#literary commentary

[ribbonpoet]

im not saying queer people are incapable of writing bad books but i feel way more comfortable trusting the writing of an author who has written a queer book / is queer themselves

[off-the-beaten-timeline]

Brian Aldiss, Billion Year Spree (1973)

He’s talking about the appeal of reading serious, challenging books as opposed to just pulpy entertainments, and I tend to agree.

This is a touchy subject these days, and with good reason - when fewer and fewer people read for pleasure, when fewer and fewer people are functionally literate at all, it’s both elitist and counterproductive to look down on folks for reading insufficiently “literary” books. I’m in full agreement there - there are so many joys of reading, and so many benefits of doing it frequently (both for the individual and for society) that it should always be encouraged, always seen as a positive.

But amidst all the assurances that “it doesn’t matter what you’re reading, just that you’re reading,” there’s often this undercurrent of the idea that all literature is of equal value, and so there’s no reason to branch out into more challenging or complex books. That doing so would be drudgery, would be homework, for no purpose - a book is a book, after all. And therefore, according to this line of thinking, people who do seek out such books must be snobs, or poseurs, or gluttons for punishment, or just doing it for clout.

And this frustrates me because reading challenging books is fun. It’s fun to learn new things, it’s fun to to try to unravel a knotty text, it’s fun to wrestle with a book that makes you question your assumptions, it’s fun to witness the kinds of stunning acrobatics a skilled writer can achieve with language alone. It’s fun to dig deep, it’s fun to feel your mind cracking open, it’s fun to not quite know what to make of a text but to feel like you’re standing on the brink of a breathtaking abyss. It’s fun to come back later and get something different or richer or more from a book you’d not quite gotten your head around before.

There are so many ways books can be fun. And once you start creeping out past the borders of your comfort zone, you get addicted to going further. There’s such a huge world out there. There’s so much to explore.

[coffeefirst-thenspacepirates]

how the _fuck_ did James SA Corey manage to make every single one of their chapters almost universally 10 pages long (if not exactly 10, then the next chapters made up for it) for 9 books?

And still have them be good chapters and good writing? And how am I only noticing this after the first 8 books?

this series is going to ruin my goddamn life

[acharnemcnt]

Daisy's interview where she says that Rey being "no one" was the original theme presented in TFA has honestly made my day. So many of my fandom friends probably thought I was crazy everytime I went into a literay explanation about how the "Snoke was Pal.patine the whole time" must have been a last minute addition because it doesn't make sense with the narrative that was set up across several novels. Especially the Aftermath series. Additionally, Sn.oke has distinctly different habits and social attributes than Darth Si.dious. Daisy makes a comment about how she also embraced the new message of "fighting against your lineage", which was enough of an implication for me to know that the storyline was shifted.

Ofc, this is not hate for tros. I know that some people enjoyed it and I completely support & respect that! It's just an overall narrative analysis. Because, even TLJ was originally very different plot wise before it was rewritten and released. Which is why people sometimes feel there is a disconnect between the movies in the sequels trilogy. But this doesn't mean you can't love & enjoy them!

[trans-rights-adam-jensen]

About the "pro-cop" thing. I do not know if JS intended for it to be read that way. The way I interpreted it, is that is it about the contrast between the "ideal" certain characters seek to uphold in their jobs vs the reality of how most people in those jobs actually behave. This sort ofcomes up in DX:IE and DX:TF, where Jaron Namir mocks Ben Saxon over being "naive", because he won't just shit all over the Geneva Convention.

That may well be true, and I recognize that there was more complexity going on than just "look at cops this way or that way". & also, I don't mean to imply anything about Mr. Swallow's personal politics--I don't know his experience or stance.

The thing is though, the meaning of literary works is an amalgam of authorial intent and reader reception. For some audiences yes, what's here might ring one way or another and match more with what he intended--I can't know what he intended without asking. But in the context of me, a trans reader who was raised in a culture that heavily praises law enforcement as if they are angelic and can do no wrong, the text creates an entirely different meaning. Individuals that reach to justify the behavior or goals of LE often do not engage with me in a respectful manner, if not acting openly hostility toward people like me. So I hear a character say X or Y and it informs something different to me about their demeanor. If I were to meet Jarreau, for example, I would be afraid to talk to him, and feel as though he did not see me, my loved ones, or my reality.

It's a matter of how I interpret the characters. Just like how people who grew up with alcoholic friends or their own substance use issues may respond to an alcoholic character with more sympathy than say, readers who grew up in the presence of abusive alcoholics. Neither interpretation is wrong and both are outside of the realm of authorial control.

Sorry for writing a small novel, I don't want this to come off like a lecture. I just feel like it's an important consideration for how we understand art. Thanks for engaging respectfully! I also know the internet gets hostile for massively overblown reasons (why I guard my anonymity with uncommon ferocity) and I just wanted to throw out there that I'm not here to jab a finger into anyone's eyes and tell them they're a horrible person or Wrong. I'm too tired for that shit. Thank you for the conversation!

[howifeltabouthim]

The writer who depicts an abhorrent male character still demands that the reader pay the abhorrent man his attention.

Miranda Popkey, from Topics of Conversation

[snowlessknitter]

Ernest Hemingway: America’s Answer to Marmite.

Ernest Hemingway: America’s Answer to Marmite.

It took me about four months and many fits and starts, but I finally finished reading A Farewell to Arms! I’ll admit that part of the reason why it took so long for me to read it was because my nighttime routine of waking up several times a night to check on or help out my mom during my dad’s work nights messed up my sleeping patterns enough that I was often feeling incredibly tired and would end…

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[gilmoreandgranger]

Literary analysis makes me thirsty