[ 3 / biz / cgl / ck / diy / fa / ic / jp / lit / sci / vr / vt ] [ index / top / reports ] [ become a patron ] [ status ]
2023-11: Warosu is now out of extended maintenance.

/lit/ - Literature

View post   
File: 13 KB, 256x256, 270956_10150214020432006_558052005_7003097_4611727_n.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
2200562 No.2200562 [Reply] [Original]

So what do you c/lit/s generally think of United Statesian literature? Aside from a few examples (most notably Ernest Hemingway, Truman Capote, Charles Bukowski, John Fante, Mark Twain, and William Gaddis), I can't say I really care for it very much.

Don't get me wrong, I've read quite a bit of it. But, on the whole, it just doesn't work for me--especially works by contemporary authors. For the most part I prefer Japanese, Czech, Russian, African, and Latin American literature.

Am I missing out on something here? Is there some Great American Novel that deserves my attention and could possibly modify my opinion? Any thoughts, gentlemen?

>> No.2200563

Sorry for moderately off-topic, but: Who are your favorite Czech authors? I'm really loving what I've read of their literature.

>> No.2200568

Not OP, but I'm a big fan of Josef Skvorecky.

>> No.2200571

>>2200563
No worries. Among my favorite Czechs are Bohumil Hrabal, Ludvík Vaculík (who looks like a Czech Van Dyke Parks), Ivan Klíma, Josef Škvorecký, Karel Čapek, and Jaroslav Hašek. But heretical though this may seem, I've never liked Kafka.

>> No.2200572
File: 47 KB, 280x350, 11.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
2200572

>>2200562
I think you've got a personal disdain towards the US, even though it probably is only subconscious. Why does it particularly matter where the author is from, unless you're using the text for some study of the society it was raised in?

>> No.2200574
File: 11 KB, 300x480, KKK.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
2200574

Do you even know what a wawa is?

>> No.2200575

>>2200568
I agree. Škvorecký is the shiet. I send you a bro fist, good sir.

>> No.2200582

>>2200572
Ehhh, maybe? Full disclosure: I am American and despise the American literary scene. Far too insular and self congratulatory; no curiosity for what lies outside their borders.
>>2200574
Yeah, it's OK, but not great. Ditto Butcher's Crossing.

>> No.2200583

>>2200571
Nice, nice. I'm reading some work by Daniela Fischerova right now, picking up a Vitezslav Nezval collection soon. Hrabal is also one of my favorites. If you haven't already tried Richard Brautigan, his work sometimes reminds me of Hrabal's stuff.

Also, >>2200574 is a very amazing novel by a Texan, if you want to give that a go.

>> No.2200590

You should name some of your favorites from the other areas you listed so we can better help with recommendations.

>> No.2200591

>>2200562
I enjoy John Steinbeck and Roger Zelazny

>> No.2200592
File: 8 KB, 493x402, disappoint.png [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
2200592

>c/lit/
get out.

>> No.2200594
File: 54 KB, 500x375, this guy.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
2200594

>>2200582
It's 'OK' he says.

>> No.2200599

>>2200583
I'll give Stoner another read. I've read Brautigan. You're right, it's quite good. I also recently read Motorman by David Ohle. Very good too.

>> No.2200610

>Aside from good books written in the United States, I don't really care for United Statesian literature.

Well, I gotta say, as a United Statesian, I agree with you

seriously though, you like a bunch of american authors, what's going on here

>> No.2200644

What are some good Czech books?

>> No.2200648

>not liking Steinbeck