QTDDTOT -- Questions that don't deserve their own thread

You know what the deal is. Ask trivial questions here about different editions/translators so we don't clog up the catalog. I'll start.

Is this a good edition of The Odyssey? I'm debating between this one and the Penguin one (translated by Fagles), and I'm leaning towards Lattimore because of his stricter adherence to language of Homer -- but does this one (pic related, translated by Lattimore) have good notes? I'm not sure how many I'll need, if many, but I do know that Penguin editions generally have pretty good supplementary material. Alternatively, if someone can point me towards a better printing of The Odyssey, I'm all ears.

I'm looking for something to read that is essentially "A History of Defensive Architecture".

Here's your supreme edition OP.

I plan on reading Pope's one day, but it's a pretty stark deviation from the original, so I'll be reading someone else's first.

What edition is that, btw? Looks nice.

>What edition is that, btw? Looks nice.
Lol nvm, I didn't even read the page

Easton Press, but the ones that are being sold on internet aren't the Pope version, mind it if you thinking of buying.

Lattimore is the go-to (and best) translation for the Odyssey, while Fitzgerald's Iliad is the best.

How do you develop a stronger vocabulary?

I've recently taken up an interest in reading and didn't realize how many words I am unfamiliar with and feel retarded when I have to look up a word every 5 lines

I wish that was enough for me to learn a word but since I only see it once it doesn't stick since i never use it again

What do?

Just read more. The same words will keep cropping up. Also you don't need to look absolutely everything up if it's obvious from context and/or not very important.

Is it a safe bet that the Norton Critical Editions of the following titles are the best editions of said titles I can get (in terms of footnotes/supplemental material)?

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Beowulf (both the verse and prose translations)
Heart of Darkness
Moby-Dick

Any recommendations for better editions that are still in print?

>asks if that is a good edition of The Odyssey
>it's not written in ancient greek
Kek

I can't speak about the other ones, but Norton Moby Dick is excellent.

what's a comprehensive book or books listing the history of Western literature in a progressive timeline?
preferably by a certified academic.

Norton Moby Dick is the best you can get in my opinion, although some people prefer the Feidelson edition (it's out of print).
For Beowulf, Swanton (Manchester University Press) is the best one and it has both Old and Modern English side by side.
Donaldson is the second option so you're doing excellent if you go with Norton anyway.

I am a fan of Spartan brevity. I usually make my points succinct and nothing more. Why do editors and that want 1,000 words minimum like I'm writing an essay for school? Wouldn't it make more sense in the digital ADHD age to make things shorter and to the point?

People won't pay for something if they don't feel like they're getting enough out of it.
I agree that brevity is usually better, but not if you're selling your writing.

Why is Swanton better than Heaney? I was under the impression the latter was the standard in universities and such.

Inaccurate and misleading. Usually what undergraduate read.
Google 'Beowulf and Heaneywulf', by Chickering. There's a pdf ready to download.

Does anyone know a good Welsh writer? Thanks.

Me. Being published in 2018. Wait for it.

David Jones (the most obvious answer, but he is good)
John Clanvowe
Oliver Reynolds

Is it normal to read more than one book at the same time? I'm reading two and considering buying a third one.

Other way around, doofus.

Up your game, read a many as your brain can handle before it fries.

Question: What Spanish lit should I read next that isn't Marquez? Already read Pedro Paramo. It was pretty good but I liked 100 years of solitude more.

Márquez isn't Spanish, but I guess you're talking about the Spanish language.
Borges, Cervantes, Unamuno, Lorca, Neruda, Bécquer, Bolaño, Arlt, sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, Fray Luis de León, Domingo Faustino Sarmiento, Rubén Darío, and the list goes on.

Read Quixote if you haven't already. If you can read Spanish try some Rubén Darío and Neruda. Off the top of my head Ficciones by Borges for short stories and Pedro Páramo by Rulfo for novels.

what does philosophy do that science cannot?

Evening Literature board goers.
I come from the /composition/ general in the /mu/ thread (mayhaps ye'ev heard o' it). I am looking to be recommended a piece of fictional literature pertaining to composing or even classical music. Something with a main character who is a composer (of classical music) would be ideal. I also want the book to be a good one which means it would be preferable if you could personally recommend it. Something where classical music/composing classical music is a main component of the book will be great for me to read as I commute to music school everyday. Preferably, the literature will have been written in the 20th-21st century although 19th century works will be acceptable; I do not want something by Denis Diderot you fucking niggers. I jest, I jest. If you have read any worthwhile biographies on composers that you would highly recommend I will consider them but again, I am primarily looking for fiction here.

