The Reading Room

Rand al'Thor

12:13 AM

@PrinceNorthLæraðr Depending on which stats you want, you might be able to get your info from just one page.

200+ new messages in this room since I went AFK for a few hours. North and bobble are turning tRR into the new tSL :-P

bobble

is that a bad thing?

also, what did you expect from two teenagers in an online chatroom?

Prince North Læraðr

@Randal'Thor Hehe

Tsundoku

12:45 AM

Jeffrey Kahan: Shakespeare and Superheroes. Amsterdam University Press, 2018.

Tsundoku

1:00 AM

> It was a brute part of them to acquit so capital a calf.

bobble

Would this be quote-source instead of identification-request?

Tsundoku

I'd say quote-source.

bobble

I've edited it, and must away for a while now.

Tsundoku

1:18 AM

@PrinceNorthLæraðr Esperanto SE has also become rather quiet.

Oh, another attempt to start Sanskrit SE.

Napoleon Wilson

@Tsundoku No

Tsundoku

:-(

I'll follow bobble's example; I'll be away for a while.

Prince North Læraðr

1:37 AM

As in, you should sleep?

Bookworm

3:02 AM

0

Q: "Cease, cows, life is short" - what does it mean?

Cease, cows, life is short is a quote from the One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez. It is a phrase that Aureliano Segundo says in Chapter 17, and is later written on his coffin. Any thoughts on what the phrase (specifically, the word cease) could mean in the context? Some tran...

Sciborg

I don't know about you, but "Cease, cows, life is short" just sounds like a god-tier shitpost.

verbose

5:50 AM

@Tsundoku I actually disagree. It's a major work. After Gulliver's Travels, it's Swift's best-known piece of writing, and it remains hugely influential. I don't think the fact that it's short should be determinative.

@PrinceNorthLæraðr Oh god, he's gonna synonymize poetry with poems and poetries isn't he. Somebody stop him

@PrinceNorthLæraðr Someone else got suspended?! Whoa. Seems to be happening a lot of late. Or is this just a general query?

bobble

@Randal'Thor I appear to have gotten all my ducks in a row for the timeline answer. With some reasonable assumptions, the main story (from Fiver's vision to defeating Efrafa at the Honeycomb) takes ~80 days. Answer should be out tomorrow or the day after, depending on how much dithering I do over formatting.

Bookworm

7:34 AM

-6

Q: can someone Make My Assignment?

I am looking for someone who can make my assignment. If you know any Assignment writing service please let me know.

poetry theory

Mithical

7:45 AM

@verbose this edit is spam and shouldn't be approved literature.stackexchange.com/review/suggested-edits/11022

@Bookworm this question was also spam

CowperKettle

got my second shot of the vaccine

Mithical

congrats!

CowperKettle

A couple of weeks, and I should have antibodies

verbose

8:01 AM

@Mithical you're right

apologies

@CowperKettle fantastic!

verbose

8:36 AM

@CowperKettle Not to mention that Bill Gates can now track your every move!

CowperKettle

9:09 AM

@verbose Vladimir Putin, in my case, because I got the Sputnik V vaccine ))

Rand al'Thor

9:21 AM

@bobble Great! I noticed that there's a big gap of uncertain time between their doeful return to Watership and the Efrafan assault, so impressed if you managed to estimate that with any accuracy.

I also noticed, to my surprise, that the whole last phase of the story, the Efrafan assault on Watership, only lasted less than 24 hours.

verbose

@CowperKettle They're the same person. Nobody has ever seen them both in the same room at the same time.

Rand al'Thor

@CowperKettle Congrats!

Tsundoku

10:25 AM

@verbose They also haven't been seen together with Elvis Presley and Mao Zedong. The plot thickens ...

@verbose I know it's very well-known, but the same applies to "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day".

@Bookworm Voters showed no disdain for this question, so it went HNQ.

verbose

@Tsundoku That's a false equivalence. A famous lyric that's part of a longer sequence doesn't merit its own tag just because we've already determined that composite works get one tag. Also, nobody publishes "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?" as the chief work in a collection.

"A Modest Proposal", on the other hand, is frequently published both as a stand-alone pamphlet (which is how it initially circulated) and as the chief work in a collection.

Tsundoku

I know it's not a good comparison. But current policy is based on length, that was what I actually wanted to say.

Tsundoku

10:49 AM

@CowperKettle May your immunity skyrocket ;-)

verbose

@Tsundoku ooh very clever! haha

Tsundoku

The cow is of the bovine ilk;
One end is moo, the other, milk.
— Ogden Nash

verbose

12:18 PM

Life goals: to open a topless restaurant called Towers of Ilium and to serve author-themed food there. Quinoa Achebe, for example.

