[a / b / c / d / e / f / g / gif / h / hr / k / m / o / p / r / s / t / u / v / vg / vm / vmg / vr / vrpg / vst / w / wg] [i / ic] [r9k / s4s / vip] [cm / hm / lgbt / y] [3 / aco / adv / an / bant / biz / cgl / ck / co / diy / fa / fit / gd / hc / his / int / jp / lit / mlp / mu / n / news / out / po / pol / pw / qst / sci / soc / sp / tg / toy / trv / tv / vp / vt / wsg / wsr / x / xs] [Edit][Settings] [Search] [Mobile] [Home]
Board
Settings Mobile Home
4chan
/lit/ - Literature

Name
Spoiler?[]
Options
Subject
Comment
Verification
4chan Pass users can bypass this verification. [Learn More] [Login]
File[]
  • Please read the Rules and FAQ before posting.

08/21/20New boards added: /vrpg/, /vmg/, /vst/ and /vm/
05/04/17New trial board added: /bant/ - International/Random
10/04/16New board for 4chan Pass users: /vip/ - Very Important Posts
[Hide] [Show All]


[Advertise on 4chan]

[Catalog] [Archive]

File: palefire.jpg (57 KB, 652x1000)
57 KB
57 KB JPG
It is clear Nabokov was a Talmudic scholar in secret and structured his 1962 novel 'Pale Fire' with the same structural devices used in the Talmud.
>be Nabokov
>married to Jewish wife
>pretend to be butterfly and chess aficionado, just a disguise
>secretly studying Talmudic structure and form at night
>1962 write Pale Fire
>pretend it’s just a foreword, poem, footnotes, and index
>actually it’s Mishnah and Gemara
>poem = Mishnah
>Kinbote’s commentary = Gemara
>index = the Rashi
>forces reader into chavruta with Charles the schizo
>polyphonic disorder, no closure, truth unknowable
>commentary overshadows core text like in Talmud
>reader keeps flipping pages like when studying Talmud tractate

Comment too long. Click here to view the full text.
6 replies and 1 image omitted. Click here to view.
>>
File: 0f4.jpg (49 KB, 770x600)
49 KB
49 KB JPG
>>24634168
Please, elaborate more. I need specifics. All the info you have. Drop it now.
>>
>>24634832
This is all i'm afraid. Nabokov's novels are filled with secrets, very occulted, need to study more.
>>
>>24634168 (OP)
>no closure, truth unknowable
the ambiguities are entirely solvable once you engage with the book a little deeper than looking at its segment titles. incidentally the chapter lengths in Pnin are symmetrical.
>>
>>24634799
>A struggle for the soul of the Jewish people.
A profound commentary on the futility of war. Two sides go into battle (physically or otherwise) over an ideological disagreement, but at the end of the day what they're fighting for is something that doesn't even exist.
>>
>>24634253
i'm still working on it

Thoughts on DFW, and more specifically on Oblivion? Read the first story and I really liked it but I've never liked anything else I've read by him besides a few sections I flipped through from the Pale King.
>>
"mr. squishy" is my favorite by him. he just keeps adding more and more detail that doesn't matter. it has me in stitches.

File: FEc1KTWWYAEGrF-.jpg (254 KB, 1440x1800)
254 KB
254 KB JPG
What is the most beautiful love letter you've read?
58 replies and 7 images omitted. Click here to view.
>>
>>24630915
Hello bitch, nice TITS ahahahahah milky milky milky baby thirsty mommy baby want milk suck suck suck suck hahahaha stupid cunt give me those big udders you slut hahahaha tits tit titty me your caveman me use big titty for big bitty hahaha honk honk honk slut cunt mommy honk honk milky baby want more now honk honk honk pitter patter on those big mommy milkies hee hee hee haha haaaa haaaa can't stop the milk truck coming through honk honk all aboard the titty train hee hee woop wooooooo honk honk honk!!!
>>
>>24631976
I'm not saying you're wrong but you're also gay for knowing this
>>
>>24631070
Based as fuck. This is true love.
>>
>>24630915
One written to me from my ex. We used to write handwritten letters to each other when we were dating and exchange them every Saturday in person. I will probably never be able to do that with a woman again, but it was very cute and sweet.
>>
>>24634812
did you save them?

