Oh, I've wasted my life.

Whoopsie

>>24474805 (OP)
That is a very fine novel. Apparently, the main character had several chances to leave his post, and even to get married, but did not take them up, due to the allure of waiting for an enemy nation to show up for battle. By the time a battle did happen, about a whole generation or two later, he was rather old and sickly. All the while, there are intriguing moments throughout the book, despite the relative boredom of the protagonist, yet the general principle is that he waited until it was too late. Someone who has read this book more recently may be able to expand upon its contents.

>>24474805 (OP)
we'll do better next time

>>24474805 (OP)
I'm afraid to read this book because I might feel so called out, I'd kill myself.
t. 35kv

>>24474805 (OP)
description
Idealistic young officer Giovanni Drogo is full of determination to serve his country well. But when he arrives at a bleak border station in the Tartar desert, where he is to take a short assignment at Fort Bastiani, he finds the castle manned by veteran soldiers who have grown old without seeing a trace of the enemy. As his length of service stretches from months into years, he continues to wait patiently for the enemy to advance across the desert, for one great and glorious battle . . . Written in 1938 as the world waited for war, and internationally acclaimed since its publication, The Tartar Steppe is a provocative and frightening tale of hope, longing and the terrible sorcery of dreams and desires.

>>24475348
Maybe it'll be just the jolt you need haha.

>>24474805 (OP)
liked this novel A LOT. Is his other stuff also good?

>>24474805 (OP)
Reading this RN at 32. It's so over for me if I can't fix it this decade.

>>24475385
4chan is our Fort Bastiani.

I'm 28 and I just got my first ever job as a janitor
The past 2 months I've spoken to more people than the past 5 years
I know I've wasted my life but there isn't much that one can do with that feeling
It certainly doesn't spur one to action, otherwise I'd have done something over the past 6-7 years about my life
It's a weak and pathetic feeling and people who dwell on it too long are pathetic, I feel contempt for them

>>24475422
26 and the same as well. Doing my best to avoid dwelling on that self-contempt and while some days it's easy to get over, it's always there in the back of my mind making certain mundane choices look like a leap of faith I'm way too skeptical of myself to do. Hopefully this isn't fixed for me and I still have it left in me to turn myself around.

Should I read the new translation by Lawrence Venuti (The Stronghold) or just read the old one?

>>24475626
I can't comment on The Stronghold but the older one is good

how would you have gone about not wasting it

>>24474805 (OP)
I'm 19 and this book gave me the courage to change universities, my major and move out. One of the most impactful things I ever read. I have no idea why it's not more popular

>>24475626
The NYRB one (The Stronghold) is good

>>24474805 (OP)
Just finished it yesterday, absolutely brilliant.
I don't think I've ever had a book smash the mirror on my face like this, I legit had a panic attack last night wondering wtf I am doing. Also, that extended metaphor about life towards the end of chapter 6 is so simple yet haunting.

>>24475376
Catastrophe is good.

I've wasted mine but there was never anything I wanted anyway. There's no job/career I want so what's the point?

>>24475422
>>24475536
Idiots, you didn't waste your lives, you spent them as well as anybody else. You're falling for the same trap incels do, comparing your youths to some kind of gold standard and then lamenting how it fell short. But there is no gold standard except the one you decide on. Focus on what you did that others didn't - did you read? Did you study some language? Did you get really autistically good at factorio? These are all accomplishments that you value because you chose to do them. This criteria of success you're implicitly referring to isn't your own, because if it was, you would have tried like hell to achieve it and getting your first job at 26 or 28 doesn't constitute "trying like hell". You have some internal measuring stick of success that you're trying to replace with society's measure that you don't even believe in and never have. So why feel bad about it? Why adopt a belief you don't have just to feel miserable? You should get in touch with who you actually are and what about you led you to value living life the way that you did. You already have a philosophy, you just don't know what it is.

>>24475805
It's easier for them to wallow in sadness

>>24475376
Read the Singularity recently. Despite it's relevance to modern AI shit, no where near the same impact. Just standard sci-fi concept with some pretty imagery.

>>24475649
>>24475805
A YT comment on this:

"I think you’re right. No matter how much people try to reassure you that you’re not a failure, it doesn’t really matter. The only thing that matters is how you see yourself—how you compare to what you could have been. And no one can make that comparison as objectively as you can. So, I believe you. You might be a failure—not in the sense that you lack qualities or that you’re worthless, but in the sense that your life is far from what it should be, given your potential. Failing to reach that is, in itself, a kind of failure. People try to be kind by saying otherwise, but I think you shouldn’t put too much weight on what they say, whether positive or negative, because they don’t really know you. I hope this doesn’t come across as harsh—that’s not my intention. I just hate the hypocrisy of this world, the fake positivity. We don’t know you, so instead of trying to evaluate someone’s life based on a 10-minute video, people should just shut their mouth."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QYjekkBimZc

>>24475805
Not one of the people you're replying to but this has been a nice read for me, thanks anon.

>>24475348
Same