/lit/ - Literature

[Anonymous No.22723371]

>start a community book club, all the members are chicks, fags and self-identified marxists
>join a writing class, no one knows how to read, everyone writing YA trash
>join a classic lit book club on meetup.org, all the members are 50+ years old

How the actual FUCK do you find decent literary friends?

I read about Tolkein’s group The Inklings and can’t help but feel jealous about the serious literary community of bros he cultuvated. Outside of university, it feels near impossible to find something like this.

[Anonymous No.22723387]

>>22723371
You have already found /lit/ friend.

[Anonymous No.22723421]

>>22723371
>>join a classic lit book club on meetup.org, all the members are 50+ years old
Sounds comfy tbdesu.

[Anonymous No.22723445]

Can we use this thread thread to talk about the eerie fact that stuff like The Inklings hasn't existed since the '70s and people like Barfield, Tolkien, and Lewis don't exist anymore either? Isn't anyone but me freaked out that the "cream of the crop" of modern day if Stephen Pinker, Lawrence Krauss, and Elon Musk? Even if you hate T.S. Eliot or Ezra Pound or Knut Hamsun or whoever, you can't deny that EVERY country, even minor shitholes, had like two dozen significant intellectuals. Fuck, we can't even eke out an Umberto Eco anymore these days.

You can't read about any little shithole in the 1920s without hearing about half a dozen semi-interesting literary and intellectual circles. Back then, there was an infinite galaxy of intellectuals you could simply write a letter to, and if you were at least a bit interesting yourself you would be "on the radar."

What do we call whatever it is that we have now? The age of anonymity? We have five times as many people and one five thousandth as many notable geniuses or semi-geniuses, and our ultra-rare geniuses and semi-geniuses are one fiftieth as potent.

What confluence of factors explains this? Why are sociologists all doing dumb irreplicable studies of shit no one cares about instead of studying the fact that humanity has collectively turned to mush in 50 years?

[Anonymous No.22723455]

>>22723371
>>start a community book club, all the members are chicks, fags and self-identified marxists
that is the best shot you got, and it could be a great club (americans no need to apply, your marxists are unbearable, even the fags ooze less obnoxiousness in your country)

[Anonymous No.22723467]

join my discord, it's heavily moderated by mentally ill trannies whose government gibs enable them to treat moderating as a career
ask for it on the literature board on reddit

[Anonymous No.22723475]

>>22723371
The scene doesn't exist:
>>22722856

[Anonymous No.22723497]

>>22723371
I’d take the 50 year old boomers over the former

I mean I’m 41 so it’s not like it’s all that weird.

[Anonymous No.22723547]

>>22723371
>start a community book club
>either 0 or 1 people show up

[Anonymous No.22723584]

>>22723445
Excellence does not thrive in adversity. While striverism filters out anybody with a soul, the already existing upper-class can't fail & has become through selective breeding (& the crushing effect of environmental degradation) ornamental at best, a reminder of better times without any of their vitality or depth. A world owned by 110IQ turbonormies & run by overstimmed (now outsourced) shopkeepers.

[Anonymous No.22723597]

>>22723371
>I read about Tolkein’s group The Inklings and can’t help but feel jealous about the serious literary community of bros he cultuvated
You would have hated them and thought they were reddit if you met them in person

[Anonymous No.22723600]

>>22723371
You unironically need to be going to churches. At an ortho parish you're pretty likely to find at least a few /lit/-esque guys who actually read books about stuff that interests them

A church buddy of mine gave me some gerchem scholem on kaballah and general religious psychology books the other day

[Anonymous No.22723605]

>>22723445
>and if you were at least a bit interesting yourself you would be "on the radar."
Can't cope with the fact that you're not one of the interesting ones, huh?

[Anonymous No.22723626]

>>22723445
>one five thousandth as many notable geniuses or semi-geniuses
We're still here. It's just that no one cares. Want to be acknowledged as a genius and receive your fifteen seconds of applause? Go into STEM and make sure to create a practical invention.
As for me, I'll keep trying make ends meet, and not kill myself too, while I'm at it.

[Anonymous No.22723632]

>>22723371
The reason you don't know any is because they're all rich and hang out with other rich people and you are poor and also stupid so you only find dumb cattle like yourself to hang out with.

[Anonymous No.22723645]

>>22723626
>Go into STEM and make sure to create a practical invention.
lmao
>>22723632
>t. poorfag who's never met WASP trust fund kids

[Anonymous No.22723646]

>>22723371
give it up goyim

[Anonymous No.22723652]

>>22723584
>A world owned by 110IQ turbonormies & run by overstimmed (now outsourced) shopkeepers.
How do we escape?

[Anonymous No.22723656]

>>22723632
If you've ever hung out with rich people you'll know that they're also vapid dumb cattle. You can give people education but you cannot give them a keen intellect and sound judgement. Most people are too busy consooming to really get serious about anything - whether it's playing the latest Need for Speed or test driving the latest Maserati doesn't make a difference in the end.

[Anonymous No.22723663]

>>22723656
>>22723645
Yeah rich "elites" always seem like cattle to me. Not sure how to express it exactly but they also seem like they're dumbly smiling with big wide naive eyes, in a way that reminds me of spoiled kids or women. Like they're on a cushy ride they never have to get off, so they never explore the world even slightly beyond the rails.

[Anonymous No.22723666]

>>22723645
>lmao
Some people do it though. Just recently some clown was trying to create a special type of semiconductor that could revolutionise human life. I don't remember his name, but I did hear about him. It's the same for developments in medicine etc.

[Anonymous No.22723675]

>>22723663
It's because even when they get a highly enriching and helpful upbringing, it is very narrow and tightly curated according to the social class they belong to and the prejudices of that class. I've met a number of people like that. There was this one rich Anglo boy I met who was an unironic Thatcherite, not because he was a cynical and practical bastard but because he actually believes in the doctrines of neoliberalism. He's well-read, articulate and eloquent but his whole identity is predicated on a ton of bullshit assumptions that go completely unexamined.

[Anonymous No.22723687]

>>22723666
That's hardly even genius, that's just stembuggery. Where are the scholar-scientists of yesteryear?

[Anonymous No.22723692]

>>22723687
I said, they're not gone, it's just that no one cares about them. If you want to be noticed, you NEED to be a STEMbug, and not just any STEMbug, but a STEMbug offering something of distinct practical value. That's the only way for the rest of society to recognise someone as a genius that stands out.

[Anonymous No.22723701]

>>22723371
if anyone here starts a book club i'd love to join

[Anonymous No.22723982]

>>22723645
You know there’s two kinds of WASPs right? I’m not the rich kind.

[Anonymous No.22725047]

>>22723445
Haha, what are you on about, anon. These friend circles still exist, where the wealthy get together to enjoy their common interests with one another, including classic and modern literature appreciation. There wouldn't be a New York Times Best Seller list if there wasn't a circle of wealth-endowed pseuds deciding what sinks or floats. The Quentin Tarantinos and Stephen Kings have their own friend circles that they blow off steam with.
Maybe all the openness from the internet, handheld cameras, and social media dispels the mystery you yearn from the old circles. Something about communicating in letters and meeting up at regular times without the pressure of surveillance leaves you envious. Yet, smart, literary people are meeting up, now more than ever, to huff each others' farts. There has to be - there are entire financial industries propping up the written word: copyeditors, publishers, law circles, political grifters, entertainment moguls, the theatre, the movie industry, the songwriting industry, and more.

You're just not invited, you haven't done anything meritworthy to demand that invitation to the many, many circles of uber-wealthy, middle managers, and wannabes who do still care about this stuff.