File: 23028118.jpg (14 KB, 200x200)
14 KB
14 KB JPG
>200 IQ
>can't even address solipsism
This pig fucking rancher better stop sniffing his own farts. The methane is giving him brain damage.
23 replies and 1 image omitted. Click here to view.
>>
Unfortunately for him I scored 400 on the IQ test I took in juvenile hall, and I say solipsism is correct. (I was only sent there because my bitch teacher was trying to suppress my Waco theory.)
>>
>>24634561
IQ does not even exist. To believe in it is the ultimate sign of midwittery. Yes, this guys IQ is likely bigger than Shakespeares had he ever the patience for such a test
>>
>>24635302
Theistic conclusions aren't invalidated by someone else hearing and understanding them, Anon. Solipsism is on an entirely different plane of idiocy, like Egoism, where the very act of voicing them proves that the person does not actually believe them.
>>
G e moore does spend a while proving the existence of a hand.
>>
>>24634561
he aint 200 iq he aint even 113 FSIQ like me hes a plant to get jesus out there cuh like the korean doing HRTs with praffe lmaoooo

An intellectual battle... The battle of the pre-Socratics!
Permanence vs change...
Who was in the right? Who was in the wrong?
/lit/ decides!
34 replies and 3 images omitted. Click here to view.
>>
I just know that Parmenides was the only Dialogue by Platon that filtered me and showed me, thankfully, that without studying philosopher i will never be one as i lack the instinctive drive to chase a philosophical problem for hours on my own.
>>
Democritus claims just atoms or the void.
>>
>>24636023
exoterically
>>
>>24632855
The emphasis on flux in Heraclitus is over emphesized in my opinion. There are quite a few fragments which purport his belief in oneness (of course in a different way from Parmenides) such as B50, B41, and B10:
>οὐκ ἐμοῦ ἀλλὰ τοῦ λόγου ἀκούσαντας ὁμολογεῖν σοφόν ἐστιν ἓν πάντα εἶναι.
It is wise for those listening to agree not with myself but with the ΛΟΓΟΣ: all things are one.
>ἓν τὸ σοφόν, ἐπίστασθαι γνώμην, ὁτέη ἐκυβέρνησε πάντα διὰ πάντων.
One thing is wise: to understand the plan - how everything is steered through all things
>συνάψιες ὅλα καὶ οὐχ ὅλα, συμφερόμενον καὶ διαφερόμενον, συνᾷδον διᾷδον, καὶ ἐκ πάντων ἓν καὶ ἐξ ἑνὸς πάντα.
Conjoinings: whole and not whole, borne together and torn apart, accordant discordant, and one from and all from one.
There is also Aristotle's account of Cratylus in Metaphysics Γ (1010a12–15) where he mentions that Cratylus "reproached Heraclitus for saying that it is not possible to step twice into the same river—for he himself thought that this was not possible even once" which supports the idea that Heraclitus believed in flux to an extent but not to an extreme end as Cratylus did.
Further, the emphasis on change in the fragments purports a more balanced framework than chaotic, such as B90
>πυρός τε ἀνταμοιβὴ τὰ πάντα [. . .] καὶ πῦρ ἁπάντων ὅκωσπερ χρυσοῦ χρήματα καὶ χρημάτων χρυσός.
Both all things are an exchange for fire... and fire for all things, just as goods for gold and gold for goods.
And fragments emphasizing the UNITY of opposites such as B67 and B51
>ὁ θεὸς ἡμέρη εὐφρόνη, χειμὼν θέρος, πόλεμος εἰρήνη, κόρος λιμός· ἀλλοιοῦται δὲ ὅκωσπερ <πῦρ>, ὁκόταν συμμιγῇ θυώμασιν, ὀνομάζεται καθ’ ἡδονὴν ἑκάστου
God: day night, cold hot, war peace, satiety hunger - he/it differentiates just as <fire>, whenever it mixes with spices, it is named according to the pleasure of each (person)

Comment too long. Click here to view the full text.
>>
File: Schope.png (852 KB, 757x418)
852 KB
852 KB PNG
anyone who takes the hellenic philosopher-poet literally is retarded

File: 81pg4pOjArL._SL1500_.jpg (129 KB, 987x1500)
129 KB
129 KB JPG
Post and discussion about any type of history book.

