Overrated authors thread?

Not butthurt just interested

Greek Philosophy and literature is a cornerstone in our society. Disregarding their writing is the hallmark of the pleb

But isn't that just Hemingway's writing style? A minimalistic approach with underlying themes. On the Road is on my reading list.

It is his writing style, this however does not make it any better

Kafka isn't overrated.

Convince me

Camus, Kerouac

why

overrated authors:

This kid Dustin in my 7th grade class. I worked on my short story for WEEKS and this asshole just wrote his an hour after class! GOT AN A

Fuck DUSTIN

James Joyce

kek

>Kerouac

This

>Authors I didn't understand thread
I fixed that for you OP, you almost made yourself look pretty stupid

>getting triggered because not everyone loves josef K
kys

having opinions on authors is not the same as not understanding it, just because you dont have enough intellectual faculties to form an independant thought doesn't mean others dont.

Well, if you tend to have a shitty attitude about everything, if you are a contrarian and you think there's nothing worthwhile about an author that various critics love and consider important, your thought isn't independent or intellectual. It's just envious, honestly.

>just because you dont have enough intellectual faculties to form an independant thought doesn't mean others dont.
>If you're not a contrarian you don't have your own thoughts
Infallible logic

I haven't said that there is nothing worthwhile, Kafka for instance highligt some key problems of bureaucracy in "the trial". My claim is merely that despite me recognising positive aspects of the various writers I still think their fame outshines their ability.

Anyone that changes and inspires the next generation will have that effect.

Anyone who changes anything or does it in a new way will get praised for more than they are worth. This isn't new. Why does it bother you so much?

Basically you're invalidating other peoples opinions. You can have a different opinion on an author, but claiming the author is overrated is an attack on the opinions held by other people, which is non-criticism.
Besides, the use of the word "whiny" in the OP tells enough how little OP understands about the author in question.

Not necessarily. You can understand Kafka's predicament and still think he is whiny.

>reading for plot

Get out!

sorry, im a hedonistic piece of shit, I know

In my opinion i'm merely questioning how he received the fame he does. Him being "whiny" is an attack on his opinions and writing-style - It wasn't my intention to offend anyone who enjoys his writing. I concede that my criticism was in bad taste but I stand by it nonetheless.

You can question it. Doesn't make his work uniquely profound and innovative.

Thank you

>kafka
>whiny

anti-semite

Well his opinions aren't whiny and I have no idea how a writing style can be whiny. Some of the characters he wrote might be considered whiny (but really, are you whiny when you're fighting an unjust battle?) but people that equate the main character with the author should really not even bother with criticism.

>Recommending On the Road.
possibly even worse than the Hummer.

His opinions are very whiny

Tell me more about it, elaborate.

Thats your opinion; If you need a book to read for entertainment "on the road" is definitely not a bad choice

Stumbled over this a couple of weeks ago, in my opinion it hits home - I have class now so will go into detail a bit later.

>Reading for plot.

Kafka isn't whiny

even Camus basically admitted that Kafka was less whiny than himself

muh holocaust

Albert Camus.

Yeah, let's criticise him for confessing to the fears and anxieties he has! Wow, such great criticism, attacks on character. I bet you think depression and trauma aren't real either. It's all just whiny bullshit by people that need to get themselves together huh?

Not that I'd call someone that influential / important overrated but I agree with this guy: I've read Metamorphosis and a selection of his other shorts and whilst he's good, I don't get the hype. I mean, maybe I'm looking at them wrong?

Who talked about disregarding them?

They're just overrated, specifically because they acquired such an important cultural spot.

>Writes a passive aggressive and sarcastic piece of shit about Kafka.

You can think Kafka was a pussy all you want, but you won't be able to capture the feeling that his books can give people. You can't create that emotional space that he can. This is why he is beloved. We understand that people have harder lives than other people.

Look at you, bitching about Kafka from your nice little school while Chinese women work in sweatshops. Waa waa you think an author is overrated. I can do it too.

