I was wrong about Literature

[Chaotic42]

I used to hate literature. I mean, I hated it more than your typical science nerd.

Since I started taking World Lit, I realized that I don't hate literature, I hate the modern crap that we have to choke down. Pride and Prejudice, The Scarlet Letter, The Awakening...

The old stuff, Oedepus, Antigone, Gilgamesh... This stuff is good reading.

They should focus more on that and less on crappy American and British literature in school. What do you think?

 

[DaveSimmons]

The Oddyssey was good. Dante's Purgatorio was interesting. I have a new translation of Gilgamesh sitting on my to-read pile.

Mark Twain is good even if he is an American . If you only read him butchered in high school you really haven't read him.

 

[Chaotic42]

Originally posted by: DaveSimmons
The Oddyssey was good. Dante's Purgatorio was interesting. I have a new translation of Gilgamesh sitting on my to-read pile.

Mark Twain is good even if he is an American . If you only read him butchered in high school you really haven't read him.

I read Huckleberry Finn.

It didn't do anything for me.

 

[shortylickens]

Pat McManus

 

[johnjohn320]

It's kind of like music. Lots of people think they hate classical music (or at least find it boring) because they've never really bothered to listen to it and just assume they won't like it. Then when the do, more people are apt to enjoy Beethoven, Mozart, Chopin, etc on a first hearing. But with some study and patience, they'll begin to understand Prokofiev, Philip Glass, Scriabin, etc.

That made little if any sense, and I'm a music nerd. Sorry

 

[DaveSimmons]

Originally posted by: Chaotic42

Originally posted by: DaveSimmons
The Oddyssey was good. Dante's Purgatorio was interesting. I have a new translation of Gilgamesh sitting on my to-read pile.

Mark Twain is good even if he is an American . If you only read him butchered in high school you really haven't read him.

I read Huckleberry Finn. It didn't do anything for me.

Try at least one more before giving up, maybe Pudd'nhead Wilson. You can get free ebooks of old editions at Project Gutenberg (http://www.gutenberg.org/)

 

[DaWhim]

I would recommend you to read the Decameron. it was once banned book by the roman catholic church in 14th of 15 century. lots of jokes about churches. I still remember "put the devil back to hell." you may get woods.

 

[Burroughs]

A Confederacy of Dunces rivals all of these.

 

[DainBramaged]

Read The Rum Diary by Hunter Thompson. I just wrote a review of it and I'll send it if you want.

 

[Siddhartha]

Originally posted by: Chaotic42
I used to hate literature. I mean, I hated it more than your typical science nerd.

Since I started taking World Lit, I realized that I don't hate literature, I hate the modern crap that we have to choke down. Pride and Prejudice, The Scarlet Letter, The Awakening...

The old stuff, Oedepus, Antigone, Gilgamesh... This stuff is good reading.

They should focus more on that and less on crappy American and British literature in school. What do you think?

Are you in high school? A good high school education should expose you to all eras of literature. If you go to college, you can choose, to a large extend, what you study.

I have never been a big fan of Jane Austen or Hawthorne But I can not imagine calling them modern authors or calling all British and US literature "crappy"

 

[LongCoolMother]

its all a matter of preference. i hate a lot of the BS english literature as well. i hate people like hawthorne jane austen. it just seems like so much BS. but its all a matter of preference. i marvel at and enjoy literature of the social science/political/philosophical sorts. jefferson, madison, clay, webster, emerson etc. they actually seem to speak purposefully.

 

[Chaotic42]

Originally posted by: Siddhartha
Are you in high school? A good high school education should expose you to all eras of literature. If you go to college, you can choose, to a large extend, what you study.

I have never been a big fan of Jane Austen or Hawthorne But I can not imagine calling them modern authors or calling all British and US literature "crappy"

My High School education, from what I can tell about the rest of the country, was a joke. In college, I have the choice of World Literature or British Literature.

Those books that I mentioned are indeed modern compared to Antigone and Gilgamesh.

As far as calling them crappy, until I'm shown a book by either of those authors that I find interesting in any way, shape, or form, I stand by my claim that I think they're crappy.

 

[djheater]

Originally posted by: Chaotic42
I used to hate literature. I mean, I hated it more than your typical science nerd.

Since I started taking World Lit, I realized that I don't hate literature, I hate the modern crap that we have to choke down. Pride and Prejudice, The Scarlet Letter, The Awakening...

The old stuff, Oedepus, Antigone, Gilgamesh... This stuff is good reading.

They should focus more on that and less on crappy American and British literature in school. What do you think?

