/lit/ - Literature

>>23138663
>The silmarillion might not have been published by Tolkien because he didn’t want to.
He literally sent The Silmarillion to the publisher, but when he was rejected, he said, “Yes, it’s really a work in progress.”
>So, the silmarillion is interesting to get into the mind of Tolkien but it should not be considered to be canon material as Tolkien may have not wanted those notes published as he may have considered them to not be canon as there was possibly something wrong with them.
All the Professor’s works are Tolkien’s canons. He loved to rewrite work he had already done. He partially corrected and wanted to rewrite the entirety of The Hobbit, perhaps later he would have decided to make another edition of The Lord of the Rings, The Silmarillion was rewritten layer by layer and perhaps he would never have had a “final edition”.
Read "Leaf by Niggle"

>>23098882
>what do they do for the local economy or kingfom or culture as a whole? Like I said, christian monks made wine and wrote books and preached to foreigners. What do bhuddist monks do?

About the same, depending on the time and region and the Buddhist school. Nominally, as the anon above explained to you.

>>23076451
>this was my first book from evola, expected better tbqh
If you are interested in Julius Evola, keep reading. If Buddhism, it’s better to read “What the Buddha Taught” / “In the Buddha's Words.” (not to mention the sutras) That is, books written by practicing Buddhists or professional Buddhist scholars and orientalists. Evola did not practice Buddhism and was not a historian/philologist.
>>23076601
I don’t agree with a "nigger", the rest is yes.

>>23055536
Compassion acts as an antidote to self-grasping. Further, depending on the school, in some places it is an auxiliary method, in others it is the main one.

>>22684610
>blue eyes?
Grey. Well, the Professor's personal preferences. Well, there are blondes there too.

>>22538955
I think this is something like an immune response to the vaccination of European culture. In the late 17th and early 18th centuries, Russia absorbed a large amount of European culture. It took a little less than a hundred years to master this and develop an answer, and at the beginning of the 19th century Russia began to “give back.” This coincided with Europe's fascination with folk and national things, so Russia began to create a Russian national culture. Which soon went for export. And another factor is that during these 100 years, Russia visited a period of 300-400 years. That is, Russian literature, due to catching-up development, developed 3-4 times faster and was at the cutting edge of life.
Suffering, of course, provides good material for literature, but in itself it only generates groans.

>>22537433
>I am historically and musically illiterate so of course I do not understand all such talk, but surely I thought I'd be able to follow the "literary" trail.
I think serious knowledge of music theory is still needed here. I have some historical knowledge, my mother is a musician (piano), so I asked her something or played an audiobook. Mann dives deep into music exploration here, perhaps too much.One can simply enjoy the beauty of Mann's text. I recognized the book as great only for one phrase “metastases into the metaphysical”; here one can feel the hand of a brilliant writer.

>>22526480
>Meme character. I get it but I'm not reading a whole book about him and I didn't finish it. He's worthy of a short story at the most for the memes but that's it.
As far as I know Kafias Kayn is an allusion to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Flashman_Papers
whereas Gaunt on https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sharpe_(novel_series)
These books are little known in my area, but I wanted to get to know Sharp.

I've just finished Ben Counter's Gray Knights trilogy - the first two books are below average, the third is very bad. But I started reading Soul Drinkers (I read Phalanx a long time ago) - so far the quality is noticeably better.

>>22524964
I haven’t read it yet, I’m not sure I’ll like it - I don’t really like “horror”. Yes, they are looking for new authors for new "sub-genres". In general, writing “horror” stories about “The Galaxy That Burns on Fire” is like writing about hydrophobia at the bottom of the ocean. But I usually read even what I don’t like, because I read everything.

>>22516530
Eisenhon is a good series from a talented author, but this is a “detective” in space and this is not typical for most other Warhammer books.
>>22516675
>Ian Watson
Everything is so acidic and 80s, it seems like it was written by a 12-year-old for 12-year-olds. I read it for fun, although it's rather stupid.
>The Ciaphas Cain
I read one story, not very good.
>by aaron bowden though, that faggot is reddit.
He may be a reddit, but he's a good writer.
>>22517209
I read it and didn't like it. I don't understand why so many people highlight this story. Same thing with "Dead Men Walking" - stupid and boring.
>Infinite and the Divine
A good book, but not a masterpiece.
>>22517717
Legion - Great book, one of the best in the series. Inquisition War Trilogy - Idiocy, Lord of the Night, and Storm of Iron - great books.
>>22519498
https://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Warhammer_Horror
haven't read it yet.
>>22521126
Gaunt's Ghosts are good books. But Warhammer is just genetically modified super-soldiers who have been fighting for thousands of years in battles that consume thousands of worlds and billions of mortal lives. Yes, Warhammer is about exaggeration, the grotesque, epic and pathos, but books about Gaunt's Ghosts are often very down to earth.
>>22523596
Well, he probably doesn’t have the “typical” Lords of the Night, but he writes excellently.