Good night. Sleep well. If I could kiss your foreheads right at this very moment I would feel inclined to do so but since that is not possible, I will not

looking for a new book to start, i'll read whatever book is in the first reply to this post

The scientific method is a rigorous, structured way of examining our empirical experience. So the method (for example, hypothesis -> experiment -> refinement/start again) is useful for a certain type of knowledge. It lets us predict how the world is going to behave and for that it is incredibly, incredibly useful.

But what do you do when you can't experiment or otherwise test something via this method? For example, how do you use the scientific method to theorise how best to do science? Or in a perhaps more acceptable case, how to run a country of something? The scientific method isn't suitable for a lot of enquiries we might like to make. For that, there is philosophy.

Where science is an extension of common sense knowledge via rigorous experimentation of empirical structures, philosophy is an extension of common sense knowledge via rigorous examination of mental structures and logical processes. Philosophy at its best is examining a phenomenon in great detail and provided a theory (or group of competing theories) about how to understand or interpret that phenomenon (see moral philosophy, etc).

The blurry points between science and philosophy come with metaphysics and epistemology. Where philosophy used to be the only method of enquiry, the development of science has provided much content for philosophers to study and the division of labour (in academic terms) is much greater now that it has ever been in the past. Coupled with a growing sympathy towards scientism, questions like yours are becoming more common.

>He thinks ancient Greek is a language
>Confirmed for not knowing anything about Homeric, Attic, or Koine Greek

The Dwarves - Markus Heitz

have fun user

are pelican shakespeare edition any good

Didn't you already make an unsuccessful thread about this?

Why do people consider writing stuff for money (dumbed down screenplays, etc) to be degrading to their art? It's not like they can't also write high literature. In fact it would probably make it easier for them to publish that.

Writing screenplays isn't the same as writing a novel, you have to understand films to write a decent one. Investing effort to get this set of skills only to waste them on money-making is dumb. Might as well become a freelance programmer or sell your bp if you need money. I also personally know that I couldn't write some dumbed down fantasy series. Firstly I'd have to write hundreds (if not thousands) of pages of something I don't enjoy and then work my ass off to promote it. Fuck no.

Its like a composer working on a film score. Its a different medium and I don't think most consider it dumbed down but perhaps it is a less valuable use of their time, in their opinion.

I just finished Gravity's Rainbow today (and also Metamorphosis) and don't know what to go for next. I'd like to read some more 20th century American literature since I'm used to only reading European stuff, but there are so many authors on here I know nothing about. Gaddis, McCarthy, Delillo, Williams, Gass, and McElroy all seem somewhat interesting to me but I really don't know which one to start with. Would any of you beautiful boys and girls help a rookie out ?

Pic somewhat related, only to demonstrate my pure, innocent inexperience with literature.

Also, I'm interested in reading Latin American literature, but not sure whether to read translations or learn Spanish. How bad are translations for Borges and Márquez ?

East of Eden
Grapes of Wrath
Meditations
C&P
Sun Also Rises
Stoner

You won't regret reading any of these

Steinbeck and Hemingway don't really interest me. From what I've read of Hemingway, his style really doesn't appeal to me. Stoner I'm interested in just because it gets so much discussion here, but I don't know what the appeal to it is. What's so good about it ?

I'm mostly on the fence about Women and Men and Mason & Dixon, but that's just because I don't know anything about American literature and these two happen to seem interesting.

>Is this a good edition of The Odyssey?

Absolutely, Lattimore is always among the best translations.

Actually, I think I just found the next book for me : the Tunnel by William H. Gass. Based on the first few pages I think I'm going to enjoy this novel very much.

good luck user, I'd recommend reading some of his other stuff first though. everything else is shorter and easier

I am drunk.
About what can I write right now?

That's what people say about Pynchon, but I didn't have a problem with Gravity's Rainbow. I think starting out with an author's easier works is a waste of time unless it's something like Joyce where all the works involve the same set of characters and settings.