Rand al'Thor

A restaurant without a roof? Or a restaurant where everyone goes topless?

verbose

12:33 PM

@Randal'Thor At least in the US, a topless restaurant is one where the servers keep their upper bodies bare. Not required of patrons.

Rand al'Thor

12:45 PM

William Shakespepper and Chipstopher Marlowe.

verbose

@Randal'Thor Indeed

Tsundoku

@verbose Or W. V. O. Quinoa?

You could also serve more philosophical food, such as Frankfurter School sausages and B. Russell sprouts.

Eggs Benedict Spinoza, Popperoni pizza with Gyges onion rings, Ock-ham with parsleymony, ...

verbose

Now we're cooking

Tsundoku

Guests can finish eveything off with Merleau(-Ponty) blanc.

verbose

Or the grapes of wrath and a clockwork orange

Tsundoku

12:54 PM

There would also be a selection of Socra-teas and desserts to be chosen from the Sweet Trolley Problem.

And Hegel bagels and Ryle bread.

And don't forget Alain Fourneau's Le Grand Marnier.

Omelette à la Chèquespierre.

Toast Caliban.

Rand al'Thor

And by the side of each plate a small rigma-roll for those who feel it's all a bit too much.

Tsundoku

Alexandre Dumas’s Magnum Opus Was a Massive Cookbook.

Chateaubriand steak may have been named after the author François-René de Chateaubriand.

Sep 16 '20 at 20:48, by Tsundoku

Topic challenge: books with "cheese" in their title.

To Brie or Not to Brie etc.

verbose

@Tsundoku Would A Brie-f History of Time qualify?

Tsundoku

@verbose Diners will be de-Brie-fed about the quality of the food before leaving the restaurant.

Rand al'Thor

What kind of cheese do you use to get a bear out of a tree?
Come-on-bear (Camembert).

Tsundoku

1:08 PM

LOL

Don't let anyone named Claudius serve the wine!

@verbose And Wilhelm Tell apples.

Tsundoku

1:47 PM

Kentucky Freud chicken, Babel fish and canard à l'orange mécanique.

2

b_jonas

2:41 PM

@PrinceNorthLæraðr No, we speak German and Russian, except for Frenchmen, who only speak French.

Question about children's books. Which book of Christine Nöstlinger should I read?

Librarian

3:06 PM

0

Q: How do we ensure that questions on this site attract scholars and enthusiasts?

Intro: Building our Community Our tour says that we aim to be "a question and answer site for scholars and enthusiasts of literature." I'm definitely an enthusiast, and I have a fair bit of scholarly training. And there are many other users on here whose scholarship and enthusiasm are evident fro...

discussion

bobble

@Randal'Thor I actually just estimated the whole thing to be 30 days, but that is based on some educated guess about how long various things take... would you like explanations of that in the answer?

Rand al'Thor

3:22 PM

@Librarian I suspect @GarethRees will have some thoughts and counterpoints on the issues raised in this meta post ...

Thank you @verbose for a well-written question starting an interesting discussion!

I don't think I fully agree with your answer, but I'll try to put some thoughts together clearly in comments and maybe an answer of my own. It's certainly a discussion worth having, though.

@bobble Sure, I'm interested in both the known things (X happens the day after Y) and guesstimated things (Z probably takes around N days), as long as the difference between them is clearly indicated.

Some bounds can probably be set by the occasional mentions of human months (I think August is mentioned at one point, and maybe other months too).

bobble

I have a section for "timeline variables" and could stick it there.

Rand al'Thor

Also, @bobble, I think there's a little shout-out to you at the end of the first paragraph of verbose's meta post oneboxed above :-)

bobble

As for absolute positioning, there is mention of "June", "June becoming July", "August", "October", and a full moon - of I remember correctly

Rand al'Thor

> Scholar isn't restricted to those credentialed, of course; someone who, for example, painstakingly reads and re-reads a novel to establish its timeline is a scholar whether or not she has an academic degree.

bobble

Aww <3

Oh, there's also a mention of "Thursday", but that's probably not very useful

Rand al'Thor

3:28 PM

A single full moon or day of the week isn't very useful without knowing an exact year, which we don't.

bobble

I'm on my phone but will update my doc once I get back to computer

Rand al'Thor

Two or more mentions of moon phases could help to fix things more firmly.

