Write Conscious

Write Conscious

Heart-orientated dives into the greatest books and authors for divergent thinkers and artists.

My goal for this channel is to create a literary renaissance by activating a billion new readers/writers.

Not accepting requests to read or talk about your book or your writing. Sorry! Any emails you send asking for me to read your work will be deleted. Please join my writing community down below if you want me to read your work!

Harold Bloom on Judge Holden

Harold Bloom on Judge Holden

How to Read Infinite Jest

How to Read Infinite Jest

Why Writers Are Lonely

Why Writers Are Lonely

Cormac McCarthy on Jesus

Cormac McCarthy on Jesus

Пікірлер

  • @toddjacksonpoetry
    @toddjacksonpoetry5 минут бұрын

    Attention to breath is everything. And most academic writing doesn't breathe. Since it doesn't breathe, it never seems to have any human body behind it .

  • @VanessaCartell
    @VanessaCartell33 минут бұрын

    Also noticed the recent resurgence of christianity, but maybe in a superficial way? When do you think it began... I feel like it was a year or two ago.

  • @mikebevibevi
    @mikebevibevi41 минут бұрын

    Read 400 pages 20-30 times? Who has time for that? Lol. Dont even have time to watch a movie 20-30 times lol

  • @CINEMARTYR
    @CINEMARTYRСағат бұрын

    I can’t shake the feeling that DFW was kinda talking about himself (or how he once was at some point) just a bit with that quote 😅

  • @reubencohen8838
    @reubencohen8838Сағат бұрын

    I like your video, but Sean Strickland didn't get an industry push... quite the reverse if anything.

  • @QueensWino
    @QueensWino2 сағат бұрын

    Kindle Graveyard? I like the sound of that!😂

  • @Cmhrjkyg
    @Cmhrjkyg2 сағат бұрын

    Jesus loves you and wants a relationship with you.he died so that you could go to Heaven.He wants you to live for him and is the way to heaven.Believing in Jesus and what he did is the way to Heaven. If you don't already, you should read the Bible ✝️❤️

  • @AJ-oc5eh
    @AJ-oc5eh2 сағат бұрын

    That quotation may not have been replete with run-on sentences, but it may as well have been. It achieved the same effect.

  • @ScreamingIntoTheOvoid
    @ScreamingIntoTheOvoid2 сағат бұрын

    Also saying that "Infinite Jest" is the most unfinished book makes it seem ( to me, anyway) that the author didn't finish it. There must be a one word synonym for dnf.

  • @blurredlenzpictures3251
    @blurredlenzpictures32512 сағат бұрын

    I read one of my poems out loud to a large group yesterday, in front of City Hall in my hometown, at a protest rally. It was my first time reading one of my pieces in public.

  • @JBreedloaf
    @JBreedloaf3 сағат бұрын

    A James Baldwin Baldwin quote comes to mind that I first heard from Dan Carlin on Hardcore History “You think your pain and your heartbreak are unprecedented in the history of the world, but then you read. It was books that taught me that the things that tormented me most were the very things that connected me with all the people who were alive, or who ever had been alive. Only if we face these open wounds in ourselves can we understand them in other people.” That quote really distills the message almost perfectly. Also your plugs have gotten so much better Ian I’m never ready for them, haha

  • @ScreamingIntoTheOvoid
    @ScreamingIntoTheOvoid3 сағат бұрын

    When you say that less than 1% of students (and Americans) cannot write I feel like you meant to say the opposite. Did I mishear or misunderstand? Or was it a slip of the tongue in the flow of speech?

  • @warrenbertrand290
    @warrenbertrand2903 сағат бұрын

    Haaaaa best thumbnail ever for this video

  • @jeffcurry1280
    @jeffcurry12803 сағат бұрын

    You just identified the noise my mind makes when I sit down to my WIP on my typewriter! Lol

