/lit/ - Literature

>>16908256
I went to fucking public school in the United States and I went to a pretty decent Great Books program through my local university. I NEVER HEARD of Borges until I saw him mentioned on /lit/. I would not know about Borges at all if it were not for /lit/. I would wager that the vast majority of English majors, and other literature majors, in the United States do not know about Borges at all.

They should. But they don't.

>>16408399
It's not really a popular choice, but probably "The Other." It was the very first Borges story I ever read. I have a strong nostalgic connection to this story. It is contained within The Book Of Sand, and that book, translated and co-written by Norman Thomas di Giovanni, is one that I stumbled upon, unexpectedly, in The Strand, the famous bookstore, when I once lived in New York City. I found it, a used book, wedged into the "B" section of the main "Fiction" floor. I was floored to find it, since I had just been on /lit/ a few days prior, and /lit/ had been heavily discussing Borges and the di Giovanni translations. I was floored to find it.

So that story, "The Other," was the very first Borges I ever read, and it holds an immensely special place in my heart. Because I think it encapsulates so much of what is innate and special in Borges, and what crops up over and over in all the other stories. The idea of dreams, and how reality intrudes into dreams and how dreams intrude into reality. And the idea of how fiction and nonfiction blend together, and how in the modern age, in the 20th Century, we are not as easily able to tell the difference between the two. And I am charmed and moved by the idea of an old man encountering his younger self for a friendly chat.

/lit/ is the reason I know about so many writers I would not otherwise know about. I am an American and I went to public school. If it were not for /lit/, I would not know anything about Borges or Pessoa. I would not know about Bolano, either, or even Gene Wolfe.

How about everybody else? Who are some great writers that /lit/ has helped you discover? Who are some writers you would not know about without /lit/?

>>16085327
Actually a pretty good list. We had the Meme Trilogy years ago, but this stuff is basically what /lit/ ACTUALLY likes best.

My only addition would be to throw in some Borges. Maybe Ficciones?

Start short. Read short stories and books with shorter chapters.

Actually, just go ahead and start reading Borges, he ONLY wrote short stories. He'll also blow your mind a few times and show you what genuinely good fiction is capable of.

>people don't realize that Borges is right-wing as fuck

He hated communists and briefly supported the post-Peron junta. He disliked the fascists, but only because he thought they were intellectual lightweights.

Borges is actually probably the best 20th Century right-wing author. I guess you could make the case for Pound, but I'd put Borges above Pound, at least just barely.

Fiction generates beauty and beauty is never a waste of time.

>Dude it's a waste of time to write a whole novel, just pretend the novel already exists and write a commentary on it

I'm trying to decide if it's possible to refute this point.

Read everything of Borges you can get your hands on. If you can't read in Spanish, get the Norman Thomas di Giovanni translations. They're out of print but you can find them on eBay.

Let's talk about controversial entries.

I'm sorely, sorely tempted to throw Joyce out the window and just put Ficciones in the list, as >>14540038 does. I think Borges has an argument for being the greatest writer of the 20th Century. But maybe I'm just a huge fanboy.

Yes. There are numerous really cool writers and philosophers I would know nothing about if it weren't for /lit/. I'm an American and there are writers like Borges and Pessoa that I wouldn't know about at all if it weren't for this board. This board has introduced me to some great works.

Also, the philosophical discussion is occasionally interesting. It used to be MORE interesting when Girardfag was still around, but it's still not bad.

I think the problem with /lit/ these days is that you all don't read enough Borges.

When Borges' ex-wife finally dies, will the Norman Thomas di Giovanni translations go back into print?

Also, the Norman Thomas di Giovanni translations of Borges' stories are all great; Borges helped di Giovanni with them, and though they are not exactly the same as the original Spanish versions, they are all excellent in their own right. Unfortunately they're out of print these days and you'll need to scour eBay for them.

>>13270341
Borges is the ultimate dream for any great writer. He was so interesting and so unique that his writing languished in obscurity for decades, and he was almost unknown outside of Argentina. He wrote and published most of his works in the 1930s, and then he spent more than 30 years being virtually nobody outside of his own, increasingly unimportant country.

Then he rocketed to international fame when he won the Prix International in 1961, sharing it with Samuel Beckett. All of a sudden, he was a celebrity. And THEN he lived 25 more years, finally dying in 1986 at the age of 86. So he got to experience both sides of the literary coin: he got to be the genius toiling in obscurity, and he got to enjoy a quarter-century of rock star status. It's handy to be long-lived.