what are the some difficult books ever written?
>>24716754>what are the some difficultGood morning saar
>>24717019good morning sir :)
good morning everyone, in my case it was "The Castle" by Franz Kafka, one of the most difficult books to motivate myself to finishI hope this helps
>>24716754Fichte's Foundation of the Entire Wissenschaftslehre.
>>24717071still has the last chapter to read
What are your thoughts on this short story published in the recent issue of Harper’s Magazine? It’s a short read, less than five minutes. https://harpers.org/archive/2025/09/girl-talk-weike-wang-story-sauna/“Girl Talk” by Weike Wang
>>24715021Whitewashed Asian feminists are the worst creatures on Earth
>>24716887>he's never had a whitewashed asian feminist who was part of her college's asian women's club beg him to call her a chink while fucking
is she like the diaspora Juanita who doesnt speak a lick of Spanish outside of a few words but fights for la raza?
>>24716860>>24716100hot, would
>>24715021>by weinke wangthey don't name themselves ling ling and ding ding anymore, they've transcended to dick dick
Notable Authors: H.P. Lovecraft, Thomas Ligotti, Robert Aickman, Clive Barker, Edgar Allan Poe, Algernon Blackwood, Shirley Jackson, Richard Matheson, Stephen King, William Peter Blatty, Robert Bloch, Bram Stoker, Mary Shelley, Edogawa Rampo, Arthur Machen, Ambrose Bierce, M.R. James, Sheridan Le Fanu, Brian Evenson, William Hope Hodgson, Clark Ashton Smith, Frank Belknap Long, Ramsey Campbell, Caitlin R Kiernan, Laird Barron, Jack Ketchum, Stefan Grabinski, Peter Straub, and many many moreDiscuss your favorite horror tales in both short and long form. What have you read lately? What do you want to read? What's a work of horror fiction or an author who you want to recommend?
>>24716332>folk horrormemeshit buzzword
>>24716283Cool story, now do the other 50+ novels.
>>24716343folk horror is a subgenre of cosmic horror
>>24716917How?
>>24716945
Don’t buy this guys book. I regret purchasing it myself. Just read the decline of the west if you want to understand the nature of the west. This guy is a verminous subversive progressive liberal globalist elite shitlib that wears a mask of a non shitlib philosopher that he constantly lets slip. He gives decent takes about the nature of the west while at the same time conflating it with modernism and progressive liberal leftist managerialism while also making up subtle subversive lies about the wests nature like some late 20th century postmodernist. His passion for the west is entirely surface level. He makes it clear in his books that he doesn’t actually give a shit about by constantly regurgitating leftist propagandistic talking points that can be easily debunked and refuted with better takes. I suspected the book might be like that and my intuition was sadly right. I now understand why some people on this board hate him. Fuck this cunt.
>>24717001the nature of the west is being gay with your buddies
>>24717010Time to log off, Raj
>>247170012017 was 8 years ago, pal
>God invented and made the universe — like a man making a picture or composing a tune. A painter is not a picture, and he does not die if his picture is destroyed. You may say, "He's put a lot of himself into it," but you only mean that all its beauty and interest has come out of his head. His skill is not in the picture in the same way that it is in his head, or even in his hands.but what’s the paint and canvas supposed to be?
The canvas is nothingness/non-existence. A blank page.The paint is the underlying substrate of the universe/reality or what it's all made of; energy or information, a divine substance, et cetera.
>>24716829>nothingness/non-existencenonsense category
>>24716858this. there was no beginning imo
does flux/chaos count as nothing or is it still 'something'
Why is it absurd to posit nothingness as a concept and indeed a reality? Too simple, too obvious? The nothingness underlying all that is. The nothingness on which the buddhist ascetic meditates. The nothingness before God spoke the world into being. That which is not as opposed to that which is. And which it is now fashionable to recant as if it were a heresy.
