There's no shame in supplementing your reading experience, and there's no shame in putting a book down when you don't understand. It can always be picked up again, when you're ready. If, you're ready. We all have books we just don't connect with.
You are just so right man. This happened to me with Pynchon a few months ago (maybe December?), but I am completely aware that in a pair of months I might pick it up and love it.
Thanks a bunch for the elaborate and amazing response! I didn't even dare to hope that a video would be dedicated to it, so this made my week (dare I say: month). As for your response: I will take it to heart. I think because life is relatively short I'm not going to read every book or watch every movie that I would want to read and see, so I'm diving in the deep asap, and I'm going to try and stop worrying about not understanding. I'll try out being more adventurous and start fucking up in the near future and I'll just see how it goes (and probably eventually with supplementary material, after feeling like a moron for not getting what I read at all).
Justin Scholtze YES! You're very welcome...Maybe a Bolaño quote might be appropriate. I always liked this one... “Books are finite, sexual encounters are finite, but the desire to read and to fuck is infinite; it surpasses our own deaths, our fears, our hopes for peace.” ― @72039 Thanks for asking questions. Keep reading.
English is not my native language, therefore reading the lord of the rings is not easy for me, but I will not give up since I wanna improve my English and I love the story.
This discussion has made a lasting mark on my life. I now read whatever I want, as opposed to whatever I felt safe behind, or capable of understanding fully. What's happened is that I've started learning more and more about who I am and how I think...because if a book cannot fill me (through comprehension) then I end up filling it. I fill these philosophical masterpieces with my own flawed observations. Then - astoundingly - I'm sometimes allowed, through reflection and continued reading, to see my thoughts for what they are: failures to understand the complexity that surrounds me. These books open my eyes unto myself (my inadequacies) and to the world simultaneously. This is a fantastic tool by which I continue to be sanctified. I owe you a great debt, Mr. Sargent. May the hair on your toes never fall out!
I agree, throw yourself in at the deep end, and you will learn to swim for fear of death. Great books rearrange your brain as you read 'em. Great channel BTW. Keep up the good work man.
When I was an angry (no, really, ANGRY) 19 year old, having a brother a history proffessor and his wife a literary theory proffessor, a dad, now gone, rest his soul, a drunk journalist and a big Balzac fan, I found myself wanting to know exactly what this serious literature stuff was all about. I Altavista(ed? (back in the days)) "the best novel" and "the ultimate novel": Ulysses it said and I remembered my dad having this brick "Odysseus av James Joyce" (I'm Swedish) in his bookshelf and thought that will do. Then I went and did compulsory military training in a u-boat for a year. When I got out of that I actually read Ulysses cover to cover in the original English and got mindblown about my ignorance. But it was the best kind of insult. Not saying that Ulysses is the best novel to start with, but if you have that youthful burning heart, "thumos" is what the old Greeks called it, give serious literature a go because it answers all questions almost no living adult, be it a parent or a therapist, is willing to answer... Better than blowing yourself up. A good book is a bomb, Mallarmé said, Stig Dagerman thaught me that! You got me back reading... Just picked up "Submission" by Houellebecq, it's a bomb, no better than a bomb. ;)
I find it to be comparable with learning a New language. The more of the language you learn, the more you understand. I experienced the same with arthouse films. they are really hard to read until you have watched a lot of them, but then the intruguing part becomes films you still cant understand.
There's a 200+ and on-going playlist "Half-hour Hegel" that does a couple sections of Phenomenology of Spirit in a half hour and discusses them, by my favourite philosophy channel on youtube.
Hello, my name is Pedro, from Chile. I think that your channel it is very interesting and useful. Congratulations. And i was very surprised that someone have readed Bolaños 2666. Bolaño it is a great autor, but it is not well known in Chile (altought it is Chilean), a lot of people think that he is Mexican. It will be very nice if you could make a review of the savage detectives. Have a nice day, cheers.
Nice! Thank you for your encouragement. It’s frustrating to read something and not have any comprehension. It’s feels like a waste of time, but it actually isn’t because you are getting stronger by building intellectual resilience.
It's a great question. In my early 20s I decided I wanted to read "serious" books, and really delved into literature. In high school I was a straight F student in all my English classes, and most others for that matter. I just couldn't give a fuck, was not motivated in any way to care about books. I can't even blame the teachers for being uninspiring, I was just 100% resistant. But as I got older I started to feel sort of guilty, if that's the right word, and wanted to right some of the wrongs of my youth. I realized that I was growing up to be stupid and began to be appalled at my own ignorance., so naturally I felt like reading novels would be the way to turn it around. I had heard of Virginia Woolf and thought I should start there. So I went and checked out The Voyage Out from the library. It was like water in the desert for me. I soaked it in, reveled in it, fell in love with it. I had to keep a post-it note with a list of all the characters and their relations to each other because it was too much to keep straight in my head. But it set me on the path. So here I was thinking I had this Woolf down, I'm going to read The Waves. Yeah, no. But here's the thing, I could not tell you anything about what happens in The Waves, except for what I have read in other books about it, but I did read it. I slogged through, start to finish, I made it, despite not understanding most of it. Now it's been 25 years since then, I am much more well-read and still I'm not sure if I could "get" it the way it's meant to be "gotten." I guess my point is there's benefit from reading, even if you think you're not getting it. After that Mrs. Dalloway was a breeze by comparison.
I am 14 and finally reading Paradise Lost. I don't understand ANYTHING unless I read the same sentence 5 times. Yet it is an enjoyable experience. I think poetry is something you have to read again and again and churn and chew it in your mind until you absorb all the essence of it. It is perhaps the most challenging book I've read, followed by Lolita (I still didn't complete that book because of the long paragraphs and adjectives.) I hope I complete it by this midterm holidays.
Love this! I did the same thing with Shakespeare, got the versions that came with modern text alongside the original text. Greatly improved my enjoyment... and understanding!
I really appreciate this. One day I decided to attack gravity's rainbow( a novel I still feel that I am not smart enough to comprehend) and have since completed it twice. I still feel like I am drowning fighting to keep my head above the rapids that is a sea of furious text. Yet i am so very glad that I have remain ignorant to my own beliefs. I love that novel, I may miss 90% of what it talks about but something about it keeps causing me to come back to it. I say jump in and don't be scared to drown. Also please do a review of Gravity's Rainbow, maybe you can help my understand why I love it so much because at times I am honestly not sure why I do.
I did get halfway through Gravity's Rainbow years ago. I will give it another go soon. Once you've read Infinite Jest (tip: use two bookmarks, one for the endnotes) nothing scares you anymore.
I got into literature for serious when I read Anna Karenina, The Brothers Karamazov and Book of the New Sun so I'd say that you can and should get into hard literature as fast as you can, at least for me.
