French anons, what is the opinion surrounding Paul Guimard in your country? I am reading L'ironie du sort, and I am finding it a charming read. As far as I know, his works have never been translated into English, so I'm one of the few English speakers to have read him. Is he a biggish name in 20th century French literature? What othet authors would you associate with him? What other French authors hold a similar status as him?
>>23351775Added to my list, thank you.
>>23351861Not to give too much away, but in conceit, it's a bit like Paul Auster's 4 3 2 1 with its focus on fate/chance, and it's written with the charm people associate with Milan Kundera. I'm interested to read more of his works based of this novel/novella. His most famous work appears to be La Choses de la Vie. I plan on ordering that one soon.
>>23351775>French anons, what is the opinion surrounding Paul Guimard in your country?Nobody around me nor me know him, it's literally the first time I'm hearing his name (and I think I have a pretty solid knowledge of 20th century French lit). He seems to have been rather popular in the 1960s/1970s amongst the general public, but is now a completely forgotten figure.You can glimpse a little bit at what French ppl think of him by going on the French goodreads: https://www.babelio.com/auteur/Paul-Guimard/8790
>>23351775How did you learn enough French to read this as a native English speaker?I'm starting Sandberg's French for reading in June but I'm not sure where to proceed from there if my medium-term target is reading Huymans' A Rebours.I often see Harry Potter or bandes dessinées recommended on here as a "next step" but I hate Potter with a passion and I don't read comics. I am, however, open to classic children's novels written in the original French if that gets me to the next step (or tell me if I can skip that). Something like the French equivalent of Narnia/The Hobbit (don't tell me to read a translation lol).
Genuinely curious about you guy’s opinion.
Marry me
>>23346576Think you would enjoy the Kalevala
>>23351342Incorrect. INTJ / INTP. I share a shelf with my wife though, to be fair.>>23351566Honestly, it depends on what you're after. If you're after an education, ABCs and Guide to Kulchur. If you're interested in the WW2 thing, his radio broadcasts are a trip. (NOTE: The broadcasts are online, both the recordings and the transcripts. You can find the recordings here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLBUXxEZCpfiPU9pbJ-lwVLm5siwUFHc79 and the transcripts are on https://archive.org/details/ezrapoundspeakin0000poun )If you're after his poetry, the LOA Poems and Translations has everything he's made, except Cantos, and asking them to provide The Cantos would be a little absurd.)If you're wanting specific recommendations for his poetry, check out The Seafarer, Canto XLV (AKA Usura), The River Merchant's Wife: A Letter, and just jump around to whatever seems interesting to you from there. These 3 will give you a good idea of his stuff. There's also the whole Imagist stuff: Check out "In a Station of the Metro" - It's a 2-line poem. It's a pretty famous one and there's a lot written about it to explain what he's talking about, if you don't immediately get the invocation in your mind's eye that he was after.I'm a fan of Pound, but my collection here is more for the family library than it is for myself, so just to be clear, I'm not some Pound expert or anything like that. So, all you'll be able to get is my humble opinions lol
>>23347675Please tie me up and then read aloud from some of that
>>23352531Thanks for recommendations, checked out the "In a Station of the Metro". Nice, got it.
give me some schizo core books. the more esoteric/weird, the better. i have a feeling they may hold true knowledge past all the hand wavey bullshit, just think about it. continuously aiming and approximating and getting silly wit it is bound to lead us towards some unmovable truth. right anons? so far, i know of the kyblion, emerald tablet, secret teachings of all ages. post more
>>23350939Is this the guy Bolano said thrice one should not read, in his essay about Spanish South American short stories?
>>23350939intriguing
>>23351104really? why did he say that?
Here's someone who has actually been documented performing his supernatural feats while also explaining the mechanics behind why he is able to do it. The book is written by a Greek Engineer who tries to scientifically describe how the subject of the book does what he does. The spoiler is that Eastern science and philosophy is many years ahead of Western science and philosophy.
I was about to buy into the whole Jew hate thing but then I realized this guy was a Jew.
