/lit/ - Literature

[Anonymous No.16426206]

How do I cope with the fact that I have pleb/illiterate parents that never introduced me to literature and high culture when they were raising me and now I am left behind with no discernible talent?

[Jesus No.16426356]

>>16426206
thank to an old lady who was our neighbor I already read Robinson Crusoe before going to school (7 yo), and then read Sherlock Holmes and Alexander Dumas while other kids learned to read words. Out of boredom she taught me letters on small cubes when I was like 5 or 6.

[Anonymous No.16426372]

>>16426206
I want to know, too. Exact same situation.

[Anonymous No.16426380]

>>16426206
You must give those around you what you did not have when you were their age.

My brother is 12 and my sister is 14. I started them off with the Chronicles of Narnia, then The Hobbit. Now, they're chewing their way through the Redwall saga, and we've started reading The Lord of the Rings together, chapter by chapter (we each read it, then we get together to discuss it and I answer any questions they have about a word they didn't know or a plot point they were confused about). My younger brother was struggling at first, but now he's a better reader than my sister. My sister wants to read Moby Dick, but I told her it's a harder one to read but we can try it together after we finish The Fellowship of the Ring.

Feels good frens, I feel like I'm doing some good.

[Anonymous No.16426384]

>>16426206
imagine if they were reading the kama sutra lol that would be so gross haha

[Anonymous No.16426429]

Be glad you can read things with a more critical, adult mind.

[Anonymous No.16426443]

>>16426380
Based older sibling

[Anonymous No.16426475]

>>16426206
blessed image OP

[Anonymous No.16426481]

>>16426380
Cute if true.

[Anonymous No.16426501]

>>16426380
You're raising your siblings to be neck breads with bad taste who probably collect magic cards and/or funko pops?

[Anonymous No.16426547]

>>16426206
Stop blaming people dumbass. Be thankful for what you have. Get off the computer and do something.

[Anonymous No.16426557]

>>16426547
Don't forget to pledge the S.W.E.A.T. oath.

[Anonymous No.16426559]

>>16426501
if he wanted to do that he would probably have started them out with harry potter and eragon

[Anonymous No.16426565]

>>16426501
ahaha what is neckbread fucking RETARD DIPSHIT

[Anonymous No.16426574]

>>16426380
Based, keep at it anon.

[Anonymous No.16426663]

>>16426206
Are you me?
>>16426429
This comforts me in some way. The only drawback is that I am now a huge autist jerk unable to enjoy nearly anything in life.
>>16426547
There's nothing wrong in blaming your shitty childhood and shitty parents.
Knowing it and not doing something about is the only bad thing.

[Anonymous No.16426830]

>>16426663
>Are you me?
I think most of this board is

[Anonymous No.16426839]

My mom read aristotle's rhetoric and decided she never needed to read another book.

[Anonymous No.16426840]

>>16426839
She ascended

[Anonymous No.16426846]

>>16426206
maybe read instead of whining on 4chan lol

[Anonymous No.16426879]

>>16426206
I’m no expert in “high literature” but I do read more than my parents I think. I don’t really know what they read since they read on paperwhites. It’s whatever.

[Anonymous No.16427099]

>>16426380
>my siblings read entire series of books because I told them to
Believe it or not, this isnt very common

[Anonymous No.16427273]

>>16426206
I'm virtually the opposite of this, I was raised in an academic family with a considerable amount of cultural capital (in comparison with the availability of it in my country). My dad always pushed me and my siblings to learn, to study hard, to read and to listen to interesting music; virtually buys us any book or record we want whereas he's not as giving in other areas just because of how much importance he associates with learning and developing an academic/thinking mindset. As a kid and as a teen I mostly rejected this vision my dad had for us and associated it with pretentiousness and elitism. I ended up wasting my teens on vidya, only finding the rabbithole of art and philosophy as a university student by my own means.

I'm not telling you this as a kind of humblebrag or anything of the sort, but to tell you that, whatever the conditions you were raised in, it's worth for shit if you don't have an individual drive for developing yourself and for seeking out whatever it is you find interesting. I have absolutely zero doubts that there are many people less fortunate than me who have a mind more attuned to cultural capital than I just based on this personality trait

[Anonymous No.16427323]

>>16426501
>cs lewis and tolkein are neckbeard cringe
since when? do you even read?