I really like your viewpoint on this topic. Earlier this year I finally got back into reading and created a serious habit for myself. This was jump started by a look into graphic novels, which I fell in love with, reminding me how much I love novels in general. A few years back I purchased Gravity's Rainbow with full intent to read it. I didn't even make it past page 300, not even halfway. After reading about how wonderful this book and Pynchon was in general I decided to buy V and see if I could make it through the text. Reading that book was the turning point for my views on what literature is and can be. Having to work through parts of the novel made me realize that reading was something that is as interactive and perhaps more mentally taxing than a good conversation if done properly. When I finished that book I was left without an understanding of what had happened yet I felt so fulfilled that I wanted to start it over again which I didn't do because I had Blood Meridian and Gravity's Rainbow to tackle. Each one of these books changed my entire perspective on literature and active reading. This made me realize that, to me, reading difficult novels is a way to open literary understanding and re-reading might be more important than the first reading. I have only read a handful of books in my life more than once but I think that's the important thing to do in understanding dense literature. I am currently reading Ulysses and while I don't understand what is happening at all times I enjoy the prose itself, but that's just me, I like words and their usage and rhythm, I suppose others read for different reasons. I apologize if this post is long-winded and lacking in purpose but I appreciate your video and encouragement for people to dive into literature they may not understand at first glance, I think it's important for people to gather perspective and empathy.
You always add from your own experience to the books you read. Some books 'change' their meaning the more you read them. It's often a good thing to reread a book you read ten-fifteen years ago and see if what you thought you read is still there. I had that a lot with Brave New World. One time I interpreted it as a Utopian novel, one time as a Dystopian novel. The savage character in the book was someone I used to identify with, later on he seemed rather obnoxious. Can't wait to read that book again in ten years.
I actually found Ulysses (incomprehensible references and occasional overlong chapters aside) to be surprisingly entertaining. I'm certainly not incredibly well-read, and I did use an additional text which I used pretty religiously. In general though I found it to be an incredibly awesome and rewarding experience and I look forward to returning to it again later in my life and experiencing it again as at least a somewhat better-read individual. Great video, I'd love to see some Joyce reviews in the future!
I find that (usually after you’ve read the book to avoid spoilers) reading dissertations and thesis paper analyses of books can really deepen your understanding of them. There are also handy resources like LitCharts, of course, but there is often - depending on how obscure the book - a wealth of papers in the form of pdfs and etc. Take Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens for example; I only realised how clever the use of humour was and how Dickens uses it to contrast with dark and depressing moments to make them seem less severe after I read a paper on the topic. Especially for philosophical novels like Brothers Karamazov, there are great resources online.
it-s interesting, I came to this video after watching 3 of your more recent ones, and particularly the one on Jung (Modern Man in Search of a Soul); just I find looking at our younger selves brings those questions new light :) In some ways, it is our oldest part! thanks for your channel and for continuing your reviews!
I watched this video atleast 3 times to gain confidence at tackling difficult books and gain courage to face my own stupidity and beat it. Or reassure myself that even if I fathomed less than half of the content of one book, it's fine. Merci beaucoup, tu es une source de support très bénéfique pour tout aspirants intellectuels, je souhaite seulement que ta chaine grandit d'avantage. :)
Well said Cliff, I agree with you on pretty much everything. Concerning Joyce, specifically Ulysses, I feel it is a book that must be revisited, and I recommend anyone's first reading of it to be with as little help as possible. I'm not necessarily saying don't use anything to supplement your reading experience, but make sure you don't overdo it, or you may lose the chance to gain anything personal from the book whatsoever. It's undoubtedly a hard book, but don't sell yourself short. I had to look up the basic narrative of what happened after every chapter but, as I was actually reading it, I just let it wash over me, and while I most definitely felt lost a lot of the time there was the occasional great moment of comprehension. Save an annotated copy for the second readthrough. Don't worry if you don't understand everything, I don't think anyone ever will. On a related note, Joyce's last words were supposedly "Why does nobody understand?" and C.G. Jung thought he was most likely a schizophrenic, so make of that what you will. Do what Mr. Sergeant says and be courageous.
With Ulysses, the penguin student addition really helps. It took me about four tries, but on the last try something clicked and I could appreciate enough and maintain a reading pace fast enough (a few pages an hour) that made it enjoyable. Student edition was great though. Also, cut the reference notes off the back and prop them open. No flipping back and forth.
That is another awesome video with so much substance, thank you ! Regarding difficult books, I feel like "you won't succeed unless you try and you won't try if you don't believe", so we'd better go ahead ! Wanting to educate oneself is already being a little more educated, and going out of one's comfort zone, frightening though it may be, is exceedingly rewarding. I guess it's about both eating humble pie (i.e not being afraid of facing one's relative stupidity/lack of education) and considering the challenging book not as a mountain to toil up but as a ladder whose bars you'll climb one after the other. (That being written, I need to roll up my sleeves and read some Pynchon) Additionally, I liked your definition of a great book : laugh, cry and masturbate, what else do we need indeed ?!
You always manage to out shine yourself. Great review totally riveting. Will read and dream. It sure is a pity if you have people in your life who don't read. It is such a complete pleasure to hear your reviews!Absolutely great !
I enjoy diving into difficult to get through books. It reminds me of having a term paper/symposium due and the topic is less than stimulating. But in the end, coming to a greater level of literary understanding ie; tolerance and grammatical improvement
I spent the majority of my 2 week self-isolation upon returning home during this crazy year reading Infinite Jest. I'm a youngish guy, in my early 20s. I can't say I understood all of it, I will have to read it again at some point, but I am glad I had the experience. This was the first time I was properly challenged by a book and had to give it my full undivided attention to get any level of enjoyment from it, and I loved it.
You just go with the flow... read whatever you want, or can absorb, and you will "evolve" into higher and better reading (according to your abilities and understanding). Getting older helps -- couldn't read Ulysses before I was 60... loved it so much that I took on Finnegans Wake -- would not recommend that to anyone at any age, but I can say I did it (with a guidebook, or two, of course). Going back to Portrait with a new perspective (saw your review of it and got me to subscribe). Carry on, Sir!
So true! I like reading books on physics and am soooo not a scientific thinker, but I like my small moments of clarity that I get when something clicks.
I recently started reading No Fear Shakespeare and it helps alot. I don't know if they get everything right; but I am learning. Also, I found a book of Dickinsons poems w/commentaries by Helen Vendler that looks like it will be very helpful. It's been a long road on my own and I think I'm finally on a better track. This channel is great too.
No fear Shakespeare used to be all available nline for free when I was a kid and that alongside Shakespeare without the boring bits really helped to cement a love fo Shakespeare that I grew to have when I was older.
Good morning from Southern CA, sir-- Just wanted to drop you a line to say how inspiring this particular video has been. I'm a stage actor/director, with a BA in Theatre Arts, with a professional training certificate in Physical Theatre. Many actors, like many readers, find themselves daunted by the complexity or intensity of the roles they want but are too afraid to audition for. It's only disheartening until they're encouraged, nay--practically beaten over the head with pep-talks and "You Got This" moments. But quite literally, the only way to do something is to DO IT, and that's what I enjoyed most about what you said. If you think you can't, then reach out for help, get supplemental material, watch others in their take, read up on the history, etc. Don't be afraid. (Well, BE afraid, but do it anyway!) Thank you kindly for the reminder! A Fan, Kit
Have the courage to fuck shit up is hands down the most insightful statement i've heard in a while. Especially since i've been fucking shit up royally recently. ;)
Sometimes having something like York Notes is good to supplement one's reading. Of course, these help books are limited in what they offer but they can sometimes launch one into deeper inquiries. They also offer alternative follow up reading resources ir critiques.
