/lit/ - Literature

Any classics majors here? I am thinking about adding it as a double major along with philosophy, and focus on learning greek.
Any recommendations for this?

In the valley of Nis the accursed waning moon shines thinly, tearing a path for its light with feeble horns through the lethal foliage of a great upas-tree. And within the depths of the valley, where the light reaches not, move forms not meet to be beheld. Rank is the herbage on each slope, where evil vines and creeping plants crawl amidst the stones of ruined palaces, twining tightly about broken columns and strange monoliths, and heaving up marble pavements laid by forgotten hands. And in trees that grow gigantic in crumbling courtyards leap little apes, while in and out of deep treasure-vaults writhe poison serpents and scaly things without a name.

Vast are the stones which sleep beneath coverlets of dank moss, and mighty were the walls from which they fell. For all time did their builders erect them, and in sooth they yet serve nobly, for beneath them the grey toad makes his habitation.

At the very bottom of the valley lies the river Than, whose waters are slimy and filled with weeds. From hidden springs it rises, and to subterranean grottoes it flows, so that the Daemon of the Valley knows not why its waters are red, nor whither they are bound.

The Genie that haunts the moonbeams spake to the Daemon of the Valley, saying, “I am old, and forget much. Tell me the deeds and aspect and name of them who built these things of stone.” And the Daemon replied, “I am Memory, and am wise in lore of the past, but I too am old. These beings were like the waters of the river Than, not to be understood. Their deeds I recall not, for they were but of the moment. Their aspect I recall dimly, for it was like to that of the little apes in the trees. Their name I recall clearly, for it rhymed with that of the river. These beings of yesterday were called Man.”

So the Genie flew back to the thin horned moon, and the Daemon looked intently at a little ape in a tree that grew in a crumbling courtyard.

I'll be honest, I really, really, really wish that a disease would kill off 75% of humanity, preferably 90%, and then we stuck at that level for at least another millennium, if not more.

>>10581436
Fuck >>10583330 I thought it was pretty good. Not that I'm a good judge of poetry or prose by any means, but I logged it in a document called "By Anon" with all the other ones I liked.

Cheers - Anon

Fuck that shit, write for the reactionary websites that have cropped up. Submit to Thermidor, Jacobite, and Social Matter. Actually, don't submit to Jacobite, their editors are faggots.

>>9969301
Third post best post

>>9158860
I feel like it could be done, and should be done.

But what should the subject be? It should be something national. The Iliad is the Greek Epic. The Aeneid is the Roman Epic. The Divine Comedy is the Catholic Epic, and Paradise Lost is the Protestant Epic. All of them are infused with the spirit of a people, a nation, a folk. Whether ethnic or ideological, the epics bind their races together and bring them along on their incredible journeys.

With that in mind, how could one write an epic today? What would be an epic for the modern world?

Because they're writing for all time. In a regular conversation people can ask questions, rephrase, try again, and so on. But some philosophers really are trying to write in such a way that they're saying gets communicated to everyone, everywhere, forever.

Maybe it sounds retarded. Philosophy often seems like enlightened retardedness. Maybe it is. But it comes out in the writing. The point is for you to understand it. It will only seem like "meandering and masturbatory language" until you understand it. And then when you do you'll be glad that they were specific, because it's not like they're about to write any more books and you don't know when the next time a philosopher that good is going to come along again.

The guy in your pic is one of the most difficult people to read ever. I've read shitloads of philosophy and he is to me no joke the hardest. Easily. But it's not like I would want his writing to be easier if it meant his ideas were less profound.

The fact is that what you are calling genius - brilliant ideas expressed clearly - is simply rare. There are lots of good stylists with nothing to say, and lots of serious thinkers who can't write for shit. Sometimes you get lucky and get Nietzsche, who was both. More often you have to just work with what you got.

Good luck anon.