/lit/ - Literature

>>3527997
That's a good sign. I'm keener on his style when he's writing short works, but enjoying this so far.

>>3527985
The parts where he is coherent are the saddest parts of all, because you get a glimpse of a really remarkable mind. Unfortunately, it was a mind he didn't want to have to bear for the rest of the time so he's obliterated it for the most part.

>>3527945
When I see the complete writings of Lenin, Churchill etc I always feel so sorry for their secretaries! Because there's no way they sat down and typed them: they paced around, just orating their crap, and some poor old dear had to hammer away at the machine.

If they had to do the writing by hand, I'm sure they'd have quickly learned to edit their own thoughts somewhat.

>>3527946
I'm reading Self's Umbrella right now, which I got for xmas but only started 3 nights ago. I thought he'd stepped back from writing full novels and was sticking to his "collections of interlocking, thematic short story" format. But this is the opposite. A single narrative with no chapters or anything. Just endless Modernist prose.

At least Zack Busner has made an appearance already.

Apologies for the sprawling collage....
Some of my shelves are double-stacked, so you miss out on such quality gems as Strindberg, Du Maurier, and "Drinking with Shane McGowan".

>>3525041
Not really. They deal with existential problems and "big truths". But in our economics-driven beaurocracies that we live in, we are taught to engage with all of the big questions in political terms.

>>3524985
They're not. Most of these lists are really good. I'll explain my personal picks as to why I think they're "essential".

>Plato's Republic
Basis of western politics, learning, culture
>Don Quixote
First modern novel. Experimented with forms, narrative voice and themes of reliability.
>Henry V
Exemplifies Nationalism, propaganda and rhetoric.
>The Wasteland
Exemplifies Modernism
>1984
Exemplifies Totalitarianism and effects of mass media

>>3524981
It's generally accepted as being the first novel in the modern sense

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2003/dec/13/classics.miguelcervantes

The rest of the Sprawl trilogy is good. Not *as* good, but satisfying nonetheless.

The Bridge trilogy is very mehhhh. Pattern Recognition was just dumb and I stopped avidly following Gibbo after that.

Not that big on cyberpunk so I can't help with wider reading.

>>3524925
It allowed you to see the invalidity of your own poorly-constructed opinions. It was more useful than you care to admit.

From my benevolence your spirit shall take nourishment, and grow.

Swap some dust jackets.

>>3524843
I took what you said and gave an illustrated example of your own opinion, which you then re-interpreted as "meaningless".
>>3524896
Sound advice.

>>3524806
(also, Obituary - Cause of Death)

>>3524805

>>3524752
HP Lovecraft

>>3524776
I'm replying to a nonsensical post with an extrapolation of that nonsense. If my own post seems nonsensical then it's probably done its job.

>>3524708
>penetraitor

I want to find a girl with dyed red hair and start a riot grrrl band with this name now

Plato's Republic
Don Quixote
Henry V
The Wasteland
1984 or The Hungry Caterpillar

>>3524418
So an alien with super strength and the ability to fly, living and working undetected in a fictionalised New York has an internal logic that you are comfortable with, but a human detective who is really good at detecting things, is too zany to suspend any disbelief?

You must have taken more psychedelics than I have.

>>3524561
Zarathustra. I think he once wrote that everything after that was just reiterating the things he said there.

It's also the most memorable and stylish.

>>3524518
You missed out the main part of the sentence to try and make a point. Strange approach.
>>3524501
Yeah good one, George Macdonald and Grimm fairytales have the supernatural elements in a modern style.

>>3524496
Tolkien didn't hide his influences, and he cherry-picked from European myth and folklore. His stories were like the epic quests of Greek literature mixed with the Kalevala, Mabinogion, Arthurian legends and the Eddas.

He was probably one of the first to mix the supernatural / quest elements into what we would recognise as a modern novel though, yes.

>>3524482

>>3524416
That I can agree on 100%.