Assuming you were around in '86 when this was published, would you have taken in this poor girl?
>>24715268So, Honor Levy
>>24716571she would reappear 40 years later
>>24716964After your death, probably, to slander you endlessly.
>>24715691I was 4 that year. All I remember is preschool and having babysitters who liked Bon Jovi and watched Headbangers Ball. Got my first taste of extreme metal in 1992 seeing Napalm Death on TV. now I can't go a day without blast beats.
>>24717059bon jovi was probably still pretty new at that point. mid-80s i'm guessing was like madonna, prince, mj and george michael
does /lit/ have an opinion on Johnathan Haidt? I remember him floating around the Sam Harris/Rogan circles a decade ago then vaguely recall falling off for being a junk science charlatan but I still see him pop up in mainstream interviews about cog-sci culture matters.
>>24716765He's utterly mindblowing if you're the type who thinks psychoanalysis is bullshit. If you think psychoanalysis is correct, he's repetitive and boring.
great indicator someone is a midwit and I can totally disregard their opinion if they even think about johnathan haidt at all
>>24716977I don't know what you mean by that, can you elaborate?
>>24717007cognitive science as a field is just yelling "Freud is bullshit!" at the top of your lungs and then five years later publishing a paper where you stuck a bunch of 20 year olds in an MRI machine and showed them pictures of random shit that empirically verifies a psychoanalytic idea from 100+ years ago. In this case, it's >bro you think you're motivated by reason bro>but like bro that's like, stick with me here, not right bro>actually bro like this chart shows that... bro... uuuughhh... bro my head hurts... ghhuhhuhhhhhughhhh... it shows... uhhhughuh... MY HEAD... UGHUGHUHHHHHHH... IT SHOWS YOU'RE REALLY MOTIVATED BY EMOTION BROghuhuhuhhhuughhughughmyheadhurtsssssssss>heavy exhausted panting>this is groundbreaking bro don't you get it bro nobody's said this before brolike I said, completely revolutionary to people who think they're too clever to take psychoanalysis seriously
>>24717031I think both have their merits
have you ever invented a word? zoomers recently invented chalant
What even is Young Adult fiction?If you’ve got a young guy doing wild acrobatics, slicing through the air with a sword, and launching an energy wave while he's at it, does that make it Young Adult?And what exactly counts as adult fiction? Is it just the "boring" stuff, even if it’s written with beautiful prose and explores deep, complex themes that resonate with both young (aged 13 to 18 yo) and older (19 to 50s) readers?Can adult fiction be fun or flashy? Can it be fantasy? Is “adult fantasy” even a thing?Also… what are the best Young Adult fantasy series out there?
>>24716924a long time ago there used to be this ever so weird fucking concept. The child is too young to see or do thing X. Young Adult fantasy means that just about any parent would read it or thumb through it, and not complain it was inappropriate for a 10-14year old. No explicit sexual stuff. No weird stuff. This is pretty self explanatory, anon. You're just posting to post.
>>24716935Not really. A lot of anons here throw around “YA” as a derogatory label, as if it automatically means the writing or story is inferior. But why should that be the case? Just because a book doesn’t include explicit sex or graphic violence, does that really make it lesser? Does the presence of gore or erotic content somehow elevate a book’s literary worth?If YA fiction simply means stories that a parent wouldn’t object to their 10-14 year old reading, then that doesn’t inherently make it shallow or simplistic. With a skilled enough writer, a YA book can be just as complex and memorable as any so-called “literary classic.”So why dismiss a book just because it’s YA? Sex and violence aren't prerequisites for great storytelling.Also, that post wasn’t just rambling, it ended with a genuine question, asking for recommendations on quality Young Adult fantasy series.
>>24717032/lit/ pseuds look down on anything not featured on a top 100 books of all time list. It's not about the book, it's not about the genre, it's not about the content and it's not about the writing. Almost everyone on this board is most interested in looking intelligent and sophisticated, and all their efforts go into reading books that they think will make them look intelligent and sophisticated.
