It is NOT a literary masterpiece. It is, in basically just an overdressed YA novel. Let me, someone who has actually understood the text, break this down for you:>The core plotA brooding, special teenager, Hal Incandenza, with parent issues lives in a rigid, hierarchical system, namely the Enfield Tennis Academy. A mysterious, charismatic rebel figure, be it His ghost or the Entertainment itself, threatens the order. A ragtag group of teens, Hal, Orin, Pemulis, must navigate a corrupt adult world to uncover a dark secret that could destroy society. This is essentially Divergent, no?>Ham fisted Allegory"O.N.A.N.," "The Concavity/Convexity," "Subsidized Time." These are not subtle political commentaries. They are the same heavy handed, brand name dystopian devices as "Panem" or "The Capitol." It is a cartoony, exaggerated backdrop for teen angst, not a serious philosophical inquiry. DFW merely replaced the Hunger Games with a tennis tournament and a lethal film cartridge.>The teen protaganistHal is the archetypal YA hero. He is unnaturally gifted, emotionally stunted, misunderstood by every adult, and on a quest for identity in a world he did not make. His internal torment is just advanced teen angst. His inability to communicate is peak adolescent alienation dressed up in pseudo intellectual jargon. He is a Holden Caulfield who can quote Wittgenstein.>The threatThe samizdat is a MacGuffin of pure destruction. "It is so pleasurable it kills you." This is a YA villain: a single, addictive, monolithic Evil that the adults cannot handle, so the youth must. It is the same as a magic system or a corrupt government, a simple problem with a fantastical, technological cause.Comment too long. Click here to view the full text.
>>24945045>you were actually reading a hyper verbose, structurally bloated teen novel.You can infer much from a person's deportment and appearance. Pynchon only got away with it for so long by avoiding interviews. >It is NOT a literary masterpiece. It is, in basically just an overdressed YA novelThis should be the most obvious thing in the literary world and the 'secret' to why he offed himself. Just look at that faggot bandana. He's ready to blow you. He's staring into your soul, looking for his father's cock. And he got upstaged by a genre fiction take on the Found Footage film genre in House of Leaves of all things. >>24946570>my friend recommended it in college and I played JV tennis in high school.This is not the Tennis novel. Waiting for Godot, and Walter Abish's In The Future Perfect are.
I've read the first two chapters and it does have a certain charm to it though seems to suffer from a lack of focus and inconsistent tone. I resent when authors go for certain broad effects rather than specific, earned moments of inspiration
It's just a book. Maybe you people should read more books instead of talking about the same books over and over, it's so fucking boring.
>>24946920Thanks for the Walter Abish rec anon, I'll check it out.
>>24945045bait/10. I will respond in good faith anyways. >Hal, Orin, Pemulis, must navigate a corrupt adult world to uncover a dark secret that could destroy society.What dark secret are they trying to uncover?>Ham fisted AllegoryI don't think you know what allegory is. Your examples are simple hyperbole, extending the real world to an absurd extreme. You completely missed the political content which is about people who build their identity around a political party. >He is unnaturally giftedHe isn't, he myopically fixated on two things, the OED and tennis. We find out he is terrible at the sciences and if the examples we get of his work in the humanities are any evidence, he is not very good there either, he just plays word games to hide the fact he says nothing. The implication here being that like Gately, Hal is being carried through school by others.>MacGuffinlol. Explain the entertainment. >"Entertainment as dystopia?"If you wanted to take that sort of view it is that entertainment for the sake of entertainment is a result of dystopia; which is closer to the point but still reductive. Dystopia does not play into it, this is likely a result of your conflating allegory and hyperbole. >"Addiction?"To stick with the above bit of reductionism, addiction is entertainment for the sake of entertainment. Once we go beyond literal entertainment and addiction you start seeing why this phrasing is reductive, the book is filled with examples of things which are just as destructive but are not addiction or entertainment and obviously need to be reconciled. Comment too long. Click here to view the full text.
Just ordered thisWhat am I getting into?
>>24947327isn't everything after the gospels, maybe aside from revelation, just expository teachings OF the gospels?
Been reading the KJV cover to cover for a couple months. Working through the Pauline stuff right now. I can't imagine it not being deeply enriching for almost anyone but there are bound to be chunks that are boring or tedious no matter what your primary interests are.
>>24946147A bunch of fables written by a canannite tribe that much like their Carthagian cousins, used to sacrifice their children to demons to the side of genocide and foreskin collecting
>>24947336A little bit but it's not exactly detailed. It mostly comes from Paul, who never met Jesus and was speaking to a different audience, so he emphasized different things (e.g. faith vs. observance of the law)
remember that god loves you but don't piss him off or he floods the planet and kills 99% of us.
