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[faustandfurious]

Basic rules for analysing fiction, an incomprehensive list jotted down in a hurry:

The protagonist isn’t always right

The protagonist isn’t always good

The protagonist isn’t always written to be relatable or likeable

The narrator isn’t always right

The narrator isn’t always good

The narrator isn’t always telling the truth

The narrator isn’t always the author

The protagonist’s moral compass, the narrator’s moral compass and the author’s moral compass are three entirely different things that only occasionally overlap

Pay attention to what characters do and not just what they say

Pay special attention when what the characters do is at odds with what they say

A lot of the time the curtains are blue for a reason. If they aren’t, you should read better books

#i'm clearing out my drafts and found this sitting there #faust.doc #this sure has become one of my absolute worst viral posts in how much brainrot people put in the replies

[faustandfurious]

Still remember when a homo- and transphobic acquaintance tried to bring up JKR’s views on trans people in conversation and I shut it down with «oh yeah she’s been saying a lot of dumb shit on Twitter after she finished writing Harry Potter, like when she claimed Dumbledore was gay, just to be politically correct», which made it absolutely impossible for him to admit that he agreed with anything JKR had ever said. Sometimes you just have to weaponise people’s homophobia against their transphobia.

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[faustandfurious]

One of the most important survival skills as an adult is internalising the idea that other people being rude or dismissive towards you for no apparent reason, is most often a reflection of their problems (shitty attitude, bad day, work stress, family stress) and usually has nothing to do with you.

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[faustandfurious]

Absolutely love Hamlet Act 4 Scene 5 where Horatio enters the room along with the Queen and the Gentleman who explains about Ophelias madness, stands there for a while without saying anything, then leaves right after Ophelia. Horatio, why are you even there? What’s going through your mind? Why does everyone who isn’t named Hamlet literally ignore you in every scene? Why didn’t you mention Ophelia’s madness to Hamlet when you guys met up in Act 5? I have so many questions.

#hamlet #faust.doc #the perks of being a wallflower etc etc

[faustandfurious]

«Here’s the one book everyone should read before they die» *bites you* here’s one book written by an author with a specific viewpoint shaped by time and place and circumstances, here is another book written from the exact opposite viewpoint, here’s a war memoir, here’s a peace memoir, here’s the philosophical treatise which inspired the first author, here are dry facts, here are the human fates behind the dry facts, here’s a book that will not teach you kindness unless you’re already inclined towards kindness, here’s a book that will teach you nothing but small sorrows and vague melancholia, here’s the Northern Lights written on paper, here’s a marriage broken, here’s a marriage healed, here’s the case against marriage as an institution, here’s a poem you have to read at least five graeco-roman classics to understand, here’s the unfinished novel that could have been the greatest work of literature ever written if completed, here’s the history of the world as we know it, here’s the book telling you everything not mentioned in the history of the world as we know it, here’s the critique of teleological history, here are five thousand books you should read just to begin chipping away at the surface of human experience

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[faustandfurious]

Booktok drama about some author posting a video calling anyone who rates a book less than 3 stars an asshole because of the work authors put into writing, editing and publishing their books. Buddy, I spent six years in medical school and I don’t get participation awards for doing a lousy job with patients. The time and effort you spent on doing something isn’t worth much if you still suck at doing it. And that’s not even taking into account how everyone is allowed to have their subjective opinions about art and literature that don’t even have to correlate with the quality of said art and literature. Just log off Goodreads already and go write your books.

#pouring salt #faust.doc

[faustandfurious]

The idea that fiction should be educational, also plays into a larger trend of people acting like literature has to justify its existence by imparting some valuable lesson to the reader or being beneficial to social morality, and that any work of literature which doesn’t do these things, has no right to exist.

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[faustandfurious]

People seem to take my «you should read better books» as «you should read Books That Are Certified Highbrow By The USAmerican Educational System instead of Books That Are Fun To Read» when I’m literally setting the bar for «better books» at «the author has, in fact, put conscious thought into choosing the words that go in the story»

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[faustandfurious]

My one major struggle when reading Russian literature is that I get so stressed out whenever a character makes stupid decisions involving money, like please, Rostov, don’t gamble away forty-three thousand roubles, my blood pressure is rising here

#faust.doc #war and peace #can’t wait to read the gambler lol

[faustandfurious]

I don’t think I’m very likely to join a cult. Not due to any kind of inherent capacity for critical thinking, but simply because of severe commitment issues. Oh, you want me to go to regularly scheduled Cult Meetings? How about I just stop showing up with zero explanation because I got overwhelmed by the idea of having a scheduled weekly activity restricting my freedom to lounge on the sofa with a book I may or may not make any progress with reading? Do you have any idea how many sports teams and hobby groups I’ve slow faded from?

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[faustandfurious]

Diversity win! The former US president is somewhat reluctantly bi in a letter from the 1980s

#faust.doc #didn’t have bi obama on my 2023 bingo card but honestly good for him

[faustandfurious]

The specific brand of «therapy language» that’s crept into wellness and self-help culture and by extension into every piece of contemporary zillennial «self-aware» literature, is just navel-gazing by another name, and while this isn’t the hill I’m willing to die on, I’m at least going to put up a fight here.

#faust.doc #pouring salt

[faustandfurious]

I don’t believe in the whole feng shui idea of energy flow etc, but at a certain point “this way of designing your living space attracts negative energy” and “this way of designing your living space looks like shit and complicates your everyday life” are almost the same thing

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[faustandfurious]

Clothes I want to wear: Fugly, oversized garments someone donated to the Salvation Army after your grandpa died

Clothes that are professionally appropriate for me to wear in most settings: Not That

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[faustandfurious]

Yes, I’m looking for a book that fits my very specific mood. No, I don’t know what that specific mood is, but I’ll know as soon as I find a book that fits it.

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[faustandfurious]

the urge to dress like a 1940s Oxbridge professor vs the urge to dress like a Måneskin band member vs the urge to dress like Aragorn son of Arathorn, Isildur’s Heir and King of the Reunited Kingdom of Arnor and Gondor

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