Any dreams you guys had that was /litty/ themed? Here’s my that I had last night > Had a dream about cormac McCarthy. I was watching a movie adaptation of his nonexistent novel, it was filmed like an old black and white 50’s film. Something about a fedora wearing vagabond in a city. the movie ends with a closing narration from the actor Fredric march. The camera panned down, he was on a sound stage of a alleyway caked with foamite snow. The video quality was a fuzzing vhs tape. I was then in front of Cormac McCarthy and some person next to him. Cormac was sitting behind this wooden table while the person was standing next to him. We were in this cabin, behind them I could see shelves with glass doors and felt chairs circling around a tv; the latter was in the corner of my eye, and outside looked to be noon. Cormac spoked to me about his novel and the movie adaptation I just watched. He might have gave me some life advice as well. In his hands was a leather notebook. He placed it down on the table and cracked it open while telling me about his editor’s thoughts on both works. He then looked down at the notebook and read aloud his editor’s exact words about the matter. Then I woke up
>>24713814Things are not synesthetic, everything is just a very strong impression but not impressionistic, I just get the impression, the effect. The best way I have been able to come up with describing it is i you were to zoom in on a painting to the point you can see nothing but brush strokes and color, the painting would be my life and the brush strokes and color would the dreams but it is not just the visual information I am zooming in on, it is the auditory and emotion of it as well, they are all magnified for me in my dreams, intensified to the point that is all there is. But it is very difficult to explain, how do you zoom in on an emotion like contentment so you only feel one aspect of it? What is an aspect of contentment in that sense? Maybe the literal present, the feeling at a single moment too small to perceive extended for hours so it consumes you? That over simplifies since the emotion of the dream is far more dynamic and varied than that. I have never figured out a way to explain any of this.Life like dreams have become fairly regular for me but also have a tendency to be almost hilariously banal, things like going grocery shopping and running into someone I know, the contrast from my normal dreams tends to make even the most banal dreams quite memorable. Perhaps the abstract dreams would be best described in terms of a normal dream, they are like the exact moment a dream becomes so intense that it wakes you up, the abstract dreams are like that exact moment stretched out for hours but I still experience the entire dream, often over and over and over each time doing things slightly different.
>>24712910The only /lit/ centred dream of late barely qualifies, but I had a dream that was loosely "about" Madame Bovary, as in it featured that name/title although don't recall ever having heard of the book before said dream. Although it is obviously a famous piece of literature. The dream was as follows: I was attending school in an old manor house in the countryside, my peers were various friends from throughout my life; some I have known since childhood, some from college, some from university. We were moving from a computer room to a lesson in another part of the building, when I found myself lost and alone. I had the sensation of at once being frozen to the spot, unable to move. An ethereal white cloud or smoke-like substance began to fill the room and I was filled with terror. Out of the ether a woman made of the cloud itself took the form of an early 19th century woman, dressed in a large dress with corsett and hoop skirt/crinoline. My fear was compounded upon seeing her and for some reason I was only able to shout the words "Madame Bovary!" In some kind of subconscious realisation of the identity of the spirit and seemingly the knowledge that this spirit and her name signalled something truly awful and terrifying. When I awoke I found myself taken by the vividity and odd features of the dream, so rushed to my PC (my phone was dead) and googled Madame Bovary to see if there was a woman with such a name that died in my area at some point in history. Instead I found only the book by Gustave Flaubert.
>>24712910What causes the huge enjoyment gap between telling about your dreams and listening to others talking about theirs? Is it the inherent unrelatability or what is it? No other subject seems to make people so covertly annoyed, and yet at the same time think that their example is exempt from the annoyance. I can vividly remember some youthful nights, the taste of beer in my mouth and an overwhelming smell of "fine I'll listen to your shitty dreams but only because i can't wait to tell you mine" in the air. It's really weird and uncomfortable and i try to derail it asap or at least after I've told my own wacky dream.You could tell the greatest story ending with "anyhow that's the dream i had last night" and suddenly people wouldn't give two shits about it.Am I onto something or just projecting?
