Harold Bloom has expressed his concern that perhaps he read _too_ much in his life...

Harold Bloom has expressed his concern that perhaps he read _too_ much in his life. Chuck Palahniuk advised writers not to spend too much time behind the computer. Both men appear to express concern that the life of the reader/writer is insufficient. In short, it could be the case that in reading and writing in excess means one never truly gets around to living. And what a damning realisation in hindsight that would be--your years are gone by then.

jokes on them i've never lived anyway

Me too. Haven't read either.

Both Bloom and Pahlaniuk are crap fiction writers though

Look at Proust, all he did was read and write

I feel like life will feel disatisfying at the end regardless, there's always be domains you'll regret having not prioritized more

So what? I'll do better next time.

he also got fucked up the ass by his gentlemen friends and died prematurely from aids

What a slanderous lie

Proust had a very intense social life. You are right, he was working full time, but that was his only job and he was an insomniac anyway. He spent pretty much every evening and night on his life in friends' salons and similar places, while still managing to be a workaholic. What a life.

I feel like if you've read as much as Bloom, it's criminal not to have used your knowledge to write fiction.

This man could have produced the greatest work of Western fiction should he have chosen to. Instead, he dedicated himself solely to the pursuit of knowledge for its own sake.

Well, he condensed it in lots of essais and some readers' guide that are commonly used worldwide, which are not bad at all an have probably introduced countless people to the great works of the Western canon. He still did something with his life.
I think he is probably more concerned about his day to day life, how much he could have travelled, how many more people he could have met and so on.

He did write a 'sequel' to his favorite book (and one of my favourites since it's just so unique) A Voyage To Arcturus. His novel was called The Flight To Lucifer. He disowned it pretty quickly and it's not being printed any more (afaik). Just checked, Abebooks has a few used copies for ~$30, so not too bad.

Maybe it's not good to now everything about fiction since you'll only know that your own writing won't stack up? Like a surgeon who cannot build a human body from scratch since he knows about all the possible ways to mess it up?

Utterly wrong. ISOLT is basically all about him eschewing writing for other shit.

ISOLT is only loosely inspired by Proust's own life, certainly not in a way that is schematic enough so that you can trace his actual habits and opinions.
Proust wasn't a shut-in, but he still spent most of his life writing and reading. Of course, due to his status and wealth, that was not a problem at all, and he still could have the dandiest life early 19th century Paris had to offer.

>means one never truly gets around to living
There are people who spend all their time in a frantic effort to experience things and still end up with the feeling they never "truly got around to living".

Having a job = "never truly got around to living"
Having a family = "never truly got around to living"
Developing skill to be very good at something = "never truly got around to living"

Life is "insufficient", period. You might want to dial down your expectations on what is possible.

>I'll do better next time.
>I'll
>Doesn't realise that that I can only return to exist the same I if the world and everything else exists in the same manner when you return.
>Doesn't realise everything will exist right fucking now, infinitely, over and over
>tfw you alone will experience this infinity of an I that is isolated and living a mundane pathetic life, living it just as it is, forever and again and again and forever.
>mfw my mashed teeth are ground to the gums.
>mfw the boulder is falling and I think I'm suppose to be trying to become a happier person or smile to enjoy this or imagine myself smiling

Ephoche

>Harold Bloom has expressed his concern that perhaps he read _too_ much in his life.
Source?

This.

Theoretically, if the universe is large enough it would be impossible for you to not have an identical clone somewhere else. What seperates you from him? We don't know, and maybe the answer is nothing at all.

However, eternal return shouldn't be mistaken for "progress." If you were to live the same life forever, it would be no different than you living it once. Although I do agree that seems the most likely materialist possibility.

“When we read, another person thinks for us: we merely repeat his mental process. It is the same as the pupil, in learning to write, following with his pen the lines that have been pencilled by the teacher. Accordingly, in reading, the work of thinking is, for the greater part, done for us. This is why we are consciously relieved when we turn to reading after being occupied with our own thoughts. But, in reading, our head is, however, really only the arena of some one else’s thoughts. And so it happens that the person who reads a great deal — that is to say, almost the whole day, and recreates himself by spending the intervals in thoughtless diversion, gradually loses the ability to think for himself; just as a man who is always riding at last forgets how to walk. Such, however, is the case with many men of learning: they have read themselves stupid.”

“When we read, another person thinks for us: we merely repeat his mental process. It is the same as the pupil, in learning to write, following with his pen the lines that have been pencilled by the teacher. Accordingly, in reading, the work of thinking is, for the greater part, done for us. This is why we are consciously relieved when we turn to reading after being occupied with our own thoughts. But, in reading, our head is, however, really only the arena of some one else’s thoughts. And so it happens that the person who reads a great deal — that is to say, almost the whole day, and recreates himself by spending the intervals in thoughtless diversion, gradually loses the ability to think for himself; just as a man who is always riding at last forgets how to walk. Such, however, is the case with many men of learning: they have read themselves stupid.”

LEARNING consists in daily accumulating;
The practice of Tao consists in daily diminishing.

Keep on diminishing and diminishing,
Until you reach the state of Non-Ado.
No-Ado, and yet nothing is left undone.

To win the world, one must renounce all.
If one still has private ends to serve,
One will never be able to win the world.

William Hazlitt?

Plato was the og of this sentiment.

I thought it was Schopenhauer.

"For with much wisdom comes much sorrow; the more knowledge, the more grief." ~ Ecclesiastes 1:18

"Do not be overrighteous, neither be overwise-- why destroy yourself?" ~ Ecclesiastes 7:16

why do you think a substantial knowledge of fiction means that you can write fiction? i'm sure one could read all of Western canon and still be a shit artist.

>What seperates you from him?
Space, duh
>if the universe is large enough

I don't get the 'life should be arranged in such a way that your drugged up elderly self can have a brief moment of satisfaction before croaking' meme desu.

It's not as you can take your instagram to the afterlife like some contemporary pharaoh. The closer you get to death the more irrelevant how you spent your lfie becomes.

I would rather spend my lifetime doing things like reading instead of "living my life" instead.
Did he consider that perspective?

this
nah, he's right, it was a big blow to Proust to never have gotten a completed work while his Mother was still alive. She always chided him for being lazy.

Proust was a millionaire.

I think excessive reading is for people who are ultimately unsatisfied with their quotidian lives. I'm saying this as a heavy reader. Rock starts and millionaire playboys don't read for a reason.

Dudes DID NOT get enough pussy

Chuck's gay. Gays can fuck whenever they want.

I feel like this is a masterpiece that will only be discovered after his death, kind of like Moby Dick. We should probably read it. Quick, Veeky Forums, get me a pdf.

He looks like old Jordan Peterson

>it could be the case that in reading and writing in excess means one never truly gets around to living
>one never truly gets around to living

Yeah, goys.. I mean g-g-guys. Your lives would be much richer and more fulfilling if you sat in an office or did manual labor instead of reading and writing for a living.

wtf?!?! I'm never gonna read that buttpirate now that I know the truth!

>nah, he's right, it was a big blow to Proust to never have gotten a completed work while his Mother was still alive.
This has nothing to do with his productivity and work ethic. He is still one of the most authors of our canon.

>She always chided him for being lazy.
His mother was a literature enthusiast, but was also an amateur who knew nothing whatsoever about the craft. Her complains were moral in nature, they had nothing to do with Proust's actual career.
>Proust was a millionaire.
I haven't failed to mention it. This changes nothing, by the way.