  • @JesusSavesSinners
    @JesusSavesSinners3 сағат бұрын

    People Today are Basically illiterate. They Cannot follow the complex plots of Good Writers. I see this in the comments on Goodreads, Amazon Books, etc... Maybe Publishers are Intentionally requiring Dumbed Downed books because today's readers are Illiterate. It is nearly impossible to join a Book Club discussion and have an Intelligent conversation with people because they don't understand the Book at all. (Most definitely didn't even read the Book. Maybe they skimmed it, or are commenting based off of poorly written Book Reviews they read. Some just watched the Movie version and slept through it...) Today in Book Clubs in online Book discussions people are redefining Books. They Falsely claim a Hero is a Villain and a Villain is a Hero. They also Claim characters are Ambiguous when they are Not. It is popular today to Claim No Character is Good or Evil. That Basic Truth is being thrown out. Today people don't believe in Right and Wrong. So what is Clearly Evil, to them is Not Evil. "There is more than One way to look at this... The actions were Justified because..." The Ignorant things they come up with are Bizarre. They don't want to have an Honest discussion about what was written. Everything is redefined along their own Ideology's. They project their personal BIAS into the Book instead of expressing what was actually written. Women consume the Vast Majority of the Books written. If you look at what is published today you will find 75% maybe more are for Women. KZread has Numerous Free Audiobooks and the Vast Majority are by Horrible Writers. Amazon has a huge selection of Free Books. The New Free Books are Mostly Not worth reading. Some are given out free so you will buy the Author's other Books.

  • @R.L.Kramer
    @R.L.Kramer3 сағат бұрын

    My book is beginning to sink into its plot in the Amazon graveyard. I am not actually a writer. I am a fool. I’ll still go. Thanks for the name of the place.

  • @BrianStClair-kl8xb
    @BrianStClair-kl8xb3 сағат бұрын

    Just stumbled upon this. Five minutes in, I immediately subscribed. Need more of this, excited to check out other content on this channel.

  • @traderjo9552
    @traderjo95523 сағат бұрын

    Can you do a video on your favourite book from a Female author? Seems you only cover the same few guys, as a teacher I assume you have some experience with a wide range of books, and it's only fair to your female students that you have some good recommendations.

  • @Daveye663
    @Daveye6633 сағат бұрын

    He's done a lot of work on Alice Munro and talked about on a live once, not sure he's put videos out on it but I'm sure his female students can get just as much out of his already existing videos as males can.

  • @WriteConscious
    @WriteConscious2 сағат бұрын

    I have no duty to talk about anyone. I have 431 videos on this channel. Do you not think I've talked about my favorite female authors?

  • @traderjo9552
    @traderjo9552Сағат бұрын

    @@WriteConscious Well I scrolled through your videos going back over a year to find one, perhaps I missed it? All I see are the same few guys. Can you link me the video on your top female authors? Appreciate it, also no need to be touchy, wasn't trying to be rude :-)

  • @blackjack5676
    @blackjack5676Сағат бұрын

    @@traderjo9552 Did you get a refund or a warranty from your plastic surgeon?

  • @mikelpelaez
    @mikelpelaez3 сағат бұрын

    11:55 can someone give me an example of an Spanish symbolist in poetry? I'm interested in Spanish literature (I'm a native Spanish speaker myself) but I never heard of the movement

  • @TheKnightBefore
    @TheKnightBeforeСағат бұрын

    Antonio Machado, Jose Marti, and Cesar Vallejo are Spanish-speaking poets mentioned a lot on this channel.

  • @blackjack5676
    @blackjack56763 сағат бұрын

    The reason most people suck at writing now, is because now writing is easy to do. That means there is no natural filter to sift out what is unnecessary. An insecure person who is more worrried about grammar than meaning can live a long and fruitful life sifting tax money while accomplishing nothing themselves.

  • @ocdtdc
    @ocdtdc4 сағат бұрын

    Hey, now, no need to call me out like this

  • @michaelemswiller5434
    @michaelemswiller543412 сағат бұрын

    Great video

  • @ummon995
    @ummon99517 сағат бұрын

    Not a fan of Infinite Jest but DFW is a writer of pretty good caliber. Infinite Jest is a flash in the pan as with a lot of postmodern fiction, in my opinion. I think people today are getting tired of slick, self-congratulatory irony in fiction. I don't think it'll hold up over time compared to the amount of killer fiction out there it's competing with. Addiction, postmodern stylizing, experimental form, sex, mental illness...I'll take Burroughs over Wallace any day. Wallace reminded me of the gateway writer who got bros into fiction in my college days. I agree with Bloom. The canon is necessary and works well as a bar for good literature given the historical context. Today we lack context for better or worse, which makes it much easier to criticize and relativize standards. Bloom was being Bloom in comparing Stephen King with Wallace. A nice insult that's lost to us these days.

  • @YOSOYLADISCO
    @YOSOYLADISCO17 сағат бұрын

    Heres my personal aproach: start on page 1 all the way till the end.....

  • @africanzungu7350
    @africanzungu735018 сағат бұрын

    Youre awesome man. These videos are really enjoyable. Enjoy the laidback format and really sharp commentary

  • @user-bj8gh6vq5m
    @user-bj8gh6vq5m21 сағат бұрын

    Kinda misleading title, but I pretty much agree 100% with the content. Also that story about the guy who went full Fake Christian was devastating.

