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What a preposterous article, everyone who reads HN comments has learned that anything other than non-fiction is 'fake,' offers only the heavy-handed opinion of
by antiterra 13y ago
What a preposterous article, everyone who reads HN comments has learned that anything other than non-fiction is 'fake,' offers only the heavy-handed opinion of the author and is a waste of time to read.
But really, while I am struck by how apt the idea of The Odyssey as a parallel to imprisonment is, it's not so surprising that Homer would resonate. It's not self-absorbed academic stuff, it's gritty human drama. The Iliad is more gruesome and brutal than your average Tarentino film-- perhaps even more harrowing as it constantly introduces people who are neither bad guys or good guys just as spears shatter their teeth or pulse in their dying hearts.
- larve 13y agothis is what took me a long time to realise, and was really in part due to schooling. All the classics are about gritty human life, about the pain and joys of life and death. One teacher managed to bring that over, the rest transformed these great works of literature in dull grinding and rote learning.
- norswap 13y agoI disagree. Fiction is surprisingly good at making one think about his own life. It allows us to live vicariously experiences we never could have in our own life, and I think that leaves the reader a little bit richer and wiser.
- saraid216 13y agoI'd suggest you read the Malazan Book of the Fallen. Or watch The Wire.
- antiterra 13y agoI'd suggest you read A Modest Proposal. Or watch The Colbert Report.