Unpopular Opinions

The Sound and The Fury is a more difficult read than Ulysses.

Verbosity is a good indicator of pretentiousness.

The explanation I've heard is that Ulysses is more straightforward but filled to the brim with references, while The Sound and the Fury is presented in a more complex way yet is ultimately a "what you see is what it's about" kind of book.

Good post user. Not being sarcastic

Popularity is usually a good indicator of quality

I actually agree with this. I cringe when writing is artificially pumped with large words that don't belong.

Absolutely unequivocally false.

And you know it.

Nope

Ehhhh. Popularity, up to a certain degree, *is* a good indicator of (at least) broad appeal, if it only means that X number of people have consumed the work, a large percent of that X have also enjoyed it, AND a large percentage of those who liked it are spreading the word about it. And if that popularity doesn't instantly vanish due to being "flavor of the month", then it's an even more solid indicator of broad appeal.

Of course, the groups which the work is targeted to and gaining traction with play a big role in whether it appeals specifically to you.

Not always, but generally. I wouldn't have found DFW if he wasn't popular desu.

One does not find DFW...

DFW finds one...

Since when did James Patterson become quality? Or Danielle Steele? Or Nicholas Sparks?

Raymond Carver is the GOAT short story writer

Neuromancer is horrible.
Pens that cost more than $1 are a scam
Jung was a crackpot and Freud was a genius.
Stirner is the final form of philosophy
Ayn Rand is brilliant, although I agree her writing is wanting
Depression actually does make you a better writer
Greek literature is an obsolete relic, and a few hours wikipedia training their mythology is all that's necessary to catch up with them outside of philosophy.
Several of Murakami's novels will be classics and taught in high schools in a century.
Postmodernism will be with us forever, like cultural AIDS.
Coffee makes you a worse writer
Steampunk is actually kinda cool as an aesthetic.
Alcohol makes most people better writers.
Finnegan's Wake is the most enjoyable book ever written, regardless of how much of it you comprehend.

False modesty is worse than pretentiousness. Being ashamed of using big words when you're a word specialist is ridiculous. You should learn to use whatever language the situation calls for rather than stick to some dumb maxim.

Popularity without quality is an inducator that there's a whole subset of experience criticism has failed to integrate or even perceive.

Taipei is a great book and lit's inability to see why confuses me.

There is nothing inherently "wrong" with genre fiction.

Many people you know who like to read are intimidated by your opinions and shy away from connecting with you about literature on a meaningful level

August Derleth's fanfic is better than HP Lovecraft.

Veeky Forums rather adorably reflects the tastes of pretentious men in their early 20s and the reason that everyone doesn't talk about their canon isn't because they are stupid, its because they read it 20, 30 years ago and moved on like everyone else. You will too.

You grow into magical realism.

John Le Carre writes prose of unmatched clarity, something that is 10 times harder to do than pages of florid gibberish.

Writing is a job like any other.

>Veeky Forums rather adorably reflects the tastes of pretentious men in their early 20s and the reason that everyone doesn't talk about their canon isn't because they are stupid, its because they read it 20, 30 years ago and moved on like everyone else. You will too.

This should read at the top of the board

>John Le Carre writes prose of unmatched clarity, something that is 10 times harder to do than pages of florid gibberish.
What's his best?

Somebody have this pic in bigger res?

>Many people you know
false premise

>>Writing is a job like any other.
>The purpose of writing is commercial gain.
>A good writer does a good job when his book sells well.
>A bad writer does a bad job when his book does not sell well.
If this is not what you're saying, then it's not a job like any other.
Either that or you have an odd idea of the motivations of employees. It's not like they're a bunch of masterless samurai, looking for a purpose in life.

DFW is a faggot.

Also requesting this. Can't find a source, and can't make out the name

...

Thanks, may the spooks never bother you.

Against The Day is heavily underrated.

please elaborate, i'm interested in hearing your opinion.

Why the fuck does Stirner have black hair.

I thought we'd busted this myth.

Gene Wolfe > Virginia Woolf

I don't think anyone disagrees.

>tfw the entire literary establishment disagrees

Sorry, I got distracted and completely messed that post up. It was meant to say:
>I don't think anyone sane disagrees.

go find some soap and wash your mouth out, you filthy heretic.

100% agreed

You mean Gordon Lish

I don't understand your comment.

What I am saying however is that writing is not a breathless spiritual pursuit where you spend the day kissing unicorns and pulling rainbows out of your butt.

It involves delivering, not fucking editors around and meeting deadlines.

I'd go early rather than late.

His imperial period is "Tinker,Taylor" then the "Honourable Schoolboy", then "Smiley's People". You can probably get them as a collected edition, the Karla Trilogy or similar.

I find Virginia Woolf physically painful to read.
Aware of the virtues but it makes me nauseous.
Entire novels made up of nothing but feels, revolting.

Of course.

If nobody know about it, it's probably forgettable

If a decent number of people know about it (and have actually experienced it) it's probably good or atleast decent.

If WAY to many people are crazy about it, it's probably casual shit for plebs with an attention span of a goldfish.

English is ugly by defeault and it only became literary after most classic writers bent its laws to make something good out of it.

enjoyed reading this, thanks

(granted its the only one I know) to me English sounds the most beautiful and like it contains at least above average quantity of variety in its phonology

(I like how Italian and German sounds too, regularly, and then doubly due to opera)

And here I was thinking I'd alienated this entire board.

it's ugly by default but that's why it's so great when it's not.

>Several of Murakami's novels will be classics and taught in high schools in a century.
I'm not that opposed to this, Wind-Up is actually pretty good.

depressed kek

How does it compare with his other works? I enjoyed a few of his short stories and a couple novels. I almost threw Kafka out the window a couple times but I'm willing to read another and I hear Wind-up Bird is his best

not him, but why did Kafka rustle your jimmies?
I recommend Hardboiled Wonderland, but I'm this contrarian fuck so take my recommendation with a grain of salt.

Well it was my second reading, I enjoyed it the first time but I was far less discerning back then.
KotS doesn't have a single original theme, the transgender character was 2edgy4me, I got sick of all the album reviews and relentless name-dropping, the narrative was forced and felt ad-libbed at times, literally every character was some fucking philosopher or music expert or history buff or some obvious extension of Murakami. And the goddamn similes. "she was like a 3D painting in the forest of his mind". That one stuck with me. I almost launched the book straight out the window.
I don't hate Murakami as a writer, i enjoy most of what I've read, but Kafka is just a 400 page salvo of shit flung carelessly in all directions

Hey I'm the dude you replied to
I've only read Wind-Up so I can't comment but I've heard it's very similar to Kafka so maybe do what says. Honestly most of your complaints in still stand for Wind-Up, I guess it's just his style. I didn't mind it for one book but I'd never want to go through his whole catalogue, I'd get sick of it as well.