What Are You Reading 2018 - Page 14

IgnE

United States7681 Posts

June 01 2018 15:13 GMT

#261

two things:

1) i don't think anyone is 100% aware of the society they live in

2) just because they were flawed doesn't mean we have to blame them for it — but at the same time it may make their stuff less likeable

Maybe we need some Virginia Woolf passages to make the point.

farvacola

United States18832 Posts

June 01 2018 15:18 GMT

#262

As someone who has spent a great deal of time reading and thinking about Woolf and her prose, I think she was definitely flawed in some respects that relate to her class views, but at the same time, she was at least somewhat aware of these flaws. Some of her essays bear this out I think, but I'll have to go find them this weekend perhaps

I also think Zink's criticism can be attacked rather easily, but I'll need time to demonstrate that.

IgnE

United States7681 Posts

June 01 2018 15:23 GMT

#263

I think Kierkegaard is overrated.

farvacola

United States18832 Posts

June 01 2018 15:35 GMT

#264

I'll add a defense of Kierkegaard to my to-do list as well then :D

Acrofales

Spain18047 Posts

June 01 2018 20:28 GMT

#265

I thought Kierkegaard was unfairly reviled, actually. I didn't know there were people who appreciated him to the point of putting "defenses" of him on their to-do list, but I do believe he gets some unfair criticism... but being overrated is not one of them, as that would mean the majority thinks highly of him.

Or maybe that's just the people I hang out with who like to drag him through the mud.

farvacola

United States18832 Posts

June 01 2018 20:35 GMT

#266

I studied literary genre and critical theory and then became a lawyer, putting on defenses or critiques of authors is par for the course I've decided to play on

Edit: I also happen to think that Kierkegaard is key to a properly rigorous understanding of how belief works or doesn't work, but I need to be off work before I can say why appropriately.

IgnE

United States7681 Posts

June 01 2018 21:23 GMT

#267

maybe that is so, but his pseudo-hegelian, desperate attempt at a reconciliation between God and freedom seems hamstrung from the start. zink's criticism of woolf, that she loves tradition blindly and focuses on the wrong things may be true of kierkegaard. or perhaps he thinks about the right things while handicapped. and his prose, his style of equivalence-making, verges on ponderous equivocation.

his greatest strength may be the possibility of deliberately mis-reading him

farvacola

United States18832 Posts

June 01 2018 22:18 GMT

#268

That all can be true and, nevertheless, I can go on recommending Kierkegaard (the "K-Man") to those appropriately-equipped without reservation because your criticisms, while well-taken, can very easily serve as the figurative bases for the "good" that can result from engaging with his works. Take your indictment of the K-Man's "desperate attempt at a reconciliation between God and freedom"; regardless of what he intended when he decided to ponderously equivocate in search of a ground floor on which to plant difficult to grow beliefs, there's a searching, inner dialogue-bound lack of satisfaction with the results that lurks beneath even his most famous and accessible phrases, and in a way, many of his "best" lines from works like Either/Or end up autological exercises in speaking with one's self in an attempt to find meaning that ends up fleeting, empty, or nonexistent in the first place.

Admittedly, this reading finds itself susceptible to an accusation of being a deliberate attempt at seeing things that aren't there, but I maintain that, particularly when read alongside complementary works, the K-Man can provide readers asking the right questions with answers that head in the "right" direction.

As for Woolf, I think similar concepts apply; it is precisely her somewhat stilted take on the stuff of experience and humanity that I find both charming and "useful" in the sense that her prose does an excellent job of reflecting the sentiments of her particular place and circumstance. In my opinion, that's actually one of the most profound qualities of Modernism; the various techniques and stylizations employed by Modernist authors have a way of expressing things about their relative place in the zeitgeist that is unique to the genre.

Ignoring all of that referential context, as many fans of authors do, is a mistake I think, and in the sense that your criticism of her jives with the many bad takes on her writings, I actually agree.