With every book I read, I have aged 100 more years in my small eternity of a life. Ever since I graduated college I have been reading non-stop the greatest classics and have tried to understand every single piece to the fullest of my ability. I hope I will continue to read as much as I have as of late! Thank you for an excellent video, sir!
When I was younger, Joyce's "The Dead" and The Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man were highly influential texts for me. Honestly, I enjoyed about the first hundred pages or so of Ulysses before I got bored. Furthermore, Finnegan's Wake to me seemed more like an extended version of Lewis Carroll's Jabberwocky poem. Still, ironically enough, I consider Joyce one of the greatest influences on me as a reader and writer. The thing about actual learning that people have to understand is that it is completely relative. For example, there are highly influential and famous physicists who couldn't give a flying fuck about fiction. Similarly, there are many writers who couldn't give a flying fuck about physics. Is that to say one is right and one is wrong? Of course not. It is simply a different way of perceiving reality. As the infamous magician Aleister Crowley once stated: "It is the mark of the mind untrained to takes its own processes as valid for all men, and its own judgments for absolute truth." There is no one way to correctly live. Culture is "a way" of life, not "the way" of life. And "a way" is certainly not one for all. Hell, according to many Taoists, thinking in itself is a useless exercise since existence itself in innately absurd, making the pseudo-scientific philosophies we construct utterly meaningless (see Alan Watts for more). If you want an accurate version about how people learn, look to educational theory that focuses on studying children (before they are behaviorally indoctrinated by societal ideologies). The thing we learn about children is that they learn through play and interaction. In other words, we learn by fucking around with things that we don't understand in order to understand more about them. Historically, the majority of inventions that humanity has come across were discovered on accident, and were usually just an end result of people messing about with things. As Adam Savage once said: "The difference between screwing around and science is writing it down." The thing about play (for scientists as well as children), however, is that it is a natural process, and is, first and foremost, one that is fun. As Borges one said: "If you're bored, lay the book aside. Don't be taken in by the writer being famous or being modern or being ancient. Read what you enjoy. And only read what you enjoy. If not, the whole thing is meaningless." I'll stick to that for now. P.S. Sorry for the long response. I take no responsibility. I blame the craft beer(s). P.P.S. Did you just say you read Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace in less than 6 hours? My God, man! Truth be told, the only chapter I liked from that book was the eschaton chapter; and that was only because the entire chapter was a big homage and nod to Alfred Korzybski. Remember: "The map is not the territory." P.P.P.S. Allston Rules.
I have to admit that I had a difficult time reading Shakespeare. I just started taking classes for my English major this semester and at first I had a lot of trouble understanding Shakespeare’s plays, but now I’m almost done with the semester and I understand most of what is going on. It definitely was rewarding!
Shakespeare was a playwriter - some advice? you should be better off watching a play than reading it. (granted, you need good acting company to get the most out of it)
Of course you should. You need a frame of reference when you do anything; ride a bike, running a race or reading a difficult book. Just do it. If it’s confusing, start in the middle of the book with no expectations.
The most difficult work I've read so far would definitely fall to either Suttree or Blood Meridian. When I'm sitting there getting rock-hard admiring the language of some beautiful passage, I can never help but wonder what I might be missing. But that is certainly what has scared me away from Joyce. Thanks for pointing us toward Re:joyce, I'll be looking into that particular podcast.
Gravity's Rainbow kicked my ass the first time I read it, and yet so far it has been the ONLY book that seriously tempted me to start re-reading it right after I finished the last page.
Another thing about reading books you don't fully understand: You can go back and re-read them at a later point of you feel you missed out on anything.
I think it's important to know what your goal is before you begin. If you just want to fulfill a reading quota on Goodreads then pick easier books, which many have done (Green Eggs and Ham...really?). However, if your goal is to find something interesting, follow the advice of your favorite author. Every author gives reverence to their favorites and so on. What begins as a goal, turns into a never-ending journey, one that redeems both the undertaking and the challenge. You will soon find that reading can be as addicting as any drug, and your mind will "need" to be stimulated by ideas, not just entertained.
Hey man just subscribed. Found your channel after reading Blood Meridian for about the 50th time and deciding to do exactly what you suggest here, having a look for references, other opinion. I found out some cool things - the whole reference to Paradise Lost in the ex-Priest's story, for example, that being a book I have never read. There's an entire University course out there discussing this and other "allusions" in the work. I went to school for ages but never took an English course so at the very least it was interesting to see what those nuts were up to while I was doing my thing. But I would echo the comment below from Mariella (I actually just noticed it; really) that I've always felt the same way - the books that have truly appealed to and inspired me have done that regardless of whether I "got them" on some other level. Good lord I've read and re-read passages in Blood Meridian countless times, including the gunpowder story and had to put the book down because it hit me so hard; knowing that he was inspired by or is alluding to something else is interesting, but I wonder if knowing that will make it even harder hitting the next time I read it? I remember putting The History of the Siege of Lisbon down 100 pages in the first time, I was so frustrated; then picking it up 5 or 10, I don't know, years later and reading it to the end in a few days and "what was I thinking?!?" So I agree with you, the important thing is to just read, don't NOT read something because you think it's "beyond" you. Unfortunately if I take my own advice that means I'll have to try Pynchon again and I have no idea what the hell that sh*t is all about. Anyway, I love to read and often have a hard time deciding what to read next so I look forward to trying out some of the other stuff you've reviewed which I am not familiar with (before watching your reviews of course). If I can make a suggestion - The War of the End of the World, it's a big big awesome book. Thanks.
I have heard this from students many times. I think that water finds its own level. People will read what they are ready for. I read Anthony Burgess’ “A Shorter Finnegans Wake” this past summer, and I could have avoided it for the rest of my life without any great loss. But you’ve gotta read at least Dante’s “Inferno” for the imaginative scope of the work (there is even a graphic novel based on all three books of “The Divine Comedy”). Great clip, by the way...
RIP War and Peace for me, It's just too hard and I'm 17 😣. Even with supplementary material, I'm too dumb. UPDATE: 1 year later, I still haven’t read it, and I’m studying philosophy in university now. I still think that Locke, Hume, and Descartes are more enjoyable and easy to read than War and Peace.
it's definitely a masterpiece, but there are so many books that are much harder to read. Keeping track of a lot of characters is one thing, but comparing it to Joyce or Pynchon or even some of Faulkner's stuff, it's nowhere near as hard. And that isn't to say it isn't great, I think it's much better than anything Pynchon ever wrote for example, but I don't consider it one of the more difficult books I've read.
How does this only have 91k views i will nvr know. I occasionally come back to this every once in awhile whenever i face a stupidly difficult book thats beyond me. And right now its Dostoyevsky. Thanks for this
I think its a good idea to push trough hard books even if your comprehension of them is not the best. Eventually you’ll pick up the book again already having read it, and with all that experience you will have gained you’ll be able to understand it way better.
