>Aristotle considered fiction to be superior to history in cultivation of the self>Alexander the Great considered sports a boring waste of time and preferred to stage theatre and poetry readings rather than sports contestsWhen did you realize that the “greatest” Greeks were just eggheads?
>>24687759>all history is biased therefore when a close friend of Alexander who was one of his generals and made a king by him conflicts with other contemporary accounts in a quite blatant way, like claims Alexander wasn't alcoholic like everyone says and his reputation for drinking a lot was exaggerated because he just socialized a lot and so always had a cup of wine in his hand, it doesn't matter, even though we know Alexander did things got so drunk he murdered an important friend over an argument>but an historian from antiquity who used multiple primary sources about Alexander and took the trouble to examine and compare discrepancies is just headcanon even though there is not a single academic book about Alexander that doesn't draw immensely from said ancient historianYou aren't just stupid, you prefer to be stupid
Sports are just peacetime simulations of conflict and Alexander could always go to war to satisfy the same urge.
>>24687794Keep seething, I guess.
>>24687160 are you retarded? sports then and until like the 20th century are primarily forms of martial training and thoroughly aristocratic
>>24687636Plutarch being "used as a source" doesn't say anything about his knowledge of Alexander's own personal opinions and he's certainly not infallible. Arrian makes a stronger effort of not mixing headcanon in with his account of events and he says nothing about Alexander's interest in sports or lack thereof. There is a number of obvious origin myths mixed in with Plutarch's work and if he said something about Alexander's personal thoughts and opinions without a source then it should be disregarded as headcanon since those are the most easily bastardized, thanks to gullible readers like (You)
I keep seeing people talk about Postmodernism in relation to literary analysis, especially Pynchon, but I don't get it. Is it just a pretentious way of saying "words can mean anything you want"? It seems like a total meme. Help a brainlet out.
literally just means the story doesn't follow the conventional style, it has almost nothing to do with the philosophical "post-modernism". Oedipa doesn't find out if the conspiracy is actually real vs a more traditional story where it all gets tied up with a bow and she solves the case
>>24687795Bateman. Batman isn't nearly psychotic enough.
>>24686201Or are you frustratingly expressing your latent homosexuality?
>>24687823Which stems from what Lyotard called the loss of faith in grand narratives. Life doesn't have all the answers, and there isn't necessarily one correct way to act or observe or live, so this reflects in the writing as questioning the premises of storytelling and the moral frameworks that were in place still in modernist writing.
>>24686170Fiction that serves primarily as commentary
Who was the most gifted sister?
>>24686617Emily, obviously. Her single work overshadows both of her sisters' entire careers.
>>24686617idk man, but according to my mum Anne Bronte is the worst
But I don't read any books
>be me>struggle to read consistently>spend ~8 hours a day staring at screens in a bright-lit room>too tired to read at home>ordered a couple of books from Amazon recently>turns out one of them was the braille version>start learning braille to get an idea how difficult it is>it's actually pretty simple>slowly read the book in braille>amazing experience>sitting in a very dimly lit room with my eyes closed reading a story with my fingertips>feelsgoodman
>>24686645I wouldn't because i'm high on caffeine 24/7
>>24683713the rare based frogposter. proud of you, anon.
The absolute state of this board. The fact any of you are even pretending to believe a massive faggot like OP is just tragic.
>>24687027I kneel
>>24683713Where do you get your braille books from?
I discovered him in late 2023, read The Poetics of Space and loved it, read The Flame of the Candle earlier this year and loved that too. He has a book or two for every element I plan on going through. Definitely my favorite phenomenologist to read.
I love Bachelard but I've only read The Poetics of Space and The Psychoanalysis of Fire. I've heard that his philosophy of science is very interesting but I've never properly looked into it. He was my introduction to a lot of poetry as a teen.
>>24686885Bachelard is awesome, man. His stuff about the imagination is tremendous. Poétique de la rêverie is well worth reading. And if you can understand french, do yourself a favor and listen to the small yet precious clips of his voice that are available. He's so jovial, and his way of speaking explains the how and the why of his philosophy better than secondary literature ever could.
