If you're not pushing the poophole propaganda, what qualifies Satyricon as 'canon' of western culture? Really... What is the positive case for it?
by Anonymous to on Aug 12, 2026 9:46 PM | 5 comments
Anonymous
It's one of two surviving Roman novels, the fragments we have are brief (after all this is the brief canon), and it's acclaimed. Whether the latter is justified or not I cannot judge as I haven't read it. Treat it as a tentative placement. But homo-eroticism isn't an immediate dealbreaker either and I'm skeptical of the claim that that is the reason it's studied. That's another thing, it seems like a book that can be studied in the first place. Have you read it?
Anonymous
It's one of two surviving Roman novels, the fragments we have are brief (after all this is the brief canon), and it's acclaimed. Whether the latter is justified or not I cannot judge as I haven't read it. Treat it as a tentative placement. But homo-eroticism isn't an immediate dealbreaker either and I'm skeptical of the claim that that is the reason it's studied. That's another thing, it seems like a book that can be studied in the first place. Have you read it?
Anonymous
It's one of two surviving Roman novels, the fragments we have are brief (after all this is the brief canon), and it's acclaimed. Whether the latter is justified or not I cannot judge as I haven't read it. Treat it as a tentative placement. But homo-eroticism isn't an immediate dealbreaker either and I'm skeptical of the claim that that is the reason it's studied. That's another thing, it seems like a book that can be studied in the first place. Have you read it?
Anonymous
It's one of two surviving Roman novels, the fragments we have are brief (after all this is the brief canon), and it's acclaimed. Whether the latter is justified or not I cannot judge as I haven't read it. Treat it as a tentative placement. But homo-eroticism isn't an immediate dealbreaker either and I'm skeptical of the claim that that is the reason it's studied. That's another thing, it seems like a book that can be studied in the first place. Have you read it?
Anonymous
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It takes a long time to read the Western literary canon so to get up to speed with one's literary education, it's nice to read the brief books first. I'm looking to compile a list of short texts that are essential reads. Here's what I have so far: # Various - The Epic of Gilgamesh - Qur'an - Satyricon (originally longer but only fragments remain) - The Tempest by Shakespeare # Eastern ## Indian - Bhagavad Gita - Dhammapada - Heart Sutra (should probably be read with commentary) ## Chinese - Dao de Djing - The Art of War - The Analects of Confucius - The Secret of the Golden Flower ## Japanese - Essays in Idleness - The Book of Five Rings - Hojoki # Greek - Hesiod: Theogony; Works and Days. - Plato: Apology, Crito, Phaedo, Gorgias. - Enchiridion by Epictetus - Plays in general (selection to be made later) # Selections from the Bible ## Old Testament - Genesis - Exodus - Job - Ecclesiastes - Jonah - Malachi (an important early expression of Messianism) ## New Testament - Romans - 1 Corinthians - Galatians - Ephesians - Colossians - 1 Thessalonians - James - Revelations # Modern Philosophy - Meditations on First Philosophy by Descartes - Fear and Trembling by Kierkegaard - Self-Reliance by Emerson - Monadology by Leibniz - Groundwork for the Metaphysics of Morals by Kant - Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding by Hume No Nietzsche on this list because his important works aren't brief enough. Ecce Homo points to his other works but has limited value by itself. # Modern Literary Fiction - Notes from the Underground by Dostojevski - The Death of Ivan Ilyich by Tolstoy - The Metamorphosis by Kafka - Camus: The Stranger, The Fall - Animal Farm by Orwell - A Clockwork Orange by Burgess - Of Mice and Men by Steinbeck I've tried to be selective as I'm not just trying to compile a list of all brief texts that are on some literature list or another, but really trying to stick to essential readings. If the list becomes too long then it in turn becomes a long undertaking. So what would you add to this?
by Anonymous to on Apr 3, 2026 7:46 AM | 3 comments
brothchild
I haven't read through them all but Frederick Bastiat's 'the law' is the best secular treatise on 'what is law' that i've read. Then for essential insight to how rulers rule I'd suggest the short Discourse on Voluntary servitude by Étienne de La Boétie. For short 'modern' fiction i nominate 'The Machine Stops' by E.M. Forster.
And Satyricon ...
Petronius is only famous for scenes of two grown men sodomizing a youth. I'd nominate Aristophanes Lysistrata, teaches about the danger of feminism.
Larry
Thanks. Hm, so would you say Satyricon isn't notable? Sodomizing youth was a feature of ancient culture, it's promoted in the Symposium as well but that book is still worth reading. Sodomy doesn't disqualify it unto itself in my opinion. I do feel weird about having it for different reasons, namely because it's originally a longer work. But that still doesn't disqualify it. If it's noteworthy and short, then it's worth reading. From Wikipedia: > It is the second most fully preserved Roman novel, after the fully extant The Golden Ass by Apuleius, which has significant differences in style and plot. Satyricon is also regarded as useful evidence for the reconstruction of how lower classes lived during the early Roman Empire. So it provides a rare insight into the nature of daily life in Ancient Rome. It's worth reading for that reason alone. The goal with this canon is to help people develop breadth of knowledge in a reasonable frame of time. Yes, Lysistrata is one of the plays I want to include.

If I Were an Onion A story by anon. Saturday, March 28th 2026 If I were an onion, no one would ask me why I am crying all the time.
by Anonymous to on Mar 28, 2026 7:57 PM | 3 comments
Anonymous
If I were an onion there would be many layers to my personality.
Anonymous
If I were an onion, I wouldn't be a garlic.
Anonymous
If I were an onion, I would make a good addition to the omelette of which the yolk symbolizes my girlfriend and the white our bull.

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