Just wanted to say that I first watched this video when it came out in 2015. Upon first hearing of your Heidegger challenge I was instantly intrigued. I ordered a copy of the book and could not get through the first paragraph. I had no knowledge of philosophy at the time so I committed myself to learning its history. Two weeks ago I opened up my old, unread copy of Being and Time and began to read. I am proud to say that I have made it through the first 150 pages without undergoing psychosis. Thanks for the inspiration, Cliff. I've been a viewer since the beginning.
I never got the concept of "difficult books". Umberto Eco's novels have always been lumped in that category, but I've read Foucault's Pendulum over fifteen times now, and loved it each and every time. He's my absolute favorite writer and even though his novels are clever and erudite, I don't find them "difficult". I find them absolutely fantastic. Alternatively, I've read Finnegan's Wake a few times, and read even more things devoted to it, an I'm still convinced that it's an extremely elaborate troll job. I hate that book.
I completely agree with everything you said. I was curious about Ulysses, and found out that it's patterned after the Odyssey by Homer, so I got a copy of the Odyssey and read it. Then I read (sorry-- full disclosure: tried to read) Ulysses. Did it help? Not much, but I did read another classic by Homer: the Iliad. Sometimes you learn more by orbiting a classic than by reading it.
Well spoken sir! I read Ulysys for the first time when I was 17. Didn't understand much of it but I liked to watch the words march over the pages while the beer marched down my throat. Looked damn cool while doing it! Learning is very cool if your drinking beer. I love difficult books, from Capital to the Koran, the thicker the better! It is a bit of masochism on my part I guess. I like to suffer intellectually. Look at ''Beelzebub's tales to his grandson'' by Gurdjieff. It looks and presents itself as a challenge. Nine hundred incomprehensible pages dressed in the Devils red. The writer asks of you to read it three times in the different ways that he prescribes, and only then can one understand it fully. I am reading it for the second time now, out loud, as is the point. The challenge has been taken mister Gurdjieff! Trow it at me motherfucker! I can take it! And for those unfortunate creatures that left ''Capital'' on the shelf because it looked just to intimidating, well, sticks and stones might brake your bones but... Yes, mister ''Better than food'' is right! You have nothing to fear my dear friends who aspire literacy! Words will not harm you, and will not make you stupid, they will just show you that you are. Thank you for the suggestions by the way, they are on my list. But I hardly doubt that any other book than ''Justine'' by Marques du Sade can make me cry, laugh and masturbate at the same time. Better to look at the Disney channel when I want to do that.
I loved the Ninth Gate (movie) and got The Dumas key (book) - that was a mistake. Soooo much talk about the 3 musketeer; it went over my head and soon after the book went over the table.
Also for anyone reading, you shouldn't feel obligated or pressured or that you deserve to be looked upon with contempt for simply not liking some classic books. You read enough it's guaranteed you will simply not like some classics at all, and there's some strength in saying "Yeah I don't like it, it doesn't work for me." You don't have to necessarily shit on it, but don't pretend to like it to not make waves, stand up for your existence. I tried Nabokov, a few of his books, and it just doesn't click. Obivously he is incredibly intelligent and sharp and such. But it just seems like clever whimsy, that *knows* it's clever whimsy so tries to bring the magic out from sheer word and imagery performance. Either way I don't enjoy it, but there's plenty of classics I love love love!
I bought master and margarita thinking i would finish it and end up loving it, but i never finished it because i didnt understand it. I revisit it every now and then and put it back in the shelf having understood it even less. Alas, its a book i love so much(for no particular reason) that the cat in the cover of the book made me love cats when i used to despise them. Ill keep coming back forever until i finish this book satisfied.
When it comes to filosofical works i not sure if it works as well as a romance, since the posterior works requires the understanding of prior job, especially if it is a complex book, because finding a meaning doesnt meant that you got the meaning that the author was trying to portray, so a guide of where to start works wonderfully. I would give a guide that i follow but its in portuguese.
At 16 I read Infinite Jest. Afterward I felt I could conquer any book in the world. The next book was Gravity's Rainbow, which put me in my fucking place.
Hi, found this talk quite inspirational. I have a quick question and am curious as to your opinion on something. It is a bit off topic but I found myself asking this during your video and thought others may have wondered as well. As someone who is into literature but also into convenience (perhaps laziness), would you recommend audio books as a means for tapping into the wealth of knowledge that exists in literature? Or do you think there something about the act of reading itself that creates more opportunity to learn and grow through reading?
Here are some recommendations: The Stranger by Albert Camus, Hard Rain Falling by Don Carpenter, Fatale by Jean Patrick Manchette, The Narrow Road to the Deep North by Richard Flanagan, Ransom by David Malouf. You might like some of those.
When I read literature I usually already know the background of the story or the life of the author. You can Google or search on CZcams about the life of the authors. If it's a non-fiction book I kinda accompany that with TV show or another book that have the same theme.
"Have the courage to face your own stupidity." best advice ever.
This was superb!!
on a daily basis....
Like the french psychoanalyst Jean Charles Bouchoux said : _"If someone tells you you're stupid, say yes."_
There's no shame in supplementing your reading experience, and there's no shame in putting a book down when you don't understand. It can always be picked up again, when you're ready. If, you're ready. We all have books we just don't connect with.
***** Precisely!
You are just so right man. This happened to me with Pynchon a few months ago (maybe December?), but I am completely aware that in a pair of months I might pick it up and love it.
Hey, Justin, thanks for asking the question.
Well said.
Reading difficult books made me smarter, for better or worse, lol.
I'm drunk enough to appreciate your insights.
I'm drunkk enough to say....thank you
+Better Than Food: Film Reviews no really
Thanks a bunch for the elaborate and amazing response! I didn't even dare to hope that a video would be dedicated to it, so this made my week (dare I say: month).
As for your response: I will take it to heart. I think because life is relatively short I'm not going to read every book or watch every movie that I would want to read and see, so I'm diving in the deep asap, and I'm going to try and stop worrying about not understanding. I'll try out being more adventurous and start fucking up in the near future and I'll just see how it goes (and probably eventually with supplementary material, after feeling like a moron for not getting what I read at all).
Justin Scholtze YES! You're very welcome...Maybe a Bolaño quote might be appropriate. I always liked this one...
“Books are finite, sexual encounters are finite, but the desire to read
and to fuck is infinite; it surpasses our own deaths, our fears, our
hopes for peace.”
―
@72039
Thanks for asking questions. Keep reading.
+Justin Scholtze Hey did you ever read Ulysses? I started reading it recently and I'm now about 1/3 of the way through and loving it.
So how did it go
English is not my native language, therefore reading the lord of the rings is not easy for me, but I will not give up since I wanna improve my English and I love the story.
Elias S you got this man✌🏻 tell me how you’re doing with it
Nice choice mate
@@danmaclean3321 thank you dan you just gave me hope✊
I want to like you comment in support, but you are on 69 likes and I dont want to ruin it. But good luck man! It's great read
How have you been keeping up with it man?
This discussion has made a lasting mark on my life. I now read whatever I want, as opposed to whatever I felt safe behind, or capable of understanding fully. What's happened is that I've started learning more and more about who I am and how I think...because if a book cannot fill me (through comprehension) then I end up filling it. I fill these philosophical masterpieces with my own flawed observations. Then - astoundingly - I'm sometimes allowed, through reflection and continued reading, to see my thoughts for what they are: failures to understand the complexity that surrounds me. These books open my eyes unto myself (my inadequacies) and to the world simultaneously. This is a fantastic tool by which I continue to be sanctified. I owe you a great debt, Mr. Sargent. May the hair on your toes never fall out!