[Anonymous No.16427325]

>>16426206
I had pleb parents too, good people, but limited by their paucity of education. Thankfully I was blessed with a facility for self-education and spent much of my downtime as a teenager reading and remedying my ignorance, if only to prove to myself that it was a matter of circumstance and not congenital.

[Anonymous No.16427332]

>>16426206
Anyone else find this pic demoralizing?

[Anonymous No.16427336]

>>16426206

>Not being raised with a talent.
Most people are
How old are you? You can still learn and adopt, start by stopping to blame your parents for your shortcomings. Even if they neglected you hardcore, this wont help you in this stage. You cant restart your life, you can only go forward
>

[Anonymous No.16427380]

>>16426206
>mfw raised by a father "agrégé d'histoire" and a mother "agrégé de philosophie", culture is on easy mode for me
good luck anon, I hope you will give your children good books

[Anonymous No.16427399]

>>16426206
My mom is a Jungian tradcath psychologist and it ruined my life.
Only recently have I realised that it actually saved my life.

[Anonymous No.16427609]

>>16426380
Based and comfypilled older sibling. I haven't read Moby Dick yet, but I know about this site, which has a lot of annotations for cultural references, uncommon words, etc...: http://www.powermobydick.com/

[Anonymous No.16427637]

>>16427273
You don't understand how much of an advantage that gives you. Life is short. You have roughly 50 years of actual career from graduation to retirement. If you're raised in a home where your parents educate you, introduce you to books, and possibly pay for better education, you're already 10 years ahead of some guy (like me) who was raised on television and didn't find out who Homer was until he was 22.

Some people (like this guy >>16427325) manage to get by with shit parents but that's only possible recently because of the internet and globalisation. If you were raised like me on a fucking farm with nobody to talk to, there's no hope.

[Anonymous No.16427694]

>>16427399
you didn't give much info but I'm glad my parents are catholic, the modern world has teached so much about how right christianity is.

[Anonymous No.16427776]

>>16426206
You cope by actually reading books and getting more educated than spoilt kids then looking down on them lmao.
>>16427399
>>16427694
Catholicism is cringe and Jungian Catholicism is a literal oxymoron. If you're going to talk about religion and spirituality, please read something other than psychoanalysts. Thanks.
>>16427637
If you have a brain it doesn't really matter, there's nothing more cursed than seeing a 20 year old upper class kid that's extremely naive and stupid despite all of their extensive education. I find those people far more pitiable than the UnthinkingPlebsTM.

[Anonymous No.16427829]

>>16427637
My whole point was that I never took advantage of this a kid, I grew up on vidya against what my dad wanted out of me, and that's because dispositions towards developing a thinking mindset are more important than the conditions of your upbringing. Unless you mean to say thay my upbringing impacted me in a special sense that I'm not fully aware of that helps development, which I disagree with because I'm getting close to 2 years of reading the Organon (continously). I only learnt about it through the /lit/ guide to phil.

[Anonymous No.16427857]

>>16427829
From what I understand, good education (not just formal schooling, but also parents reading you books, etc.) during formative years (8-14) has a large effect on cognition and intellect throughout life. If you really completely ignored your parents advice then you missed out, but the opportunity was there.

[Anonymous No.16427863]

Read pierre bourdeaux

[Anonymous No.16427900]

>>16427099

yeah, anon's siblings respect him and/or he sells things well

[Anonymous No.16427911]

>>16426206
That's a dumb millennial/zoomer false dilemma. Literally countless great writers had either semiliterate or reading-averse parents. Start now, without looking back. There are several reading plans (Fadiman's, for instance) available on the internet.
>The moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too.
Goethe

[Anonymous No.16427928]

>>16427637
I'm the anon that managed to educate himself despite having uneducated parents (and siblings). I can't tell you how bitter I was growing up, with my idiot brothers completely disinterested in everything I had to say, and my parents completely unable to help me with the college admissions process and the like. I'd probably be a CEO of some company at this point if I had parents that could have kept me on the right track. I fucked up plenty times that would have been completely avoidable, and basically developed a permanent (though only partly true) conviction that everyone around me is an ignoramus like the people I grew up around.

[Anonymous No.16427940]

>>16426206
robert graves wrote a poem about it called BIRTH OF A GREAT MAN

Eighth child of an eighth child, your wilful advent
Means, as they say, more water in the stew.
Tell us: why did you choose this year and month
And house to be born into?

