/lit/ - Literature

>>18613635
Islamic Persian culture is trash.
If Iran were Zoroastrian, it would have had better art on the level of European Golden Age of Illustrations and Japanese wood-block paintings.
This is because Zoroastrianism had vitalist elements and is strongly dualistic, which is a recipe that helps create great art.
Before Impressionists and Golden Age of Illustrations, I consider European art not impressive. Classical paintings don't appeal to me, and even a Tang emperor disliked it.

>>18613607
Hafez or Farid ud-Din Attar?

>>18613607
>Persians > Greeks
Marathon, Salamis, and Platea say otherwise
But that would require reading history and not Stephen King and picture books

>>18613607
Interesting, I don't know a ton about this stuff but what do you think of Mithraism or Zurvanism in relation to this? Is the mixing of or transcendence beyond light and dark like how you understand the Faustian spirit?

Based Zurvanon.

Can you post some angra/spenta stuff you've been reading/watching lately?

>>18613607
Might wanna check on the actual date of all these works you are citing. Not very ancient,anon kun.

Why are neo-Zoroastrians so cringe especially OP who keeps spamming a random dude's polemic

>>18613882
Xenophon, in his Cryopaedia, praised the ancient Persian customs, particularly the raising of children and their becoming men, and lamented their then present feebleness, attributing it to their lack of real struggle due to the fruits of Empire.

>>18613635
Lovely painting, it's a cover on a book I have (The Conference of the Birds, by Attar)

>>18613607
This post of making me Angra

>>18613882
Stephen King sucks. I have better tastes than that.
>>18614271
Well, in terms of reading, I plan to read Blood Meridian and Winnie the Pooh next. I have been busy with a lot of stuff, so I didn't have time for that.
I plan to make a GoodReads soon where I post some book reviews and analyses. I have a couple of Amazon reviews for Maldoror and Wind in the Willows for example.
In terms of watching or playing:
spenta: Pingu
angra: Resident Evil 7

>>18614896
Beyond based, just remember to let /lit/ know when you publish a book/article, I'll pay for it

>>18614896
Since you seem to be knowledgable about Zoroastrianism, I have a nagging question. For about a year now I have been fixated on this passage I read somewhere (definitely fiction, miiiight have been a post somewhere but I doubt it). It has to do with the symbolism of fire in Persian culture. I have read up on it quite a bit (relating to Zoroastrianism, nothing else), but in spite of my research I cannot find it.

It told of a Persian king who, in his conquests, liked to burn fires in the desert (for spiritual and personal reasons). The way it was worded made it clear that this was no common warfare burning, it definitely had that ritualistic element and that stuck with me. The Fire.

I know this is a long shot, but any help would be much appreciated (historical sources, or maybe even this thing I read itself).

>>18613607
>I am presently watching Pingu and being engulfed in the light and love of God.

Cringe. Hated that boring show as a kid and always felt like it was an insult to my intelligence.

>>18614859
And pausanias and themistocles flipped to the Persians side after the war. That does not make Persia superior

>>18614935
Sorry, I don't know. I'll be interested in knowing when you figure it out.
>>18614220
>Is the mixing of or transcendence beyond light and dark like how you understand the Faustian spirit?
That's largely in the right direction. I think treating their border as indeterminate or illusory, trying to maintain balance rather than privilege spenta, or make a pact with angra are what's Faustian. Transcendence of the dualism does not necessarily have to be Faustian depending on the method employed. I consider the transgressive practices some magick practitioners or Vajrayana do in order to "transcend duality" to be Faustian too.
Moving through spenta (via virtue) and then abandoning the duality like some Buddhists do is more defeatist or fatalist rather than Faustian, which is what some Zurvanites were like. It's why I hypothesize Zurvanism most likely emerged from influence from Buddhists in the Kushan empire. The Olama-ye Eslam involves Muslims questioning a Zurvanite mystic, and he seems largely cynical and defeatist much like a Buddhist in regards to attachments. Contrasting this with Mardanfarrokh's optimistic cosmic dualism in Doubt Removing Exposition is interesting.
My own views are a mix of both. I plan to summarize it in a future book after I publish my picture books and more horror stories.

Here is my favorite spenta/angra movies in 2x5. I limited the selection to my most favorite.

>>18613607
shhh. don't tell the plebs about Parsis.

