"Prententious" literature- do you read it?

[Axolotl]

Hp Lovecraft? Pretentious? Umm, scientology anyone? that's his fucking religion and it's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard of.

What on earth are you talking about?

On Topic: I'm currently reading Franz Kafka's The Trial, yes I do read "pretentious" literature.

 

[Shadowfaze]

Have you ever Read Mervyn Peake's Gormenghast Trilogy, Outright Villainy? thats the same sort of deal- he ended up in an asylum gibbering shortly after he finished it.

 

[Woodsey]

Yesterday my father found me reading my HP Lovecraft compendium, and declared it "far too prententious" and for "well educated people" and reminded me that i am neither prententious or educated. Then, he caught me reading Nietzsche's Beyond good and evil, and just laughed. Do you read this sort of thing? Do you consider people who do 'highbrow', or educated? personally i think my father is a fool, but i'd like some opinions on this particular style of literature. Yeah, i'm in a funny mood, hence the wordiness.

Hp Lovecraft? Pretentious? Umm, scientology anyone? that's his fucking religion and it's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard of.

...

Please say you're not saying what I think you are.

 

[Shadowfaze]

Yes, you shouldn't read "pretentious" literature, you should only read things like twilight, that have a 3rd grade reading level, because it's better for our society that you be a mindless git who only knows how to spend money.

Your father is a moron.

I like to read "pretentious" literature sometimes. I've read Dante's Devine comedy a few times, and over the summer I read War and Peace. Personally, I like to read works that are widely referenced so that I can get the damn references, and find deeper meaning in the media that I see.

A well thought out and intelligent response. Also, You read War and Peace so you gain +1 respect from me.

 

[Lord Mountbatten Reborn]

Lovecraft isn't pretentious at all. I think if you were reading Joyce, and you were actually saying you enjoyed reading it, then I might call you pretentious, but not for something like Lovecraft.

Yeah, the OP's Dad scares me if he thinks Lovecraft is pretentious. Sure, his vocabulary is sexilicious (yes, I love the words used - I'm weird that way), but his work isn't littered with purple prose all the time. I agree about James Joyce too. I read some of "A Portrait of the Artist..." and declared out and out that he was as pretentious as hell.

 

[newfoundsky]

:/ Get more supportive parents.

 

[Thaius]

Anyone who considers that sort of literature to be "pretentious" is simply too stupid to understand it, and wants to somehow give it a negative meaning so they feel better about themselves. Not to say everyone should read an enjoy it, but calling it "pretentious" is just stupid.

 

[deadxero]

So you're father thinks that because a book is old... it's pretentious? You're lucky that the apple, apparently, fell a good distance from the tree. Don't let you parents, or anyone, hold you back.

 

[Lord Mountbatten Reborn]

I don't make a point to do it, but I guess I do occasionally read books that others would consider pretentious. Seems pretty silly to call literature pretentious just because it's not as simple to understand as 'Spot Goes To School' or something.

I don't consider others who read similar books to be pretentious either, although I do have respect for people can read War and Peace. Every time I see someone with that book, I feel like dropping to my knees and begging them to tell me how they can bear it.

I'll have you know that "Spot Goes to School" was a brilliant social commentary, laced with nuances of satire and symbolism. A must-read.

And when it comes to War and Peace, I'd say, unless you can read Russian, which would be great, that it all depends on the translation. Sadly you can never truly replicate the author's exact words, but some do very well at getting close to the meaning.

All in all though, it's a very good book. Not as good as "Spot Goes to School" but, hey, we can't all write works of genius.

 

[MurderousToaster]

Yesterday my father found me reading my HP Lovecraft compendium, and declared it "far too prententious" and for "well educated people" and reminded me that i am neither prententious or educated. Then, he caught me reading Nietzsche's Beyond good and evil, and just laughed. Do you read this sort of thing? Do you consider people who do 'highbrow', or educated? personally i think my father is a fool, but i'd like some opinions on this particular style of literature. Yeah, i'm in a funny mood, hence the wordiness.

Hp Lovecraft? Pretentious? Umm, scientology anyone? that's his fucking religion and it's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard of. Either way, it sounds like your dad's a bit of a jock, which makes me instantly hate him, and personally I don't read smart books, I stick to fantasy, mostly the stuff by David Eddings.

Spoiler: HP Lovecraft

Spoiler: L. Ron Hubbard

One of them invented Scientology, the other died before it was invented.

 

[Lord Mountbatten Reborn]

Hp Lovecraft? Pretentious? Umm, scientology anyone? that's his fucking religion and it's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard of.

I think you're thinking of L. Ron Hubbard instead.

Did anybody ever think that H.P. Lovecraft looks like the Welsh guy in Zulu?

 

[Pills_Here]

Yesterday my father found me reading my HP Lovecraft compendium, and declared it "far too prententious" and for "well educated people" and reminded me that i am neither prententious or educated. Then, he caught me reading Nietzsche's Beyond good and evil, and just laughed. Do you read this sort of thing? Do you consider people who do 'highbrow', or educated? personally i think my father is a fool, but i'd like some opinions on this particular style of literature. Yeah, i'm in a funny mood, hence the wordiness.

Hp Lovecraft? Pretentious? Umm, scientology anyone? that's his fucking religion and it's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard of. Either way, it sounds like your dad's a bit of a jock, which makes me instantly hate him, and personally I don't read smart books, I stick to fantasy, mostly the stuff by David Eddings.

I'm pretty sure Lovecraft wasn't a scientologist, seeing as he died about 15 years before L. Ron Hubbard wrote Dianetics, let alone actually tried to make it a religion.

On topic though, read whatever you damn well feel like. I've found most people who call literature pretentious don't read much of it. That being said, I've been known to read classics for the sole purpose of claiming the higher ground amongst those not as well read and THAT certainly makes me pretentious, I make not arguments about that.

 

[Keava]

Considering i did enjoy James Joyce's Ulysses apparently i am pretentious, also i read and enjoyed Kafka, Tolstoy, Dostoyevsky, Sallinger, Camus and many others. I should be a queen of being pretentious. Bow before me inferior mortals.

Then again, i also like 'normal' fiction, it all depends what im in mood for, but i guess my parent's were normal in that regard and even supplied me new 'pretentious' books every now and then when i was young.