Were you not scared by Malthusian arguments
Proving it folly at least, almost a sin,
Even to poke your nose around the door –
Much more, come strutting in?

Yet take this battered coral in proof of welcome.
We offer (and this is surely what you expect)
Few toys, few treats, your own stool by the fire,
Salutary neglect.

Watch the pot boil, invent a new steam-engine;
Daub every wall with inspirational paint;
Cut a reed pipe, blow difficult music through it;
Or become an infant saint.

We shall be too short-handed for interference
While you keep calm and tidy and never brag–
But evade the sesquipedalian school-inspector
With his muzzle and his bag.

get it?

[Anonymous No.16427996]

>>16427928
Similar experience. When I visited my friends' houses and saw their parents sitting in the living room reading books and their PhD certificates hanging on the wall and shit I became so fucking bitter at my trailer trash upbringing. And yes, I too have developed a belief that everyone is a moron, because intelligent people were so rare you never expected to actually meet one.

These days I am still intimidated by people who went to elite universities or private schools.

[Anonymous No.16428042]

>>16427996
Without education, we are in a horrible and deadly danger of taking educated people seriously.

[Anonymous No.16428082]

If you had any real talent, your upbringing wouldn’t have mattered.

[Anonymous No.16428090]

>>16428082
that's retarded

[Anonymous No.16428111]

>>16426206
you're responsible for your birth and for everything you've done in your life. you're wholly responsible. for choosing your parents, for choosing your genes, for everything. everything that has happened since. you can't blame anybody or praise anybody for it.

[Anonymous No.16428177]

My parents never did either, but through reading literature I was able to appreciate their out looks on life and the knowledge they gave me even more. I'd read things and think "wow that's similar to what my dad/mom told me years ago" etc.

Its then I realized my parents became wise through experience where as I'm an autist who sits inside and has to get his world view from others who actually lived life.

[Anonymous No.16428186]

>>16428090
It isn’t. Shakespeare would’ve been Shakespeare whether his father was John or James. If you weren’t smart enough to thrive on your own, good parenting wouldn’t have mattered. You might have landed a slightly better job but that’s it. Everyone has a ceiling.
There’s someone in this thread saying he would’ve been a CEO if it wasn’t for his parents. That’s a laughable statement. You can blame your parents for 20 years or so but after that it’s on you. If you have CEO potential and shit parents, you might take longer to get there. If you have no potential, you will never get there but you will find someone to blame.

[Anonymous No.16428213]

>>16428177
You sound like a good son

[Anonymous No.16428253]

>>16428186
Based and truthpilled. There are so, so many weak and cowardly spirits who will never accept this. They’ll have their reward

[Anonymous No.16428284]

>>16428186
Trust me, if my parents were business owners who gave their useless family members executive positions, I'd be doing a lot better than I am now. I took me years just to get my foot in the door in a decent company while I know people who get a higher position than me through nepotism

[Anonymous No.16428306]

>>16426206
>>16426372
accept it and get over it. if you have a decent amount of free time, you can become reasonably "well-read" in a few years if you actually put some effort into it. just go for it and don't think too much about comparing yourself to other people

[Anonymous No.16428311]

>>16427099
>>16427900
>I started them off with the Chronicles of Narnia, then The Hobbit.
+older brother
doesn't seem hard to get them started. it's up to them if they take it keep it up into adulthood.

>>16426206
i'm just happy my mother had lots of fantasy novels around the house that i reread dozens of times because no internet until i was older (poor). i liked magician and its sequels by raymond e feist.

[Anonymous No.16428315]

>>16426206
I read almost zero book when I was a little kid, I wasn't against books, I wanted to read some but would always abandon them midway through, I also hated school shit, the only thing I enjoyed was Metamorphosis, but getting forced to read shit was always something I despised and still do, especially now that I'm actually reading.
My family didn't really care though, if I read or didn't read on my spare time since they don't read anything either

[Anonymous No.16428342]

>>16426501
>imagine being this envious

[Anonymous No.16428431]

>>16428284
And if you won the lottery you’d be a millionaire, who gives a shit?

[Anonymous No.16428438]

lol, it were never meant to be.
my mother is kinda stupid, never finished her education and can only speak her native language.
i've been fluent in 3 languages since 13, have always had a great interest in literature and philosphy.
and i've been more cultural than her since i was a child. at my 7th birthday a collection of classic danish porcelain was on the top of my wishlist. i was never really introduced to my culture, i've just always been curious, and asked a lot of questions about it, especially when visiting my grandparents.
to blame having a lazy childhood on your parents is pants-on-head retarded.
as a late-bloomer the best you can do is to try to raise and übermensh (like me) since it's too late for you to become one.

