Can anyone tell me why these authors attract the most obnoxious, arrogant, soulless bugmen fans? Whenever I meet a pseud, their favorites are always some combo of the above four. Are they prescribed in MFA classes or something?
>>25174395You wouldn't get it.
>>25174395Please remove Joyce's name from that list. He doesn't deserve the disrespect of being associated with those others.
>>25174408Yeah, I was pondering not including Joyce as he isn't brought up to the same extent as others. But those who fanboy the other 3 do say Joyce is a master as though they feel obligated to say it. But unfortunately I can't edit 4chan posts.
bugmen love anything open to interpretation, they are incapable of succeeding in a world of rigor and merit and thus are naturally inclined to post-modernism.
>>25174395As another anon said Joyce doesn't belong in that list. The remaining 3 are postmodernism who are relentlessly shilled in academia.
>>25174421They haven’t read him. It’s due to that damned meme trilogy that he gets lumped in with them.
>>25174395Whenever I meet a pseud, their favorites are always some combo of the above four.How often do these encounters exactly occur?
>>25174550In academia you would encounter this daily if you went out of your way to.
>>25174550Has happened on a dozen occasions online for me.
>>25174395They're all good, but okay. Suggest an alternative then? Pynchon, Delillo, Joyce, and DFW, but not pseud? I'm only going to get troll replies so what's the point
>>25174748That picture makes me want to bully you
>>25174395Who are your favorites then? Only way to gauge your authority on the subject.
>>25174759He doesn't read books, he makes intelligent, nihilistic posts with a wicked sense of humor on the internet instead.
>>25174768Isn’t that emblematic of his superior intelligence though?
>>25174748>They’re all goodDFW? NahPynchon? ehDelillo? SureJoyce? Yes, superlativelyHere’s an alternative though anyway,MiltonShakespeareDanteGoethePretty basic, but they’re good lads
>>25174797>only the classics appeal to meIsn't there a hole you can go die in?
>>25174811Yeah, it’s called /lit/.
>>25174421>I was pondering not including ESL?
>>25174395Side effect of having a reputation as being a "difficult" writer, even if you're genuinely onto something profound, is that you attract fans that pride themselves in mastering that difficulty. These are people that feel like they have to prove themselves intellectually, i.e pseuds. Hegel has this exact same problem.
>>25174853This. Beneath all the pseudery: DFW has genuine value. Delillo has none. Pynchon has some, but he's primarily for entertainment. Joyce allegedly has substance, but I personally am too low IQ to determine for whether or not the emperor has clothes in this case.
>>25174872>but I personally am too low IQThat much was obvious from your first sentence.
>>25174395>Pynchon, Delilo, Joyce and DFWAll hacks. Read [anonymous]; his tales are the best.
>>25174797lol delillo fans are always some of the most entertaining idiots on this board
>>25174853The annoying thing about pseuds is that they don’t care too much about the actual writing of these authors. And that ticks me off because I love some of the authors people latch onto for cred more because they’re enjoyable, that, to me, pen some of the most sublime prose/poetry out there; I’m not thinking of how “intellectual” or “difficult” it is, at least in the sense that I value that above all else.
>>25174895Nta, but I like him. I don't know what makes one a "fan" of a writer though. I think he has a voice as eloquent and morally focused as any in American writing.
>It begins, as these things tend to, with a vague intestinal unease—an almost philosophical bubbling—somewhere between the frozen foods and the artisanal cheeses at Safeway, a sensation that is at once bodily and existential, like your colon has suddenly become aware of itself as a system with stakes. And you’re doing the small, panicked math of proximity—how far to the restroom, whether it’s occupied, whether the walk itself might constitute a kind of catastrophic gamble—while simultaneously attempting to maintain the outward choreography of a normal shopper (casually inspecting a box of crackers you will never buy), even as your insides threaten a kind of thermodynamic revolt. There’s a peculiar loneliness to it, too, this hovering on the brink of public humiliation in a place designed for fluorescent normalcy, where everyone else seems blissfully unencumbered by the knowledge that the human body is, at its core, a fragile container with extremely negotiable boundaries. And the gas—dear God, the gas—arrives in these morally compromising increments, each one presenting itself as a decision point, a referendum on risk versus relief, until finally you’re half speed-walking, half-praying, caught in that uniquely modern tragedy: the possibility of almost, but not quite, diarrheaing your pants under the indifferent gaze of a produce section misting system.