Yep, this humble bearded guy from the east region of France is one of my favorite.I have read a lot of his book of imagination and it is really pleasant.
What did I just read?Are all 20th century novels this meandering and nonsensical?
>>24685083The end is worth the slog that precedes it. I can't say the same for Demian. Currently reading narcissus and goldmund
>>24685083You are on the wrong board, fren.
>>24685083Ghastly>>24685570>empowered pro editionthat sounds really gay
Why were so many 20th century authors obsessed with drugs and whores? I understand It's supposed to be a 'counter culture' since religion and tradition had been grinded to dust at that point. But is that really what you do with your new bought freedom? Oh and of course vague eastern mysticism, we can't forget that.
>>24686305all metaphorical wolves are gay. anyway, the wolf now does a kickflip as well as the usual stepping.
Has anyone read this novel? Thoughts?
Recommended reading charts. (Look here before asking for vague recs)https://mega.nz/folder/kj5hWI6J#0cyw0-ZdvZKOJW3fPI6RfQ/folder/4rAmSZxb>Archive:https://warosu.org/lit/?task=search2&search_subject=sffg>Goodreads:https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/1029811-sffg>Previous:>>24668507>Thread Question:Are there any worthwhile novel novel to comic adaptations or vice versa?
>>24687907How about pseudo-fantasy science fiction?
>>24687907Try something smaller as those are big series. What sort of things/themes do you like or maybe what sci-fi do you like so anons can see if there is a fantasy equivalent.
>>24687909I like exploration of weird novel ideas or profound realization about something or thought experiments.I don't care about power fantasies or characters too much.
>>24687779>>24687915same
>>24687915Check out The Just City. Blend of fantasy and sci-fi as it's about Greek Gods but has time travel stuff in it too.
does anyone else read books on their phone during their break? or does that not display 'i'm reading' enough for lit? i've thought that once. since everyone scrolls their phone, outwardly it's all the same. i kind of like that.i work in a warehouse and do this. lately i've been off fiction though. reading about the history of numbers and mathematics in my 30 minutes, scoffing last night's cooking. i love history because it's intellectually stimulating (open-ended) and an alien world in which i can forget the drudgery of my own. yes, i'm also learning mathematics. i have no formal education.
>>24682884I've had a stable, comfy pleb job for many years. Reading during work breaks is a ritual I have maintained the entire time. I can just read in a windowless, musicless airconditioned room. I just read 1-10 pages of the current book, retain the basics, and I keep reading it until I'm done. A partial listing of what I've read entirely during work breaks:Habermas, Theory of Communicative ActionFederalist PapersThe Immortal Game (a breezy history of chess)Agamben, State of Exception (tiny)Society of the SpectacleHouellebecq, WhateverJoyce, DublinersMachiavelli, The Prince (a quick re-read)Joyce, Portrait (a re-read, read the first time many years before)Iliad, Odyssey, Aeneid (did these as a unit recently, finished Aeneid at parent's house during a break. Hated the Iliad, but at least now I know who's who)multiple volumes of Cioran (I made a point of keeping these very discreet, so as not to attract any questions)Comment too long. Click here to view the full text.
>>24682884I read books at work, as in I bring the physical book to work with me. My "break" is 3 or 4 hours long so i get a good deal of reading done.
>>24683586Maybe you can figure out how magnets work
>>24683586This is why, no matter how much tradies make, they will always be low on the social ladder.
>>24687077Not really. Since people ultimately only care about wealth, wealth moves the world, what is tasteful follows that and the rest is usually cope, an attempt to fabricate status in light of loss of it with little to prove it since it was obviously founded on wealth to start with. But this isn't about tradies, it's about new money, now not new, now indistinguishable.Good income vs mediocre income for someone not born to wealth is an irrelevant distinction, and the difference in culturedness is also slight or nonexistent on the whole. The tradies with exceptional income are exclusively intelligent, multi-skilled businessmen. The actually wealthy have a separate culture unrelated to the masses and unfortunately I would not call it classy by any means.
Are there any good Marxist/communist novel in the second half of the 20th century or contemporary?
