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I love that China has four classic novels and three of them are about huge wars and people kicking rear end and the last one is about a goon
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Mar 9, 2015 01:18
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Speaking of classic war texts the Táin Bó Cúailnge doesn't give enough love Just a massive war fought by a single man who transforms into a mangled mass of tearing flesh on behalf of the men of his village who are simultaneously suffering labor pains against a rival army that stole their prized bull for the sake of their queen who ends up dripping period blood into a hole and killing every living thing in the field.
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Mar 9, 2015 01:21
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The ending of every modern translation of the Táin Bó Cúailnge should just end with "The Arisocrats!"
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Mar 9, 2015 01:22
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Boatswain posted:Well either you learnt Norwegian or you learnt English so you should know how valuable language-ed is It's absolutely valuable. I just don't think "just learn the language to read the original book" is a good advice on a general basis. Learning the language well enough to read novels written for adults at a good comprehension level can in some instances take a a long time, with a lot of hard work, and might be demotivating if someone is struggling for whatever reason. If you're already in university though, by all means, just hit up a class in whatever you fancy. But if you're planning to learn a language on your own, you might want some additional goals. But to each their own, I guess. Multilingualism is valuable in and of itself, but I will still hold the claim that translations exist for good reasons. (and Norwegian's my first language.)
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Mar 9, 2015 11:17
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Fair enough, though I was never thinking about specific books but rather some sort of deeper engagement with a literary tradition which would be impossible without learning its language. I love translations and generally don't value the urtext that highly when reading for enjoyment. What gets me though is how much good literature that is only available in its original language. What do you mean by "additional goals"?
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Mar 9, 2015 11:42
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I'm currently reading Big Breasts & Wide Hips by Mo Yan. It is about this kid who is obsessed with breasts (especially those of his 7 buxom older sisters) and still breastfeeds at the age of like twelve. I have to say I really identify with this character and am enjoying the book thoroughly.
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Mar 9, 2015 17:48
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Guy A. Person posted:I'm currently reading Big Breasts & Wide Hips by Mo Yan. It is about this kid who is obsessed with breasts (especially those of his 7 buxom older sisters) and still breastfeeds at the age of like twelve. I have to say I really identify with this character and am enjoying the book thoroughly. thread title/post
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Mar 9, 2015 20:34
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You should really check out Life and Death are Wearing Me Out after Big Breasts, if you haven't already. Still haven't read the latter but I'm told they're really similar in terms of sheer scope.
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Mar 9, 2015 21:43
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Mira posted:You should really check out Life and Death are Wearing Me Out after Big Breasts, if you haven't already. Still haven't read the latter but I'm told they're really similar in terms of sheer scope. I've actually already read that, Garlic Ballads and Republic of Wine. I can see why BB&WH seems to be one of his most popular or at least most recommended, it has a good mix of elements that appear elsewhere in his works: it's not quite as hedonistic as Republic of Wine, not quite as magical/mythological as Life and Death, and not quite as depressing as Garlic Ballads (although admittedly I'm only halfway through), but it has elements of all three.
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Mar 9, 2015 22:44
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V. Illych L. posted:i sometimes want to learn chinese so i can read mao and cao cao's poetry I seriously contemplated studying ancient Sumerian for a while. Sadly my grades in Math and Science were atrocious, so I was never able to. (If you don't understand this, don't worry, I didn't either. The unfairness of the German education system.  )What is known from those ancient times is just so mysterious and interesting! It get's really weird if you go far enough back in time to the point where even the Sumerians didn't have "writing" as we understand it. (Back before clay tablets, Sumerians used stamps with signs on them. Before that, we know practically nothing except people existed and did some poo poo. But no writing = no history survived.)
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Mar 9, 2015 22:55
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Guy A. Person posted:I've actually already read that, Garlic Ballads and Republic of Wine. I can see why BB&WH seems to be one of his most popular or at least most recommended, it has a good mix of elements that appear elsewhere in his works: it's not quite as hedonistic as Republic of Wine, not quite as magical/mythological as Life and Death, and not quite as depressing as Garlic Ballads (although admittedly I'm only halfway through), but it has elements of all three. Garlic Ballads was cool because more than one character has to drink pee.