>Mark Twain by Ron Chernow

>Before he was Mark Twain, he was Samuel Langhorne Clemens. Born in 1835, the man who would become America’s first, and most influential, literary celebrity spent his childhood dreaming of piloting steamboats on the Mississippi. But when the Civil War interrupted his career on the river, the young Twain went west to the Nevada Territory and accepted a job at a local newspaper, writing dispatches that attracted attention for their brashness and humor. It wasn’t long before the former steamboat pilot from Missouri was recognized across the country for his literary brilliance, writing under a pen name that he would immortalize.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/219158332-mark-twain

Previous Thread: >>24534219
202 replies and 93 images omitted. Click here to view.
>>
>>24634896
I really liked almost a miracle as somebody who knows nothing about the US. Are his other books just as good?
>>
>>24593197
What are some good histories of gender dynamics other than De Reincourt's "Woman And Power In History"? Or general histories of sex that aren't completely gross with the descriptions?
>>
>>24635914
>In this pioneering study of the ways in which the first settlers defined the power, prerogatives, and responsibilities of the sexes, one of our most incisive historians opens a window onto the world of Colonial America. Drawing on a wealth of contemporary documents, Mary Beth Norton tells the story of the Pinion clan, whose two-generation record of theft, adultery, and infanticide may have made them our first dysfunctional family. She reopens the case of Mistress Ann Hibbens, whose church excommunicated her for arguing that God had told husbands to listen to their wives. And here is the enigma of Thomas, or Thomasine Hall, who lived comfortably as both a man and a woman in 17th century Virginia. Wonderfully erudite and vastly readable, Founding Mothers & Fathers reveals both the philosophical assumptions and intimate domestic arrangements of our colonial ancestors in all their rigor, strangeness, and unruly passion.
>>
File: Soong.jpg (1000 KB, 1200x1600)
1000 KB
1000 KB JPG
The Soong Dynasty by Sterling Seagrave

>Who were the Soongs? They were descendants of a Chinese runaway who grew up in America under the protection of the Methodist Church in the latter part of the nineteenth century and took the name of Charlie Soong. When Soong returned to China, he made a fortune printing and selling Western Bibles, and secretly backed the republican revolution of Sun Yat-sen against the Manchu dynasty.

>Of his six children, one daughter, Ching-ling, married Sun Yat-sen and later supported the Chinese Communists against the nationalist until her death in 1981. But all the other Soongs cast their lot with Chiang Kai-shek. One, May-ling married H.H. Kung, a lineal descendant of Confucius and the principal banker of nationalist China, and the eldest son, Harvard-educated T.V. Soong, became the economic wizard of Chiang's rise to power and at various times served Chiang as economic minister, foreign minister and premier. All of them, except Madame Sun Yat-sen, amassed enormous wealth while millions of Chinese starved or were killed in the long fight against Japan and the equally bitter struggle with Mao.

https://www.amazon.com/Soong-Dynasty-Sterling-Seagrave-ebook/dp/B01NCN6NWQ
>>
>>24635909
>Are his other books just as good?
Yes. His military histories and biographies of George Washington and John Adams are quite good.

Demons, Angels, and Everything In-Between Edition

FAQ:
>What is worldbuilding?
Worldbuilding is the process of creating entire fictional worlds from scratch, all while considering the logistics of these worlds to make them as believable as possible. Worldbuilding asks questions about the setting of a world, and then answers them, often in great detail. Most people use it as a means of creating a setting or the scenery for a story.
>"Isn't there a Worldbuilding general in >>>/tg/ already?"
Yes, there is. However, that general is focused on the creation of fictional worlds for the intended purpose of playing TTRPG campaigns. Here you can discuss worldbuilding projects that are not meant to be used for a roleplaying setting, but for novels, videogames, or any other kind of creative project.
>"Can I discuss the setting of my campaign here, though?"
If you want to, but it would probably be better to discuss it on >>>/tg/ . We don't allow the discussion of TTRPG mechanics, however. If you want to discuss stats or which D&D edition is best, this is not the place.
>"Can I talk about an existing fictional setting that is not mine?"
Yes, of course you can!
>"Does worldbuilding need to be about fantasy and elves?"
Worldbuilding, as already stated above, and contrary to what many believe, does not inherently imply blatantly copying Tolkien. In fact, there are many science-fiction setting out there, and even entire alternative history settings which do not possess supernatural elements at all. Any kind of science fiction book has an implied setting at least, which involves a certain degree of worldbuilding put into it.

