Why do I continue to waste my life?I’m obviously aware that this will have consequences.Yet I feel no impetus to act.My demi-urge is retarded.It cannot be trained.I am a failed sapient.Take me back to jungle, George..
>>10379039the gods, the spirits, the authority..what does it matter? its just a face to the madness, isn't it? we are all sloping towards mediocrity, towards regret, towards an ignoble end we could have prevented.Why can we not act? Why can we not trample and stomp out hooves and beat our horns against the gate? Why must we all be so placid as we face the gate? God, when will it end? Will our spirits still be with us as we slide through the sluice? Will our legacies be devoured only to feed some other cowards angst?who among us is brave enough to sieze the day? who among us isn't afraid?
>>10379028I’m sorry you feel that way. I don’t know your exact experience, but I’ve gone through similar times. Healing seems impossible because it looks paradoxical from the outside. How do you assert your worth as an individual while submitting to God? This is where Kierkegaard and subsequent westerners went wrong. A paradox isn’t necessarily irrational. Anyway, I’ll pray for you brother.
>>10379056but what does god ask of us?how can we truly know?he expects us to sin, we know that much. he knows it is in our nature. and we know a lesser good must give way to a greater good, such is gods will.But what then, praytell, is the risk in sinning, if we all aspire to some greater good? How can we know who falls into gods grace and who struggles only with their own pride? Do we choose the type of evils we commit or is it our nature that decides for us?If we do nothing, have we not committed the greater sin? How can the choice mean anything if everything has already been decided?No, we who are damned are damned, and all that is left to know is why. Why, blast it why? Why is it in our nature to be helpless? To stare dully into the marshes and accept our fate?Act, damn you, Act! Do something! Don't let all your carefully laid plans go to waste! Don't let entropy destroy your dreams! Don't slide into the cold grey nothing without so much as a single word escaping your lips.Defy the darkness! Damn the grey rot! Condemn it to the foulest reaches of hell where it belongs!
>>10378962It all ends in death and obscurity, but for one brief moment, the candle shines bright. Burn you candle to the wick.
>Replies: 13>Posters: 3I'm worried, anon.
anyone go here? I'm not bragging, this is my last hope. I'm desperate for any literary friends. I'm surrounded on all sides by soullrss premed and CS majors who only talk about making the next retarded start up, and I am completely alone in my interest in lit and phil. stanford said that they have a balance of stem and humanities but that is complete bullshit. please someone help me
>>10377371There are no smart students in ivies, only slaves.
>>10377807>stanford>smart>motivatedDelusional brainwashed burgerfat.
>>10379014If anything, they're the ones chosen to be masters of the rest of us.
>>10379031Wrong.
>>10379014really made me think
Why is he so fucking edgy. Like jeez take a chill pill desu senpaitachi.
>tfw all non-fictions bores me to deathHow to become commited to mental wankery and random data?
>>10376631Read The origin of consciousness in the breakdown of the bicameral mind then realize how goat nonfiction is
>>10376631Read non-fiction that reads like fiction with dialogue.
>>10376631Start with Joyce's fiction.
>>10378943thisDecline and Fall of the Roman Empire had me hookedMost modern nonfiction is fucking terribly written in my opinion
>>10378997Gibbon is mostly fiction tho. Even when it was new Hume called it out as pop garbage.
Please, for everything that is holy, help me. I can't stand it. I get enraged beyond any measurable amount because of the slightest things or things that don't concern me at all. I don't fucking understand why, but I can't help but lie in bed late at night thinking about injustice in this world and being angry 24/7, thinking about killing people. Someone might have wronged me when I was in grade school and forgot about it the next day, yet here I lie replaying the scene again and again and getting angrier and angrier. Someone I don't know is an asshole 2000km away from me and through Youtube/4chan I find out about it and get pissed the fuck off. And the worst part is: I know I'm on that bullshit. I know it's silly and argue with logic that it was no big deal by any stretch and I should not care, but my emotions (99% of the time extreme anger) completely override logical thinking like I'm some fucking animal. And it doesn't recede, once I get angry I linger on it for decades. Any literature that helps with that? I don't mean the stoic "don't show it outwards" attitude, I'm talking about wanting to achieve full-blown, 100% apathy or am I just fucked?
You need a psychiatrist, not a book.
>>10376836that's because you're a boring and lazy piece of shit with nothing better to do. Find shit to do and you won't have time for that.
There are some things books can't help you with. Complete apathy is either acquired through a deep psychological trauma, which I wouldn't recommend or you are born a sociopath.