I have in no way had an easy life; I dont want to use ethos because I dont want/ need to persuade you. I merely want a debate on whether or not he is deserving of his acclaim. My initial criticism was far to harsh and you definitely bring up some interesting points. I have previously been medicated due to depression and I know how it feels, I appreciate the fact that some people feel touched by his description of the disease and I dont mean to cause offence.
I therefore no longer wish to focus on the "whiny argument" seeing as it is my personal opinion and isn't fair towards the debate.
I still think that kafkas writing is mediocre at best and his views are somewhat irrelevant in a existential debate.

>"Why are you writing a book about Vietnam! It was harder in WW2, PUSSY."

Sorry if I have offended you and your pro-kafka argumentation was the very reason I started this thread- you have definitely given me food for thought.

Why should anyone bother?

Why shouldn't they

Well now you are getting somewhere, I think.

Kafka isn't lauded for legendary prose. I've read him, and he's very average. It's not about his writing ability, really. It's about the emotion that he can put inside of his writing.There's nothing really beautiful about his writing, and people don't say that. More they talk about the realism of his emotions, how he discusses them. They talk about how he is unlike anything else of the time, which is an accomplishment even if your writing isn't very good.

People don't teach Kafka in order to gain from his prose. He's much more valuable than prose.

>still think that kafkas writing is mediocre at best and his views are somewhat irrelevant in a existential debate.

Have you read him in German? If not, you have no authority to say this.

Yes, did an analysis of him in german last year

In my opinion prose is essential to good literature. As I have already mentioned I dont see whats so exceptional about his description of emotions, do elaborate. In my opinion Dostoevsky hits home better than Kafka does.

I honestly disagree with this. His prose is clear, free from flowery sentences. This makes the things that actually happen feel even weirder. One can handle fantastical happenings better when they are written in a dream-like fashion, but when they are written down the way Kafka does it, they become a wicked reality.

So what your saying is that simplistic absurdism is the basis of his appeal?

When (if) you'll know more about literature you'll understand that there can't be another way. You can't create culture out of nothing.

Elaborate

That's your opinion. The part of prose that is important to literature is the flow and accessibility of it, not if it's fanciful. That's my opinion.

Kafka doesn't surpass Dostoevsky at all. He does something different. I read his works and feel uncertainty, dread. I feel a sort of afterimage of the way I do when I'm actually depressed. Something he does for me, is addresses the confusion that comes with these emotions. The why? The questioning of the sadness of life.

I remember feeling like this when reading the fall by camus, what book are you specifically referencing to?

I wouldn't really call it simplistic, rather realistic absurdism. And yes, that's a big part of the appeal for me.

Isn't that specific style of writing referred to as "new-modernity"? Thats the danish word for it, not sure if there is a english equivalent

It does have relations to the neue sachlichkeit style, not sure if that's the same thing though.

Post WW2 simple everyday writing? Oder was?

The Trial gives me this emotion. Metamorphosis, not so much, but a little. I was impacted by the hunger Artist.

The trial didn't really have this effect on me - maybe it was my dislike of Josef K that gave me this experience

Haven't read the hunger artist, will definitely give it a read if its anything like camus

Post-WWI reaction to expressionism, a return to a sobre and clear style.

These threads are fucking pointless because nobody offers any criticism they just post names of authors.

...

Someone couldn't finish Ulysses

Yeah? I'm not saying there's any way to build culture without overrating some works. I'm just saying that the overrated works are overrated. Their high rating can't be attributed to their "real" qualities: their importance is due to an excess of meaning attributed to them.

They're pointless because arguing whether something is over/underrated is the equivalent of arguing about metacritic scores.

Are you going to explain ot what?

(You), in my country, are nothing.

>Their high rating can't be attributed to their "real" qualities: their importance is due to an excess of meaning attributed to them.

Obviously, we should instead value your own opinions on the relative worth of these works, correct?

>"real" qualities

Examples?

Something in the works themselves rather than their cultural significance due to historical reasons.

Yes.

>Something in the works themselves rather than their cultural significance due to historical reasons.

Why are these more important?

Since some people consider him the best writer of all time, he likely is overrated. He's still among the best ones though.

Shakespeare helped formulate the English Language, how is he overrated

The English language is no good.

kafka didn't even want to be published retard

>hasn't read kafka's complete short stories yet complains about him being overrated