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Proto-existential themes in the work of the early Romantics

Posted: Sat Sep 06, 2008 10:44 am
by Napoleon Ier
Discuss.

Re: Proto-existential themes in the work of the early Romantics

Posted: Sat Sep 06, 2008 10:51 am
by Neoteny
I just shit my pants.

Re: Proto-existential themes in the work of the early Romantics

Posted: Sat Sep 06, 2008 10:53 am
by Napoleon Ier
Neoteny wrote:I just shit my pants.
Ahh yes, I also missed Neoteny and his aphorisms...what was it suggs once said that incidentally so aptly describes your outburst: "Blakean in conception, Swiftian in delivery".

Re: Proto-existential themes in the work of the early Romantics

Posted: Sat Sep 06, 2008 10:55 am
by Timminz
Somebody's trying to get CC to write their paper for them....

Re: Proto-existential themes in the work of the early Romantics

Posted: Sat Sep 06, 2008 10:58 am
by Napoleon Ier
Timminz wrote:Somebody's trying to get CC to write their paper for them....
You insult me. If I had a paper to write on this, do you really think I would come demand ideas from the gormless proletarians of this stagnant den of ignorance?
Bah! I try to be philanthropic, I try to raise the intellectual level of conversation in this forum, bring the 'light of the flaming torch of knowledge to the darkness of the masses', and I am spurned.

Re: Proto-existential themes in the work of the early Romantics

Posted: Sat Sep 06, 2008 11:00 am
by Neoteny
Napoleon Ier wrote:
Neoteny wrote:I just shit my pants.
Ahh yes, I also missed Neoteny and his aphorisms...what was it suggs once said that incidentally so aptly describes your outburst: "Blakean in conception, Swiftian in delivery".
"I yam what I yam and that's all that I yam."

Nice to see you again, friend. Get tired of Maine?

Re: Proto-existential themes in the work of the early Romantics

Posted: Sat Sep 06, 2008 11:01 am
by Juan_Bottom
Umm..... "They are like a lost puppy....... trying to find their way home...."



Napoleon Ier wrote:You insult me. If I had a paper to write on this, do you really think I would come demand ideas from the gormless proletarians of this stagnant den of ignorance?
Bah! I try to be philanthropic, I try to raise the intellectual level of conversation in this forum, bring the 'light of the flaming torch of knowledge to the darkness of the masses', and I am spurned.
Fart! lol....

Re: Proto-existential themes in the work of the early Romantics

Posted: Sat Sep 06, 2008 11:08 am
by Napoleon Ier
Neoteny wrote:
Napoleon Ier wrote:
Neoteny wrote:I just shit my pants.
Ahh yes, I also missed Neoteny and his aphorisms...what was it suggs once said that incidentally so aptly describes your outburst: "Blakean in conception, Swiftian in delivery".
"I yam what I yam and that's all that I yam."

Nice to see you again, friend. Get tired of Maine?
Nah, Maine was awesome, if a little nippy when it came to the early morning swim, but sadly the start of a new academic year loomed. I did have to certify I wasn't a Nazi/planning to kidnap a US child/a polygamist to get in, but other than that, what wasn't there to like? I mean, your supermarkets sell you anything you could want for basically arse money, including a fucking sniper rifle if it takes your fancy.

Re: Proto-existential themes in the work of the early Romantics

Posted: Sat Sep 06, 2008 11:13 am
by Neoteny
We call them "hunting rifles," but your point stands. Did you get to play with one?

Glad you enjoyed yourself, anyhow.

Re: Proto-existential themes in the work of the early Romantics

Posted: Sat Sep 06, 2008 11:15 am
by Napoleon Ier
Neoteny wrote:We call them "hunting rifles," but your point stands. Did you get to play with one?

Glad you enjoyed yourself, anyhow.
Point is you can still use them on hippies. How's Georgia?

Re: Proto-existential themes in the work of the early Romantics

Posted: Sat Sep 06, 2008 11:18 am
by Backglass
Someone has an inferiority complex and starts threads like this in order to feel better about themselves and their lonely life. I hope you get a girlfriend soon.

