cosmic joke!
"On Night"
What is the point of sleep when life itself is a nightmare? When night descends, beasts and demons rise out of the tenebrae. These creatures are hungry for flesh and thirsty for blood. But what dreams can monsters infest if all they know is the darkness?
"On Resentment"
Why do I resent the world after the tears of society's lamentations have dried away? If there is a god, he must see that I am angry over his Creation... The anhedonia of crazed hatred infests the mind and makes me wonder why I deign to mock the heavens! My bile, my black blood, all surge in the moment of realization that my own father mocks my very existence. He has committed every crime, the worst of which is being a father.
46 / 1Recognitionsthe last time I felt something reading anything post-WWII was about a year and a half ago when I picked this up. didn't make it past the first few hundred pages because of personal reasons and I never really got back to it.
not Houellebecq, not no Knausgård or Beckett, not even Bernhard whom I consider to be a true titan of 20th c. literature, one I absolutely regret not being able to read in the original German, made as immediate an impression on me as Gaddis' condensed, surchargé, relentless prose.
In fact, of all the authors mentioned above and their underlying projects that served as both the means and ends of their respective œuvres, Gaddis' encyclopedic approach, while not as interesting as Beckett's linguistic fragmentation as catharsis or the political predictor/provocateur whoremonger Houellebecq, seems to me the most efficient.
Knausgård, just to say a few words on him and authors of the same strain en passant, the yuppie, stream-of-consciousness, refuses-to -acknowledge-they-read, or maybe even unironically chooses to not read any classics for fear of losing "voice", or some similar effeminate notion, is just that: effeminate.
I don't see how the novel as a form can progress beyond encyclopedic doorstoppers.
not Houellebecq, not no Knausgård or Beckett, not even Bernhard whom I consider to be a true titan of 20th c. literature, one I absolutely regret not being able to read in the original German, made as immediate an impression on me as Gaddis' condensed, surchargé, relentless prose.
In fact, of all the authors mentioned above and their underlying projects that served as both the means and ends of their respective œuvres, Gaddis' encyclopedic approach, while not as interesting as Beckett's linguistic fragmentation as catharsis or the political predictor/provocateur whoremonger Houellebecq, seems to me the most efficient.
Knausgård, just to say a few words on him and authors of the same strain en passant, the yuppie, stream-of-consciousness, refuses-to -acknowledge-they-read, or maybe even unironically chooses to not read any classics for fear of losing "voice", or some similar effeminate notion, is just that: effeminate.
I don't see how the novel as a form can progress beyond encyclopedic doorstoppers.