I'm 3 years late to your comment but just wanted to add that your 'flawed observations' may actually turn out to be very insightful!
"If a book cannot fill me then I end up filling ng it" - noted
I agree with you a 💯! I feel that the more I read, the more I understand myself which might seem ironic. But beautifully written.
@@nietzschean3138 A little bit of knowledge is a dangerous thing though on the other hand. Misunderstanding something can be dangerous.
I agree, throw yourself in at the deep end, and you will learn to swim for fear of death. Great books rearrange your brain as you read 'em. Great channel BTW. Keep up the good work man.
You're dressed like an H&M mannequin but I'm still gonna sub.
Haha
I have noticed after reading a “difficult” book I can fly through less weighty material.
When I was an angry (no, really, ANGRY) 19 year old, having a brother a history proffessor and his wife a literary theory proffessor, a dad, now gone, rest his soul, a drunk journalist and a big Balzac fan, I found myself wanting to know exactly what this serious literature stuff was all about. I Altavista(ed? (back in the days)) "the best novel" and "the ultimate novel": Ulysses it said and I remembered my dad having this brick "Odysseus av James Joyce" (I'm Swedish) in his bookshelf and thought that will do. Then I went and did compulsory military training in a u-boat for a year. When I got out of that I actually read Ulysses cover to cover in the original English and got mindblown about my ignorance. But it was the best kind of insult. Not saying that Ulysses is the best novel to start with, but if you have that youthful burning heart, "thumos" is what the old Greeks called it, give serious literature a go because it answers all questions almost no living adult, be it a parent or a therapist, is willing to answer... Better than blowing yourself up. A good book is a bomb, Mallarmé said, Stig Dagerman thaught me that! You got me back reading... Just picked up "Submission" by Houellebecq, it's a bomb, no better than a bomb. ;)
+hookedonafeeling100 That was alot of vodka talk... urk
You spell very well for a drunk!
I find it to be comparable with learning a New language. The more of the language you learn, the more you understand. I experienced the same with arthouse films. they are really hard to read until you have watched a lot of them, but then the intruguing part becomes films you still cant understand.
There's a 200+ and on-going playlist "Half-hour Hegel" that does a couple sections of Phenomenology of Spirit in a half hour and discusses them, by my favourite philosophy channel on youtube.
Hello, my name is Pedro, from Chile. I think that your channel it is very interesting and useful. Congratulations. And i was very surprised that someone have readed Bolaños 2666. Bolaño it is a great autor, but it is not well known in Chile (altought it is Chilean), a lot of people think that he is Mexican. It will be very nice if you could make a review of the savage detectives.
Have a nice day, cheers.
Nice! Thank you for your encouragement. It’s frustrating to read something and not have any comprehension. It’s feels like a waste of time, but it actually isn’t because you are getting stronger by building intellectual resilience.
thank you for making me get off facebook and pick up my book. not even necessarily one you have reviewed, but you just make me want to read. merci
It's a great question. In my early 20s I decided I wanted to read "serious" books, and really delved into literature. In high school I was a straight F student in all my English classes, and most others for that matter. I just couldn't give a fuck, was not motivated in any way to care about books. I can't even blame the teachers for being uninspiring, I was just 100% resistant. But as I got older I started to feel sort of guilty, if that's the right word, and wanted to right some of the wrongs of my youth. I realized that I was growing up to be stupid and began to be appalled at my own ignorance., so naturally I felt like reading novels would be the way to turn it around. I had heard of Virginia Woolf and thought I should start there. So I went and checked out The Voyage Out from the library. It was like water in the desert for me. I soaked it in, reveled in it, fell in love with it. I had to keep a post-it note with a list of all the characters and their relations to each other because it was too much to keep straight in my head. But it set me on the path. So here I was thinking I had this Woolf down, I'm going to read The Waves. Yeah, no. But here's the thing, I could not tell you anything about what happens in The Waves, except for what I have read in other books about it, but I did read it. I slogged through, start to finish, I made it, despite not understanding most of it. Now it's been 25 years since then, I am much more well-read and still I'm not sure if I could "get" it the way it's meant to be "gotten." I guess my point is there's benefit from reading, even if you think you're not getting it. After that Mrs. Dalloway was a breeze by comparison.
I don't remember how I wound up to this channel, but allow me to adjust my chair and have a listen. Well done yt, thanks for this.
Just found your channel, love your energy! Something different than the usual book review channels for sure.
I am 14 and finally reading Paradise Lost. I don't understand ANYTHING unless I read the same sentence 5 times. Yet it is an enjoyable experience. I think poetry is something you have to read again and again and churn and chew it in your mind until you absorb all the essence of it. It is perhaps the most challenging book I've read, followed by Lolita (I still didn't complete that book because of the long paragraphs and adjectives.) I hope I complete it by this midterm holidays.
Love this! I did the same thing with Shakespeare, got the versions that came with modern text alongside the original text. Greatly improved my enjoyment... and understanding!
I really appreciate this. One day I decided to attack gravity's rainbow( a novel I still feel that I am not smart enough to comprehend) and have since completed it twice. I still feel like I am drowning fighting to keep my head above the rapids that is a sea of furious text. Yet i am so very glad that I have remain ignorant to my own beliefs. I love that novel, I may miss 90% of what it talks about but something about it keeps causing me to come back to it. I say jump in and don't be scared to drown. Also please do a review of Gravity's Rainbow, maybe you can help my understand why I love it so much because at times I am honestly not sure why I do.
I did get halfway through Gravity's Rainbow years ago. I will give it another go soon. Once you've read Infinite Jest (tip: use two bookmarks, one for the endnotes) nothing scares you anymore.
This is the best motivational speech I’ve heard in a long time
The ending of this vid turned into one of the most inspiring pep talks I’ve ever had
I got into literature for serious when I read Anna Karenina, The Brothers Karamazov and Book of the New Sun so I'd say that you can and should get into hard literature as fast as you can, at least for me.
the metamorphosis by franz kafka
Much in the same sense, I started with Crime & Punishment.
I really like your viewpoint on this topic. Earlier this year I finally got back into reading and created a serious habit for myself. This was jump started by a look into graphic novels, which I fell in love with, reminding me how much I love novels in general. A few years back I purchased Gravity's Rainbow with full intent to read it. I didn't even make it past page 300, not even halfway. After reading about how wonderful this book and Pynchon was in general I decided to buy V and see if I could make it through the text. Reading that book was the turning point for my views on what literature is and can be. Having to work through parts of the novel made me realize that reading was something that is as interactive and perhaps more mentally taxing than a good conversation if done properly. When I finished that book I was left without an understanding of what had happened yet I felt so fulfilled that I wanted to start it over again which I didn't do because I had Blood Meridian and Gravity's Rainbow to tackle. Each one of these books changed my entire perspective on literature and active reading. This made me realize that, to me, reading difficult novels is a way to open literary understanding and re-reading might be more important than the first reading. I have only read a handful of books in my life more than once but I think that's the important thing to do in understanding dense literature. I am currently reading Ulysses and while I don't understand what is happening at all times I enjoy the prose itself, but that's just me, I like words and their usage and rhythm, I suppose others read for different reasons. I apologize if this post is long-winded and lacking in purpose but I appreciate your video and encouragement for people to dive into literature they may not understand at first glance, I think it's important for people to gather perspective and empathy.
