Long time Veeky Forumsizen here
This board merger got me thinking, maybe some gains in the intellect department wouldnt be a bad idea considering I havent read a book in years
As advised by those from Veeky Forums I'm starting with the Greeks on my path to become a superhuman
we all gonna make it brehs
>pic related
Also tips on how I should go through reading these books? They do not seem like your average fiction doze-off-while-reading type of books.
no. we're not "all gonna make it". you started too late and have wasted your time picking up heavy things. go back to your cavern of ignominy. reading isn't about gainz. this isn't a hugbox for idiots. it's a haven for ridicule and hatred.
You should familiarize yourself, at least briefly, which Greek god's and cultures so you're not frustrated reading the Iliad. And seeing you got the Fagles translation for it, it shouldn't be bad, though you will undoubtedly notice the shift in writing in the Odyssey. Start with the Iliad at any rate.
And you may surprise yourself. Well-written poetry keeps your attention a lot better than prose does. Just sit yourself down for an hour or two every day and try not to overdo it. Don't listen to music or anything like that, but maybe have something to drink nearby
Read the Odyssey first, it's the better one. Think of the movie 300 and all the fit warrior types with rippled muscles, and that's Ulysses.
This is bait OP.
I guess the term gains being symbolic of the plethora of knowledge one can access through reading was a little too much for you to handle
Thanks for the advice, would you recommend getting Fagle's translation for the Odyssey as well? I wasn't sure how big the differences in the various translations were, this is also all the library had.
The Iliad is just a bunch of jerks stabing each other and each time someone gets a spear in the gooch you have to hear the name of their father and what crappy island they're from. It's amazing.
>reads ancient fiction in translation for nolledge
literature is not about gainz, you fucking muppet.
what's it about then? Enlighten me oh great one
Fagles is beyond pleb tier. Lattimore or Fitzgerald.
it's not about anything. it's a way to waste time. the greatest literature in existence is no different from an episode of seinfeld. don't come here thinking you'll become an intellectual by reading the odyssey. the odyssey is a fucking story told to and by people who didn't even have proper running water. you're not going to "gain" anything. you're going to waste your time, because that's what literature is for.
fuck off troll
Troll? Just stop. Guy comes here wanting "gainz". This isn't Veeky Forums. There's no room for the Veeky Forums philosophy here. You don't "make it" in Veeky Forums. Take a fucking gander at 90% of these threads and all you will see is harsh criticism of every fucking literary tradition, author, even words themselves. You don't fucking "gain" anything.
this is a place to bring ideas to watch them get torn apart. this is a place to blow off steam when having to deal with the real world. this is a place to park your brain between books, wondering what to read next. it's not for you pitiful self-help faggots.
>Also tips on how I should go through reading these books? They do not seem like your average fiction doze-off-while-reading type of books.
It's all very readable. There's usually an essay before the actual poem that explains the entire thing, and if you are still confused reading it there's always an appendix or something that you can refer to. Just jump in and read from cover to cover.
You can read them in either order too, although chronologically Iliad is before Odyssey.
Odyssey is more fun so it's a good choice for first read. It's almost like a comic adventure movie at times. Iliad is more serious. It's a pretty heavy war story.
allow me to pick apart your ideas, faggot.
I wasn't aware that this place had a determined view on the purpose of its posts
If this user is able to mentally lift himself into a better social position through the literature he has read, then so be it.
Don't tell me you haven't obtained a single real world advantage from reading because having an education in the first place is dependent on that.
Eat shit
Classical studies major here, and avid reader of Homer, the lyrical and choral poets.
You are entering a world where everything is nobler, higher, tougher. This is not the world of decadent modern literature, of pettiness and scholasticism ; this is not the world of large, pallid and bloodless ideas ; here man walks in larger strides, and stronger lungs breathe nobler words ; here the air is colder, yet the sun closer, --- this is the world of the Greeks, the world of the Great Noontide. In the Iliad you will encounter a character, Thersitus ; he speaks like the rabble you've seen ITT.
Your view of literature is right. All that is ought to serve life ; this includes literature. Life is will ; happiness, the feeling that a resistance is being overcame by will.
In Homer you will find a worldview and a philosophy of life, something that is rarely mentioned, especially here, where its bright sunlight hurts nihilistic, feeble eyes, who crave but sleep ; it is a philosophy of life and death, and their respective meaning. Do not be afraid by the form, the names, the myths you might not recognize, but read on ; and keep reading. With Homer you have enough for a lifetime. Every bucket that you shall lower into the bottomless well that is Homer, shall return to you filled with gold.
Then, when you're done, --- θάνε kαὶ σὺ, φίλος.
Don't be mad cuz he's gonna make it :^)
GREEKS DIDNT SKIP LEG DAY
rude
You'll become enlightened when you stop responding to shitposters. You think the sips spam is bad? Welcome to Veeky Forums, shitposting central
Op here
Read for a few hours instead of usual nightly routine watching TV shows/browsing Web
>Feelsgoodman.png
T-thanks for the advice g-guys I'm glad we m-met
Good on ya lad
>T-thanks
>tuh-thanks
kys retard
Great post user
Good luck OP, hope you continue reading
homer is pretty comfy OP I think you'll like them. IMO the odyssey is more interesting but I'd definitely recommend reading both. try reading out loud (or subvocalizing or whatever); remember these were told orally, not read, for hundreds of years. good luck OP, one cool thing about reading homer is suddenly understanding how many references you didn't get before and that the ancient greeks were pretty similar to us. went for a run this morning after being inspired by Veeky Forums so the inspiration goes both ways
here's a translation chart btw for future reference. personally I read fagles for homer and enjoyed it but read whichever you want
Good on you for working on your mind as well as your body, OP. Ignore the assholes. When you've finished those, continue on with Plato and the rest of the philosophers and then return to the Iliad/Odyssey if you're interested in philosophy and getting a bit more out of those. If you're just interested in becoming more well-read, try reading some of the more popular writers like Hemingway, Joyce, etc, that are usually mentioned here. Don't go straight to the Infinite Jest meme unless you want to DFW yourself.
>In the Iliad you will encounter a character, Thersitus ; he speaks like the rabble you've seen ITT.
Couldn't have said it better. Hear, hear!
Don't be afraid with the catalogue of ships, you have to persist, Homer was a beast and it will be better
>ridicule and hatred
>implying that doesn't happen more-so in gym and fit world
Dont be a faggot. Any of the three are acceptable and all should be read by anyone who is seriously interested in Homers works.
DYEL twink detected
Check'd
>reading isn't about gainz.
Reading is all about gainz. Becoming patrician is about reading quality works and ridiculing inferior works. As you become a more discerning reader, works you used to view as quality will come to seem trivial. As an example, lots of people who are just starting out with reading literary fiction like authors like Vonnegut or Salinger, but when you acquire more discerning tastes, you will realize they are shit.
That's a LOT of resentment, you petty thing.