>>24716412Oh you're 100% on to something. I have always thought this, and often encountered it; I think I have a slightly higher tolerance for others dreams and am often genuinely interested but part of me is still secretly waiting for my turn because mine is infinitely more crazy and unique and maybe even could only be the result of a deeply profound and profoundly deep mind at work. Me and my Mum would joke about this when I was young, not caring about the others dream but then launching into a passionate telling of their own dream when the other had finished.
>>24712982Hey, same here. I have these dreams roughly every three months. No sensory stimuli, no scenes to see, no incoherent narrative to follow, no touch. I would describe it as total darkness but even that is missin, just emptiness. And then theres one concept that fills up everything. Most often it is an emotion but it also has been a movement or a transition. And it is INTENSE. Unbearably intense, so much that I suspect that I turned off all sensory input on porpuse. Experiencing any miniscule amount more would... Actually I don't know what would happen. All I know is that I will never go that far
So, how do you become the Knight of Faith?
>>24716930First step would be reading Kierkegaard
>>24716930Believe that you believe even if you feel like you dont and then stop doubting that you believe until you believe sincerely
>>24716930Iirc you have to become a knight of infinite resignation first so read fear and trembling
What periodicals do you subscribe to? I use to subscribe to Tin House, back when that was still a thing. I miss looking forward to a new, physical thing I could read.
>>24716252No, I said good ones.
>>24716818Fuck off chud
>Not a single good magazine recommended Just accept it already, newspaper and magazines are dead and books will follow soon since we're heading towards a post-literate society
>>24717030>doesn't recommend a magazine
>>24715238At the moment, only First Things.
The most tragic figure of the 21st century
>>24716663
>>24714423Have any of you actually read his book?His whole thesis is:>Hegel has perfectly described history and we are still stuck at his stage of descriptionAnd>Nietzsche identified the pathetic Last Man who languishes in this era.Thats it. A couple graphs, historical anecdotes, and name dropping, but thats it.The essay and book has been bastardized to fit the public discourse more closely, but none of it really goes against what this wanna be Hegel fanboy wrote.
>>24716663>the Person of Jesus Christ iKind of the whole problem with this isn't it? kek
>>24714573>>24714648>>24714738>>24714895>>24714977Please check out https://byzantinus.net/ some time, it's a textboard centered around the humanities and you two have an spirit that would very fitting for the site's purpose. It's invite-only but you can get an access code through a faucet right now.
>>24716741>It's invite-only but you can get an access code through a faucet right now.who do you do this and who owns/runs it?
Past a certain age, a man without a /shelf/ can be a bad thing
>>24716990This isn't your shelf, right? Please tell me this isn't your shelf.
>>24716996It is. Do you think it matches the rest of my room?
>>24716990>>24717006> Past a certain ageYou clearly won’t have to worry about being ‘past a certain age’ for a long time. If anything, I’d question if you’re even old enough to be posting on this site. But I know one thing for certain: you are one ugly little faggot.
>>24717026Might be taller than you though
>>24716990I don't see why a shelf 95% full of genre fiction is worth bragging about. You might as well brag about your steam library or comic book collection. Not that having a large collection of literary fiction says anything about your character either.
That which Ought, Is.
>>24715026not Garfield. Garfield is smart
>>24715012>That which Ought, Is.It's not always true, but you when you argue otherwise you must do it right.For example, it's hard to talk about how something is bad for society when society gravitated towards it en-mass when having more options.
>>24715012I ought to give you a good kick in the pants. Is it so? Then I have….disproveded you….hehehe
>>24715012Nothing is ought, it just is.
>>24715620hmmm... intriguing
