How do you read works like Divine Comedy, Paradise Lost, or The Odyssey? It's so fucking difficult...

Go back and read the Iliad.

>I had no idea the two books were related.
-- Did you actually start with the Greeks, or something?

Have you gotten into modern literature before this? If not, you might want to ease yourself into more readable -- but definitely high quality -- works.

Personally, I just dove into Pope.

they're poems not novels of course they're difficult to understand
oh and about the divine comedy you're probabby reading a translated version which may be simplified
being italian I studied the original text in high school and every line has its explanation in the notes
consider reading material on the historic period and on dante's life, otherwise its useless to read it

>you might want to ease yourself into more readable -- but definitely high quality -- works.
like what?

Shit, if you've got nothing, I recommend Borges. Also stuff like Dickens, Dostoevsky, Moby Dick (or other Melville), Blood Meridian. Anything from the past two hundred years that's good.

If that's babby-tier to you, then modern translations of things like Don Quixote are easy enough to read. Don't forget to shove in some non-fiction into your reading, though; philosophy, &c.

What, exactly, is hard to read for you? The prose or the construction?

Uh

>with road blocks that have no obvious explanation for what they mean
They're usually making cultural references for shit that was pertinent in their own time, of course some of it's not going to make sense. use an annotated edition or just look shit up if it matters that much

Also, none of those are particularly difficult works, and the "classroom" environment isn't necessary at all to get through them. Just sounds like you have a short attention span to me

You should buy annotated editions, or at least ones that include introductions that explain the historical and literary contexts behind the poems. Perhaps that will help you understand them better.

Just get editions that have annotations

gj guys

I accidently got the Illiad in, like, verse and the Odessey, like, regular. How fucked am I?

I'm pretty well-read and I've never read the Iliad or the Odyssey; should I read them? I did enjoy the Divine Comedy and Paradise Lost, but I don't really enjoy Homer.

prose or construct? idk, I think I just don't have a very good attention span. I have to try pretty hard to focus on this stuff and I get tired, like literally physically tired very easily.

you're not well read

ty

Because I haven't read the Iliad or the Odyssey? I just had minimal interest in them so I decided not to read them. That being said, they're probably the only """""must-read"""" books that I haven't read.

I have literal ADHD and I can read this stuff, so it's definitely not an insurmountable problem.

What time are you usually reading? If it's late or early, when the lights of a PC screen would be keeping you up, then the lack of light from a book could be making you feel more tired. That's something I noticed, at least.

Failing that, give yourself a short time to read every day. You can start it at ten to fifteen minutes a day -- it doesn't have to be long. You just have to make sure you do it every day. Build up the time -- over time.

It is true that more demanding texts will make you feel sleepy, though. To me this usually means prose. If you haven't tried the works I mentioned, give them a go, first (to get used to them).

Sorry if I'm teaching you how to suck eggs.

I've read for 5 hours a day before, that's how engrossed I was able to get into a book like 1984. I just started reading Brave New World, I can't fucking stand it. It's difficult to get immersed and I literally fell asleep yesterday trying to read it.

Yes. Also, is right.
>I decided not to read them
Then...don't. I mean, I haven't read anything postmodern, and I don't plan on it, either. But, if you're asking the question, I would always advise you read at least the Iliad.

Homer is nothing special in English, desu.

Has any other book made you fall asleep, too? This advice is specifically for those kinds of books, not that you have to take it (it's just what I did). That said -- are you sure you don't just not like the book?

>The Odyssey
At what part of the text its considere difficult?
Jut anyway just read it slowly.

I've noticed a theme of pseuds I know irl being in love with 1984; why do you think that is?

yea i used to think this too when i was 13 when i thought there was like 10 "must read" books in the world

I think brave new world just seems a little silly. I mean, it's not bad. It's sort of subversive. What I like about it so far (I just finished chapter 3), is the whole "everyone belongs to everyone" thing, and it's funny how Ford is their god or something. I mean, the book is obviously making a pretty overt political statement, the irony in the stuff that they say is very obvious. I don't know, I honestly don't. I think the book just bores me to tears to be honest, I want something a bit more engrossing and a bit more appealing, if really the only thing I care about is the subversive aspect of this book.

Some other books have made me dall asleep, but I cant remember. Probably nausea or noteg.s from underground or somethin

There's really no need for the condescension. I mean, there are certain books that a consensus has been reached on regarding their quality - the Iliad and the Odyssey are such books. Why have you read a majority of the books you have? I'm sure it's not because you independently discovered and deduced that each of the books you've read were worth reading.

Then read something else, unless you want to soldier through.
>noteg.s from underground
P L E B
L
E
B

if you haven't read the Iliad and the Odyssey then I guarantee you don't know ow enough about literature to even know what the """must read""" books are. it's classic dunning Kruger- you don't even know what you haven't read but have an inflated sense of it

THERE'S GONNA BE DAYS WHERE YOU ONLY READ 2 PAGES BUT IT'S ALL WORTH IT whoops caps

don't worry, classical lit is something of a meme

Pessoa was a very literary man, but says in one of his works that he liked reading detective novels because they allowed him to read, whereas classical literature distracted his mind because of its formal structure

but the main reason why I say that classical lit is something of a meme is that it, if I'm not mistaken, only ever came into being in the 19th century, at least in its current form - I mean the idea of the "western canon" and of "western civilisation". An ancient Greek was expected to be able to recite Homer from memory, ancient Chinese scholars had to learn their classical poets, in the Renaissance you may have been expected to be able to quote from Virgil, Ovid, or Cicero to prove you were a real Humanist. People were never expected to learn such a vast amount of literature, of different genres, different cultures, different languages, etc. It's practically speaking impossible. If you try to do it you end up a literary bloat like Harold Bloom. You can't really absorb all of the "western canon" because there is such a wide variety of philosophies, morals, and aesthetics that they naturally contradict one another, so you end up with just a vague impression with the notion that truth, beauty, and goodness are all relative. I would pick one or two poets you really like and try to master them. You will gain a lot more from being able to recite Dante from memory than from having a vague reminiscence of Homer through Pynchon.

this
patience is the key

I like this post, good job. Very wise.