luka

Well-known member
ive always resented johnson, this great ham faced boor sitting at the centre of english literature, with hastily conceived opinions on asbolutely fucking everything.
 

Corpsey

bandz ahoy
I think he's right though! At least, I often did feel a lack of human interest (which is why the bits with Satan - as human as angels get - and A&E are the strongest) and I felt like reading Shakespeare would be like being at a party after studying in a dusty alcove.

Saying that, of course it's a sweeping statement which glosses over (or wever the phrase is) the pleasures of reading PL, which are many.
 

luka

Well-known member
milton really does throw the genius of shakespeare into focus. hes so leaden in comparison. so slow witted.
 

Mr. Tea

Let's Talk About Ceps
ive always resented johnson, this great ham faced boor sitting at the centre of english literature, with hastily conceived opinions on asbolutely fucking everything.

He gave us the greatest 'WTF did I just read?' meme of all time, though.

What_did_I_just_read-meme.jpg
 
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CORP$EY

no mickey mouse ting
milton really does throw the genius of shakespeare into focus. hes so leaden in comparison. so slow witted.

this will annoy you, so I'll do it - you make me think of Johnson here, 'he was born for whatever was arduous'

 

luka

Well-known member
"the experience of the gnostic, lived as the personal history of the Stranger, the captive who aspires to return home."
Henry Corbin. Swedenborg and Esoteric Islam.

 

thirdform

pass the sick bucket
i really need to read that mark Sedgwick book against the modern world. apparently goes into how fucked up and reactionary the perennialists are.

tbf ive always been suspicious of white europeans converting to islam.

Also hate how materialism is conflated with material objects, that is crude 18th century shit that Marx (among others) thoroughly rejected.
 

luka

Well-known member
got to admit not sure what any of that means (about from the not rating white girls in burkas bit)
 

thirdform

pass the sick bucket
im reading heart of darkness cos another guy i rate, mohsin hamid namechecked marlow n kurtz in one of his books.

how this gain classic status this is unbelievably tortured and orientalist/antiblack to boot. i almost want to read a wikipedia page just to find out what happens at the end but i like to feign the appearance of a cultivated gentleman.

tayeb salih's season of migration to the north is 100x better.
 

CORP$EY

no mickey mouse ting
If you've seen Apocalypse Now you'll have a good idea - basically, Kurtz can't live up to the pre-match hype. Quite a fascinating book, though, full of images that haunted me afterwards. Very hard read, though, took me longer to read than books twice as long.

'The Secret Agent' by Conrad is better. Not read any other Conrad books.
 

CORP$EY

no mickey mouse ting
taking an unscheduled break from literature atm as I managed to pick up and get enthralled by michael lewis's 'the undoing project'

has me thinking about the effect of cognitive biases on musical taste, e.g...
 

Mr. Tea

Let's Talk About Ceps
im reading heart of darkness cos another guy i rate, mohsin hamid namechecked marlow n kurtz in one of his books.

how this gain classic status this is unbelievably tortured and orientalist/antiblack to boot. i almost want to read a wikipedia page just to find out what happens at the end but i like to feign the appearance of a cultivated gentleman.

tayeb salih's season of migration to the north is 100x better.

Conrad certainly portrays the black natives as irredeemably savage and unknowable, but it's the barbarity of the Belgian colonials that most actually horrifies him. References to their attempts to 'civilize' the natives through beatings and forced labour are always drenched in sarcasm. The racism is undeniable but Conrad is far from a cheerleader for imperialism and colonialism, in fact often quite the opposite.

Coincidentally I started Said's Culture and Imperialism the other day - only 30-odd pages in so far but Conrad has perhaps unsurprisingly cropped up a couple of times already.
 
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version

Well-known member
The Big Short, Michael Lewis

It's okay, but a little dry and a lot of the financial stuff goes over my head (... worryingly it seemed to go over the heads of most of Wall Street too).
 

luka

Well-known member
Gnomon by Nick Harkaway. Adam Roberts with a twist of Eco and Borges. Recommended.

i passed this recommendation on to a friend who is currently obsessed with the word gnomon (and the kabbala). what's it about? (concepts/ideas rather than plot please)
 
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