Prince North Læraðr

@Sciborg Bwahahaha

@verbose No, it was just a general comment from the year of moderation meta page

@Sciborg Damn it borg, your new profile page keeps on making me think it's Mith who's talking!

bobble

The story starts in "May" and ends in late "August" (given that six weeks afterwards is "October"). Which is why I felt comfortable estimating about 80 days, though the true count may be higher.... must re-run my numbers

Prince North Læraðr

Story?

bobble

3:35 PM

Watership Down

And "end of story" is the end of the Efrafan assault, as that's about the latest event I can be confident about timing

Rand al'Thor

Another ingredient for @verbose and @Tsundoku's restaurant: Watershipcress salad.

bobble

(it's not the last event, because Campion and some other survivors arrive back at Efrafa precisely on "the afternoon of the following day". But I filed that under my "later events" section since it's not connected to the main plot)

Rand al'Thor

@bobble Yeah, after that everything gets rather vague and general, "happily ever after" style.

After the departure of the General, the story becomes more general :-P

Prince North Læraðr

@verbose How about dessert? We need some good (Winston) Graham Crackers

Sciborg

@PrinceNorthLæraðr imposter music plays

Prince North Læraðr

3:46 PM

'borg sus, vote him out

Sciborg

we don't even know what gender i am, that's very sus

Prince North Læraðr

Oof

Sciborg

i could be anything

obvious imposter

Prince North Læraðr

Duh

Tsundoku

@Sciborg A sock? ;-)

Sciborg

3:48 PM

even..... a sock

Prince North Læraðr

gasp

Not the sock!

Sciborg

but one of the cute fuzzy ones

how has your day been, North? :)

Prince North Læraðr

Just started

I got up like thirty minutes ago to walk my dog :P

Sciborg

Aww :p

Prince North Læraðr

I don't have school today!

I also didn't have school on Friday :P

Sciborg

3:56 PM

Oooh nice! is your school on a break?

Prince North Læraðr

Nah, just Lincoln's Birthday and President's Day

I go back to school tomorrow

Sciborg

Ah, nice. I don't remember my school counting those as holidays so i don't think we ever got those off. Lucky :p

it's currently an active blizzard in Michigan and i had to push a snowdrift off my car, made me miss having snow days

bobble

North: "Snow days? What snow days?"

Tsundoku

North isn't from the North.

Sciborg

dang Californians and their lack of snow

bobble

4:01 PM

There are places in California that get snow (it's a big state!) Just not soCal.

Look at my geography knowledge

Very useful

Sciborg

mutters angrily in midwesterner

Mithical

hey, I got half a millimeter of snow a couple weeks ago!

Sciborg

;-;

bobble

don't be sad, birdy

pat pat

Mithical

*pats cold DM*

Sciborg

4:05 PM

birdy's hair and fingers are still partially frozen from scraping off windshield

Tsundoku

@Bookworm Is this question about spurious Mark Twain quotes really about literature or the credulity of internet users about things that look like quotes?

Mithical

16

Q: Should we embrace non-Googlers?

Common Stack Network policy is to embrace non-Googlers. The Stack Exchange wants to be a place Google sends folks, not a place that sends folks to Google. Unfortunately, many sites and some of our users feel the downvote reason "does not show any research effort" is synonymous with "did not try ...

discussion down-votes

31

Q: Who are the experts? Not us. We've grown a philosophical bezoar - let's work this through!

Buckle up, this is gonna be a journey. We're pretty early into the site's existence. Things are rolling along nicely. We're hanging around a whopping 45 questions a day, and we've got the rocky foundations of a meta going. But we're going to run face-first into a deep, structural problem with t...

discussion scope

20

Q: How will we avoid literature snobbery?

Literary analysis, and literature in general, is prone to a lot of cliquish cross-subject sniping and condescension. Bardolatry and the Authorship Question, the validity/dignity of [romance novels/YA lit/ebooks/whatever], One True Wayism with regard to critical lenses, self-publication and vanity...

discussion etiquette

32

Q: Our site can be cold, unforgiving, and unapproachable. We're driving people away. What should we do about it?

This is shaping up to be a bit more of a rant than I meant it, but this is a serious problem, and I'm growing increasingly frustrated. I feel this is something we need to explore. A good community is an ongoing dialogue. Right now, our dialog is poisoning interactions and pushing people away. ...

discussion

Sciborg

"cliquish cross-subject sniping and condescension" is a fun tongue-twister, at least

Tsundoku

Those meta questions (i.e. the three first ones) date from the site's first month in public beta. It's worth rethinking our approach to low-quality questions.