>>23352245>future of American Imperialism rides on the back of our stupid Jew colony that has tensions with every brown people country between them and China except for the fucking indians (also jewish)God if only the Arabist movement went anywhere
>>23352296>self hating jew
>>23352340Why do people describe Palestinians as brown but not Israelis? Most Jews in Israel have brown skin. I've seen this in both the left and the right.
>>23352354brown is a mindset
>>23352269>magic Ashkenazi genetics lol. love that neuroticism
How do I write a fantasy novel that doesn't suck?
>>23345758>No one cares about the deep lore of your setting. Keep the plot as straightforward as possible. If it necessitates multiple huge exposition dumps for readers to understand what's going on, it drags hard.Malazan.jpg
>>23345651Stick to the Heros Journey - avoid "subverting expectations" unless the subversion actually makes the story more interesting.Embrace the fantasy - don't try to minimise magic or fantastical elements, or tie them down to a "system".World build as you need to - Too much world building will tie your narrative down because you'll trip up the story trying not to violate minor elements of the canon.
>>23345666they will think chocolate did anything worth being saved.The fact that so many books still name Harry Potter "the greatest or most significant or most influential" children's series ever only tells you how far kid's writing still is from becoming a serious art. Drama critics have long recognized that the greatest drama writers of all times are Tolstoy or Goethe, who were not the most famous or richest or best sellers of their times, let alone of all times. Romance critics rank the highly controversial Harlequin over classic writers who were highly popular in courts around Europe. Children's book critics are still blinded by commercial success: Harry Potter sold more than anyone else (not true, by the way), therefore they must have been the greatest. Romance critics grow up reading a lot of romance books of the past, drama critics grow up reading a lot of drama books of the past. Children's book critics are often totally ignorant of the children's books of the past, they barely know the best sellers. No wonder they will think that JK Rowling did anything worth of being saved.
>>23345651You have to read a lot of fantasy from multiple cultures. You're gonna have to read both inside and outside the typical fantasy stuff too. I think the best advice in general is that all male characters are feminine in some way, and all female characters are masculine in some way. This prevents you from writing characters that are shitty stereotypes. This can mean anything from a warrior who cooks for his friends every night, a politician who wears makeup, a woman who carries a revolver up her dress, or an 7 foot tall orc woman who beats her opponents to death and than makes cookies. These are random examples, but use in subtle ways it helps your characters stand out and can serve as a starting base for future developments. Connected to this, your main characters should have some kind of quirk toward them. A recent example of this is from Dungeon Meshi (anime/manga, kill me), the main character switches from stepping up to the plate and being a heroic badass to doing the most idiotic and autistic things at times, sometimes both at the same time. The fact he shows such bravery despite being pretty much an underdog who has to think on his feet and often like the monsters and enemies he's fighting from time to time easily makes him one of my favorite characters. You also want an interesting setting. Book of the New Sun has a setting filled with mystery that explores human society so far into the future that history is no longer worth record-keeping, thousands if not millions of ancient societies and their technology, both primitive and advanced, is lost or misused, or sometimes kept precious, and it blends fantasy, post apocalypse, and sci-fi, while also being relatively grounded in reality despite how insane the setting is when you pull it back. This also makes it actually worth reading, as that's a pretty good. For plot, your antagonists and protagonists should be against each other, but you don't have to go with an evil empire vs some underdogs or a good empire, you can really switch things up, or even add in third parties (An example from a show I'm watching has the protagonists, framed for murder, going after the antagonist, the true murderer, while the police are looking into both of them). Personally, I read a lot of books and manga that are fantasy, sci-fi, pr blend the two together. (GOOD) Manga is actually a really good way to get instant inspiration from fantasy, as you'll be exploring how a completely different culture approaches the fantasy genre. Light novels, etc, also apply too. >>23345808True advice. >>23346122Comment too long. Click here to view the full text.
>>23351131>>23346122Good advice thank you anons
Dactylic hexameter isn't actually real. If you read Shakespeare as you scan him, it sounds absolutely retarded. So people just end up reading him however sounds best. What's the point of even writing in meter then?
lol
>>23352159Shakespeare didn't write in dactylic hexameter... And if you read Shakespeare as you scan him, and you're not retarded, it sounds perfectly sensical and more effective.
English is mostly Iambic. But let me guess you are either ESL or an American.