>>25174915Lmao
>>25174395Unfortunately litfic and modernism/postmodernism attract pseuds. Being surrounded by them is a cross you have to bear if you're into litfic
>>25174923i think it's a pretty good assessment, don't you think so?
>>25174895I just said “sure” I’m not a fan of him, but he constitutes as good more than DFW and Pynchon with me is just a matter of his prose being very annoying.
Delillo is a smarmy pompous humorless little weirdo who thinks the things he says are far less trite and boring than they truly are. And his alleged "prose" is insufferable.
>>25174942Really? I think DeLillo takes us on a breathtaking journey, beyond the official versions of our daily history, behind all easy assumptions about who we're supposed to be.
>>25174949You sound like a press agent.
>>25174961I thought I sounded like Pynchon.
>>25174969You thought wrong.
>>25174975What makes you say that? I'm pretty familiary with Pynchon's prose. Are you?
Buckle up lads, this is in its nascent state of becoming a Delillo and/or Pynchon hate thread.
>>25174989Nah, I like both. And I'm going to leave soon. I just wanted that one anon to answer my question but I guess he got scared?
>>25174453what if we are in purgatory right now bro
I can't help myself. I bully the limp-wristed delillofags whenever they reveal themselves on /lit/.
>>25175002Have you read Mao 2? This novel's a beauty. (That was me doing Pynchon again.)
>>25174993Which anon? Sorry it's hard to tell when I have so many hidden posts
>>25175013the one saying good thing about delillo in a pynchon like manner
>>25174421it's especially weird since he's the ultimate modernist and those other three are quintessential postmodernists. i know delilo loved joyce but im not sure about the others
>>25174453>post-modernismanother reason to exclude joyce, his books are the definition of rigor and discipline necessary to figure out what's going on
>>25174395You forgot Cormac.
>>25174453literally the complete opposite of bugmanism
>>25175460He's too popular now, pseuds ditched him.
>>25174453Define "bugman". Because in my eyes, a "bugman" is a hyper-consumerist
>>25175473Yeah, Cormac is now normie core.
>>25175650Especially now he has two Wendigoon videos. He's solid in the Wendigoon Core.The Wendigoon Core list goes:Blood Meridian The RoadDante's Divine Comedy (Bonus for liking Paradiso the most)Paradise LostParadise Regained King in Yellow Call of Cthulhu The BibleThomas LigottiTentatively: House of Leaves
>>25175460>>25175473>>25175650>>25175669I hope you and they all die.
>>25174395kill yourself
>>25175773I'll knock your teeth out nigger.
>>25175669Crazy how uncool everything he touches becomes.
>>25174395I haven't met a single person who has read more than one of these since I graduated university. >Are they prescribed in MFA classes or something?They're actually the last people to be taught in an MFA class because they don't write soulless realism short stories. MFA programs hate maximalism and zaniness. The best you get to read in MFA courses is Denis Johnson.
>>25175669>Paradise LostNo… say it ain’t so!
>>25174395so, you want to bitch about DFW but thought adding other popular writers would lend you credibility?
>>25176629I actually wanted to batch about Delillo and Pynchon.
>>25176639Bitch*
>>25176639can't even type LOL
>>25176643Issued my correction before you could respond>>25176643. I win.
>>25176648The special olympics kekw
>>25175650"Normies" don't read literary fiction. "Normies" don't even read more than one book a year, and it's usually self-help or softcore porn romance (if man or woman, respectively).>>25175678>>25176639Maladjusted nigger complaining about the 1% of the 10% of the 60% of people who read at all, read at above a high-school level, and read 'literary fiction.' You probably don't interact with any people like this irl and are just complaining about people you forcibly choose to see online because you can't help yourself engage in online discussions (because you don't have friends to socialize with), and then bitch and moan about how awful they are.
