Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

The Great Gatsby is the most misunderstood novel (2021)

bbc.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

101–110 of 182 posts

Re: The Great Gatsby is the most misunderstood novel (2021)

#101

Post by agumonkey »

auntienomen wrote: post #69

No wonder Gatsby is frequently misunderstood: Most people won't have the experience needed to understand it until they're in their 30s, but we prescribe it for high schoolers year after year.

I had similar questions regarding middle/high school literature studies. So many, so many ideas were out of reach from my soul when I was 15 (say the social contract by Rousseau). But maybe that was just emotional/existential immaturity on my part. Maybe some pupils, arguably a few, really had the maturity to connect with these themes. Maybe also, previous generations were more mature early on. I believe that in mathematics, in the 70s, it was expected to learn abstract algebra in high school, it college.

Re: The Great Gatsby is the most misunderstood novel (2021)

#102

Post by Mikhail_Edoshin »

The meaning of "The Lord of the Rings" would be something like that: if you somehow got some dark skill (say, you're a good liar) then the only way to save you from becoming a slave of the Dark Lord is to get rid of that skill. You cannot use that skill "for good", because each time you do that the Dark Lord gets closer. The journey would be long and even if you manage to get to the end, it may still be hard to lose that skill: it is a part of you and losing it would be as easy as losing a finger.

Now let's see how we understand that meaning. Oh! We play endless sessions of Dungeons & Dragons! Here's a sword +4 and here's a cursed shield -2!

Re: The Great Gatsby is the most misunderstood novel (2021)

#103

Post by tormeh »

snet0 wrote: post #53

I hate this sentiment. The book isn't "about" a thing in particular, neither does it "mean" any specific thing. It may have been written with some ideas in mind, and there may even be overt indications as to those ideas. Everyone has their own relationship with each and every piece of art, and may sometimes choose to include the artist and/or their intentions, but may also choose to exclude them. The article even dis…

If the meaning of the book and the intention of the author diverges then the author has done a bad job.

If you can interpret a book however you want, what's the point of reading? I can just reject the author's intended meaning and substitute my own, but I can do that without reading at all, so why bother?

Re: The Great Gatsby is the most misunderstood novel (2021)

#104

Post by anal_reactor »

yanhangyhy wrote: post #67

Personally, aside from Russian literature, I now prefer American literature, which I think is underestimated in China. I really like that film adaptation, but what the film expresses is something else, not the same as the novel’s core theme. My own understanding is that American literature has at least three themes that are very distinctive and different from Europe(or other countries). One is the depiction of desola…

> Because you feel as if they lack nothing, yet they seem like empty shells: their lives are filled with commodities, and all their actions seem stripped of a spiritual dimension.

This is exactly the situation I am in. I really really don't know what to do.

Re: The Great Gatsby is the most misunderstood novel (2021)

#105

Post by normie3000 »

yanhangyhy wrote: post #88
normie3000 wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> My own understanding is that American literature has at least three themes that are very distinctive and different from Europe... Another is ... relentless struggle I feel like Russian literature touches on this.

I think there is, but not as stark as in the U.S.—the worldly success versus the spiritual “lack” is less contrasted.

Sorry - I was messing around by selectively misquoting you. Giving more of your original context:

> where people achieve success through relentless struggle

In my limited experience of Russian literature, the struggle doesn't lead to success!

Re: The Great Gatsby is the most misunderstood novel (2021)

#106

Post by yanhangyhy »

anal_reactor wrote: post #104
yanhangyhy wrote: post #67

Personally, aside from Russian literature, I now prefer American literature, which I think is underestimated in China. I really like that film adaptation, but what the film expresses is something else, not the same as the novel’s core theme. My own understanding is that American literature has at least three themes that are very distinctive and different from Europe(or other countries). One is the depiction of desola…

> Because you feel as if they lack nothing, yet they seem like empty shells: their lives are filled with commodities, and all their actions seem stripped of a spiritual dimension. This is exactly the situation I am in. I really really don't know what to do.

For me, I often have similar feelings. However, I have enjoyed reading since I was a child, so I usually know how to pass the time. There are countless excellent works, both novels and nonfiction, that one could never finish reading.

Re: The Great Gatsby is the most misunderstood novel (2021)

#107

Post by yanhangyhy »

normie3000 wrote: post #105
yanhangyhy wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think there is, but not as stark as in the U.S.—the worldly success versus the spiritual “lack” is less contrasted.

Sorry - I was messing around by selectively misquoting you. Giving more of your original context: > where people achieve success through relentless struggle In my limited experience of Russian literature, the struggle doesn't lead to success!

> In my limited experience of Russian literature, the struggle doesn't lead to success!

There is a meme comparing different countries’ literature:

France: “I would die for love.” England: “I would die for honor.” America: “I would die for freedom.” Russia: “I will die.”

The harsh climate and scarce resources in Russia prevent it from producing something like the American Dream. People there seem to be more pessimistic.

Re: The Great Gatsby is the most misunderstood novel (2021)

#108

Post by lababidi »

anal_reactor wrote: post #104
yanhangyhy wrote: post #67

Personally, aside from Russian literature, I now prefer American literature, which I think is underestimated in China. I really like that film adaptation, but what the film expresses is something else, not the same as the novel’s core theme. My own understanding is that American literature has at least three themes that are very distinctive and different from Europe(or other countries). One is the depiction of desola…

> Because you feel as if they lack nothing, yet they seem like empty shells: their lives are filled with commodities, and all their actions seem stripped of a spiritual dimension. This is exactly the situation I am in. I really really don't know what to do.

Figure out what is important to you. Just listen and don't force it. Don't feel guilty or shameful of where you are; it's ok. Be present in your feelings including the difficult ones.

Re: The Great Gatsby is the most misunderstood novel (2021)

#109

Post by gmac »

tormeh wrote: post #103
snet0 wrote: post #53

I hate this sentiment. The book isn't "about" a thing in particular, neither does it "mean" any specific thing. It may have been written with some ideas in mind, and there may even be overt indications as to those ideas. Everyone has their own relationship with each and every piece of art, and may sometimes choose to include the artist and/or their intentions, but may also choose to exclude them. The article even dis…

If the meaning of the book and the intention of the author diverges then the author has done a bad job. If you can interpret a book however you want, what's the point of reading? I can just reject the author's intended meaning and substitute my own, but I can do that without reading at all, so why bother?

This is essentially why I didn’t do English Lit at uni (which had been my initial thought).

Up to age 18 I did well at English Lit by discovering that the more outlandish and fabricated the things I wrote, as long as I could find some tenuous hook for them, the more ‘sensitive’ I was praised for being for detecting them in the work.

In other words, everything was true and nothing was true.

I worry that the same is roughly true at university level, but with added social layers of what’s currently fashionable or unfashionable to say, how much clout you have to push unusual interpretations (as an undergrad: none), and so on. But perhaps I’m wrong?

Re: The Great Gatsby is the most misunderstood novel (2021)

#110

Post by anal_reactor »

lababidi wrote: post #108
anal_reactor wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Because you feel as if they lack nothing, yet they seem like empty shells: their lives are filled with commodities, and all their actions seem stripped of a spiritual dimension. This is exactly the situation I am in. I really really don't know what to do.

Figure out what is important to you. Just listen and don't force it. Don't feel guilty or shameful of where you are; it's ok. Be present in your feelings including the difficult ones.

I want to be not fucking lonely.
Post reply on HN