>>23352255>>23352538he clearly made a typo
>>23352408I dont believe in book banning. There is nothing controversial about the book. Maybe in 1951 it was seen that way. It's just a shit book not entertaining. It's one step higher than Tolkien in terms of the "fall asleep while reading" factor.
>>23352403>>23352304>I dislike the characters in the book>this is why I hate the bookwhat is a theme?
>>23352304>the main character isn't likable!>>23352403>nothing important happens!>>23352475>it's not entertaining!Plotfags filteredIt's a good book, simple as
>>23352475>It's just a shit book not entertaining> judges a book by whether it's entertainingSorry there were no scenes of flaming swords and flying unicorns, anon
>>23352529I think the ending of the book is what I hate most. It just abruptly ends in a very anticlimactic way. >I'm leaving to get a fresh start >waaaahh no you aren't unless you take me>s-s-sorry never mind I'm not leaving I was just kiddingBook ends.
>24>still not a pubished authorIs it over?
>>23352478Cream rises to the top, pull yourself up by your bootstraps
>>23352485I'll clue you in on a secret. If you work an active blue collar job it keeps your body in shape, and frees your mind up to think about the deeper topic you enjoy. Working a thinking job doesn't do either of those things, and actually forces you to spend time outside of work to exercise just to maintain a baseline of health. Nikola Tesla walked 10 miles a day, and he was smarter than either us. How many miles do you walk a day?
>be 28>decide you want to get into reading >wow reading is fun >therapist recommends starting a journal >wow journaling is fun >decide you want to write stuff >start a blog >”publish” whatever you want >have a blast Write for yourself anon! It’s a lot of fun!
>>23352516>self publishedEmbarassing. Had an American exchange student tell me he was published only to explain he just self published it on Amazon and then shilled his book to me.
>he thinks he has something to say at 24 lmao
Has anti-intellectualism gotten worse with zoomers?
Someone post the /pol/ copypasta about "america worshipping niggerdry" and get it over with already
>>23351148kek
>>23351282holy zoomer retard bait alert
>>23350603no intellectualism has gotten too much and annoying
How can Shakespeare just invent the word "alligator" and have anyone know what it means in his day?
>>23352051Shakespeare has a lost play based on Don Quixote, correct?
>>23352051My bad. I myself don't know latin lmao
>>23352062Possibly, it's also possible it was just a misattribution. But people like the idea a lot so they run with it.
>>23351864It's clearly an Anglicization of the Spanish Lagarto, which means Lizard
Multiple ancient sources report dragons near Carthage. At that time the area was wetter but you can still find remote watering holes in the desert with huge crocs, isolated from any water system.In Arabia the dragons were smaller, flew and had some kind of poison. The same kind of creature is consistently referenced as a threat to anyone going to the area until it was apparently wiped out by humans. It's not clear how small it was but I suspect it was a large insect.
>invested in a book>theres a play in itwhat is wrong with me? why is it when there is a play or show in a novel my immersion is broken and it becomes such a slog to read?CoL49 especially
>invested in a play>theres a play in itwhat is wrong with me? why is it when there is a play or show in a play my immersion is broken and it becomes such a slog to read?A misummer night's dream especially
>>23351147Nah it makes sense. You're used to the book's prose and format, the play is a different format.
>>23351147Man I really wished The Couriers Tragedy would have been the main story in which maybe the rest of CoL49 was a play. It was soooo kino
happens to me too, I just skip
>>23351147Dood the play in lot49 is nuts
Let me guess - you "need" more?
>>23351872>Thinking a kitchen utensil is a philosopherkek
>>23351929If you are a non lefty and you hate on advocates for meritocracy you are fucking retarded.
Yeah. A shovel to my skull for taking Ayn Rand seriously.
>>23351872Daily reminder: Ayn Rand was a communist from the USSR succsesfully infiltrating the libertarian culture with her subversive propaganda.