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Mar 10, 2015 00:05
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I'm confused by the turn this thread has takenLibluini posted:I seriously contemplated studying ancient Sumerian for a while. Sadly my grades in Math and Science were atrocious, so I was never able to. (If you don't understand this, don't worry, I didn't either. The unfairness of the German education system. Ancient Mesopotamian poo poo has that same kind of weird creepy aura for me, as well. I think a lot of it is holdover from Ghostbusters. Check out the Oxford collection of primary-source myths. chernobyl kinsman fucked around with this message at 02:57 on Mar 10, 2015 |
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Mar 10, 2015 02:54
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End Of Worlds posted:Ancient Mesopotamian poo poo has that same kind of weird creepy aura for me, as well. I think a lot of it is holdover from Ghostbusters. Check out the Oxford collection of primary-source myths. A big part of it is that the ancient Jews literally demonized other Near Eastern gods. Baal and Marduk are real life Mesopotamian gods
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Mar 10, 2015 12:22
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Smoking Crow posted:A big part of it is that the ancient Jews literally demonized other Near Eastern gods. Baal and Marduk are real life Mesopotamian gods I think a better way to put it is that being Mesopotamian municipal gods and agricultural gods and what have you was a typical day job for a lot of young deities in that area who were first making their way in the world, just trying to make ends meet. but being demons was their real passion and Baal is one of the guys that was able to make a career of it in the Jewish market and in fact is still out there today doing his thing
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Mar 10, 2015 16:03
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Earwicker posted:I think a better way to put it is that being Mesopotamian municipal gods and agricultural gods and what have you was a typical day job for a lot of young deities in that area who were first making their way in the world, just trying to make ends meet. but being demons was their real passion and Baal is one of the guys that was able to make a career of it in the Jewish market and in fact is still out there today doing his thing He seems to mostly be doing cameos in Dungeons and Dragons sourcebooks these days but to be fair a lot of older dieties are taking that gig, there's no shame in it.
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Mar 10, 2015 16:05
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Hieronymous Alloy posted:He seems to mostly be doing cameos in Dungeons and Dragons sourcebooks these days but to be fair a lot of older dieties are taking that gig, there's no shame in it. At least he hasn't sold out and gone the superhero route like some deities.
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Mar 10, 2015 18:59
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Smoking Crow posted:A big part of it is that the ancient Jews literally demonized other Near Eastern gods. Baal and Marduk are real life Mesopotamian gods yeah but i legitimately think a lot of it comes from Gozer the Gozerian but anyway the fact that the carthaginians almost certainly did burn children alive as offerings to Baal also helps
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Mar 11, 2015 02:27
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Smoking Crow posted:A big part of it is that the ancient Jews literally demonized other Near Eastern gods. Baal and Marduk are real life Mesopotamian gods The irony here is for many ancient Sumerian cultures demons weren't all bad. They had evil, good and neutral demons. If you had bad luck, a well-drying plague demon would start living in your village's well. If you had good luck, a plague-protection demon would show up and instead protect your village. Or you would have that weird tree with a female demon just living in it. (I guess that would be the neutral option.)
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Mar 11, 2015 04:03
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Libluini posted:The irony here is for many ancient Sumerian cultures demons weren't all bad. They had evil, good and neutral demons. If you had bad luck, a well-drying plague demon would start living in your village's well. If you had good luck, a plague-protection demon would show up and instead protect your village. Or you would have that weird tree with a female demon just living in it. (I guess that would be the neutral option.) Then again a lot of Sumerian Gods would just torture you after death to the extent that the people outright feared the afterlife.
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Mar 11, 2015 14:30
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Hello quit being a loving child thread, i'm partway into moby dick. When does it start being about whales and stop being about how awesome it is to sleep with your Cool Muslim Bro?
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Mar 11, 2015 17:38
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Normal Adult Human posted:Hello quit being a loving child thread, i'm partway into moby dick. When does it start being about whales and stop being about how awesome it is to sleep with your Cool Muslim Bro? spoiler: the muslim is the whale
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Mar 11, 2015 17:39
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Normal Adult Human posted:Hello quit being a loving child thread, i'm partway into moby dick. When does it start being about whales and stop being about how awesome it is to sleep with your Cool Muslim Bro? About a third of the way in, once they get on the ship. The gaybro first third was my favorite part of the book though.