What does /lit/ think of the Enders game sequels?
>>24946899Manchild core.
Children soldiers is a sicker idea than regular aged young men. Wars are fought for the enrichment of old bastards, but they get them young so they can screw with their minds.I don't think Card ever explores this horror. Am I wrong?
>>24947010IIRC Battle School was infamous for its brutal bullying. Doesn't another kid try to rape Ender at some point?
>>24946899Think the first four books in the series are sitting on my shelf, unread, like they have since I got them. Look fun though.
Who's up for a good ol' fashioned stack/recent cops thread?
>>24946902Peake and Canticle for Lebowitz are both eye-rollingly pseudish. Get better taste fast.
>>24946906I literally just picked these up out of interest. How can I have already developed a taste for these authors if I haven't even read them?
>>24946918Doesn't matter. The fact that you picked up both strongly suggests that you haven't developed a discerning intuitive sense of quality and/or a proper filter for recommendations, both being necessary components of taste.
>>24946935Yeah bro, I don't actively browse this board everyday unlike you.
Stack for december/january...I won't actually read GR it's there just to show I'm really cool
Why yes, half page descriptions of lamps and countertops with the occasional interjection of brain dead criminals speaking futuristic ebonics. It certainly deserves all the praise. Were people really that bored in the 80s to enjoy this?I'm not finishing it. I feel my neurons dying in real time. I was right for putting it off for so many years.
>>24946610manchildren are not going to like this
he simply perfectly described the world we're living in, 60 years ago.
>>24947046lol no he didn't
>>24946610you sound filtered
>>24947487By taste, which is perfectly reasonable. You really should have a filter against poor taste.
>completely dismantles leftism in your path
>>24947129>Capitalist refusing the left a place on the leftPuke.
>>24944150>sade is a conceptual starting point for leftismI can tell already that it's retarded
>>24944150Do rightoids even have a leg to stand on anymore? I mean how do they even explain or justify their position to anyone else. Like do they just go, "hurr sure muh tribe hurr durr muh hierarchy" ?
>>24947458What is a woman?
>>24944150i would eradicate the binary wingism from our minds if i could
>The red thread of fate (Chinese: 姻緣紅線; pinyin: Yīnyuán hóngxiàn), also referred to as the red thread of marriage, the invisible string theory and other variants, is an East Asian belief originating from Chinese mythology. It is commonly thought of as an invisible red cord around the finger of those that are destined to meet one another in a certain situation, as they are "their one true love".>According to Chinese legend, the deity in charge of "the red thread" is believed to be Yuè Xià Lǎorén (月下老人), often abbreviated to Yuè Lǎo (月老), the old lunar matchmaker god, who is in charge of marriages. In the original Chinese myth, the thread is tied around both parties' ankles, while in Japanese culture it is bound from a male's thumb to a female's little finger. In modern times, though, it is common across both these cultures to depict the thread being tied around the fingers, often the little finger. The color red in Chinese culture symbolises happiness and it is also prominently featured during Chinese weddings.>The two people connected by the red thread are destined lovers, regardless of place, time, or circumstances. This magical cord may stretch or tangle, but never break.Any novels or poems cover this?
>>24944807Almost every romance anime has this.
>>24946079too late, I had a child with a puerto rican womanreally fucked up there desu
>>24945880What are you telling me for? I didn't get one.
>>24944807There are more than two billion indians and chinese. Meaning that your true love is likely to be mapped to one of them which makes this a shit theory
>>24944807does the chinese tradition actually have our notion of romantic, chivalrous love and courtship, or is this a modern reimagining?
will it be even better than schattenfroh (the greatest translated work of the 20th century)?
>>24947419We know you’re the fucking “Helno” guy in the salon, dude. Fuck off. LIMF told all of us
>>24947426Well “helno” to you too, specialberry. quite neat that dissertation of yours is available to edu accounts
>>24947319Speaking of which, where's my hoodie, code monkey?
>>24947319It was so beautiful you sent a hoodie to me in Israel and did not ask for any $$$
>>24947432That mangina exploring gender bullshit was such a disappointment. What a faggot.
Overreading makes you retarded.
Haha yeah we need to take it easy, we are doing crazy levels of reading, guys
the only reason to be polite is when you want something from someone
>>24947172I love being retarded!
>>24947361>Kant: "imagine if everyone were a misanthrope at Christmas.">Hegel: "you're on the wrong side of history. *unintelligible*.">Nietzsche: "charity is actually a sign of strength."
>>24947453Stirner's philosophy is right but it's also psychopathic.
