#kierkegaard #philosophers #fictionbeastKafka vs Camus: Lifes Meaningless (but..there is hope)Fiction Beast2024-09-27 | Franz Kafka and Albert Camus capture the absurdity of modern existence. On the one hand, we desire meaning for our lives, yet no meaning can be found. All we have is endless duties and responsibilities. Kafka diagnoses this modern absurdity and Camus attempts to provide a solution. So in this video, I will compare the two, look at the common themes as well differences and will also try to answer a simple question, whose life is more absurd?
#fictionbeast #philosophy #literature #kafka #camusPessoas Genius PhilosophyFiction Beast2024-08-23 | Fernando Pessoa’s Book of Disquiet can easily be called one of the most profound books of the 20th century. Pessoa rejected societal exceptions on each of us to work hard in order to achieve material success. Instead he focused on his ideas, dreams and imaginations to understand life. The Book of Disquiet is the book of solipsism or the Bible of solipsistic thoughts and dreams of a man resigned from social expectation of success, ambition and goals. His writing is deeply profound and thought-provoking. Here, I have tried to understand Pessoa’s writing and philosophy on life.
While Tolstoy wrote about the winners mainly, the aristocrats, Napoleon etc., Dostoevsky predominantly wrote about the male losers. Precisely lonely who cannot get women.
#fictionbeast #dostoevsky #literature1,000 Years of Japanese Literature Explained SimplyFiction Beast2024-06-14 | Buy the script of this video in e-book format: ko-fi.com/s/86d9b47c99
Japan is one of the most unique countries in the world, considered one of the safest, cleanest and most organized countries in the world.
But what is Japanese literature like? What makes Japanese literature so unique? What are some of the most important themes in Japanese literature? And who are some of the greatest Japanese writers.
In this video I’ll answer all these questions and more by looking at 1,000 years of Japanese literature.
#fictionbeast #philosophy #literatureThe Fountainhead by Ayn Rand SummarisedFiction Beast2024-04-17 | To try everything Brilliant has to offer—free—for a full 30 days, visit brilliant.org/FictionBeast . You’ll also get 20% off an annual premium subscription.
#fictionbeast #philosophy #literatureThe problem with psychologyFiction Beast2024-03-22 | To try everything Brilliant has to offer—free—for a full 30 days, visit brilliant.org/FictionBeast . You’ll also get 20% off an annual premium subscription.
#fictionbeast #philosophy #literatureWhy Universities Are for Small PeopleFiction Beast2024-03-08 | There are four fundamental questions you should ask before going to university. What are those questions? And why I am saying that university is for small people? This video looks at the cost and benefits of going to university, not just from a financial perspective but more from a philosophical perspective, and with some terrible jokes.
#fictionbeast #philosophy #literatureThis Is How the Germans Dominated (and Killed) PhilosophyFiction Beast2024-02-24 | To try everything Brilliant has to offer—free—for a full 30 days, visit brilliant.org/FictionBeast . The first 200 of you will get 20% off Brilliant’s annual premium subscription.
#fictionbeast #philosophy #literatureWhat Led Dostoevsky to Despise Intellectuals?Fiction Beast2024-01-26 | My book on Dostoevsky: ko-fi.com/s/d6ca4e2115
#fictionbeast #philosophy #literature #dostoevskySex Psychology - How Men and Women Mate DifferentlyFiction Beast2024-01-20 | To try everything Brilliant has to offer—free—for a full 30 days, visit brilliant.org/FictionBeast . The first 200 of you will get 20% off Brilliant’s annual premium subscription.
#fictionbeast #readtheworld #readtheworldGogol: Russian or Ukranian? Settling the matter once and for allFiction Beast2023-12-20 | Support the channel ► Donate A coffee: ko-fi.com/fictionbeast ► Join my Patreon: patreon.com/fictionbeast
Leo Tolstoy is perhaps the greatest Russian writer of all time, if not the greatest writer ever. He is a towering figure in Russian literature. His masterpieces such as War and Peace and Anna Karenina always make the list of the best novels of all time.
Here, I will look into Tolstoy’s life, his major novels, his life philosophies and much more.
In the first section, I will compare Tolstoy to the giant of English literature, Charles Dickens. They lived around the same time, more or less so this comparison can give those in the English speaking world the window through which they can understand Tolstoy’s life and writing style.
In the second part, I will discuss Tolstoy’s two masterpieces, Anna Karenina and War and Peace in great details so you get to understand Tolstoy’s mastery of storytelling and his unique insights into the Russian society of the time but more importantly his insights about the human condition.
In the third part I will discuss some life lessons we can learn from Tolstoy as well as a few storytelling techniques. In the final section, I will compare Tolstoy with another giant of Russian literature, Fyodor Dostoevsky to give you even more depth about the man through their similarities and their differences.
By the end of this video, you will know Tolstoy as if he was your wise old grandpa who had some amazing stories to tell and a lot of wisdom to share. You will also learn a lot about Russia and its literature through the lens of a giant who dominates Russian literature.
🕔Time Stamps🕔 00:00 intro 01:54 Dickens vs Tolstoy 44:02 Anna Karenina 01:07:00 War and Peace 01:42:36 Tolstoy's Storytelling Tips 01:49:48 Dostoevsky vs Tolstoy 02:15:15 Life Lessons from Tolstoy 02:29:02 Last words
#fictionbeast #russianliterature #leotolstoyThe Incredible Works of 8 Russian GiantsFiction Beast2023-09-17 | The transcript of this video in book form: ko-fi.com/s/bba11284f0
I often describe Russian Literature as a massive punch in the face because these Russian writers were truth-tellers, no matter how painful and uncomfortable were those truths. The reason for that is the country has an extreme climate, cold harsh reality sets in every winter. So despite lofty, cushiony ideas of freedom, individualism, equality and so on trickling down from the West, these Russian novelists understood that reality always come to bite you no matter how lofty are your beliefs. These Russian writers were poets of reality, and reality is always messy.
