what is your literature weakness or soft spot?

[cacian]

we all have a soft spot or a weakness in literature.
mine is humour followed by humour. nothing beats a good laugh out loud when reading.

what is yours?

[mona amon]

Me too - humour. Also I love a good love story. :)

[Shevek]

Satire.

[cafolini]

My inability to stand on my hands and pee toward the sky to take a bath.

[cacian]

Satire.

great word. does satire relate to sarcasm?

[Darcy88]

Tragedy.

[Forgewright]

Satire refers to the use of sarcasm. It will show the targeted subject's short comings strange behavior. Satire also uses humor and exaggeration. A satire is also a genre name for books or movies that use satire.

Forgewright

[Dark Muse]

Dystopia

[hawthorns]

Stylistic prowess. Just finished Lolita. It's all downhill from here :biggrin5:

[hypatia_]

Dystopia

Mine is utopian lit. Although, I like dystopian as well because it does just as good a job at describing what the world should be like!

[Dark Muse]

Mine is utopian lit. Although, I like dystopian as well because it does just as good a job at describing what the world should be like!

I have always found the thought of a utopian existence to be incredibly boring. I like dystopia becasue I enjoy being distrubed.

[Shevek]

I have always found the thought of a utopian existence to be incredibly boring. I like dystopia becasue I enjoy being distrubed.

What about those cases when it is difficult to tell whether the setting is utopian or dystopian? Isn't the interesting thing about a utopia the fact that it is so prone to becoming a dystopia?

[cacian]

I have always found the thought of a utopian existence to be incredibly boring. I like dystopia becasue I enjoy being distrubed.

why do you enjoy being disturbed Dark Muse?

[cacian]

What about those cases when it is difficult to tell whether the setting is utopian or dystopian? Isn't the interesting thing about a utopia the fact that it is so prone to becoming a dystopia?

so are you saying that they interlude and therefore the two extremes are similar?

[Shevek]

so are you saying that they interlude and therefore the two extremes are similar?

Particularly in a utopia there is the looming possibility that it might become a dystopia - that the ideals the utopia is based on might be abandoned. The hippie movement attempted to achieve utopian ideals in practice, but in some cases created more internal restrictions and controls on adherents (especially women). This is something a few people within the movement recognized. Science fiction is very good at addressing this problem, but I guess the most popular example of this would be Animal Farm where a dystopia is already emerging from the promise of utopia.

In other cases the utopia/dystopia binary is less clear. In Brave New World, it is ambiguous whether the seemingly utopian world is actually dystopian.

I don't know of any intellectuals or movements (fictional or otherwise) that envisioned utopia for its own sake, without the undertone that humanity (or at least some segment of it) is doomed unless a utopian course is pursued.

[YesNo]

I prefer comedy. I'm reading Peter Mayle's A Dog's Life at the moment and find it about as deep as I want things to get.

[ChicagoReader]

I'm a sucker for war narratives, both fiction and nonfiction.

[Calidore]

Sideways thinking, new angles. A different way of looking at something or a different approach to something.

Kind of like Steven Wright does with his comedy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=ITo_Ugq9bbo

In other words, creativity that feels like it tweaks my creativity when I'm exposed to it.

[Dark Muse]

What about those cases when it is difficult to tell whether the setting is utopian or dystopian? Isn't the interesting thing about a utopia the fact that it is so prone to becoming a dystopia?

Yes that is true, from a reading standpoint it can be interesting. And I think the purpose of dystopian literature is demonstrate why utopias are a bad idea, because they can so easily go so very wrong.

But I never felt a desire to want to live in a utopian world.

[Dark Muse]

why do you enjoy being disturbed Dark Muse?

I do not know if I can provide a tangible explanation for that. I am a horror fanatic, and even as a kid I always had a macabre side to me. I am drawn to the darker things in life, and the darker sides of ourselves. In part it is because I find that the darker side of things is far more fascinating then goodness. Also distributing literature (and other art forms) tend to be more unconventional, it has less restraint in following a certain expected format. Stories with happy endings are usually predictable, they do not really challenge society or the way people think, but conform to expected, conventional ideals. Things which disturb me also make me think.

[Darcy88]

Also adventure stories, like Don Quixote and Candide.

[hypatia_]

Yes that is true, from a reading standpoint it can be interesting. And I think the purpose of dystopian literature is demonstrate why utopias are a bad idea, because they can so easily go so very wrong.


I think it's more they are unattainable due to human nature. But I think utopian lit can make you think just as much as dystopian.