>>22515483
Yes. Even more yes, if you don't expect much.

>>22453380
>Do you like audio books?
Yes.
>Are you able to take in information better or worse than when reading?
Probably purely for information, I get more from reading. Although if I really like the audiobook reader, I get aesthetic pleasure and sometimes pay more attention to places that I could overlook with my eyes.
I mostly use audiobooks so I don't waste time on the road if I can't read. But there were several cases when I preferred to listen to a book rather than read.

Unfortunately, today /lit/ the mental level is only enough to repeat jokes about the African ancestors of Alexander Sergeevich.
(spoiler alert: everything funny about this matter has already been voiced by A.S. himself).

>>22425204
He is a great poet. He determined the development of Russian literature almost until the beginning of the 20th century. But in translation it all falls out.

https://oldodik.livejournal.com/tag/%D0%BC%D0%BE%D0%B1%D0%B8%20%D0%B4%D0%B8%D0%BA
Oleg Dobrovolsky (Oлeг Дoбpoвoльcкий) - Illustrations for Moby Dick.

>Do you think illustrations help with the reading experience, or do they get in the way? Or maybe it depends?
I think this should be determined by the author. Sometimes illustrations (and other embellishments of the text such as vignettes) form an indissoluble unity with the text. For example, I read Mark Twain from the modern edition without pictures, but after each chapter I look at the illustrations from the first edition. Book illustration is a separate art form.
I really like the Book of Kells cartoon, where the famous Irish illustrated manuscript is right in the center of the story.

>>22311666
>There is a risk that political or cultural climates could change and you would have a public records of expressing wrongthink,
Since no one knows how what and when will change, it is pointless to care about this - everything you say or do not say can be used against you. So it's wiser not to worry about it and act according to your conscience. It's even better to keep the rule - never write something that you would not say personally.
>but beyond that the real detriment is to your time and to your psychology (all of a sudden you have an unhealthy desire to care what other people think about pointless things).
Extremes are harmful, not things in themselves. I understand a lot when I write book reviews. It seems like: if you want to figure it out yourself, explain it to someone else.
>I was with a friend and when asked about what books he enjoys he literally just handed the other person his phone opened up to his goodreads
Based friend

>>22300528
Oblomov

>>22298105
Serious engagement in philosophy requires full commitment, which is possible with a rather monastic lifestyle, if not in form, then in essence. So there is neither strength nor time left for the family, and most often there is no desire.

Yes, Socrates had a family. About which it is known that his wife was stupid and grumpy, and her sons were only stupid. The philosopher finds the continuation of "kind of" in the disciples, and not in biological children, who in most cases do not have even a shadow of the father's abilities.

>>22298532
Shitty philosopher, good family man.

>>22298194
Almost always, nature rests on the children of geniuses. Most likely they would only be a disgrace to the father's name. Children of Plato: Academics.

>>22240117
I love his prose and poetry. I love his five collections of Indian stories, which are for the railway library, forgot the title.

>>22242835
Short answer: no
Long answer: no

>>22209797
Pushkin is a great poet, his prose is "the prose of a poet." His poems are poorly translated into other languages, although his poetry is not brainless, on the contrary, his poems are very smart and meaningful, but the translation kills everything.
Pushkin adopted the sentimentalism of his elder brothers and the classicism of his grandfathers, bringing the Russian poetic language to perfection. He adopted European romanticism (although Pushkin cannot be considered a completely romantic) and when he played enough with him, Pushkin began to develop Russian realism, but here he did not have much time, but became the godfather of realism. And realism gave rise to that "classical Russian literature" (Tolstoevsky), which is known abroad. That is, this is the Pushkin line of Russian literature, which ended approximately with the death of Chekhov, when the "revolution" of 1905 happened and modernism began. Or non-classical Russian literature, if I may say so.
>Firstly is Pushkin worth reading?
Stupid question - stupid answer: Yes, even if you don't like it.

>>22210666
Interesting

>>22172559
I do not care.

>>22139192
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/51872145-late-stalinism
Evgeny Dobrenko - Late Stalinism: The Aesthetics of Politics