  • @theodoreconstantini2548
    @theodoreconstantini254822 сағат бұрын

    I tried to read Wallace, and I will give him another go, though I don't think writers like him and Pynchon are really my cup of tea though I think Blooms judgement seems harsh, could he really be that bad. Anyway I think in the end if readers get something out of a writer that makes his writing valid, and a positive contribution to the arts and society, and Wallace has a cult following so I think he has connected with people. Not everybody will like him and that's okay.

  • @secret.dog.powers
    @secret.dog.powersКүн бұрын

    I started reading this book since your video last week. I’m doing the audiobook as well and while I am loving the shit out of it, the way the footnotes translate into the audiobooks is a little crazy. Like J.O. Incandenza filmography was torture lmaoooo

  • @WriteConscious
    @WriteConsciousКүн бұрын

    But, that filmography has so many gems that reveal so much already! On your reread you'll be shocked how relevant all of it is!

  • @secret.dog.powers
    @secret.dog.powers11 сағат бұрын

    @@WriteConscious no exactly though! I was like oh man am I getting spoilers?

  • @secret.dog.powers
    @secret.dog.powers11 сағат бұрын

    @@WriteConscious I did not expect to have this much fun reading it, though I have to admit

  • @DeoVolente444
    @DeoVolente444Күн бұрын

    Aweseome content sir! DFW is such an interesting and influential character keep up the good work!

  • @alissalins
    @alissalinsКүн бұрын

    The way I disagree with almost every ranking lmao moby dick being an A… above Don Quixote and The Illiad… it’s just wrong. Don’t care.

  • @NondescriptMammal
    @NondescriptMammalКүн бұрын

    Yes, because there's such a thing as "best novel ever".

  • @andrewgirvan3540
    @andrewgirvan3540Күн бұрын

    How does anyone begin to respond to the literary tirade that you throw down Ian! I am currently larping as a rough carpenter under the direction of a professional engineer and i tell you this is one of the hardest places I've had to exist and I know hard. I've never written a word with any seriousness. Love the channel!

  • @FlavioRicardodaSilva
    @FlavioRicardodaSilvaКүн бұрын

    I may have misunderstood Schopenhauer. And this is just a comment on a detail of what you said. But I wouldn't say that you project your will onto the things you desire, like having many subscribers to the channel and so on. On the contrary, it is your will that directs you towards those desires. The will is never really yours or mine. It is a blind impulse that happens by itself. So your desire for the success of the channel is, in fact, a desire to increase your capacity for survival. It is, ultimately, the same desire that any animal would have to increase its capacity for life. This desire just takes the form appropriate to the current cultural environment, but it is no different in essence. It is life desiring itself in a closed circle where there is no transcendent meaning guiding what you do, it is, again, just life desiring itself at the expence of indiduals or individuality. You are just the finite vehicle of this desire. While, as long as there are living things, the will goes on and on in meaningless blind struggle. The only "meaning" for life is life itself.

  • @EriveltonRamosMoreira
    @EriveltonRamosMoreiraКүн бұрын

    Suttree is good good book

  • @blah914
    @blah914Күн бұрын

    yikes. keeping ppl around just to write about them is fucked up. its okay to find ppl i tdresting and not really like them, but the way you put it is really cruel and manipulative 👀

  • @iuseitToo
    @iuseitTooКүн бұрын

    Where are the Vollmann vids?! ♡

  • @PaulJosephStrassfield
    @PaulJosephStrassfieldКүн бұрын

    Ian, your intensity makes it difficult to understand you.

  • @RJGilman1967
    @RJGilman1967Күн бұрын

    47:25m mark to the 47:38m mark, I had to go back and listen to it again. - - A writer's truth and hilarious. Very funny. Thanks for your videos.

  • @RJGilman1967
    @RJGilman1967Күн бұрын

    Good stuff, thank you.

  • @blackjack5676
    @blackjack5676Күн бұрын

    This guy didnt reconcile his own existence and made grand assumptions about the nature of art. Being submerssed in shallow artistic expression can only lead to rebellion in another direction eventually. Of course, corporate entities are going to be mercenary when it comes to exploiting demographics. The problem Wallace failed to identify is the academic community and its insistence on seperating these demographics into distinct catagories and forming a caste system in service to these corporate entities in effort to protect their jobs and enrich themselves. His virtue signaling and need to be validated was his contribution to this shallow culture. A true rebel in the post Reagan era would never be accepted from the left, or the right due to them being completely subverted by this bureaucratic power structure. This is the true cause of the degredation of media. However it is expectedly ending.