>>18613607
>zoroastrian larper watches children's cartoons and reads picture books
Absolute kek
>>18613635
Based

>>18613607
Didnt read. Learn to use paragraphs faggot.

nonwhites should be banned from the internet.

Greeks btfo'd the Persians repeatedly, that's all I have to know about them. Sorry, I don't care about losers.

>>18613607
You will a company of niggers enjoying simplicity like DBZ or Naruto

>>18618169
gayreece: btfo and enslaved by romans
persia: btfo romans

>>18618215
lmao persia got conquered by one gay guy's army

>>18613607
don’t care. start with the Greeks

>>18616530
People say putting spaces between paragraphs makes it like Reddit.
>>18616503
>>18616535
>>18618169
>>18618176
>>18618215
>>18619616
>>18620111
You are a bunch of gay edgelord faggots who don't understand what I'm pointing at.
You need to be locked inside of cages and forced to read high-quality children's literature while being lashed as I recite from the holy Gathas.
This would allow for your selves to dissolve into the serene, tranquil light of Spenta Mainyu, which is irreconcilable with Angra Mainyu.
You are devious edgelord cunts who spread nihilism and lies. You are presently nearer to the darkness than the light.
The discursive mind is an impediment to true awakening, to channeling the light of Ohrmazd. Intelligence can be overvalued because it makes you overlook the fundamental reality of cosmic dualism. Pic related.
I will give more complex philosophical arguments in my books after I publish my children's literature and more horror. I did publish one horror story already in a reputable literary journal.

bump

both greek and persianbros have good literature but personally i loved reading shuhnaameh
the masculinity and brotherhood in the poem was pretty interesting

>>18620169
Nice to witness other national brands of autism. Go to Bemarestan and get yourself checked..

>>18614896
Wind in the Willows is my favourite book, would love it if you would humour me with a few thoughts on it.
The Blind Owl, also, if you have time. I enjoyed that very much.

>>18620640
Here's my review of Wind in the Willows. I didn't write any review or analysis of The Blind Owl unlike the other books:
"I have recently finished an unabridged copy of Kenneth Grahame’s splendid Wind in the Willows illustrated and colored by EH Shepherd. This is a classic, enchanting story from UK, and it most certainly deserves its high praise. This is a story both child and adult may enjoy in equal measure. It involves anthropomorphic animals modeled after Edwardian high-culture and focuses on their adventures boating, traveling, socializing, and much more. However, even though the animals are anthropomorphic, they still retain much of their animal characteristics in a way that feels genuine. Furthermore, there is a lot of charm and humor in the interactions among Mole, Water Rat, Badger, and Toad, which are the four main characters. Moreover, I would argue there is an undercurrent of mysticism in many segments of this story. For example, one of my favorite chapters was “The Piper at the Gates of Dawn”, and it felt reminiscent of certain transcendental poems of William Blake. It is a shame how many abridged copies remove such a riveting chapter!

One aspect that lends to this story’s greatness is the richness of its prose. The way Kenneth Grahame talks about ambling in nature, much of the time beside a river or within the Wild Wood, is engrossing. His use of figurative language in describing both the natural world and interiors of the animal’s abodes make them come alive. For example, Grahame masterfully uses similes in describing the gurgling and bubbling of rivers and the furniture within abodes in a manner that further draws the reader into its magical world. It feels much like a blissful dream, largely centered on the countryside, inspired by England’s River Thames, in a manner that evokes a lofty joy. I highly recommend this masterpiece but be sure you read it unabridged!"
>>18620447
>Get yourself checked
I'm not mentally ill. I am a functional member of society. I am a code monkey.

>>18620680
I wasnt even aware that Piper at the Gates of Dawn was removed from some editions. For me it is the strongest chapter in the book.

I have to confess that the ideas in your original post are unfamiliar to me, but they seem to me reminsicent of certain themes in Willows. At least as far as I have come to interpret the work (though I really prefer to just enjoy it for what it is) I am always aware of shadows; the Wild Wood, the Wayfarer, the intervention with Toad. Though the world Grahame crafts is idyllic there are undertones of a looming and other world which threatens to encroach; but with a firm authorial hand Grahame represses these elements and sustains the fantasy admirably. It is dreamlike. Grahame had a firm conviction that there was unequivocally no place in childrens literature for references to death, and it is interesting to see how he has developed the work in light of this. I do wish he wrote more.

Thank you for your post and your thread, these ideas are quite thought-provoking.

