The Reading Room

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bobble

12:40 AM

It is about an allusion to a myth

4 hours later…

Adam Burke

4:15 AM

Congrats on the beta graduation all

6 hours later…

Rand al'Thor

9:47 AM

@Bookworm Perhaps the parents were paranoid of HNQ attention.

@Bookworm HNQ referred to by allusion.

9 hours later…

Tsundoku

6:45 PM

One of the Winterbash hats that looks challenging on our site is "Spotless" (Description: "Write a perfect question the first time"). Try writing a question that does not get edited by bobble, Rand al'Thor or me! ;-)

Mithical

My last question would qualify. ;)

Alex

@Mithical I'm now tempted to edit the "da"s to "la"s or vice versa.

Tsundoku

@Alex Too late. The question is nine days old :-P

Spagirl

7:16 PM

@Tsundoku I’m my own worst enemy on that. I don’t proof-read well so usually edit my own stuff at least twice.

Tsundoku

Oh, I've been there too.

See ;-)

Spagirl

Also, I don’t write questions

bobble

Q: Sci-Fi Short Story - Life Saving Weight Loss

I recall a short story I read in High School. We read it in English class so it was likely published in an anthology intended for use in schools. (This was in Scotland in the 1970's if that helps.) The story begins, I think, with a robot being programmed to collect, from a certain planet, an exam...

What's this, then? :D

Tsundoku

A question that you haven't edited yet? ;-)

Rand al'Thor

8:13 PM

@Tsundoku I have a question from three days ago that I found the answer to myself, but getting 5 upvotes will be a challenge.

(that's for another hat, I don't remember its name)

Bookworm

8:39 PM

Q: How to read with a critical perspective?

I'm a beginner reader, and I'm trying to both improve my language and become a good critical. So how can I develop my sense of criticizing because I still can't describe well the weak points of either a book or movie. I can't write a critical review.

literary-criticism

Tsundoku

@Randal'Thor It may be an even bigger challenge during Winterbash than during the rest of the year.

There are a lot of kinds of critical perspectives - any particular flavor you're more interested in? What lens do you want to examine stories through? — bobble 2 mins ago

^ Possibly, that is one of the things the OP wants to find out?

bobble

Do you mean to omit "what"?

Tsundoku

Also, literary criticism is not about finding the weak points in a book. Perhaps that is what book reviewers do.

bobble

In the end, it's a minor clarification that I don't need to see answered, but I feel the question is missing something. Not that I could name what it's missing, so my attempt to engage in a dialogue is in order to figure out where they're coming from

Tsundoku

The question is ambiguous in the sense that may be both about (a) how to read for criticism / a review and (b) how to write criticism or a review. This is on top of the vagueness in the term "critic".

And regardless which aspect is meant, the answer tends to be covered in book-length works.

bobble

8:49 PM

Q: The newer close reasons don't account for questions that are too general and require lengthy answers

There are some questions that are incredibly broad. These used to be closed under the "too broad" reason, but that went away. These questions now fall right between two of the new categories: Needs details or clarity Please clarify your specific problem or add additional details to hig...

discussion vote-to-close close-reasons too-broad answer-length

I'd love to CV as Needs More Focus but the text of the reason is getting in the way

Tsundoku

The question should also focus on a specific genre - novel, play, short story, lyrical poem, epic - since different genres tend to require different approaches, at least for literary criticism. Different genres are described using different sets of literary terms.

I think I'll try to condense that into a comment.

bobble

Please do

Tsundoku

9:05 PM

Done.

Thankee

:-)

Smiley?

Do you prefer "You're welcome"? I've been told that sounds old-fashioned.

Or 'Don't mention it"?

bobble

How about "awkward smile"?

That's what I do in "real life" :)

Tsundoku

9:10 PM

Is there a smiley for that?

bobble

I do not keep up with the latest emoji/emoticon conventions

Tsundoku

Oh, I wasn't even thinking of emojis. Can't type them on this computer anyway. Unlike 汉字.

How do people pronounce O'Brien's name in Nineteen Eighty-Four? As rhyming with Ian or with lion? ("People" here refers to native speakers of English, not to characters in Orwell's novel.)

bobble

I read it as "O'Brian", to be honest, thus "lion", but upon noticing the "e" I feel compelled to switch allegiance to "Ian"

Tsundoku

In real life, Dara Ó Briain, for example, is pronounced /ˈdɑːrə oʊ ˈbriːən/ / DAR(R)-ə oh BREE-ən.

@bobble Switch allegiance? The Party might not like that ;-)

bobble

10:11 PM

@Tsundoku they've edited the question and I'm not sure it is an improvement. Thoughts?

Tsundoku

10:36 PM

Unfortunately, it's not much of an improvement, since it's still too broad. The only clarification it's that it's not about literary criticism in an academic sense but more about reviewing.

And the "reading" aspect has been removed :-(

bobble

I have attempted a further comment