"Prententious" literature- do you read it?

[Shadowfaze]

Yesterday my father found me reading my HP Lovecraft compendium, and declared it "far too prententious" and for "well educated people" and reminded me that i am neither prententious or educated. Then, he caught me reading Nietzsche's Beyond good and evil, and just laughed. Do you read this sort of thing? Do you consider people who do 'highbrow', or educated? personally i think my father is a fool, but i'd like some opinions on this particular style of literature. Yeah, i'm in a funny mood, hence the wordiness.

 

[rockyoumonkeys]

Nope. I grew bored of "literary" fiction, and now pretty much read nothing except sci-fi and fantasy.

 

[SimuLord]

Who's your dad, George W. Bush? Or one of the dudes from Idiocracy?

Keep reading---we need more proof that stupid parents do not ALWAYS have stupid children.

 

[Outright Villainy]

Lovecraft isn't pretentious at all. I think if you were reading Joyce, and you were actually saying you enjoyed reading it, then I might call you pretentious, but not for something like Lovecraft. I haven't read Nietzsche yet, but I heard that's pretty good too.

Is it pretentious if it's old or something? He's being completely ridiculous anyway.

Oh, and my dad is exactly the same. Just read whatever you enjoy reading.

 

[Celtic_Kerr]

I have the highest level of mathematics in my entire family tree, as well as the highest education. If myrents DARE call me uneducated I'll smother their faces in it.

But keep reading what you love. I've never gotten into that but I have many philosophy books as well as social sciences essay books

 

[Betancore]

I don't make a point to do it, but I guess I do occasionally read books that others would consider pretentious. Seems pretty silly to call literature pretentious just because it's not as simple to understand as 'Spot Goes To School' or something.

I don't consider others who read similar books to be pretentious either, although I do have respect for people can read War and Peace. Every time I see someone with that book, I feel like dropping to my knees and begging them to tell me how they can bear it.

Also, Lovecraft is awesome. That is all.

 

[NaturalCauses]

I most certainly do. Only the most pretentious of literature for me! [/sips tea, returns to 20, 000 Leagues Under the Sea]

 

[rockyoumonkeys]

[sub]
Unless it's twilight. Then you can die in a fire.
[/sub]

I liked Twilight. You heard me.

 

[BreakfastMan]

Depends on what you consider "Pretentious". I am currently reading and enjoying "House of Leaves", and I consider "The Lord of the Flies" to be one of the best books ever written, so... Maybe?

 

[rockyoumonkeys]

[sub]
Unless it's twilight. Then you can die in a fire.
[/sub]

I liked Twilight. You heard me.

I've heard falling asleep with a lit cigarette and booze around you makes your wiener bigger.

Why would I want that? That's just impractical!

 

[Shadowfaze]

Lovecraft isn't pretentious at all. I think if you were reading Joyce, and you were actually saying you enjoyed reading it, then I might call you pretentious, but not for something like Lovecraft. I haven't read Nietzsche yet, but I heard that's pretty good too.

Is it pretentious if it's old or something? He's being completely ridiculous anyway.

Oh, and my dad is exactly the same. Just read whatever you enjoy reading.

You are referring to James Joyce's Ulysses? I was going to get that when i saw it in a second hand bookshop, but it was so badly looked after that several pages were missing. Still, for 50p i coudn't really expect much more.

 

[thylasos]

Pretentious... I'm not sure how you can quantify a term like that. I'd much prefer to be conisdered pretentious than spend my life reading The Sun and watching ITV.

 

[Shadowfaze]

[sub]
Unless it's twilight. Then you can die in a fire.
[/sub]

I liked Twilight. You heard me.

I've heard falling asleep with a lit cigarette and booze around you makes your wiener bigger.

Why would I want that? That's just impractical!

It also... gets you a... pet chinchilla?

Gah, writing the T-word destroys yet another thread...

 

[Outright Villainy]

Lovecraft isn't pretentious at all. I think if you were reading Joyce, and you were actually saying you enjoyed reading it, then I might call you pretentious, but not for something like Lovecraft. I haven't read Nietzsche yet, but I heard that's pretty good too.

Is it pretentious if it's old or something? He's being completely ridiculous anyway.

Oh, and my dad is exactly the same. Just read whatever you enjoy reading.

You are referring to James Joyce's Ulysses? I was going to get that when i saw it in a second hand bookshop, but it was so badly looked after that several pages were missing. Still, for 50p i coudn't really expect much more.

My old flatmate had it one time, so I tried reading a small bit. It was torture. I think modernism in general was just the literary community trying to fuck with everyone.

God help you if you try reading Finnegan's wake. People that have been studying that for years don't even understand it.