2:18 It looked like you almost forgot what he said
You always add from your own experience to the books you read.
Some books 'change' their meaning the more you read them. It's often a good thing to reread a book you read ten-fifteen years ago and see if what you thought you read is still there. I had that a lot with Brave New World. One time I interpreted it as a Utopian novel, one time as a Dystopian novel. The savage character in the book was someone I used to identify with, later on he seemed rather obnoxious. Can't wait to read that book again in ten years.
and youtube now also has the greatest english literature teacher. AMAZING CHANNEL
I actually found Ulysses (incomprehensible references and occasional overlong chapters aside) to be surprisingly entertaining. I'm certainly not incredibly well-read, and I did use an additional text which I used pretty religiously. In general though I found it to be an incredibly awesome and rewarding experience and I look forward to returning to it again later in my life and experiencing it again as at least a somewhat better-read individual. Great video, I'd love to see some Joyce reviews in the future!
I find that (usually after you’ve read the book to avoid spoilers) reading dissertations and thesis paper analyses of books can really deepen your understanding of them. There are also handy resources like LitCharts, of course, but there is often - depending on how obscure the book - a wealth of papers in the form of pdfs and etc. Take Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens for example; I only realised how clever the use of humour was and how Dickens uses it to contrast with dark and depressing moments to make them seem less severe after I read a paper on the topic. Especially for philosophical novels like Brothers Karamazov, there are great resources online.
Thanks for the heads up on Frank Delaney's Ulysses podcast. I like to follow along on Genius while listening to Delaney!
There are so many things to love about this video. It made me lol a couple times, which is not something I do very often during a video.
Just found your channel and I’m excited about it.
Cliff, your answer is just great.
it-s interesting, I came to this video after watching 3 of your more recent ones, and particularly the one on Jung (Modern Man in Search of a Soul); just I find looking at our younger selves brings those questions new light :) In some ways, it is our oldest part! thanks for your channel and for continuing your reviews!
I watched this video atleast 3 times to gain confidence at tackling difficult books and gain courage to face my own stupidity and beat it. Or reassure myself that even if I fathomed less than half of the content of one book, it's fine. Merci beaucoup, tu es une source de support très bénéfique pour tout aspirants intellectuels, je souhaite seulement que ta chaine grandit d'avantage. :)
Listen, my french friend, you should never be intimidated of a bundle of paper with words inked onto them. It won't laugh at you :)
Daniel This is a very simple truth, and, yet, because of how insecure I can be at some instances, truly hard to fathom. Thank you for reminding me. :)
Onyxianz No worries! Everyone feels that way. It's normal :)
agreed. this is like a motivational video.
Well said Cliff, I agree with you on pretty much everything.
Concerning Joyce, specifically Ulysses, I feel it is a book that must be revisited, and I recommend anyone's first reading of it to be with as little help as possible.
I'm not necessarily saying don't use anything to supplement your reading experience, but make sure you don't overdo it, or you may lose the chance to gain anything personal from the book whatsoever.
It's undoubtedly a hard book, but don't sell yourself short. I had to look up the basic narrative of what happened after every chapter but, as I was actually reading it, I just let it wash over me, and while I most definitely felt lost a lot of the time there was the occasional great moment of comprehension.
Save an annotated copy for the second readthrough.
Don't worry if you don't understand everything, I don't think anyone ever will. On a related note, Joyce's last words were supposedly "Why does nobody understand?" and C.G. Jung thought he was most likely a schizophrenic, so make of that what you will.
Do what Mr. Sergeant says and be courageous.
With Ulysses, the penguin student addition really helps. It took me about four tries, but on the last try something clicked and I could appreciate enough and maintain a reading pace fast enough (a few pages an hour) that made it enjoyable. Student edition was great though. Also, cut the reference notes off the back and prop them open. No flipping back and forth.
That is another awesome video with so much substance, thank you !
Regarding difficult books, I feel like "you won't succeed unless you try and you won't try if you don't believe", so we'd better go ahead !
Wanting to educate oneself is already being a little more educated, and going out of one's comfort zone, frightening though it may be, is exceedingly rewarding.
I guess it's about both eating humble pie (i.e not being afraid of facing one's relative stupidity/lack of education) and considering the challenging book not as a mountain to toil up but as a ladder whose bars you'll climb one after the other.
(That being written, I need to roll up my sleeves and read some Pynchon)
Additionally, I liked your definition of a great book : laugh, cry and masturbate, what else do we need indeed ?!
Great video Mr. Sargent!
You always manage to out shine yourself. Great review totally riveting. Will read and dream. It sure is a pity if you have people in your life who don't read. It is such a complete pleasure to hear your reviews!Absolutely great !
+nina virmani Thanks a bunch Nina, very glad you're enjoying it!
I enjoy diving into difficult to get through books.
It reminds me of having a term paper/symposium due and the topic is less than stimulating.
But in the end, coming to a greater level of literary understanding ie; tolerance and grammatical improvement
I spent the majority of my 2 week self-isolation upon returning home during this crazy year reading Infinite Jest. I'm a youngish guy, in my early 20s. I can't say I understood all of it, I will have to read it again at some point, but I am glad I had the experience. This was the first time I was properly challenged by a book and had to give it my full undivided attention to get any level of enjoyment from it, and I loved it.
You just go with the flow... read whatever you want, or can absorb, and you will "evolve" into higher and better reading (according to your abilities and understanding). Getting older helps -- couldn't read Ulysses before I was 60... loved it so much that I took on Finnegans Wake -- would not recommend that to anyone at any age, but I can say I did it (with a guidebook, or two, of course). Going back to Portrait with a new perspective (saw your review of it and got me to subscribe). Carry on, Sir!
So true! I like reading books on physics and am soooo not a scientific thinker, but I like my small moments of clarity that I get when something clicks.
Courageous video, man. Well done.
I recently started reading No Fear Shakespeare and it helps alot. I don't know if they get everything right; but I am learning. Also, I found a book of Dickinsons poems w/commentaries by Helen Vendler that looks like it will be very helpful. It's been a long road on my own and I think I'm finally on a better track. This channel is great too.
No fear Shakespeare used to be all available nline for free when I was a kid and that alongside Shakespeare without the boring bits really helped to cement a love fo Shakespeare that I grew to have when I was older.
Good morning from Southern CA, sir--
Just wanted to drop you a line to say how inspiring this particular video has been. I'm a stage actor/director, with a BA in Theatre Arts, with a professional training certificate in Physical Theatre. Many actors, like many readers, find themselves daunted by the complexity or intensity of the roles they want but are too afraid to audition for. It's only disheartening until they're encouraged, nay--practically beaten over the head with pep-talks and "You Got This" moments. But quite literally, the only way to do something is to DO IT, and that's what I enjoyed most about what you said. If you think you can't, then reach out for help, get supplemental material, watch others in their take, read up on the history, etc. Don't be afraid. (Well, BE afraid, but do it anyway!) Thank you kindly for the reminder!