How is the Dissolution experienced in deep sleep or the end of a world-cycle different from what Yajnavalkya describes by the name Atyantika Pralaya - Absolute dissolution of enlightenmentHe uses metaphors like the lump of salt dissolving in water in Br 4:5-13 "Having emerged out of these elements, he vanished along with them after transcending them there is no more consciousness" As I have followed along, in deep sleep due to the absence of empirical experience, the Jiva becomes one with the Absolute, that union "Satsampatti" is threatened with a break in the state, with a return to waking, however through Enlightenment one realizes that he has always been the Absolute Ātman without any vestige of consciousness or action.It is clear that whilst in deep sleep or dissolution, one can't even engage with the world. So if we realize that we were without any vestige of empirical consciousness or action how would we continue to transact with the empirical world? Like Yajnavalkya said there is "no more consciousness," shankara repeats that it is not like we have to repeat the mahavakyas like "thou art that" like to retain and sustain the experience like some later vedantins said, but only that Manana, Niddhyasana and so on were prior to Realization - he made it clear that this didn't mean that brahman was subject to injunction, for that reason that it could only be subject to injunction if it were already attained and then those injunctions were engages with like Manana.How does the constant chatter of "what's next," "what if," "soo..." integrate into this realization?
>>23349078>Advaita Vedanta is not a major branch of Hinduism.Yes it is. Being major isn’t just a matter of number of followers. Vedanta is one of the core philosophies of Hinduism, and Advaita is the first Vedanta school to formalize and write a comprehensive set of commentaries on the Hindu scriptures. Advaita has one of the largest corpuses of philosophical writings and engaged in continuous debate with all the other school. Advaita has been immensely influential, both in terms of setting the terms of the debate and influencing the doctrines of other schools. As examples:The Navya-Nyaya development of Nyaya was initiated largely in response to AdvaitaShaktism is basically just tantric Advaita for householders, popular Shaktist sects like Sri Vidya include Shankara in their guru lineage and Shaktist philosophers like Bhaskararaya praise Shankara.The Advaitist scholar Vacaspati Mishra wrote on all the schools of Hindu thought and his works were widely read by followers of other Hindu traditions, he wrote the most widely read medieval commentary on the Yoga Sutras for example.The popular Hindu saints of the modern era that command the attention and love of the masses are usually non-dualist/Advaitins (e.g. Ramana Maharshi, Nisargadatta Maharaja, Sree Narayana Guru etc.)Sikhism is hugely influenced by the metaphysics of Advaita and is like a sufism-inflected Advaita.South Indian Shaivism is hugely influenced by Advaita, with late medieval south Indian Shaivist literature adopting many Advaitist doctrines/terminology etc.And of course its perhaps the single most widely studied Hindu schools of thought among scholars.
>>23349078This, and Shankara was BTFO by Ramanuja
>>23350891> Shankara was BTFO by RamanujaNot really, Ramanuja's arguments are quite easy to refute if you've read Shankara. Ramanuja misunderstands Shankara as some sort of subjective idealist, and so his arguments about avidya are based on this conception but they are negated by the fact of Shankara identifying and equating aviyda with the maya that he writes is the sakti of the Paramisvara, and so it's not individual minds conjuring up the illusion of samsara but the Supreme Lord.There are also numerous inconsistencies in Ramanuja that undermine his arguments against Advaita. For example he tries to argue against the Advaitic Atman by saying that there is no undifferentiated knowledge and that consciousness is inherently intentional, but then when it comes to the topic of dreamless sleep when the intellect is inactive Ramanuja writes that the Atman remains aware of itself via an essentially non-conceptual, self-illuminating, self-directed, non-intentional self-consciousness of "I" of the Atman. But accepting this as possible in dreamless sleep contradicts his complaints against Advaita that such kinds of knowledge are in principle impossible. The Advaitins are basically saying that something similar to what Ramanuja proposes in dreamless sleep in fact pervades all psycho-physical states equally (i.e. the 4th or Turiya of the Upanishads) and thereby is present in addition to the mental content that may or may not characterize those states.There is also the broader point that Ramanuja emphasizes the continuity of Brahman as one single entity with his body forming the universe and living souls when he wants to argue that his system of Vishishtadvaita best expresses the meaning of Upanishadic verses like "O Somya, it is like this: By knowing a single lump of earth you know all objects made of earth.", but then when it comes to faults and sins and everything bad he tries to suddenly switch to one portion of Brahman being transcendent to It's body such that the faults no longer apply to Brahman in a kind of shell-game, but in fact the continuity of Brahman with its body as a single entity that he calls "without a second" which he has already committed himself to means that his shell-game results in a God that has real and existing portions of Itself that are characterized and actively effected by ignorance, sin etc, and this is doubly so because of him ruling out illusions in his epistemology and metaphysics to a degree that doesn't allow for him to say "those evils are only a privation/misunderstanding and don't exist as real flaws in God". At one point in his works there is a part where he mocks the idea of propounding a being that is one part in heaven and one part in hell, but he never succeeds in overcoming a similar kind of dilemma residing in his attempts to affirm simultaneously that (1) Brahman is perfect and (2) Brahman is existentially continuous with the world with it all being one entity and (3) there are no illusions per se.