>>25176653>how awful they areBecause you are, and you deserve to know it.
>>25176651Trying to get a win over a typo is true midwit behavior.
>>25176656You probably read less than them, and don't even read anything "better," because while they're reading and getting to know the Western Canon you're just bitching online. You probably didn't read more than one Great Book this month, if you even read ONE.
>>25174453a century and change out and modernism's still oneshotting people lmfao>>25176653>"Normies" don't read literary fiction. "Normies" don't even read more than one book a year, and it's usually self-help or softcore porn romance (if man or woman, respectively).you would think that /lit/ posters know this, but I find that they're often in a little book-otaku bubble. if you know who Pynchon, DeLillo, Joyce, and DFW are -- not even read them, just know who they are and can name one book each by them -- you're in the top 2% of readers in the united states. if you've read at least one book by each of those four, you're in the top .5% of readers. if I bump into someone IRL who namedrops Pynchon or mentions White Noise it makes my fucking week. we are mostly alone, anons. we are the last lovers of a dying art form and we are among the few who can see its beauty
>>25176670I'm about to finish Anna Karenina, does that count? And before that I read the border trilogy. Bit of whiplash in terms of tone and subject matter.
>>25176676>if I bump into someone IRL who namedrops Pynchon or mentions White Noise it makes my fucking week. we are mostly alone, anons. we are the last lovers of a dying art form and we are among the few who can see its beautyProving OP right kek.
>>25176676>you would think that /lit/ posters know this, but I find that they're often in a little book-otaku bubbleIt's largely the .1% of readers complaining about the other .1% of readers and going on violent tirades about how awful they are while literary culture and readership as a whole dies out with nothing to replace it. I share your sentiment and got pretty happy when I saw some guy in his 30s reading Mason&Dixon two weeks ago at a coffee shop while I was reading Tom Jones.>>25176683I hope you enjoyed them all anon, they're all lovely books.
>>25176702>I hope you enjoyed them all anon, they're all lovely books.I did, and I'm reading The Sound and The Fury next.
>>25176698>get happy seeing other people reading Great Books>this is being obnoxious, arrogant, soullessMeds
>>25176705Have you read any other Faulkner? The first I read was Light in August and I thought it was decent but not exceptional. Sound and the Fury was the one that really made me a Faulkner fan. and As I Lay Dying made me fall in love with his work. Read that one and Absalom, Absalom if you enjoy the Sound and the Fury.
>>25174395>Pynchon, Delilo, Joyce and DFWThey're dense and inaccessible and therefore grant identity cred of some sort. Not like other guys lit. Not that no one sincerely enjoys them, but people do adopt art as a fashion as is made more clear by nearly all music topsters looking the same
>>25176709>Have you read any other Faulkner? no>The first I read was Light in August and I thought it was decent but not exceptional. Sound and the Fury was the one that really made me a Faulkner fan. and As I Lay Dying made me fall in love with his work. Read that one and Absalom, Absalom if you enjoy the Sound and the Fury.will do, thanks
>>25176653I just know this nigga's smirk was hanging like a peach in a tree when he wrote this
>>25175460true
>>25176676>>25176676>we are the last lovers of a dying art form and we are among the few who can see its beautyI'm not going to lower my standards because of this. If you glaze DFW then you are a shit taste pleb and I'm going to judge you accordingly.
>>25176750You are likely a monolingual pleb that doesn't read anything better
>>25176770I can choke you out to prove my superiority.
>>25174395They're difficult, so they attract resume builders who want to prove they can read difficult lit. It's not rocket science. Also Bolano seems to joining this phenomenon
>>25176770Yeah >>25176775 could probably kick your ass, what would you say then? Would you still call him that?
>>25176779Sure because he would never actually do anything, even if he could (he probably couldn't). Otherwise he wouldn't be seething on a site for malformed retards, on its literature board of all things.
>>25174395These are lit for people who hate literature.
>>25178725Joyce is the ultimate "you need to be passionate about literature just to figure out what the hell is going on" kind of writer
>>25178726Yeah, Joyce shouldn't be on the list.
>>25174797goethe is dreadful
>>25176750TRVKLEAR