A Fan,
Kit
Great video. It really made me rethink some things...
Man, I'm Brazilian and I have been learn English, so I love your videos, congratulation and thanks for help me
Have the courage to fuck shit up is hands down the most insightful statement i've heard in a while. Especially since i've been fucking shit up royally recently. ;)
you were really honest about it professori thanks a lot
Sometimes having something like York Notes is good to supplement one's reading. Of course, these help books are limited in what they offer but they can sometimes launch one into deeper inquiries. They also offer alternative follow up reading resources ir critiques.
With every book I read, I have aged 100 more years in my small eternity of a life. Ever since I graduated college I have been reading non-stop the greatest classics and have tried to understand every single piece to the fullest of my ability. I hope I will continue to read as much as I have as of late! Thank you for an excellent video, sir!
When I was younger, Joyce's "The Dead" and The Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man were highly influential texts for me. Honestly, I enjoyed about the first hundred pages or so of Ulysses before I got bored. Furthermore, Finnegan's Wake to me seemed more like an extended version of Lewis Carroll's Jabberwocky poem. Still, ironically enough, I consider Joyce one of the greatest influences on me as a reader and writer.
The thing about actual learning that people have to understand is that it is completely relative. For example, there are highly influential and famous physicists who couldn't give a flying fuck about fiction. Similarly, there are many writers who couldn't give a flying fuck about physics. Is that to say one is right and one is wrong? Of course not. It is simply a different way of perceiving reality.
As the infamous magician Aleister Crowley once stated: "It is the mark of the mind untrained to takes its own processes as valid for all men, and its own judgments for absolute truth." There is no one way to correctly live. Culture is "a way" of life, not "the way" of life. And "a way" is certainly not one for all. Hell, according to many Taoists, thinking in itself is a useless exercise since existence itself in innately absurd, making the pseudo-scientific philosophies we construct utterly meaningless (see Alan Watts for more).
If you want an accurate version about how people learn, look to educational theory that focuses on studying children (before they are behaviorally indoctrinated by societal ideologies). The thing we learn about children is that they learn through play and interaction. In other words, we learn by fucking around with things that we don't understand in order to understand more about them. Historically, the majority of inventions that humanity has come across were discovered on accident, and were usually just an end result of people messing about with things. As Adam Savage once said: "The difference between screwing around and science is writing it down." The thing about play (for scientists as well as children), however, is that it is a natural process, and is, first and foremost, one that is fun. As Borges one said: "If you're bored, lay the book aside. Don't be taken in by the writer being famous or being modern or being ancient. Read what you enjoy. And only read what you enjoy. If not, the whole thing is meaningless." I'll stick to that for now.
P.S. Sorry for the long response. I take no responsibility. I blame the craft beer(s).
P.P.S. Did you just say you read Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace in less than 6 hours? My God, man! Truth be told, the only chapter I liked from that book was the eschaton chapter; and that was only because the entire chapter was a big homage and nod to Alfred Korzybski. Remember: "The map is not the territory."
P.P.P.S. Allston Rules.
C.J. Cala who are you😂😂
I really enjoyed reading this comment
Awesome! You just said that what I wanted to listen.
I have to admit that I had a difficult time reading Shakespeare. I just started taking classes for my English major this semester and at first I had a lot of trouble understanding Shakespeare’s plays, but now I’m almost done with the semester and I understand most of what is going on. It definitely was rewarding!
Shakespeare was a playwriter - some advice? you should be better off watching a play than reading it. (granted, you need good acting company to get the most out of it)
First video I watched of yours - immediately put it on my favourites playlist!
Of course you should. You need a frame of reference when you do anything; ride a bike, running a race or reading a difficult book. Just do it. If it’s confusing, start in the middle of the book with no expectations.
The most difficult work I've read so far would definitely fall to either Suttree or Blood Meridian. When I'm sitting there getting rock-hard admiring the language of some beautiful passage, I can never help but wonder what I might be missing.
But that is certainly what has scared me away from Joyce. Thanks for pointing us toward Re:joyce, I'll be looking into that particular podcast.
That 'have courage to face your own stupidity' advice is awesome, can be applied to every aspect of your life
You’re a humble and intelligent man. Open, honest. More intelligent than you let on I
think.👌
My thoughts on your video... Great question, great answers, cool shirt, read more !
7:25 I needed to hear that. Thank you.
Gravity's Rainbow kicked my ass the first time I read it, and yet so far it has been the ONLY book that seriously tempted me to start re-reading it right after I finished the last page.
Hey, great video :)
Would be suuuuper interested in a book tour
Another thing about reading books you don't fully understand: You can go back and re-read them at a later point of you feel you missed out on anything.
I think it's important to know what your goal is before you begin. If you just want to fulfill a reading quota on Goodreads then pick easier books, which many have done (Green Eggs and Ham...really?). However, if your goal is to find something interesting, follow the advice of your favorite author. Every author gives reverence to their favorites and so on. What begins as a goal, turns into a never-ending journey, one that redeems both the undertaking and the challenge. You will soon find that reading can be as addicting as any drug, and your mind will "need" to be stimulated by ideas, not just entertained.
Hey man just subscribed. Found your channel after reading Blood Meridian for about the 50th time and deciding to do exactly what you suggest here, having a look for references, other opinion. I found out some cool things - the whole reference to Paradise Lost in the ex-Priest's story, for example, that being a book I have never read. There's an entire University course out there discussing this and other "allusions" in the work. I went to school for ages but never took an English course so at the very least it was interesting to see what those nuts were up to while I was doing my thing. But I would echo the comment below from Mariella (I actually just noticed it; really) that I've always felt the same way - the books that have truly appealed to and inspired me have done that regardless of whether I "got them" on some other level. Good lord I've read and re-read passages in Blood Meridian countless times, including the gunpowder story and had to put the book down because it hit me so hard; knowing that he was inspired by or is alluding to something else is interesting, but I wonder if knowing that will make it even harder hitting the next time I read it? I remember putting The History of the Siege of Lisbon down 100 pages in the first time, I was so frustrated; then picking it up 5 or 10, I don't know, years later and reading it to the end in a few days and "what was I thinking?!?" So I agree with you, the important thing is to just read, don't NOT read something because you think it's "beyond" you. Unfortunately if I take my own advice that means I'll have to try Pynchon again and I have no idea what the hell that sh*t is all about.
Anyway, I love to read and often have a hard time deciding what to read next so I look forward to trying out some of the other stuff you've reviewed which I am not familiar with (before watching your reviews of course). If I can make a suggestion - The War of the End of the World, it's a big big awesome book. Thanks.
Great advice!
Once must work to get better at something.
I have heard this from students many times.
I think that water finds its own level. People will read what they are ready for. I read Anthony Burgess’ “A Shorter Finnegans Wake” this past summer, and I could have avoided it for the rest of my life without any great loss.
But you’ve gotta read at least Dante’s “Inferno” for the imaginative scope of the work (there is even a graphic novel based on all three books of “The Divine Comedy”).
Great clip, by the way...
RIP War and Peace for me, It's just too hard and I'm 17 😣.