>>23349238I have an unironic question for you, I have been reading alot of reddit specifically the r/smalldickproblems and it has highlighted a certain point The reddit users there discuss a problem which gives them such anxiety and even many report of being on edge and suicidal. They have a perceived objective, empirical, problem (the size of their sexual organ) a part of their body, which is what they experience in waking, and society tries to tell them, "no your body doesn't matter, it's all in your head" yet the common culture is full of small dick jokes, and women in conjunction with the media, and so forth, treat them differently and use this weakness to their advantage and hold it over these guys heads, causing mental anguish and despair over the necessity of the bodies proportion and design.Anyway I hope you understand the problem, how can advaita resolve the root of this misconception which is the source of their suffering, honestly hearing the levels some of these guys in there have gone to (contemplating suicide), they're unable to accept the body for what it is because the body has been due to social and cultural, "mental" conditioning, from childhood, and also supported by traumatic experiences of rejection, and so forth which further crushed their sense of identity their subjective mental concept, the entirety of their sense of identity, "self-worth" (if such a notion even has a correlate), yet again their objective condition is absolutely miserable, they are deemed unfit for sexual copulation, inferior, humiliated, judged and compared and so on. I am asking in all honesty, and would like to hear your response. Clearly sexuality, sexual identity, sex and so on is not so overtly discussed in shankara and advaitic literature, but I still see the vedantic literature as having applicability to resolve the problem, since theres no way they can actually liberate themselves from their internal strife without the actual elimination of that mind-body complex fuelling their unfulfilfment and dissatisfaction. I mean the size of the sexual organ doesn't make you less of a human being or somehow biologically "defective," or "unnatural," since they are composed of the five elements, all the same, since reproduction is still possible independent of the size, in the case of genuine birth defects, clearly these people also have sexual desire, which has just can come under a distorting lens and of course these guys who are saying they are becoming suicidal most of them have their other sensory organs, eye-organ, buddhi intact, etc. It seems they are suffering from a very strong mental affliction which is driving their despair.Some of these posts I have read, honestly remind me of like Yajnavalkya in terms of renunciation of wealth in a way, they will say that all the possessions, wealth, etc. That they accrue is totally worthless, because they deem that they'll never fulfill this one goal which is I guess related to whatever they envision
>>23352465The simple goal they envision which they say without it, the accrual of all knowledge, wealth, and so on is worthless is deemed to be an "impossibility," because it is by natural determination and a certain arrangement or configuration of the elements and all the other factors like heredity, the environment and so on, the body is proportioned only in such a way because of a balance, its integrity and constitution is such that it could not handle "any more or less" at the current moment at least. Anyhow, so it is a fact that really, there is no way around it, those people who are burning in a tortured desire for some transformation of the material body can't be satiated by any amount of anguish, their problem is not so much because of the incidental factors of nature, which I described but more so because the mind itself is contracted by its association with the body and the adjuncts by which the stressors, triggers and so forth provoke. Even if one meditates for 7 days on a retreat, they have a shower the day later or some day, they just take their clothes off they are reminded again by the bare fact of this body, and by the force of habit they find themselves again in suffering because of the sense of necessity associating with the limited empirical consciousness and its wants and apparent needs. This extends beyond that particular problem I highlighted, it would work the same for anyone with a body dymsorphic disorder, only in the case I highlighted before a certain confluence between the survival instinct and the association is more readily apparent which probably makes the impressions more heavy and rooted.
