It's a very strange and happy coincidence that The Algorithm should bring me this video. I've always found disorientation to be one of the most valuable (and often oddly pleasant) experiences literature and art in general can give me - so I'm often drawn to very esoteric work, precisely because I *don't* get it. You've articulated a lot here that I was never quite able to put into words.

Excellent video! You captured most of my thoughts and feelings on the subject. I read Gravity's Rainbow for the first time last summer (well, I read it from May-October, but anyhow). I absolutely cannot claim to "understand" it, and I don't even know how to begin trying to describe or summarize it. At the same time, I feel compelled to call it my favorite book; I don't think any other book has had such a huge effect on me as both a reader and a writer. I credit my increasing love of "difficult" books to reading poetry. Once I found poets and poems that really hit me, I realized that I often (even usually) didn't know what I liked about them so much, they just...hit. Once that realization settled in, the doors of literature blew off the hinges. I started reading Lispector, Pynchon, Joyce, etc.--I still don't claim to "get" all or even most of it, but I always come away from these books with a sense of growth and enrichment. Currently about halfway through Ulysses, and as difficult as it is, I'm so glad I finally picked it up. Cheers.

Getting fancy with the editing are we, Mr. Big Britches?

you made me understand more about my not understanding moments and feel less stupid, thanks keep going. “He opened his eyes only to see that he was in a mid 20th century theatre, the night sky with all its stars was the only roof the theater had, which made him feel naked and defenseless. there was no one else there, so he thought whatever will be played on the stage will be for him, or he is the actual stage. The play started but his breathing stopped, eyes wide open like they try to escape from the prison of his skull, he saw a man. He could see him hoping from leg to leg, enjoying himself, physique like a thin man, but the curvature of his spine, the dark hairy hands and foot could tell you that this build is a mixture of man and monkey, a white T-shirt that tucked into a black tracksuit pants would make you think of a generic employee or an accountant, but the head was a fish that played the flute which he was dancing so warmly to it. In his left hand he held a doll, except the head looked like of a human baby that stitched to the body of the doll, Then in his chest through the T-shirt came out a snake, long and upside down with two very very small humanoid hands, it smiled a venomous smile. He tried to stand up and run, but he was shocked of his doll like body that did not follow his command, he could feel stitches on his neck, imprisoning his mind in this body.”

Beautiful video. I’ve been starting to embrace understanding less in books, led by Malazan and even more so Gene Wolfe.

one of my favorite channels rn, amazing video

I loved the video. Thank you for putting so much effort into making it.

A truly amazing and beautiful video!! I completely agree that we sadly don't look at art for what it is, nowadays it feels that art has to have a specific meaning that is super comfortable and easily understandable for everyone to just feel safe and warm from it's lack of interpretation, I believe that this only dumbs us down as people, because art should be anything you manage to get from it or from what you've got that the artist is trying to tell you. a piece of art that can pull you in and from which you can pull new more profound meaning each time you consume/interact with it, is the most meaningful and the best experience one can have with art, it can feel like a conversation or like a mirror in which you get to observe your own ideas of why you even got the first impressions you did and it feels like a piece of our collective human experience. I think that art at its best should be something that is a piece of us and something that grows with us as we do with it!

Thank you for this 🖤

One year I read Infinite Jest, Gravity’s Rainbow and The Recognitions. Rather than feeling completely disheartened by the density and (often) the lack of a concise plot, I embraced all of it and realized that, maybe, the writer wanted to show the reader how our train of thought and the dialogue noise (typical for postmodernism literature) often interrupts our attempts at constructing a linear narrative (both in life and in literature. In short: I accepted and connected with the “vibe instead of story” concept and found value in constructing my own corresponding vibe while reading, realizing that it really isn’t about the plot from the very beginning. I couldn’t tell anyone very much about the plot in Gravity’s Rainbow, but I vividly remember being shocked by certain lascivious depictions, being amazed at Pynchon’s spot on definitions of war and enamoured by his poetry in the 2nd half of the books. After all, post WW2 and during the cold war, people began to be all in their heads and I think that challenging literature is challenging mostly because it mirrors it back to us.

Excelente. Sin saberlo, fue así como me enamoré de los libros de Borges, tan llenos de cultura, filosofía y mitología, siendo muy niño y con tan poco conocimiento de esas materias. Has abierto una enorme biblioteca para la cual pensaba que no estaba preparado.

Well reading a book is a journey ain't it? Some journeys are more challenging than others, but that same challenge can make the experience better in the long run. I recall struggling through Les Misérables as a young teen because I liked the musical. I cannot say I retained all that Victor Hugo intended the reader to come away with. It was still a very memorable experience for me though.

I prefer to think of them as uncomfortable Books. Cause when I read them I usually end feeling deep anxiety and discomfort. Because a lot of the time I likely don't understand what I am reading a lot of the time. So now I enjoy them for what they are whatever that may be.

Depois que li água viva, minha perspectiva acerca do tempo mudou completamente. A beleza de Clarice está justamente nas entrelinhas. Não é difícil por ser pragmático. Pelo contrário. É difícil por sua subjetividade e distintas compreensões. Esporadicamente eu penso que eu deveria ler esse livro de novo, concomitantemente eu tenho certeza que nunca vou ter a mesma experiência da primeira vez. Muito bom ouvir falar de Clarice por um não falante do português. Nice job dude.

I've never thought about this aspect!

I'm a big dumb-dumb, do you think i could still enjoy "challenging" books? I've read the Road, didn't get the message, but i still enjoyed reading it.

Thank you. There's seldom I come across a video essay about literature that resonate with me as much as this did. As a person who greately enjoys "getting lost" and being disoriented, to the point one of my favorite things is journeying alone to unfamiliar places where the locals speak languages I don't know and have oblique cultural practices I don't recognize. Life is a puzzle, and trying to figure it out is the greatest fun. Whether you succeed or not, that's just an afterthought.

I really like this video but just want to raise my hand and say the background grinding noise took away from it

What a beautiful video, first time I see your channel, your usage of that ambient music is I think what caused me to find this video so mesmerizing, about that what is the name of the piece of music you used as background throughout the video? I feel it very moving

Thank you. Clarice is my favorite brazilian writer.

Is that Harry from the hit game Disco Elysium?

I didn’t understand Agua Viva AT ALL. I tried to a couple years ago when i read it but it mostly flew over my head. Oddly enough i couldn’t help but like it and feel compelled by the book. But i will give it another shot regardless perhaps a few years from now. Thanks for the video. It was an interesting perspective.

I have severe add, but the idea behind the video is focus on enjoyment of something, in this case books and less on trying to understand something?? Also is it considered ironic that I’m trying to gain understanding from a video stating you don’t have to understand??

*decides to read Finnegan's wake

Subtlety is not dead, even though it feels like it is these days.

😍🤩

I really wanted to watch this video. But the audio is hurting my ears.

got jumpscared by my own voice 🙂‍↕️

The chirping sounds are pretty annoying. The rest of the videos is great 👍

The background chirping noise is too high pitched and grates against my ears, making this video unwatchable for me.