Mithical

Sure, but it's also worth keeping in mind what was said last time around.

bobble

4:10 PM

Dropping the links into a comment on the meta Q may be called for

Mithical

probably a good idea, if I had the head to formulate a comment now

in Tavern on the Meta on Meta Stack Exchange Chat, 17 mins ago, by Mithical

Bus 5/7 for the day...

Sciborg

aw :(

Mithical

4:29 PM

@Sciborg anything BESW writes is going to be full of fun things like that

Sciborg

It's a very insightful meta post, reading through it. When you ingrain something into your identity, it feels much more like a personal attack when someone challenges it.

> Folks have a tendency to take what they like and equate it with who they are.

This is a good thing to keep in mind for entering a discussion in general, really.

Tsundoku

5:17 PM

"How will we avoid literature snobbery?" How much literary snobbery have we actually seen in recent years?

What should we do about snarky comments denigrating specific works? I can remember only one recent example.

And I don't quite see how attracting scholars would increase such comments.

Prince North Læraðr

5:35 PM

How you liking those back-to-back snowstorms?

@bobble "Snow days? What's snow?"

Jk, I've seen snow from Korea :P

Tsundoku

Psychoanalysis has been applied to literature. Pierre Bayard asks whether literature can be applied to psychoanalysis (in French).

Bookworm

5:56 PM

0

Q: Meanid of "daring it to tackle her. It paid her no attention"

This text is from The children's bach by Helen Garner They laughed. Vicki watched them closely, ready to be included in their amusement, to roll her shoulders in scepticism as they did, but they pretended not to see her and turned back to their contemplation of the street outside. In a minute on...

meaning the-childrens-bach helen-garner

Tsundoku

@Bookworm @PrinceNorthLæraðr Check Working Verse in Victorian Scotland: Poetry, Press, Community.

Prince North Læraðr

It's... in German

Tsundoku

The book is in English. If you want the Google UI in English, try replacing google.de with google.com in the URL.

Prince North Læraðr

Hehe, I just read the excerpt, and that's pretty funny

"It's not bad or good poetry, it just wasn't poetry to begin with"

Tsundoku

6:29 PM

So, @Gallifreyan, what do you think of the aftermath of the deluge?

Gallifreyan

@Tsundoku It certainly didn't make things easier for Gilgamesh

Prince North Læraðr

I always feel like there's a bunch of literary puns going over my head

Tsundoku

@PrinceNorthLæraðr See the flood and Gilgamesh.

Prince North Læraðr

Ah, I see. i figured it was related

Tsundoku

9:25 PM

P.K. Balakrishnan and Jayalekshmy P.K.: Battle Beyond Kurukshetra: A Mahabharata Novel.

Tsundoku

10:19 PM

@Bookworm I have tweaked this Othello question a bit and undeleted it.

> "you can lead a horse to a library, but you can't make it read" (Rand al'Thor on Meta).

Prince North Læraðr

Hehe

Tsundoku

You can lead a cat to the library but it will eat the books.

I have just found out there is an SE chatroom named The Graveyad. Not a living soul there ...

Rand al'Thor

@Tsundoku *dog

Tsundoku

@Randal'Thor Cats aren't better. Wait until I find a poem about that :-P

Rand al'Thor

10:36 PM

@Tsundoku In that room it seems you can put emojis in tag names ...

Tsundoku

Hmm, "John Steinbeck was once forced to ask his editor for additional time due to half the manuscript of Of Mice and Men having been eaten by his Irish setter." (The dog ate my homework)

Rand al'Thor

room topic changed to The Reading Room: Welcome to chat for literature.stackexchange.com! — Read any good books lately? [authors] [books] [intentions] [my-god-its-full-of-stars] [💧🚢⬇️🐇]

^ @verbose

Tsundoku

The Cat Ate My Gymsuit.

bobble

10:55 PM

Would this be theme or interpretation or something else? Is it too broad?

Would this be name-significance and/or inspiration?

Should bobble do homework instead of worrying over tagging?

(answer to the last question: indubitably)

Tsundoku

@bobble I tend towards interpretation. It's not very obvious from the question.

@bobble I'd say inspiration

@bobble But I'll go to bed, so you can do your homework. ;-)

Would we still consider the question What books should you read to fully grasp “The Rebel” by Albert Camus opinion based? I'm sure the list is finite.

Now really going to bed, though.

Rand al'Thor

11:13 PM

@Tsundoku I'd consider the title question opinion-based, but the body contains the kernel of a more objectively answerable question, so a good edit might rescue it.

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