>Marcus Aurelius is the most famous one because he's le emperor>Epictetus and Seneca are infinitely betterWhat a life.
>>23352191It has a hidden depth on what is virtue and on providence.
>>23349995Yet Seneca's sublimely silly sense of humor enjoys a kind of fame no one else who lived in ancient Rome does. For instance, Montaigne quotes Lucretius a whole lot in his last phase, but in spirit or in general owes more to Seneca than to anyone else he knew only by text, when at his best. He even has a regular place in "best of all time" essay volumes that no one else who lived in the ancient world does, and for good reason.
>>23352191Why? because:>You have to work on your preconceptions of good and bad>Learn that it is your judgements, not external things what harm you, and that your emotions are the result of the judgements you hold>You have to learn to place value in what is yours alone, your volition>You have to learn your relation to the wider cosmos and let go of any conceitedness, the belief that we are somehow special>You have to learn that external things are not good or bad, but indifferent, but how we use them is not indifferent.>You have to learn how to deal with impressions and always choose the most rational and beneficial choice, which is according to nature>Learning that virtue is the only good, and ignorance the only evil.>You also have to learn Stoic logic and how it relates to the practice of Stoic philosophy as a wholeConsidering the nature of the society we grow up in and it's conventions of wealth and reputation for example being of supreme value, and being taught this from a young age, we have to fundamentally change how we thing from being wretched characters to virtuous characters. I have been studying Stoic theory for over a year and still only have a very basic understanding of it.
>>23352324I wouldn't say that stoicism is easy to actually live by, but it seems to be more of an issue of our willpower and not that the philosophy is very complicated. I also know that some texts are missing, so I'm only referring to the ones we have.
>>23352464>I also know that some texts are missingThe vast majority of the texts are missing, 4 books of Epictetus, and pretty much all the works of Zeno, Cleanthes, and Chrysippus, what is left is only a tiny fraction of Stoic theory.>but it seems to be more of an issue of our willpower You are trying to fundamentally change who you are as a person and act on what you learn, it takes incredible time and effort to change ingrained habits you have had since childhood, you have to unlearn what you have learned.
we got archived where are you guys at editiondead: >>23318368
>>23352106That's like Ned's opinion, many of his household guard took part in Hand's Tourney. Brandon jousted in Tourney at Harrenhall and Jorah Mormont won Tourney at Lannisport. I'm sure there are more examples than these
fat pink masts jutting into myrish swamps until her cunt became the world and under the table a bitch-hound thumped her tail as pups suckled on her bulging dugs while nuncle broke his fast on black bread, bacon burned black, and mulled wine while around him the planks of the ship groaned like a fat man taking a shit and in the privy the princess cursed as she shat but the more arbor gold she guzzled the more she shat until she was shitting brown water while she dreamed of riding her silver and nuncle smirked and bit into a lemoncake while capon-grease dripped down his chin onto the nipples of his breastplate and the boiled leather of his jerkin for did the princess not know words are wind and winter is coming and a lannister always pays her debts and you know nothing jon snow and dark wings bring dark tidings and oh my sweet summer child this is nothing but a mummers farce and she could be fucking lancel and asha and moonboy for all nuncle knows before sticking them with the pointy end but where do whores go and the night is dark and full of terrors but nuncle is the blood of the dragon while the princess is merely a girl of five and ten who knows little of the ways of manhoods and the north remembers and if they look back they are lost and what is dead may never die and fear cuts deeper than swords. Har! Heh. HODOR
>As knighthood is rare in the North, the knightly tourney and its pageantry and chivalry are as rare as hen’s teeth beyond the Neck. Northmen fight ahorse with war lances but seldom tilt for sport, preferring mêlées that are only just this side of battles. There are accounts of contests that have lasted half a day and left fields trampled and villages half–torn down. Serious injuries are common in such a mêlée, and deaths are not unheard of. In the great mêlée at Last Hearth in 170 AC, it is said that no fewer than eighteen men died, and half again that number were sorely maimed before the day was done. (TWOIAF)
I devoured Jordan's WoT but could not get into Martin's SoI&F. I read the first book and had the second book on hand but I just wasn't particularly interested.This was like 20 years ago.
>>23352311is there some kind of point to this post that I'm not getting?
