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/lit/ - Literature

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12549812 No.12549812 [Reply] [Original]

Where do you start with this guy? How was he so prolific?

>> No.12549914

bump

>> No.12549925

>>12549812
>How was he so prolific?
I believe he drank a shit ton of coffee. I haven't read much by him but I picked up "Sarrasine" after reading Barthes S/Z, and really found it an immense, immense novella.

>> No.12549929

>>12549812
My dear friend, the only place one can start is the beginning. Not the middle or the end. The beginning is where you must start.

>> No.12549937

>>12549812

Start with Pere Goriot and.or Cousin Bette. Then Lost Illusions and/or The Wild Ass's Skin. Then whatever.

>> No.12549940

>>12549929
something oddly literary about this sentence, but I can't finger it.

>> No.12549941

>>12549812
based Honorary Ballsack

>> No.12549952

>>12549812
this mans name is literally Honor the Ballsack. He's good but how can I possibly cite him as one of my favorite authors? I don't speak french so I can't annunciate it the french way.

>> No.12549982

>>12549812
Drank coffee.
Abstained from orgasm until novel was completed generally. He wasn't chaste but he said something to the effect that orgasm cost him an entire novel.

>> No.12550005

>>12549982
based pragmatic nofapper

>> No.12550031

>>12549812
He honored the ballsack

>> No.12550367

>>12549812
The beginning of The Wild Ass's Skin (Oxford translation; don't meme on me) was great. However, he comes from the realists who go into 10 page descriptions detailing every object in a room which is a chore. I don't usually appeal to modern sensibilities because a Balzac is better than a Vonnegut but there's not a great reason or effect produced when Balzac goes on these descriptive stretches. Maybe it is "comfy" but it is not poet. Just honest description. Zola's Germinal is time better spent compared to the Balzac I've read.

>> No.12550649

>>12549812
Read Old Goriot, be emotionally overwhelmed and cry for the last 50 pages, read as much of the rest of his stuff as you can before dying.

>> No.12550662
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12550662

@12549925
>I picked up "Sarrasine" after reading Barthes S/Z, and really found it an immense, immense novella.

>> No.12550818

>>12549812
if you're afraid that you may find him difficult, then instead of starting with a typical excellent ballsackian work like Old Goriot, you have the right to start with something closer to Walter Scott, like Les Chouans. But then you better keep going and reach the true ballsackian summits.

>> No.12550928

>>12549812
Ferragus, or Le Père Goriot

>> No.12551839

>>12549812
I started with The Chouans, which wasn't the best choice even if I liked the book. Pere Goriot is probably your best bet.