[Anonymous No.16428601]

>>16428431
I gotta cope somehow

[Anonymous No.16428677]

>>16428601
Focus on getting where you wanted your parents to be and give your kids comfy jobs. That way, they can dedicate their life to art like you were supposed to do. Don’t cope, cooperate.

[Anonymous No.16428699]

>>16428431

[Anonymous No.16428726]

>>16428699
makes you think...

[Anonymous No.16428800]

>>16426380
>My sister wants to read Moby Dick
I’d imagine most of the meaning would go over her head, a modern 14 year old isn’t likely to understand why Melville is critiquing Spinoza and Plato, along with all the biblical allusion (though that’s probably fine if you were raised either Jewish or Christian). Though if you’re there to go through it with her she might be fine.

You’re a good brother, help your sister get into that “serious” literature while she’s that age, don’t let her fall prey to genre-fiction as many teens do, but by the books you’ve had them reading you clearly have good enough tastes.

[Anonymous No.16428859]

>>16428726
what is bad is bad, and not to be loved in order to make it tolerable. the horribleness of the truly horrible is to be relished as what it is.

[Anonymous No.16430127]

>>16426206
Take it upon yourself to correct your flawed mind. It might take 15 years but you could do it if you really wanted to.

[Anonymous No.16430228]

>>16426206
>>16426372
>>16427325
>>16427928
Just remember that the more expensive work boots are worth it in the long run lmaooo

[Anonymous No.16430294]

>>16426380
If your sister is 14 she should read Bernice Bobs Her Hair by Fitzgerald
It’s got actual life lessons that still hold true today and not that always be yourself crap
He wrote it based on a letter he write to his own fifteen year old sister when she asked him how to be popular.

[Anonymous No.16430298]

>>16427399
Can you expand upon this it sounds like a very interesting story

[Anonymous No.16430318]

>>16426206
Reminds me how in lit college, I once asked a question to one of the teachers about a book that I enjoyed and found fairly challenging. He gave me a decent answer and then casually mentioned he had read said book when he was 11...

[Anonymous No.16430359]

>>16430318
which book

[Anonymous No.16430379]

>>16426206
>How do I cope with the fact that I have pleb/illiterate parents that never introduced me to literature and high culture when they were raising me and now I am left behind with no discernible talent?
Have you ever tried not being a pretentious faggot?

[Anonymous No.16430394]

>>16430379
ok dad

[Anonymous No.16430397]

>>16430228
i don't get it

[Anonymous No.16430454]

>>16426206
>How do I cope
how about the fact if you had been introduced to lit & culture you'd know the importance of being a grateful child no matter what

[Anonymous No.16430924]

>>16426206
You cope by knowing that no matter how many books you read it won't matter in the end so just make do with what you have instead of torturing yourself with "what if" scenarios in your head.

[Anonymous No.16430928]

>>16430397
>>16430397
I think he's making fun of them for being working class and having jobs that would require workboots

[Anonymous No.16430933]

stop blaming your parents for your inadequacies and accept responsibility for who and what you are

[Anonymous No.16430946]

>>16430933

[Anonymous No.16431128]

>>16428186
I love how the stoicism meme went from not letting yourself get carried away by the vicissitudes of life to literally denying causality lmao

[Anonymous No.16431676]

>>16430359
lolita

[Anonymous No.16431712]

>>16426380
This
My parents were poor fags that didnt even finish high school so i dont blame them. But I have an 11 year old sister and i am helping her read through the entire western canon. It's a lot of fun.

[Anonymous No.16432366]

Bump

[Anonymous No.16432438]

there are like 20 books you actually have to read
if you want to be serious about books you should be learning languages and reading those books over and over again as well as writing
people have done a lot with very little

[Anonymous No.16432489]

>>16432438
>there are like 20 books you actually have to read if you want to be serious about books
bullshit. I have 1000+ books in my tbr.

[Anonymous No.16432515]

You suck it up, i guess. I always was somewhat resentful towards my parents for not helping me pursue any interest. The only thing, as in habits, that they hit the nail with, was introducing me to literature. Reading to me and eventually buying me books. They did their best i suposse.

[Anonymous No.16432569]

>>16432489
ok