Is this kino? I have to pick between it and shadow ticket at my bookstore.
>>24944790>kinoConsidering your vernacular I say go for this one. Capeshit does seem like your speed
>>24944836Faggot.
>>24944790no, it's shit
>>24946437In what way?
>>24946656There's a chapter that purposes to imitate Finnegans Wake. Of course, the chapter resembles Joyce's masterpiece in none of its beauty or greatness. And this is because Alan Moore's goal wasn't beauty or greatness, it was imitation.
Recent revert to Islam is this a good book ? Some brothers recommended it to me
>>24947134I haven't read it, but he spawned an entirely new sect called Wahabbis, who basically attack Muslims only instead of talking about Israel or anything else.>If you don't have the right (my) version of Tawheed, you're basically a kaffir
>>24947168Saudi Arabia was very anti Israel when the rulers were religious. In the 1970's they launched an oil embargo against any country supporting Israel, including America
>>24947165TyJZK
Bump
Read some of Ibn al-qayyims short booksInner dimension of prayer Heartfelt advice to a friendAnd his longer bookThe disease and the cureI’d skip muhammad ibn abdul wahhab. His books are super boring and you are better off just reading from the Quran translation because he basically just copy pastes without meaningful commentary
2025 is almost over. What's the best book you read this year?
I kinda forgot what I read this year.Will never forget this one though. Incredible how he managed to turn a book in which he says kike or nigger in most sentences into a work of art.
the alexandria quartet by laurence durrell
>>24947281You've all read the best book to be released in 2025 haven't you?
Read through Animal Farm. Short and sweet, but I really enjoyed it. Beats you over the head with its moral, but, through a purely technical lens, I really enjoyed seeing Orwell epitomize what a novel should be. Also read Dune and I felt similarly about it. It was the first book I read after getting through nearly all of Moorcock's Elric, though, so maybe I was just relieved to break the monotony.
wiseguy wuthering heightssolaris faust (part one)come as you are: the story of nirvana no country for old men crime and punishment
Just wanted to say I'm proud of you lot. I can tell many of you have actually been reading books this year. Warmest congratulations to everyone who read books this year and coldest execration to those who did not.
>>24943077I used to date a girl that was a cake decorator. She was nuts. Like psycho uterus nuts. I sometimes wonder about the people who ate those cakes.
>>24944124I think those are called Caketomotrists.
>>24944109I also keep telling myself that having a job is not worth selling my soul. Really hope I don't end up killing myself at some point though
I actually rarely read and only come on here to see discussions about the latest talking head videos of which I don't understand a good portion of most of the subjects or even the language used, especially when it comes to politics *accepts your praise anyway and sits with everyone at the reward banquet table*
>>24943077where are my candles? i want a candle for every book i read this year
This book changed my life for the better
>>24946777https://www.youtube.com/shorts/4YCCQe21kVs?feature=sharestraight from a woman
>>24946749>expecting /lit/ to care about the female orgasmKek.I was big into this fella when I wanted to become le sexologist at school via my neuro courses. But sex is just too complex to study scientifically while so many questions remain open about the brain in general. Also a very touchy, political and personal subject with a wide range for rorschachin’, nothing written about it from the /sci/ angle is of any worth, it’s still very much a domain for the arts.
>>24946795>>expecting /lit/ to care about the female orgasmIf you don't know how to pleasure a woman are you even a man
>>24946749>Step 1: make her love you>Step 2: diddle her clitEasy
>>24946749It's one thing to say she comes firstIt's another to make her come first.
What books are you wishing for, or that you know you will be receiving? I know I've got a first edition of Dangerous Visions coming in the mail. Also share your Amazon wish lists in hopes some kind anon will buy you something: https://www.amazon.ca/hz/wishlist/ls/2PL5T1DWG8ZHR
>>24947250Melville's Moby Dick, Orwell's 1984, Eco's The Name of the Rose, Joyce's Dubliners, or anything by Dostoevsky. Alternatively, Herbert's Dune Messiah, Erikson's Gardens of the Moon, Cook's Chronicles of the Black Company, or Wolfe's Shadow & Claw. Tried to give my secret Santa a list to work with, because I know, working at a bookstore, that getting hit with the "I don't read and I'm here looking for a gift for someone and all I know is they like fantasy and classics, can you help me out?" is a pain for everybody involved.Dangerous Visions 1st ed. is a beaut, and seems really interesting. Have you read it before, or would this be your first time?
>>24947463>Have you read it before, or would this be your first time?First time. I mostly got it (I asked my mum for it) for the Philip K. Dick story, and my love for Harlan Ellison.
