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Oxxidation posted:David Foster Wallace was a poo poo dude, hell yes I said it, fight me The condescension towards the reader in Infinite Jest was way too much for me, jesus christ.
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Jun 20, 2014 20:54
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Falstaff Infection posted:Hey, I dig Calvino and Gurm (although I like If on a Winter's Night a Traveler more than Invisible Cities), so I dunno what to tell ya. ANYHOW, yeah I guess I'll take your advice Smoking Crow and go with As I Lay Dying Next. I recently learned that James Franco made a film adaptation of that, and one of TSATF where he plays Benjy. I'm kinda morbidly curious. Apparently it got booed hardcore at Sundance. I'm gonna be that guy here and say that generally existentialism is a very loose term and category. The same with Absurdism, honestly. Camus more or less coined absurdism and never considered himself an existentialist but that's kinda my point: it's all a real loose label. If you thought the Stranger/Outsider was a bit lame I think it might help to read some literary criticism of it and try it again -- I know the first time I read it I thought, That Was Kinda Neat, but after realizing how much is going on under the surface of the novel, it's like... holy poo poo.
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Dec 22, 2014 23:10
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CestMoi posted:PEople that like Infinite Jest: why do you think this book is good because I'm reading it and I don't think it's very good. I'm not going to say the novel is entirely bad but it is nowhere worthy of the praise it gets. It's bloated beyond belief. It tries to achieve the erudition that a Pynchon novel has but DFW comes off as condescending and pretentious as opposed to learned. I know I'm gonna catch scorn for this because it's a big part of what that pretty lovely eXile article based its criticism on, but the novel is very, very White. The "you probably didn't know that..." section, which gets heaps of praise, basically puts forth the assumption that the reader is an unworldly shut-in who's never met any non-middle class human. Finally I find its condemnation of Irony (and I'm probably bleeding into his TV Essay (which I also feel is dated but to no fault of his) here with his praise of "single-principle entendres") feels very short sighted and ignorant of a lot of sincere work that was going on around the same time that he was writing the novel. I'm not trying to be a contrarian so if anyone wants to take me to school on some of these points I'd be more than happy 
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Mar 16, 2015 19:58
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blue squares posted:It means being sincere and self reflective. Which postmodern lit says is impossible. Postmodernism says we're all just cogs in the machine and lack true agency Self-reflexivity is a distinctly postmodern trait and also sincerity and lack of agency are not mutual exclusive concepts. 
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Mar 17, 2015 00:12
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Nanomashoes posted:Sorry, but you even disagree with Pynchon himself, who described TCoL49 as a potboiler. Everyone needs to stop taking that quote straight the bank. 49 is one of his best, whether or not it embarrasses him now.
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Jul 16, 2015 21:41
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Mel Mudkiper posted:Freedom by Franzen had come out and I feel like giving it to Egan was an aggressive message to Franzen to go gently caress himself. The 2012 pulitzergate was so loving bizarre. Like to just give to Karen Russell, who gives a poo poo if it's her first book. Also I'm v. glad that other people think that the last chapter of Goon Squad was an egregious pile of poo poo.
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Dec 10, 2015 21:10
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Lumius posted:I'm reading Atwood's survival: a thematic guide to Canadian lit. In the preface and introduction she comes off as a giant wanker but she is a great writer so I can deal with it. I do prefer Alice Munro though! As a Canadian I can safely say the best way to get into Canadian Lit is to forget about 99% of it entirely and just act like you've read the palatable other 1%. 
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Jan 19, 2016 22:39
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blue squares posted:Mr. Squishy I am sorry to say that I returned The Recognitions. I am vastly more interested in contemporary fiction, and I have a policy with non-current books: if I am finding the book to be a chore, and it's not some incredibly important book like Ulysses, I'm just not going to read it when I could be reading stuff that comes out now. Naked Singularity is fantastic. I have no explanation for this but I always saw it as Infinite Jest if IJ was actually great, even though the novels don't have a lot in common. Prose style, maybe. Either way I found the book riveting once you get into it and I really hope you like it because the book doesn't get enough love.
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Feb 5, 2016 04:56
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Helsing posted:Also general question to anyone in this thread who feels like answering. Years ago I read a story by Don Delillo called "Baader–Meinhof" (you can read the whole thing here if anyone is interested, it's nice and short too). I don't think all the po mo allusions to the difficulty of communication or whatever made much of an impression on me but I quite enjoyed the story on a more visceral level as an interesting and engaging little portrait of a moment in time. I enjoyed the dialogue and characterizations and resolved to keep my eyes open for anything by Delillo in the future. I think you should reconsider White Noise if you only read the first two pages. Jeep fucked around with this message at 04:51 on Mar 27, 2016 |
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Mar 27, 2016 01:44
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HHammond posted:I've never really read that many plays and it's something I'd like to read more of. I know you should really see plays but it's difficult actually finding productions that are close by! I've been reading a lot of Sarah Kane recently who I think is an absolute genius and was wondering if anyone could recommend me any other playwrights? Not necessarily like Kane but preferably modern-ish. You should check out the Angry Young Men if you were into Sarah Kane. Pinter is definitely your best bet, Kane was a late-life student of his from what I remember. John Osbourne and Edward Bond are good too but don't have the surrealist bent that Kane and Pinter do. If you want something more contemporary check out Jez Butterworth's Jerusalem or Mojo.