  • @jurafa
    @jurafaКүн бұрын

    Veganism It’s not about the best diet for humans. It’s about reducing animal suffering. One can agree or not with the ethics of it. But you need to analize it for what it is.

  • @travisbplank
    @travisbplankКүн бұрын

    I've found myself having a hard time reading pure fiction/literature lately. It feels needlessly obfuscated and indirect. Why hide what you want to say behind literary tricks and posturing? The philosohers and poets (maybe a few essayists) have been my thing for the past decade or so and I'm wondering if I will ever get back to enjoying straight up novels or even short stories. I tend to agree with the Bukowski "bim bim bim" school of writing. Anyone else feel that way? Any suggestions for novels that might get me back into the fold?

  • @TheHouseofContemplation
    @TheHouseofContemplationКүн бұрын

    I agree completely. Fiction is a thin, contrived vision of the human experience and I'd rather use my imagination to deal with greater "worlds" like psychology, philosophy - even biographies contain better material to ponder life. I wish I could enjoy novels again, though...

  • @ainslie187
    @ainslie187Күн бұрын

    Same here. Philosophy, history, mythology, psychology/sociology, and “spirituality” (for lack of a better term) are more pure, interesting, and relevant to my life so that’s 95% of what I read. I can suggest a few novels that dip into these realms: - _Stoner_ by John Williams - _Niels Lyhne_ by Jens Peter Jacobsen - _On the Marble Cliffs_ by Ernst Junger - _Back to Methuselah_ by George Bernard Shaw - _Against Nature_ by JK Huysmans - _The Tartar Steppe_ by Dino Buzzati - anything by Herman Hesse, I'd put _Steppenwolf_ and _Siddhartha_ at the top

  • @pje8462
    @pje84622 күн бұрын

    I could never finish Infinite Jest. Part brilliant, part post -modern trash.

  • @timmellis5038
    @timmellis50382 күн бұрын

    I don't know how old your students are but there's this book: "The Education of Little Tree" which might work perfect for some of your classes. I loved that book. It's a super easy read and good for kids and adults.

  • @ShawnMorey-sx7wm
    @ShawnMorey-sx7wm2 күн бұрын

    I WANNA BE SEDATED. The Ramones.

  • @user-ub1dz8js7s
    @user-ub1dz8js7s2 күн бұрын

    I look at my life at the 100's of thousands of hours that I've watched TV and movies and I would say that there are only 0.01% out of all those hours of great stand out and memorable moments. What a waste of time.

  • @christianbarros589
    @christianbarros5892 күн бұрын

    Congratulations for your life, your story and for share all that with the world. Keep doing this because you are making the people think but above it all, you're making the peoples life better. I'm a student and a reader and between many authors the big web connected me with Cormac and by that i've met your channel. Keep doing it mate, it's a lighthouse and is wonderful. Greetings from Uruguay 👋 🇺🇾

  • @jakfan09
    @jakfan092 күн бұрын

    I wonder what DFW would think of Tik Tok lol. A lot of gen z and gen alpha don’t even have the attention span for a movie anymore.

  • @GaiatheSage
    @GaiatheSage7 сағат бұрын

    it's not even a generational thing anymore my gen x and boomer family members have a hard time even sitting down and talking for ten minutes without interrupting every 30 seconds about an unrelated tangent.

  • @jakfan09
    @jakfan097 сағат бұрын

    @@GaiatheSage Yeah, it's pretty sad.

  • @fanaticist
    @fanaticist2 күн бұрын

    film is low art, it was never good. I don't mean animation, which is actually good.

  • @biskit8050
    @biskit80502 күн бұрын

    You have to be joking. Have you even heard of the films of Tarkovsky or the films like Mulholland Drive, the 400 Blows, Barry Lyndon, etc

  • @jakfan09
    @jakfan092 күн бұрын

    @@biskit8050He probably hasn’t and probably doesn’t even understand visual storytelling and needs everything explained through words.

  • @PEGGLORE
    @PEGGLORE2 күн бұрын

    Watch Skywhales. That's the best animation. I watched that obsessively as a child which was recorded on a VHS. Probably messed me up a bit then. It was off KZread for ages which really pissed me off, but good to see it's back now, actually uploaded by the guy who made it, 7 months ago. Must've done it as a 40th anniversary tribute thing then. The animation played in cinemas before the film 1984 in the UK, I found out later on, which was interesting.

  • @HalideHelix
    @HalideHelixКүн бұрын

    ​@biskit8050 that natural lighting in Barry Lyndon though....👌

  • @D3athL1vin
    @D3athL1vin2 күн бұрын

    mans just did an astute ass analysis of tony soprano as an aside..