Re: Proto-existential themes in the work of the early Romantics

Posted: Sat Sep 06, 2008 11:20 am
by Snorri1234
Neoteny wrote:We call them "hunting rifles," but your point stands. Did you get to play with one?
Playing with guns is awesome. I understand much better why people don't want to give them up now.

Re: Proto-existential themes in the work of the early Romantics

Posted: Sat Sep 06, 2008 11:28 am
by Napoleon Ier
Backglass wrote:Someone has an inferiority complex and starts threads like this in order to feel better about themselves and their lonely life. I hope you get a girlfriend soon.
Yeah....cheers Dr. Freud, insightful analysis there. I hope you get a boyfriend soon.

Re: Proto-existential themes in the work of the early Romantics

Posted: Sat Sep 06, 2008 11:31 am
by Napoleon Ier
Snorri1234 wrote:
Neoteny wrote:We call them "hunting rifles," but your point stands. Did you get to play with one?
Playing with guns is awesome. I understand much better why people don't want to give them up now.
Actually you technically shouldn't refer to it as a gun if it has rifled barrel.

Re: Proto-existential themes in the work of the early Romantics

Posted: Sat Sep 06, 2008 11:32 am
by Backglass
Napoleon Ier wrote:Yeah....cheers Dr. Freud, insightful analysis there. I hope you get a boyfriend soon.
What? No quotes from obscure authors to show your intellectual superiority? I am so disappointed. :lol:

Pro Tip: You actually have to SPEAK to women to get a date.

Re: Proto-existential themes in the work of the early Romantics

Posted: Sat Sep 06, 2008 11:46 am
by Napoleon Ier
Backglass wrote:
Napoleon Ier wrote:Yeah....cheers Dr. Freud, insightful analysis there. I hope you get a boyfriend soon.
What? No quotes from obscure authors to show your intellectual superiority? I am so disappointed. :lol:

Pro Tip: You actually have to SPEAK to women to get a date.
Like I spoke to YOUR MOM! HA! Fucking rinsed, asswipe!

Re: Proto-existential themes in the work of the early Romantics

Posted: Sat Sep 06, 2008 11:49 am
by Napoleon Ier
Oh dear...so much for the intellectual revival of the forum. There's a really bitter sense of irony in all this.

Re: Proto-existential themes in the work of the early Romantics

Posted: Sat Sep 06, 2008 11:50 am
by Neoteny
Georgia's a'ight. Same shit, different day. Hot. Hurricane-y. Etc.
Napoleon Ier wrote:
Snorri1234 wrote:
Neoteny wrote:We call them "hunting rifles," but your point stands. Did you get to play with one?
Playing with guns is awesome. I understand much better why people don't want to give them up now.
Actually you technically shouldn't refer to it as a gun if it has rifled barrel.
I've met quite a few people who won't refer to any firearms as "guns." They prefer "weapons."

Re: Proto-existential themes in the work of the early Romantics

Posted: Sat Sep 06, 2008 12:13 pm
by Frigidus
Neoteny wrote:Georgia's a'ight. Same shit, different day. Hot. Hurricane-y. Etc.
Napoleon Ier wrote:
Snorri1234 wrote:
Neoteny wrote:We call them "hunting rifles," but your point stands. Did you get to play with one?
Playing with guns is awesome. I understand much better why people don't want to give them up now.
Actually you technically shouldn't refer to it as a gun if it has rifled barrel.
I've met quite a few people who won't refer to any firearms as "guns." They prefer "weapons."
"Exploding death sticks" also works.

Re: Proto-existential themes in the work of the early Romantics

Posted: Sat Sep 06, 2008 12:22 pm
by InkL0sed
I am sadly ignorant of any proto-existential themes in the work of the early Romantics. I am taking a class on existentialism this term however, perhaps I can join this soon-to-be discussion in a month or two.


PS. Do Dostoevsky and Nietzsche count as early Romantics?