Old thread: >>24509493
113 replies and 31 images omitted. Click here to view.
>>
>>24633281
Not him, but I’d like to see that, thanks.
>>
Is "Historical setting but with magic" a good basis for worldbuilding or is it too cliche after A Song of Ice and Fire?
>>
>>24634067
IIRC, A Song of Ice and Fire can barely be considered “historical”.
>>
Considering Lucifer is mentioned as the "ruler of this world" I wonder if I could get away with lesser demons "ruling" other planets in my setting or if I'm ripping off Space Trilogy.
>>
>>24635149
Ive never even heard of that so I'd say youre good.

Avoid stress, that's what it's all about
>>
>>24636309
Kind of a theme throughout Gaddis

File: 1754861106657647.png (249 KB, 826x530)
249 KB
249 KB PNG
What are your reading plans for the Fall?
1 reply omitted. Click here to view.
>>
>>24636300
You must have a TBR to choose from though, right?
>>
>>24636302
A what?
>>
>>24636304
Your To-Be-Read list.
>>
>>24636306
I don't have such a list. I just pick up whatever whenever.
>>
>>24636300
Ditto

>>24636302
I have one but I don't go down it in any kind of order

File: H.P.-Lovecraft_green.jpg (29 KB, 720x720)
29 KB
29 KB JPG
HP Lovecraft's 135th birthday (August 20th) is exactly one week away. How will you be celeberating?
>>
eh I'm more of a W Chambers fan
>>
Going outside, having a picnic with my friends, and making sweet sweet love to the first ethnically ambiguous woman I see

Post photos get book Recommendations
30 replies and 19 images omitted. Click here to view.
>>
>>24634301
solar plexus turin riders

Future Christ, Laruelle
>>
>>24634281
Ubik, and Orthodoxy and the Religion of the Future
>>
>>24634974
>A -- Andy Warhol
>Van Goh letters
>>
File: ASEMIC_Nephilim party.png (22 KB, 428x652)
22 KB
22 KB PNG
>>24635342
>The Nephilim Looked Like Clowns, Paul Stobbs
>>
>>24635996
>Repetition, Alain Robbe-Grillet
>The Sorrows of Young Torless, Robert Musil
>Mystery of the Cathedrals, Fucanelli

Is Russian lit really that good? How does it stand up against heavyweights like Dickens And Mark Twain
11 replies and 1 image omitted. Click here to view.
>>
>>24636247
Umberto eco lmao.
>>
>>24636247
i like petrarch and (a rando) bandello for instance. you've got boccaccio and ariosto and a number of humanists and political philosophers, idk look it up.
for spanish i'm counting latin american and desu the only one i've appreciated was borges
for portuguese i honestly can't vouch for anything, just tried some lispector and was a little disappointed
>>
>>24636275
misused "desu" was autocorrect believe it or not.
>>
>>24636247
For Italian, Calvino
>>
>>24636072
>Is Russian lit really that good?
No, it's grossly overrated, by pseuds.

File: 234322.png (1.49 MB, 1162x1304)
1.49 MB
1.49 MB PNG
7 replies and 2 images omitted. Click here to view.
>>
>>24636214
You have friends?
>>
>>24636246
yeah we retweet each other all the time
>>
>>24636175
yeah looks like fun
>>
>>24636175
They all have big boobs. What's the book about?
>>
>>24636175
How empty is your life that you care about who any of these people are?