IgnE

United States7681 Posts

June 02 2018 00:00 GMT

#269

surely one could do worse than the K-man. his plangent "faith, faith!" is surely more sympathetic than any cynical pascalian wager. and, to reference a contemporary man who goes by initials, isn't one of JP's failures his reading of Nietzche with Pascal rather than Kierkegaard? "believe because it is useful (to you)." perform the behaviors and your belief will be enacted in the world. that is what counts. tradition captures man's eternal nature and tells us what behaviors are best. no matter what you believe, you will be rewarded for repeating the past, like the lobster, which as specimen of its species, is not individual, does not have a history, and can do nothing more than repeat

Flicky

England2663 Posts

June 02 2018 10:11 GMT

#270

Wish me luck guys!

[image loading]

farvacola

United States18832 Posts

June 02 2018 13:01 GMT

#271

On June 02 2018 09:00 IgnE wrote:
surely one could do worse than the K-man. his plangent "faith, faith!" is surely more sympathetic than any cynical pascalian wager. and, to reference a contemporary man who goes by initials, isn't one of JP's failures his reading of Nietzche with Pascal rather than Kierkegaard? "believe because it is useful (to you)." perform the behaviors and your belief will be enacted in the world. that is what counts. tradition captures man's eternal nature and tells us what behaviors are best. no matter what you believe, you will be rewarded for repeating the past, like the lobster, which as specimen of its species, is not individual, does not have a history, and can do nothing more than repeat

While I would wager that JP makes numerous other mistakes in his reading/implementation of thinkers like Nietzche and Jung, I think setting up a basis for comparison between Pascal and the K-Man makes a lot of intuitive sense.

Enjoy Flicky, that's the best Hesse work imo, though I'd imagine that reading it in its native German is an altogether different, if not more rewarding experience.

Zergneedsfood

United States10671 Posts

June 02 2018 21:04 GMT

#272

Glass Bead Game is a phenomenal read. Excited that you're reading it in the native German.

123Gurke

France154 Posts

June 16 2018 12:11 GMT

#273

I just finished the Earthsea series. The first three books were OK but nothing special. But the last three were far far better. Instead of typical fantasy tropes, Le Guin writes about things that normally have no place in this kind of book: gender, weakness, getting old, death. Since There were nearly 20 years between the the third and the fourth book and I got the impression that she grew a lot as an author in that time. Maybe it was also simply that she probably did not have to write for money anymore after the success she had had before, so she just wrote about what interested her. So after all, I would recommend the series, and in particular I would recommend continuing even if you don't like the first three books to much.

xDaunt

United States17988 Posts

June 23 2018 14:46 GMT

#274

I finally got around to reading Perdido Street Station. The setting is as interesting as can be, and Mieville’s talent with prose is undeniable. However, the story itself was rather pedestrian, and the final resolution was less than satisfying. I am not sure that I really want to read any of Mieville’s other stuff.

Manit0u

Poland17340 Posts

June 23 2018 14:50 GMT

#275

Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari

Really nice read about how we screwed ourselves over.

Starlightsun

United States1405 Posts

June 23 2018 15:11 GMT

#276

Freedom From Fear: The American People in Depression and War, 1929-1945

First book on American history that I've read on my own... it's a small slice of time unfortunately but makes up for it by giving a very thorough picture. I'm embarrassed to be ignorant of my own country's history. It's been very interesting to read about the personalities of Hoover and Roosevelt, as well as seeing the birth of Social Security and other government programs that are so ubiquitous today.

[image loading]

Gargantua and Pantagruel

This is for fun reading. Enjoying the humor a lot.

Silvanel

Poland4731 Posts

July 24 2018 10:21 GMT

#277

Just finished:
[image loading]

Very good read, still fun after all those years since publication, which we cannot say about a lot of sci-fi books.

Also

Which is typical Sanderson book. Very good writing, sometimes silly, sometimes funny, mandatory twist and good ending. Decent read.

Manit0u

Poland17340 Posts

July 25 2018 10:15 GMT

#278

Pandemic by A. G. Riddle

Not a fan of Dan Brownish conspiracy theories, but it's a nice read anyway. I like the fact that the scientific part is done well (and I'm really into epidemics) and I'm devouring this book at a rapid pace.

{CC}StealthBlue

United States41117 Posts

August 05 2018 19:10 GMT

#279

Manit0u

Poland17340 Posts

August 06 2018 14:43 GMT

#280

Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson

Good book. Would be great if Stephenson learned to moderate a bit since he could forgo like half of the content without any loss to value.

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