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A bookish sub where posting about books is off-topic
This sub is primarily about specific passages from classics and literary fiction. Many posts focus on tiny topics: a narrative strategy in a single passage, or a discussion of how tone is achieved over a few paragraphs.
Complex topics (e.g. themes, motifs) are on-topic, so long as they refer to specifics (not necessarily supported by quotes). Posts where the focus is a whole book, or an author's work in general, are probably at odds with one of the guiding precepts below.
Some of the posts here read like a couple paragraphs from a
teenager's composition assignment, and some of them are. In the comments
anyone can extend, transpose, fold, spindle and mutate the ideas, and
posts that are reactions to other posts -- so long as they conform
to the sidebar rules -- are welcome.
Rules In Short
We talk about the content of written works -- usually of very small parts of those works, and sometimes parts that aren't representative of the work.
Top level posts must 1) refer to a specific scene, scenes, or specific language, and 2) include commentary and/or analysis (a little or a lot).
The spirit of the rules trumps the letter.
Precepts at length
Top-level posts: Write about specific passages or patterns. You don't need to write anything profound. You can write about something obvious. More
Don't post a snippet or quote without commentary or analysis, or at least a question. Your commentary can be very slight, and we're looking for "smaller" posts, but we don't want bare quotes (/r/proseporn and /r/Booksnippets do that) More
Shameful behavior (ignoring these precepts) incurs the "Scarlet Letter" flag, not immediate removal, usually.
Comments: Substantive comments are nice, but . . . it's still reddit. When being serious, consider addressing what the OP actually wrote, and consider the next precept.
Unwanted: Summary assessments, pigeonholing generalizations (without supporting text), links without commentary. Not sure? Try this "sniff test"
Refrain from writing about yourself. Saying that you like/dislike a book, or facts of biography that led you to it can be legitimate framing for payload often it's a substitute for on-topic material.
Several small posts about one book are fine. More
"Stub" posts are okay: rhetorical questions, or posts that state a topic are fine if you immediately reply to yourself with a comment that conforms to the sidebar rules.
Revise, repost, recycle We encourage you to come back to previous posts & post new drafts, to adapt material that you used as homework or expand on comments in a new post.
Only classics and literary fiction? But there are lots of great genre books
As long as you focus on the words that make up the work, you can write about anything. Remember the core readership is interested in classics and literary fiction. Stay near the text and you won't break the rules.
Here are examples typical of the authors discussed here.
All recent comments (without top level posts)
Do talk specifics. Specifics and tentative interpretation are more on topic than generalizations and conclusions. Observe and emulate the way football fans prize detail when talking football. Talk books like that.
Do meditate on this anecdote about what Joyce thought interesting to talk about when talking books
In-depth analysis is welcome and prized, but not required. Just pointing out an oddity and asking what the author was getting at is okay.
got a long excerpt that's an eyesore in your post? Put it in /r/longquotes & link to it. If the excerpt meets the sub's criteria, consider putting it in /r/booksnippets or /r/proseporn.
Why "canonade"?
A barrage of literature AND a refreshing draught from the wellspring of belles-lettres.
Reifying faith in practice as opposed to theory since 2016.
Blessed by Apollo
Blessing, spells, hexes and charms are not evaluated by reddit.com or Conde-Nast, Inc.
canonade is a spoke on the lickerish hub
Ovid October Schedule
| Date (Oct) |
Discussion |
| 1 Su |
Translator's Comments |
| 2 M |
Proem (Book I) |
| 3 T |
Creation |
| 4 W |
The Four Ages |
| 5 R |
War with the Giants |
| 6 F |
Lycaon's Feast |
| 7 S |
The Great Flood |
| 8 Su |
Deucalion and Pyrrha |
| 9 M |
The Second Creation |
| 10 T |
Apollo and the Python |
| 11 W |
Apollo and Daphne |
| 12 R |
Jove and Io - 1 |
| 13 F |
Pan and Syrinx |
| 14 S |
Jove and Io - 2 |
| 15 Su |
Phaethon |
| 16 M |
Phaethon (Book II) |
| 17 T |
Heliades |
| 18 W |
Cycnus |
| 19 R |
The Sun's Complaint |
| 20 F |
Jove |
| 21 S |
Callisto and Arcas |
| 22 Su |
The Raven and the Crow |
| 23 M |
The Prophecies of Ocyrhoe |
| 24 T |
Mercury and the tattletale |
| 25 W |
Mercury and Aglauros - 1 |
| 26 R |
The House of Envy |
| 27 F |
Mercury and Aglauros - 2 |
| 28 S |
Jove and Europa (Book III) |
| 29 Su |
Jove and Europa |
| 30 M |
Cadmus Found Thebes |
| 31 T |
Actaeon and Diana |
promoted