Re: Proto-existential themes in the work of the early Romantics

Posted: Sat Sep 06, 2008 4:13 pm
by Backglass
Napoleon Ier wrote:Like I spoke to YOUR MOM! HA! Fucking rinsed, asswipe!
Oh bravo. Your way with words is truly amazing. :lol:

Pro Tip: Be sure to take creative writing 101 this year little man.

Re: Proto-existential themes in the work of the early Romantics

Posted: Sat Sep 06, 2008 5:26 pm
by Napoleon Ier
InkL0sed wrote:I am sadly ignorant of any proto-existential themes in the work of the early Romantics. I am taking a class on existentialism this term however, perhaps I can join this soon-to-be discussion in a month or two.


PS. Do Dostoevsky and Nietzsche count as early Romantics?
I'd say they're early existentialists, I'm thinking more along the lines of Goethe and Wordsworth, around the time of the Enlightenment. Still, I see strictly no reason not to broaden the discussion. I doubt the mods are going to ping you for thread jacking if you discuss them. In fact, to discuss proto-existentialism, one must make reference to existentialism proper, so a little on Nietzsche and Dostoevsky would certainly not be amiss. What Dosty have you read? I recently finished reading the Brothers, but I haven't read anything more than extracts from C&P.

Re: Proto-existential themes in the work of the early Romantics

Posted: Sat Sep 06, 2008 5:26 pm
by Napoleon Ier
Backglass wrote:
Napoleon Ier wrote:Like I spoke to YOUR MOM! HA! Fucking rinsed, asswipe!
Oh bravo. Your way with words is truly amazing. :lol:
Your mum agreed.

Re: Proto-existential themes in the work of the early Romantics

Posted: Sat Sep 06, 2008 5:40 pm
by InkL0sed
Napoleon Ier wrote:
InkL0sed wrote:I am sadly ignorant of any proto-existential themes in the work of the early Romantics. I am taking a class on existentialism this term however, perhaps I can join this soon-to-be discussion in a month or two.


PS. Do Dostoevsky and Nietzsche count as early Romantics?
I'd say they're early existentialists, I'm thinking more along the lines of Goethe and Wordsworth, around the time of the Enlightenment. Still, I see strictly no reason not to broaden the discussion. I doubt the mods are going to ping you for thread jacking if you discuss them. In fact, to discuss proto-existentialism, one must make reference to existentialism proper, so a little on Nietzsche and Dostoevsky would certainly not be amiss. What Dosty have you read? I recently finished reading the Brothers, but I haven't read anything more than extracts from C&P.
I haven't read any Dostoevsky yet, but I'm going to be reading Notes on Underground soon...

I'm sorry I can't say anything of substance on the subject.

Re: Proto-existential themes in the work of the early Romantics

Posted: Sat Sep 06, 2008 8:22 pm
by Nikolai
Hm. Kierkegaard and Pascal for proto-existentialism: Chopin, Mendelssohn, Shelley, and Blake for early Romanticism. (If I'm remembering properly.) I'm too lazy to pull out my notes on Pascal, but if I recall, Kierkegaard was fairly non-Romantic in philosophy, while being extremely Romantic in expression. Chopin I seem to recall presenting the deeper pieces of his music (an admittedly very limited genre) as being fairly proto-existential, though of course he didn't call it that... and my information is of limited nature. I don't like Shelley or Blake, and in consequence don't know enough about them to pick out themes, although I suspect Shelley, at least, drew many parallels in his work with Kierkegaard's knight of faith and leap to faith themes. Mendelssohn... I'd have to think about.

So I suppose my conclusion is that the most common theme is a tendency to insist on audience interpretation. Kierkegaard was known for his refusal to write simple work or to explain his complicated work, saying that the audience should have to work to understand what he was saying... and early Romanticism, as I understand it (which is not very well) was dependent on audience interpretation in many ways.
Napoleon Ier wrote:Yeah....cheers Dr. Freud, insightful analysis there. I hope you get a boyfriend soon.
If he's got a Freudian complex, wouldn't that be "I hope you lay your mom soon"??

8-)