"Prententious" literature- do you read it?
- Thread starter Shadowfaze
- Start date
I'm reading Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead, I gave up on Solzhenytsin's Cancer Ward. So maybe, I don't know really.
Pretentious? Really? You keep on reading man. Just because your reading something besides, "Bob ran fast.", doesn't make you pretentious. It means you want a higher education than you are being given. Simple as that. I always try to read something more advanced than people "think" I should be reading.
That doesn't... yeah, that doesn't actually make any sense. It's an amusing mental image to be sure, but that's complete nonsense nonetheless.Masterstuffing said:
I'm sorry, but your definition of pretentious writing is basically what a novel looks like.Del-Toro said:
My father enjoys reading books - mostly stuff like Stephen King, Dan Brown and such - basically horror, sci-fi and thrillers.
I, however, do not care much for books. I have read quite a few books, but I will never replace my computer for an actual book. I've also read up on many, many books (regardless of what kind of prose we're talking about) on Wikipedia and other sites.
The five books that I like very much and will never forget about:
- Henrik Ibsen: A Doll's House
- Fyodor Dostoyevsky: Crime and Punishment
- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe: Faust
- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe: The Sorrows of Young Werther
- Franz Kafka: The Metamorphosis
EDIT: I forgot to mention that my father actually reads at least two novels (yes, the books for big boys) per week. When he was younger he would actually read all day long. Literally.
Does The Iliad count as pretentious literature? Is so, then I guess I read pretentious literature. I quite enjoyed Treasure Island as well...
I agree with you. I think your father is a fool. "Pretentious" tends to be a word used by people who don't know very much to describe things they're not clever enough to understand. I've never personally read Lovecraft, but his work is definitely on the list of things I'd certainly like to read at some point.
Unless you were being smug and superior about your reading then it wasn't pretentious. Why does your father hate the idea of you being educated? One of my dads favorite sayings is "Educate yourself" and while I am tired of hearing it after all these years I still find what he is saying to be a reasonable request and goal. Just to fuck with your dad I would start reading the new yorker right in front of him.
Beyond Good and Evil you say, huh. I never got around to that--not yet. Still trying to figure out Thus Sprach Zarathustra; and I thought the Gay Science was hard.....Shadowfaze said:
Also, if you were "truly" "reading" Nietzsche, you wouldn't be giving a shit about labels like "pretentious," and "condescending," and "educated."
I actually bought a HP Lovecraft sorta collection book thing the other day, I was drawn to it due to its Mike Mignola cover art. I read Mountains of Madness and some other tales, but overall I really don't care for it. I understand his importance in the literary world and I like strange fantasy just as much as the next guy, but I couldn't get into his style, the characters felt very cold to me. I wouldn't consider it pretentious by any means.
Now Pride and Prejudice and Zombies is pretentious.
Now Pride and Prejudice and Zombies is pretentious.
Well I tried to, but I got really bored, and now if someone starts going on about how great and powerful a work like that is, I view them as pretentious and boring.
H.P. Lovecraft, however, is none of those things.
Also I'm trying to read all the books that Iron Maiden made songs about or named after.
H.P. Lovecraft, however, is none of those things.
Also I'm trying to read all the books that Iron Maiden made songs about or named after.