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Mar 11, 2015 17:45
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Hieronymous Alloy posted:About a third of the way in, once they get on the ship. The gaybro first third was my favorite part of the book though. Yeah the first 100 pages is great but the next 500 is useless bullshit about whale assholes
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Mar 11, 2015 17:54
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Boatswain posted:What do you mean by "additional goals"? I was thinking along the lines of planning to use the language on a semi-regular basis by communicating with others orally/in writing, or having an academic interest in the language or what-not. but that might implicitly be part of the reasons to begin with, so if so, just chalk it up to me interpreting the advice a bit too literally or whatever.
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Mar 11, 2015 19:18
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Can we get a list in the OP. I always see a book that looks cool but I'm at work and can't really read it right then and I forget to write it down and then I can't find it.
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Mar 12, 2015 00:55
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Larry Parrish posted:Can we get a list in the OP. I always see a book that looks cool but I'm at work and can't really read it right then and I forget to write it down and then I can't find it. Buddy, the only books you need are The Bible and Harry Potter And The Methods Of Rationality.
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Mar 12, 2015 01:07
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THat thread has a higher gold bar rating than this thread does.
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Mar 12, 2015 01:24
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Which means that sick owns on a fan fiction are objectively better than literature.
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Mar 12, 2015 01:25
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Sick burns on lit more your swag?
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Mar 12, 2015 02:36
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Normal Adult Human posted:Cool Muslim Bro Queequeg is a polynesian.
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Mar 12, 2015 04:11
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Wittgenstein's later work realllllllly could've used some editing. I've been re-reading Philosophical Investigations and On Certainty all day for a research paper and I feel physically exhausted.
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Mar 12, 2015 04:26
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Larry Parrish posted:Can we get a list in the OP. I always see a book that looks cool but I'm at work and can't really read it right then and I forget to write it down and then I can't find it. Let's settle the question of the western canon in a SA OP. Just, uh, take notes, I guess. With your phone?
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Mar 12, 2015 11:27
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mycophobia posted:Wittgenstein's later work realllllllly could've used some editing. the problem with editing wittgenstein is you can't really do it, it's as much poetry as it is actual prose and there's a ton of meaning that can be teased out just from the mental state he puts you in i mean, imagine you're wittgenstein's editor, what are you going to do? not publish what he wants published?
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Mar 12, 2015 12:06
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computer parts posted:Then again a lot of Sumerian Gods would just torture you after death to the extent that the people outright feared the afterlife. Heh, no wonder people were summoning demons left and right.  Once, while googling for something completely different, I stumbled upon an old Sumerian book about magic. Considering the book was originally written on clay tablets, ancient Sumerians must really loved their magic. Astronomy/Astrology, Numerology, Demon Summoning, Prophecies. Now this makes me consider finally buying that book about Mesopotamian archaeology I want to buy since it came out in 2012.
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Mar 12, 2015 12:17
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mycophobia posted:Wittgenstein's later work realllllllly could've used some editing. I think that you're exhausted more because of what he's writing about, than the way he's writing it. There's not a way to express Wittgenstein's ideas that is any more succinct than how Wittgenstein did it.
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Mar 12, 2015 12:18
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CestMoi posted:I think that you're exhausted more because of what he's writing about, than the way he's writing it. There's not a way to express Wittgenstein's ideas that is any more succinct than how Wittgenstein did it. I disagree! I feel like On Certainty, in particular, could've been drastically reduced. I feel like Wittgenstein himself would have done it had he not died.
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Mar 12, 2015 15:25
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The sad fact is that most philosophers are terrible writers. I'm reading Heidegger this semester and fuuuuck
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Mar 12, 2015 17:21
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blue squares posted:The sad fact is that most philosophers are terrible writers. I'm reading Heidegger this semester and fuuuuck The two good ones are Camus and Nietzsche give them a try
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Mar 12, 2015 17:28
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Smoking Crow posted:The two good ones are Camus and Nietzsche give them a try
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Mar 12, 2015 17:31
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blue squares posted:The Fall is pretty good. The Stranger was a little overrated in my opinion. I've read about 10% of Nietzsche's work and he can be pretty great, agreed. l like when he writes angry letters to his sister about her anti-semitism. The great thing about Nietzsche is that you can tell when he took a break from writing because he'll get progressively angry until he stops and becomes chill again
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Mar 12, 2015 17:34
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