/lit/ - Literature

>>19925323
>Too often do astute posters get shouted down by idiots who get the last word only because they are too caustic and fallacious for any reasonable person to want to engage with
But that's all of 4chan

>Although we can obviously never be sure, Pico may have seriously considered the possibility that his Vatican debate would end with the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse crashing through the Roman skies.

>In February 1487, Pope Innocent VIII halted the proposed debate.

>In 1494, at the age of 31, Pico was poisoned under mysterious circumstances.

What is the most efficient way that I can learn to read italian so that I can read The Divine Comedy? What are the best methods/books for learning to read (not necesarily speak) Italian?

What are the most profound novels that you've read? i.e. novels that made you feel like you are reading something important. I've recently been feeling kind of disallusioned by the novels I've been reading, because they all seem to be relatively petty, like ultimately a form of slightly intellectual entertainment.

If you could learn either Japanese or Mandarin, which would you choose, for literary purposes? Do the Chinese or Japanese have better literature/poetry in your opinion?

Hey /lit. What secondary sources are best to understand Plato's dialogues? I've been reading them recently, but I can't help but feel that there's a layer that I'm missing from them. Mostly because Socrates is not to be interpreted as always correct, and not always a mouthpiece for Plato. Is it necessary to read these secondary sources and to understand the nuances behind the dialogues before I move on to other philosophers, like Aristotle and Nietzsche?
Sorry for the pleb question, but I hope you guys can help me out with it.

>tfw your prof tells you nothing and forgets your name
>tfw you have no prof to talk to
>tfw you go to a shit school
fuck you

>order 2nd hand book
>broken spine

I failed to get into Oxford to study philosophy, should I kill myself?

>>3562651
it's called mono-no-aware you fucking BAKA

Things labelled as "classics" that you hate.

I don't think I have ever hated a piece of writing more than I despise the worthless conglomeration of words known as Native Son.

Pic unrelated