I broke a woman's heart. What literature exists to help me understand love?
>>24686268No one understands what love is. In English it’s literally a meme word that is devoid of analytic content. You’re better off investigating similar concepts from other languages that are more clearly defined.
>>24686268What did you do to her? I would recommend Eugene Onegin
>>24687021She described how she felt so deeply that she almost loved me. I never felt that way about her or anyone else for that matter. If she was sure she felt that way, why is it love? What separates it from friendship? How do I identify love? Is it only attraction?
>>24687894>she almost loved mThat was a manip attempt, based red-flagged bullet dodge king. >How do I identify love? I did that irrationally and my marriage is running strong desu.
>>24686933Top contender for September's pseud comment of the year. Subversive one.
Is this worth a read? It looks very aesthetically cool, but it's just YA space dystopia fiction. Normally I'd just enjoy the schlock, but I check the Wiki for each book and all of them start>MC is still fighting against the evil people in chargeI've gone past 3-4 books and every synopsis starts the same exact way. It seems like an extremely dragged out series. I have my guilty pleasures and don't mind it being schlocky, but I hate stories that are so decompressed that they move at a snail's pace, especially when they're of lower tier.So, thoughts?
>>24687848Apparently it has cuckshit. I'm with it in books with serious artistic merit, but I don't want it in my entertainment.
>>24687848They're enjoyable books. Only the first is YA, you have to get that out of the way for the series to pick up. The story is not slow paced either, it's just a large war that happens throughout the series. And ignore >>24687864 because it doesn't. It has white, bonde haired women in relationships with other white blonde haired men.
>>24687848It's good. But you have to keep in mind the author is unbelievably edgy and his edgelord tendencies come out in full force in book 3 and the second series.
Anyone notice that almost every author from every time feels the need to run anti-immortality propaganda? What is that? What’s so scary about the living forever that it requires non-stop propagandizing against? Is it just that people want to cope that dying is a good thing because they have no choice but to die? Why is it that whenever a character achieves immortality it’s depicted as an awful, depressing inhuman experience? Why is it NEVER explored how an immortal person can be in the lives of many more people across many generations?
>>24687479Lots of people are apathetic now to the point that they create their own self fulfilling cycle so they get this idea that life in general isn’t worth living. Also probably ssri’s.
>>24687479It was originally to stop other people from wanting to become immortal, doing it, and ruining it for them. Then it became a trope that people did automatically and the immortals didn't have to put in so much work on it.>>24687586Commonly known fact: those Babylonians recounting the epic of Gilgamesh were totally krunked on Zoloft.
>>24687479Immortality is gay, and it's deconstruction is justified specifically by faggots like you think it's not gay and actively try to spread the gayness of longing for it. >Why is it NEVER explored how an immortal person can be in the lives of many more people across many generations?That is often showed precisely as a major part of the "awful, depressing inhuman experience" thing.
>>24687479Every author is immortal and seeks the sweet sweet release of death. You have something that they will never taste: ceasation.
Another thing. Whenever an immortal is confronted by a protagonist, all they can do is stand there while a baby lectures them about morality and life. Shouldn’t a person who’s lived for hundreds or even thousands of years be much wiser and armed with plenty of rhetorical comebacks to that? Shouldn’t such an experienced person understand mortals even better then they do themselves? Picture how much wiser and intellectually capable you are as an adult compared to when you were a teenager and the multiply that gap many times over. Yet this is never shown, the immortal has to be, in contradiction to expectations, a shallow almost animal-like shell who can only seethe impotently at the protag’s lecture.
ITT we discuss the details & literary merits of various history books.
Any books about the sengoku jidai and samurais?
What are some of your favorite ancient histories? I’m currently reading Diodorus Sicilus (specifically picrel) and I’m having a blast.
>in the middle of reading Marx' das Kapital when you get to the point where he describes how Factory owners literally worked children to death and created a "degenerate" class of midgets because of overworking entire families to the point that even their offspring turned out fucked up, it finally clicked how communism was able to take over the world (partially) in the 20th century
bump
>>24674975Try Peter Kemp memoirs. It's not exactly what you asked but you might like it.