Not sure exactly what caused it, but one day I was especially frustrated at the little things which were dragging me down when I suddenly realized:>There are things in life worth being angry about and those not worth being angry about. Though it is easier to let yourself become upset over small things, one must learn to take them in stride in order to live a less stressful lifeFrom then on mentally worked on calming myself down when inconvenienced, until at this point I can be entirely indifferent to the trivial grievances which plague life
Why are you plebs not discussing this:https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/06/books/lorin-stein-resigns-the-paris-review.html
>>10378211I want it but I'd be afraid it'd suddenly snap on my dick
>>10364285
>>10364409men love to make women feel good, nothing wrong with this. OFC, men who cannot pull this off are jealous
>>10378936The story here isn't about "men" generally, but the "jews" serving undeservedly as our institutional gatekeepers.
>>10378168>conflating conservatism with anti-semitism There have been more than a few anti-semites on the left.
What did you guys think of Hemingways opinions on the quintessential American author in Green Hills of Africa? For those who havent read, he says there has never been a great American author, only good ones. Then the good ones always end up writing junk.
>Infinite Jest is the longest running joke on /lit/>Infinite>Jest>mfw
>>10374679kekd a littlety
If we’re being honest DFWposting is all but dead and has been for some time.
/litty/
Good Old Neon can make anyone want to kill themselves. I guess that's proof he's brilliant.
Start with the greeks is probably older, chart-cretin.
>"stretched his legs"
>>10377084>>10377092>>10377099not 150 books>>10377083the only satisfactory answer thus far
>Rosie fingered Don
>>10376999>His face was silver with melancholy
>"Welcome to my book."
>>10377057DeSade's Justine
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1EitGpHMI7G8ZqUfnOqnvK9q2iqo4dMHWeLgGL-GONgc/edit?usp=sharingFictional story. Chapter 1 complete.First time writing could use some input and criticism
where is that stoner doodle from
>>10378541Just a drawing i did a little while ago.heres another
>>10378064Sorry, why is this not posted in the critique general? What, you thought your story was so fucking good it needed its own thread for the whole board to see? Well guess what, it's not, it's fucking trash. You write like a 10 year old. Spend the next 10-15 years studying and reading high literature before you even attempt to write something ever again.
>>10378580I usually just use the /b threadI'm an anon here man sorry.
>>10378387>>10378580His shit is shit but in his defense, if you have a fully completed chapter of something you can make your own thread instead of putting it in a shitty critique thread and getting like 2 replies. That's how I feel anyway. >>10378584You're the only guy in this thread who isn't an anon.
Would they get along together?
Can we discuss the prequel to American Psycho here?
The best thing to come from American literature in years. Not even joking.
>>10378111>prequel to dubsman>gets trips
>>10378289Its like it was all supposed to happen
>>10378111It's been almost a decade since I was aware of these books, and they were already bestsellers then with sequels.
More like these? Where do I go from here?
Read Abbott's Flatland, annotated by Ian Stewart. Then after that, read Flatterland by Stewart. Great great books about mathematics. It's almost like a couple of notches above a layman's understanding. You'll get a nice grasp of the concepts in the books. You could try Godel, Escher, Bach too if you want. That is a little more in-depth and bland like an academic book. If you want to learn more math, go to school i=or some shit bro. nothing beats a class, textbook, and teacher, when learning mathematics.
Hardy - A Mathematician's ApologyGowers - Mathematics: A Very Short Introduction
>>10377954I was excited this book existed but reading it made me feel like a cuck so I started again with calc 1 again
>>10377618Invitation to discrete mathematics, Jiří Matoušek
>Remarks on the foundations of mathematics>foundations and fundamental concepts of mathematics>any set theory book
We're having a /lit/ meetup in Boston. Trident Booksellers & Café on Newbury Street. Friday December 8th at 7 PM.Email bostonliterature at gmail if you're interested—I'll give you more information.Gotten a fair amount of interest so far, should be a good turnout. The last one went well.>Why? If you've been to university organizations, reading groups, or hung out in a cafe up here, you've noticed the stifling eggshell-walking culture. And also that no one reads /lit/ books.>What?Something in the vein of Ben Franklin's Junto. Discussion, critique, even a /lit/ oriented rag for exercising yr writing/editing/design muscles.
The dining hall was pretty nice though. At least there's some upside to the place!
>>10376541...jokes aside, I really do live there. And I really did leave you an envelope of cash...
>>10378194In all seriousness, I decided to explore the place to see what it was like today. I hoped I'd run into you, if you're for real, but desu blonde 6'1" w/ canada goose sweater can describe 10% of this school. See you around. and I feel sorry for you if you live in Cabot
>>10365141What's the Ivy life like? No Oxford memes, I've had my fill of those already.
>>10378276If you have to ask, you'll never know.
We should have a short story or essay reading group!
yeah
...nah
Sounds like an interesting notion. How would we go about it?
