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This thread is getting pretty stupid. Let's talk about Real Literature. I read the opening pages of American Pastoral and was blown away by Roth's prose. Any Philip Roth fans in here? What about haters?
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Jun 10, 2015 14:52
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blue squares posted:This thread is getting pretty stupid. Let's talk about Real Literature. I loving hate American Pastoral I need to read more Phillip Roth but goddamn did I hate that book. Its about a bunch of comfortable upper middle class people being sad because the world was beginning not to bend over backwards to meet their every need. It literally eulogizes the supposed tragedy of business owners losing their money in the Newark riots. Blacks are consistently depicted as ungrateful and unskilled and deserving of their poverty. There is a scene where the protagonist is shown as foolish for keeping a factory open in the US when the rational choice would be to open a sweatshop in Latin America. The moral decision is framed in whether or not to make more money instead of whether or not being a sweatshop owner is ethical. The only reason he waivers in the first place is because his radical daughter makes him feel guilty about it. And even the core tragedy of the novel, the loss of his daughter, is framed as how terrible it is that she will not return to this loving worthless existence the protagonist leads. The American Pastoral the character yearns for is just so soulless and ugly that it makes me loathe the supposed loss the protagonist suffers. The novel is so genuinely repulsive in its construction and ethos that I would be tempted to call it satire if there were not the strong and all-pervasive undercurrent of expecting sympathy to the stupid shithead Swede at the center on the novel.
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Jun 10, 2015 15:15
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Mel Mudkiper posted:I loving hate American Pastoral Those are all reasons why that book owns tho???
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Jun 10, 2015 15:42
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Ok well all I read is that The Swede is the greatest and it was some drat good writing so.... Is there a better Roth to read?
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Jun 10, 2015 20:02
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blue squares posted:Ok well all I read is that The Swede is the greatest and it was some drat good writing so.... I've heard Human Stain tossed around as his masterpiece. Haven't had a chance to read it though.
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Jun 10, 2015 20:16
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Read Sabbath's Theatre. It's still Roth, so it's not amazing and a lot to put up with, but it's his most complete and fearless work. Also I when I read American Pastoral I thought it was a critique on weird patriotic optimists who have no sense of why the world is complex and lovely (it's a story about Roth's character surrogate imagining what happened to the guy in school that he admired and saw as the perfect example of Jewish integration in America). Over time I have been less confident in my reading and maybe Roth is just a naive jerk all along.
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Jun 10, 2015 22:11
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Mel Mudkiper posted:I loving hate American Pastoral Are you sure it's not satire flying over your head
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Jun 10, 2015 22:36
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Smoking Crow posted:Are you sure it's not satire flying over your head Yeah sure and next you are gonna tell me Swift didn't actually want to eat babies.
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Jun 10, 2015 22:44
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The Counterlife is his best work imo
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Jun 11, 2015 17:40
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Phillip Roth IRA There you go a free low irony name to use in the tbb fyadlite that is coming soon.
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Jun 12, 2015 01:43
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I like both Philip and Joseph roth
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Jun 12, 2015 06:47
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Stravinsky posted:Phillip Roth IRA I recommend Super Gay Talese
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Jun 12, 2015 07:54
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Thomas Manndingo Jean-Paul Shartre Brett Peeston-Ellis
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Jun 12, 2015 08:56
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Warhammer 40,000 Novel
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Jun 12, 2015 08:57
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The fact that our fine OP has an anime avatar really takes away from the gravitas of this thread
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Jun 12, 2015 12:55
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blue squares posted:The fact that our fine OP has an anime avatar really takes away from the gravitas of this thread Anime owns you dummy
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Jun 12, 2015 14:18
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blue squares posted:The fact that our fine OP has an anime avatar really takes away from the gravitas of this thread Ahem
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Jun 12, 2015 14:57
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blue squares posted:The fact that our fine OP has an anime avatar really takes away from the gravitas of this thread cool ad hominem bruh
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Jun 12, 2015 23:11
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av hominin
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Jun 12, 2015 23:44
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Walter Whiteman
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Jun 13, 2015 01:09
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Joyce Carol Goatese
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Jun 13, 2015 01:49
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Smoking Crow posted:Game of Thrones is drivel. It's another Tolkien rip-off except that the author tries to justify it by being "dark and edgy." Also, why is there so much underage loving? 
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Jun 13, 2015 03:23
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Nanomashoes posted:Thomas Manndingo Harold Bloom.
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Jun 16, 2015 21:54
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How often does the thread title change?
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Jun 17, 2015 01:50
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Earnestly posted:How often does the thread title change? What do you mean, it's never changed
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Jun 17, 2015 01:58
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Earnestly posted:How often does the thread title change? An endless sequence of gbs-sourced mods keep thinking of the same relaly funny joke, and executing it, I'd have to imagine
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Jun 17, 2015 09:44
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It's a controversial stance but I'm gonna say it: both variations of the thread title are good advice.
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Jun 17, 2015 15:02
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I've never hosed a child: should I start now?
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Jun 17, 2015 16:19
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Literature thread. Light of my life, fire of my loins.
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Jun 17, 2015 16:50
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i found some real lit for this thread: 
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Jun 17, 2015 17:28
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Endorph posted:i found some real lit for this thread: Where are those parents who want to ban books when you need em?
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Jun 17, 2015 20:20
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Endorph posted:i found some real lit for this thread: Don't do this here
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Jun 17, 2015 21:45
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Its just gonna cause a bunch of pearl clutching that's not entertaining
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Jun 17, 2015 21:46
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Mel Mudkiper posted:Literature thread. Light of my life, fire of my loins.
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Jun 17, 2015 22:42
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I finished Even Cowgirls Get the Blues a few days ago and I didn't really like it. A lot of it was interesting and I enjoyed the central narrative but it seemed to me that the author was infatuated with himself and found himself endlessly clever which really took away from my enjoyment of the novel. After that I started Bleeding Edge and I'm about halfway through. It seems somewhat like a second draft of Inherent Vice which isn't a terrible thing - I'm impressed at how much Pynchon gets about the era he's writing about, especially stuff like the vending machine only Pokemon cards. One minor quibble - he mentions Final Fantasy X which came out right around the period he's writing about in Japan but not in the US so I assume he's referring to the Japanese release.
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Jun 17, 2015 23:38
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I really hope somebody was fired for that blunder
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Jun 18, 2015 01:00
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I only hope Thomas Pynchon did his own research because the idea of him playing a final fantasy game is very funny to me
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Jun 18, 2015 01:10
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Mel Mudkiper posted:I only hope Thomas Pynchon did his own research because the idea of him playing a final fantasy game is very funny to me I am 100% sure that not only did he play FFX, that he also played Metal Gear Solid and watched DBZ not for research, but because that's the kind of guy he is.
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Jun 18, 2015 04:48
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Mel Mudkiper posted:I only hope Thomas Pynchon did his own research because the idea of him playing a final fantasy game is very funny to me His son was born in 1991 and would have been square in the target demographic for Pokemon, DBZ and Final Fantasy during the time Bleeding Edge is set in. I haven't read it though so I don't know
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Jun 18, 2015 08:20
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Tree Goat posted:I really hope somebody was fired for that blunder Hahahaha
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Jun 18, 2015 15:42
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