Even with supplementary material, I'm too dumb.
UPDATE: 1 year later, I still haven’t read it, and I’m studying philosophy in university now. I still think that Locke, Hume, and Descartes are more enjoyable and easy to read than War and Peace.
Fuck that. Crack it back open. You got this.
it's not hard it's just long, the prose is very straightforward
Vseslav Botkin
The prose is straightforward, but not only is it too long, the number and complexity of characters is incredible.
it's definitely a masterpiece, but there are so many books that are much harder to read. Keeping track of a lot of characters is one thing, but comparing it to Joyce or Pynchon or even some of Faulkner's stuff, it's nowhere near as hard. And that isn't to say it isn't great, I think it's much better than anything Pynchon ever wrote for example, but I don't consider it one of the more difficult books I've read.
I come from two smart reader parents, my dad gave me war and peace while I was in 4th grade. Still haven't gotten past page 40.
I'm happy to discover your videos.
And I like your canines. :D Rawr.
How does this only have 91k views i will nvr know. I occasionally come back to this every once in awhile whenever i face a stupidly difficult book thats beyond me. And right now its Dostoyevsky. Thanks for this
I think its a good idea to push trough hard books even if your comprehension of them is not the best. Eventually you’ll pick up the book again already having read it, and with all that experience you will have gained you’ll be able to understand it way better.
just ordered the phenomenology of spirit, dude, I will spend a fortune well spent thanks to you
Just wanted to say that I first watched this video when it came out in 2015. Upon first hearing of your Heidegger challenge I was instantly intrigued. I ordered a copy of the book and could not get through the first paragraph. I had no knowledge of philosophy at the time so I committed myself to learning its history.
Two weeks ago I opened up my old, unread copy of Being and Time and began to read. I am proud to say that I have made it through the first 150 pages without undergoing psychosis. Thanks for the inspiration, Cliff. I've been a viewer since the beginning.
Thanks for watching man.
I never got the concept of "difficult books".
Umberto Eco's novels have always been lumped in that category, but I've read Foucault's Pendulum over fifteen times now, and loved it each and every time. He's my absolute favorite writer and even though his novels are clever and erudite, I don't find them "difficult". I find them absolutely fantastic.
Alternatively, I've read Finnegan's Wake a few times, and read even more things devoted to it, an I'm still convinced that it's an extremely elaborate troll job. I hate that book.
This is some way of putting things!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Love this video!!!!!!!!
I completely agree with everything you said. I was curious about Ulysses, and found out that it's patterned after the Odyssey by Homer, so I got a copy of the Odyssey and read it. Then I read (sorry-- full disclosure: tried to read) Ulysses. Did it help? Not much, but I did read another classic by Homer: the Iliad. Sometimes you learn more by orbiting a classic than by reading it.
Well spoken sir! I read Ulysys for the first time when I was 17. Didn't understand much of it but I liked to watch the words march over the pages while the beer marched down my throat. Looked damn cool while doing it! Learning is very cool if your drinking beer.
I love difficult books, from Capital to the Koran, the thicker the better! It is a bit of masochism on my part I guess. I like to suffer intellectually. Look at ''Beelzebub's tales to his grandson'' by Gurdjieff. It looks and presents itself as a challenge. Nine hundred incomprehensible pages dressed in the Devils red. The writer asks of you to read it three times in the different ways that he prescribes, and only then can one understand it fully. I am reading it for the second time now, out loud, as is the point. The challenge has been taken mister Gurdjieff! Trow it at me motherfucker! I can take it!
And for those unfortunate creatures that left ''Capital'' on the shelf because it looked just to intimidating, well, sticks and stones might brake your bones but...
Yes, mister ''Better than food'' is right! You have nothing to fear my dear friends who aspire literacy! Words will not harm you, and will not make you stupid, they will just show you that you are.
Thank you for the suggestions by the way, they are on my list. But I hardly doubt that any other book than ''Justine'' by Marques du Sade can make me cry, laugh and masturbate at the same time. Better to look at the Disney channel when I want to do that.
I loved the Ninth Gate (movie) and got The Dumas key (book) - that was a mistake. Soooo much talk about the 3 musketeer; it went over my head and soon after the book went over the table.
This was wonderful!
My God I love your channel.
Also for anyone reading, you shouldn't feel obligated or pressured or that you deserve to be looked upon with contempt for simply not liking some classic books. You read enough it's guaranteed you will simply not like some classics at all, and there's some strength in saying "Yeah I don't like it, it doesn't work for me." You don't have to necessarily shit on it, but don't pretend to like it to not make waves, stand up for your existence. I tried Nabokov, a few of his books, and it just doesn't click. Obivously he is incredibly intelligent and sharp and such. But it just seems like clever whimsy, that *knows* it's clever whimsy so tries to bring the magic out from sheer word and imagery performance. Either way I don't enjoy it, but there's plenty of classics I love love love!
I bought master and margarita thinking i would finish it and end up loving it, but i never finished it because i didnt understand it. I revisit it every now and then and put it back in the shelf having understood it even less. Alas, its a book i love so much(for no particular reason) that the cat in the cover of the book made me love cats when i used to despise them. Ill keep coming back forever until i finish this book satisfied.
When it comes to filosofical works i not sure if it works as well as a romance, since the posterior works requires the understanding of prior job, especially if it is a complex book, because finding a meaning doesnt meant that you got the meaning that the author was trying to portray, so a guide of where to start works wonderfully. I would give a guide that i follow but its in portuguese.
At 16 I read Infinite Jest. Afterward I felt I could conquer any book in the world. The next book was Gravity's Rainbow, which put me in my fucking place.
Always read the Intro last!!
“You can’t fuck up forever” hahaha
It’s like an exponential curve... starts slow as hell but then takes off.
Hi, found this talk quite inspirational. I have a quick question and am curious as to your opinion on something. It is a bit off topic but I found myself asking this during your video and thought others may have wondered as well. As someone who is into literature but also into convenience (perhaps laziness), would you recommend audio books as a means for tapping into the wealth of knowledge that exists in literature? Or do you think there something about the act of reading itself that creates more opportunity to learn and grow through reading?
Sir, thank you very much!
is it just me or this guy actually look like bradley cooper
It's not just you.
It's just you and the 1 person commenting above me.
You're right on that BC resemblance.👍🏽💕💖🤗
He looks like Bradley Cooper at certain moments and certain angles.👍🏽👍🏽😊😊
He does!
Man, i love your channel!! great reviews. I recomend you "On heroes and tombs" by Argentinian writter Ernesto Sabato. Abrazo from Argentina!
GenderBenderable Awesome! Please stick around, I will check out Sabato, gracias!
Doing some reasearch about the hard novel you're about to read bedore reading it usually helps a little.
Here are some recommendations: The Stranger by Albert Camus, Hard Rain Falling by Don Carpenter, Fatale by Jean Patrick Manchette, The Narrow Road to the Deep North by Richard Flanagan, Ransom by David Malouf. You might like some of those.
When I read literature I usually already know the background of the story or the life of the author. You can Google or search on CZcams about the life of the authors. If it's a non-fiction book I kinda accompany that with TV show or another book that have the same theme.
This channel is awesome.