Here is a short analysis I wrote on Lovecraft where I was comparing his style of pessimism to Ligotti and Poe. I can also share excerpts of my analyses on Ligotti and Poe too if anyone else is interested. I also discussed how racialism is integral to understanding Lovecrat's vision:

From what I’ve read, Lovecraft’s stories focus more on an external unfathomable horror revealing man’s life as insignificant in an indifferent universe. However, these stories do not typically show man’s personal identity to be illusory in-itself as in the case of Ligotti. It is more about confronting an unknown that makes one feel pitifully small, and this unknown is not always readily cognizable or parsed. Moreover, much of these confrontations can have disastrous effects such as the case of “The Colour out of Space”, which involves a farming family malforming because of a meteorite. This unknown may also lurk in forbidden placessuch as “The Rats in the Wall”. It makes one uneasy and shows human beings are not the Heraclitan center of the world, but there is a sense of “sublime terror”, which may indeed induce insanity, but not in a manner that makes one feel like they are transparent dreams with the illusion of consciousness.

Racialism is also integral in Lovecraft stories. As “The Shadow over Innsmouth” makes clear, it’s the miscegenated savages who are closer to the chaos underlying reality, and the more evolutionary sophisticated Anglo will shrink back in horror when uncovering the madness that underlies reality via empirical science. Therefore, it is a kind of circle in the sense that the primitive savage dances to mad tunes of reality whereas the evolutionary sophisticated man uncovers it through science and shrinks back in horror when seeing the primitive savages are closer to the unfathomable chaotic truth. Some of Lovecraft’s stories such as “Celephaïs” and “The Lost Key” also deal with the theme of escaping into dream-worlds in order to flee from the madness of this reality. My friend describes this theme well here:

“I feel like Lovecraft focuses a lot more on the material of things, the inferior nature of one thing to another, such as the hierarchy of gods, noble mortals, and more along the lines of what is considered savage mortals who, for Lovecraft, are more in touch with the imperceptible secret materiality of the Great Old Ones by their occult practices which he saw as exotic and stupid, yet more true to how he saw the universe.

I think Lovecraft was trying to awaken his utmost terror by the implication that the Great Old Ones are incomprehensible and that the most acutely sensible people like himself would be forced to shrink back in horror. I think Lovecraft and Ligotti were both less romantic in general, and this makes Poe unique in his regard, the most different from the other two.”

Fav stories so far: “The Shadow over Innsmouth”, “The Music of Eric Zahn”, “The Colour out of Space”

>>18620869
Share the Ligotti analysis.

>>18620951
Ligotti's fiction largely revolves around the psychology of existential dread combined with symptoms of derealization or dissociation, and this exposes the world as one big looming, contaminated threat that is always collapsing.

Much of his fiction include phrases such as "grotesque metamorphoses behind the dream of earthly forms", “the oozing ichor that flows within all things”, “a melancholy half-existence consecrated to all the many shapes of death and dissolution”, and much more. His fiction focuses equally on the individual’s psychological state and the universe in a manner that is akin to a darker version of Poe's "The House of Usher", one in which the entire universe is a decrepit House of Usher that has always been collapsing as it mirrors the protagonist’s deteriorating psychological state. Many of his stories include corrugated, dilapidated towns, which are treated as shadows hinting of a deeper blackness, one in which the individual's personal identity or aspirations are treated as futile and ungrounded. Reality is only a "transformation of appearance, an incessant melting and molding of surfaces without underlying essence", which means the self and its aspirations are all founded upon illusion that when exposed point to an icy bleakness, a life devoid of intrinsic meaning where all are merely "puppets" manipulated by the strings of a malignant universe. Many of his stories from the "Clown Puppet" to "Nethescurial" focus on these ideas of man and Universe alike being akin to vapor or mist that haunts us with its false promises and illusions of comfort. Common tropes: human beings being akin to puppets (i.e., deterministic, hollow, controlled by forces beyond recognition, etc.), dancing colors against a sea of blackness (i.e., even the “spark” of life cannot escape the blackness), dilapidated towns as a reflection of one's true inner being, masquerades and pandemonium reflective of the blind chaos of the Universe and man, and so forth. Even if one does not agree with Thomas Ligotti’s metaphysical views, such as myself, his stories are still evocative and well-written.

Top three favorite stories off the top of my mind: “Nethescurial”, “The Tsalal”, and “The Last Feast of the Harlequin”