Personally I think you're silly. I have a great love for twentieth century American fiction. I also have a great love of, and reverance for, the true classics you mentioned. I have read many works of classical literature and don't find a love of them incompatible with a love of modern literature, but then, I love reading.

If you're intersted in the classics, I have a few suggestions based on my own readings:
The History of the Peloponnesian War - Thucydides
Meditations - Marcus Aurelius
Lives of the Caesars - Suetonius
The Oresteia trilogy - Aeschylus

 

[nageov3t]

it is kinda like music.

imagine only being exposed to Phil Collins and hating all forms of music just based on that

I personally don't care for very much of the literature that came out of the 19th century, which seems like a lot of what you're suprising.

in terms of stuff that you'd study in an intro course, I :heart: most of all the English Restoration Lit as well as a lot of the writers that came out of WW1 and the US depression era. that's really the sweet spot of Lit for me, though I like a lot of post-modern writers as well.

 

[Whisper]

It all just depends on what you enjoy reading. And while I think it's fairly short-sighted and harsh to call literary classics "crappy" just because you don't like them, you're welcome to your own opinion.

 

[Chaotic42]

Originally posted by: djheater
Personally I think you're silly. I have a great love for twentieth century American fiction. I also have a great love of, and reverance for, the true classics you mentioned. I have read many works of classical literature and don't find a love of them incompatible with a love of modern literature, but then, I love reading.

I've tried to like all kinds of books. I wanted to like The Awakening, Huckleberry Finn, Shakespeare, The Hobbit, and all of those books.

No matter how many times I tried to get into them, I just didn't enjoy reading them.

 

[DainBramaged]

Originally posted by: djheater

Originally posted by: Chaotic42
I used to hate literature. I mean, I hated it more than your typical science nerd.

Since I started taking World Lit, I realized that I don't hate literature, I hate the modern crap that we have to choke down. Pride and Prejudice, The Scarlet Letter, The Awakening...

The old stuff, Oedepus, Antigone, Gilgamesh... This stuff is good reading.

They should focus more on that and less on crappy American and British literature in school. What do you think?

Personally I think you're silly. I have a great love for twentieth century American fiction. I also have a great love of, and reverance for, the true classics you mentioned. I have read many works of classical literature and don't find a love of them incompatible with a love of modern literature, but then, I love reading.

If you're intersted in the classics, I have a few suggestions based on my own readings:
The History of the Peloponnesian War - Thucydides
Meditations - Marcus Aurelius
Lives of the Caesars - Suetonius
The Oresteia trilogy - Aeschylus

LOL...you said "silly."

 

[DaWhim]

Originally posted by: Chaotic42

I've tried to like all kinds of books. I wanted to like The Awakening, Huckleberry Finn, Shakespeare, The Hobbit, and all of those books.

No matter how many times I tried to get into them, I just didn't enjoy reading them.

ever try Tortilla Flat by john steinbeck? I was laughing my ass off while reading that.

hucklebeery finn is fun when you read it at 10-15y/o. age plays a role of what you read.

 

[Kadarin]

The Scarlet Letter was a horrible, stinking pile of sh!t of a book.

 

[djheater]

Originally posted by: Astaroth33
The Scarlet Letter was a horrible, stinking pile of sh!t of a book.

Nah... If you hated Hawthorne that much, I suggest you give a couple of his short stories a try... particularly "The Ambitious Guest"

 

[dolph]

personally, i like reading stuff by living authors who are still creating. it's exciting if you have a favorite writer whose best stuff is yet to come.

Originally posted by: johnjohn320
...But with some study and patience, they'll begin to understand... Philip Glass"

:frown:

 

[johnjohn320]

Originally posted by: dolph
personally, i like reading stuff by living authors who are still creating. it's exciting if you have a favorite writer whose best stuff is yet to come.

Originally posted by: johnjohn320
...But with some study and patience, they'll begin to understand... Philip Glass"

:frown:

Pout all you want, it's true.

 

[Orsorum]

Favorite authors are currently: John Steinbeck and Marcus Aurelius.

 

[Chunkee]

Originally posted by: Chaotic42
I used to hate literature. I mean, I hated it more than your typical science nerd.

Since I started taking World Lit, I realized that I don't hate literature, I hate the modern crap that we have to choke down. Pride and Prejudice, The Scarlet Letter, The Awakening...

The old stuff, Oedepus, Antigone, Gilgamesh... This stuff is good reading.

They should focus more on that and less on crappy American and British literature in school. What do you think?

As an Enlgish Major, I say, "Perhaps you should read a little more." Plenty of fine literature from America...plenty.

jC