File: IMG_5544.jpg (34 KB, 554x554)
34 KB
34 KB JPG
>Men are born for games. Nothing else. Every child knows that play is nobler than work. He knows too that the worth or merit of a game is not inherent in the game itself but rather in the value of that which is put at hazard. Games of chance require a wager to have meaning at all. Games of sport involve the skill and strength of the opponents and the humiliation of defeat and the pride of victory are in themselves sufficient stake because they inhere in the worth of the principals and define them. But trial of chance or trial of worth all games aspire to the condition of war for here that which is wagered swallows up game, player, all.
This guy never had a real job and fucked a teenage girl. What did he mean by this?
16 replies and 4 images omitted. Click here to view.
>>
File: cmacrizz.jpg (199 KB, 1920x816)
199 KB
199 KB JPG
>he plapped my lil quasi-pubescent ass in every hacienda donkey barn from cristo to toluco. we rose in the back of work strucks and on the backs of half-wild horses. he never spoke his feelings; just have me these long burning gaze that turned my stomach and broke my heart to honey. we got drunk at bars with stinking men and woke up half naked in burnt down shacks with stray dogs and street kids for company. he still owes me fifty dollars. it was the best and worst time of my life.
>>
>>24632070
He means that working is for self-hating cucks.
>>
File: 1700118949593.jpg (56 KB, 489x636)
56 KB
56 KB JPG
>>24634251
>why beaners like you always care only one (1) thing? making love with underage girls
They have exact same asperger tendency
except japan is 110< while wetback is sub90iq
>>
>>24635672
kek that explains a lot
>>
>>24635672
>mexes love Dragonball to an unmatched degree, maybe more than even the Japanese
Fuck, this checks out

File: Dartagnan-musketeers.jpg (645 KB, 1280x1338)
645 KB
645 KB JPG
What is the best Romantic literature?
20 replies and 1 image omitted. Click here to view.
>>
>>24628453
Here
https://youtu.be/jFPqTCR0_F8?si=gnN8KuvhkPhGYmkk
>>
>>24635761
Disagree. It's pretty aggressively cynical about the state of Spain during its age of glory, cynical about even the possibility of idealism, and he exhibits the same cynicism in his other works like The Fencing Master (also set in a historical era of Spain, and where a large part of the point of the book is that the titular fencing master is a pathetic figure, an object of universal ridicule and even contempt for his devotion to an abstract ideal).
>>
>>24636091
Reverte has nothing but praise for the cultural achievements of Spain’s golden age. The protagonist is drinking buddies with real life golden age playwrights and poets. He’s cynical about the corrupt leadership getting Spain mired in costly wars in the Netherlands and Spain falling behind its peers.
Also, the book is told from the viewpoint of someone recalling the events decades later, well after the golden age had ended so it makes sense that that viewpoint would be cynical. With the advantage of hindsight the narrator sees the cracks forming and the decline setting in.
>>
>>24628901
post aunt
>>
>>24636110
This argument completely overlooks what I already mentioned, the fact that one can look outside the series and see the same stances in his other works. Sure, Reverte likes Quevedo and Velázquez and has a borderline-jingoistic attachment to their work, but fixating on solely the peak artistic products is a huge goalpost push. Reverte perpetually depicts idealism or any other higher feeling as hopelessly naive and liable to do nothing but get a person into trouble because it clouds his perception of reality. This is diametrically opposite to the Romantic position and in fact an outright display of contempt for it. I can't be bothered to enumerate the number of times patriotism, loyalty, ideals, or even love get people into trouble for absolutely no gain in the series, but if you're conversing in good faith I shouldn't have to either, since you know this is an extremely frequently recurring motif. Suffice it to say that when I call Reverte a depressoid this bleak, hopeless outlook is what I'm referring to.

Moreover, the author's judgment on any given era has little or nothing to do with the tone of a work set in that era. Dumas very clearly has little love for the ancien régime under Louis XIII, whom he also portrays personally as a bored, easily-led idiot, but The Three Musketeers, as a work, is extremely cheerful and packed with good humor anyway, even or perhaps especially when the protagonists are objectively acting like immoral scoundrels. If you compare it to Alatriste the contrast is obvious.


[Advertise on 4chan]

Delete Post: [File Only] Style:
[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10]
[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10]
[a / b / c / d / e / f / g / gif / h / hr / k / m / o / p / r / s / t / u / v / vg / vm / vmg / vr / vrpg / vst / w / wg] [i / ic] [r9k / s4s / vip] [cm / hm / lgbt / y] [3 / aco / adv / an / bant / biz / cgl / ck / co / diy / fa / fit / gd / hc / his / int / jp / lit / mlp / mu / n / news / out / po / pol / pw / qst / sci / soc / sp / tg / toy / trv / tv / vp / vt / wsg / wsr / x / xs] [Edit][Settings] [Search] [Mobile] [Home]
[Disable Mobile View / Use Desktop Site]

[Enable Mobile View / Use Mobile Site]

All trademarks and copyrights on this page are owned by their respective parties. Images uploaded are the responsibility of the Poster. Comments are owned by the Poster.