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Apr 15, 2016 16:59
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WatermelonGun posted:just popping in to say that zero k isn't very good. I went into Chapters to buy The North Water and didn't realize Zero K. was out until I saw it on the shelf. It was 36$ and I feel terrible for anyone who bought it at that price.
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May 9, 2016 01:27
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DisDisDis posted:The castration bit didn't really bother me but I almost didn't get through the rocket scientist talking about meeting with his daughter. What he did made me sick and then the idea that some faceless administrator decided that's what he was into and set it up scared the poo poo out of me. Also I'm not sure if I'm misreading your post but I don't remember Pokler doing anything particularly vile. He didn't actually sleep with his Ilse if that's what you're referring to.
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Jun 14, 2016 04:36
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The Erland posted:Any thoughts on the works of Sarah Kane? Just read through her collected works, and 4.48 Psychosis has to be the one of the most depressing things I've ever read. I don't think Crave or 4.48 stand up today as plays. I saw a few productions of them and they are pretty joyless experiences especially if you compare them to shorter Beckett. It could've been the production though, I'm not sure. There are a couple gems in Crave's script at least when the one characters talks about having one of her mother's memories while she was in the womb. Her early work is a great resurgence of Angry Young (Wo)Men plays. Blasted and Cleansed I think have a totally distinct style and voice. Phaedra's Love is silly. Also she is really out of fashion which is a shame because I've never seen Blasted or Cleansed live.
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Jun 21, 2016 15:32
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Wraith of J.O.I. posted:Has anyone read Zero K? Thinking about reading that next, curious to hear what anyone thought. It's the kinda book that will do absolutely nothing for you but I guess it's well written and will entertain you enough to take you two hours closer to the void.
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Jul 16, 2016 21:41
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I know I'm a bit late but I took Aquarium on a ferry crossing last night b/c of this thread and read the whole thing and the section where Caitlyn is forced to reenact her mother's youth is one of the most anxiety ridden sections of a book I've ever read. Hella good. Thanks for the rec.
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Aug 10, 2016 03:52
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End Of Worlds posted:I think they're making some of this up Buddy we haven't even gotten to the high flying pie fights, weird Hansel & Gretel BDSM sex compound interspersed with a story about making the dodos extinct, erectile fabrics, etc.
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Aug 22, 2016 16:23
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Franchescanado posted:Pynchon turns 80 next year and is probably going to pass away before he wins, as if they'd consider him. I have no idea which article i read this in, but allegedly members of the committee aren't fond of the "direction of American literature" which the article & source implied was more or less "they don't like Pynchonian zaniness"
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Oct 14, 2016 00:03
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Pitchfork posted:Read the op-ed “The World Does Not Need Bob Dylan, Nobel Prize Winner in Literature” on the Pitch. 
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Oct 18, 2016 01:58
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Pentaro posted:Read Pedro Páramo you mofos. this book owns & you can read it in like an hour
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Jan 7, 2017 03:58
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Mr. Squishy posted:What's the name of the author who left his wife for like Natalie Portman but didn't check w/ Portman first? Johnathon Safran Foer & it gets funnier every time I think about it so thank you for reminding me.
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Jan 27, 2017 12:10
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Tree Goat posted:i thought it was pleasant, but then i decided to read dfw's afterward and it made me maddddd are you thinking of Wittgenstein's Mistress or did he literally write an afterword to both those books lmfao
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Aug 22, 2018 22:27
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Mel Mudkiper posted:Someone should write a Joycean epic entirely in Newfie They already did https://www.amazon.ca/Gaff-Topsails-Patrick-Kavanagh/dp/1896951848
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May 31, 2020 19:26
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derp posted:finally finished 2666. what a wild ride. I'm getting a lol out of all the goodreads reviewers calling it 'clearly unfinished' i guess because it was published posthumously and doesn't have 'the end' written on the last page after a description of how everyone lived happily ever after. I finished this book today at work and it slaps. Loved all of it, Part 5 prob most of all, going back and reading thru the Academics section afterwards is very funny. I don’t usually get hung up on small plot details b/c I am mentally deficient but (part 5 spoilers (do people even care about “spoilers” in this thread)): is it implied that Hans drowns his wife
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Jun 2, 2020 20:51
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ulvir posted:i’ve heard rumours that Bolaño is worth reading I read 2666 over a couple graveyard shifts at a previous job and it absolutely slapped. Definitely peep it.
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Oct 20, 2023 18:19
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538 pages good lord
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Nov 23, 2023 19:58
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cumpantry posted:is this worse than the plastic surgery scene from V its definitely up there lol but somehow I still find that scene from V worse
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Jan 30, 2024 20:51
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