In the first few parts, I will discuss four giants of Russian Literature, starting with Eugen Onegin by Alexander Pushkin who as the father of modern Russian Literature single-handedly revolutionised the Russian Literature as wells the Russian language. Then I will discuss A Hero of Our time by Mikhail Lermontov, often considered the second most beloved poet of Russia. Then I will move on to Nikolai Gogol’s satirical stories, mainly his masterpiece, the Dead Souls as well as Ivan Goncharov’s novel, Oblomov, another classic of Russian satire.
In Part 2, I will talk about another 4 giants of Russian Literature starting with Ivan Turgenev, one of the most artistic of Russian writers. His masterpiece Fathers and Sons inspired both Tolstoy and Dostoevsky to write their greatest novels. I will also talk about Fyodor Dostoevsky, perhaps the most psychological Russian writer who influenced later generations of writers from around the world. I will talk about his most influential novel, the Brothers Karamazov. Then, I will look at the works by Leo Tolstoy, the giant of Russian Literature. I will discuss his War and Peace. Unlike the psychological tales of Dostoevsky, Tolstoy was more concerned with the sociological questions concerning what forces move history and civilisation as well as the role of an individual within a society. Finally I will also discuss Anton Chekhov, the father of short stories whose tales have been immensely influential in cinema.
By the end of this video, you will know all the major Russian classic novels, as well as some of the most influential novelists from the Russian-speaking world. This book will give you all the juicy stuff from Russian Literature. If you have read, this book will connect a lot of dots. If you have not read, it connects dots about life and its meaning and purpose in general. Russian Literature is truly universal because these writers went deep, really deep into the human psyche to dissect all manner of themes, from politics, history, social change to crime, guilt and redemption. So get yourself some vodka and let me take you on a journey spanning 100 of years Russian brilliance.
🕔Time Stamps🕔 00:00 Why Russian Literature? 03:13 Alexander Pushkin (Eugene Onegin) 30:45 Mikhail Lermontov (A Hero of Our Time) 57:32 Nikolai Gogol (Dead Souls) 01:31:10 Ivan Goncharov (Oblomov) 01:52:46 Ivan Turgenev (Fathers and Sons) 02:17:04 Fyodor Dostoevsky (The Brothers Karamazov) 02:35:44 Leo Tolstoy (War and Peace) 03:11:21 Anton Chekhov 03:43:55 Last words
#fictionbeast #russianliterature #russiaDostoevskys Startling Predictions: Are They Coming True? (7 Tales)Fiction Beast2023-09-08 | The transcript of this video in a book form: ko-fi.com/s/d6ca4e2115
🕔Time Stamps🕔 00:00 Why Dostoevsky 02:55 Tolstoy vs Dostoevsky 28:45 White Nights (Short Story) 40:42 Notes from Underground 01:06:15 Crime and Punishment 01:17:40 The Idiot 01:46:49 Demons 02:16:23 The Dream of A Ridiculous Man 02:29:28 The Brothers Karamazov 02:48:09 Nietzsche vs Dostoevsky 03:28:18 Last words
#fictionbeast #dostoevsky #russianliteratureThe Remarkable Tales of Jorge Luis Borges - Unveiling the Genius After A Head InjuryFiction Beast2023-08-27 | Support the channel ► Buy me coffee: ko-fi.com/fictionbeast ► Join my Patreon: patreon.com/fictionbeast
Jorge Luis Borges was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina in 1899. Aged 55, he went blind, so he lived without sight for the last 30 years of his life until his death in 1986.
🕔Time Stamps🕔 00:00 intro 00:43 Who was Kundera? 04:25 The Joke 06:54 The Book of Laughter and Forgetting 09:15 The Unbearable Lightness of Being 18:39 Kundera's Style 24:41 Was Kundera French?
Clarice Lispector, a Ukraine-born Brazilian writer, was one of the 20th century’s geniuses of literature. She noticed that the structure we give life is just our own invention. It’s like a mental cage to make us feel safer. In reality, there is little or no structure to life. The clear path we create in our imagination, we are born, we go to school, we become adults, we get married, we grow old and die, is nothing but out of human’s innate need for order.
So today, I will discuss her life, a child born in the Russian empire who conquered Brazilian and Portuguese literature, and her novels that have bewitched millions of readers throughout the world.
#fictionbeast #psychology #philosophyHow to Read Difficult Books (9 simple steps)Fiction Beast2023-06-17 | To try everything Brilliant has to offer—free—for a full 30 days, visit brilliant.org/FictionBeast . The first 200 of you will get 20% off Brilliant’s annual premium subscription.
A lot of you have asked me how I read so many long, difficult books, so in this video I share my method and give you some tips on how to read difficult books. After posting a very long video last month, this time it is a short one.
If humans were computers, the hardware is animal and the software? I say stories. Our animal body has seen very little change in the last few thousands years, but our software has changed a bit. With each generation the narrative changes. New stories replace the older ones. So the biggest difference between humans and animals is our ability to tell stories. But also our ability to believe in fictional stories. So our hardware is ape but our software is storytelling.
In this video, I will tell you the story of literature encompassing an incredible 4000 years of storytelling history. By the end of this video, you will know all the great works of literature, literary movements, as well as some of the most literary minds from around the world. The video has 3 major parts and 11 sections.
In part 1, I will answer the most fundamental question. Why are humans the only species who tells stories? What functions do stories have in our evolution? I will also highlight some important events in history that shaped the way we tell stories, and the literary movements of the last 4,000 years.
In part 2, I will look at the origin of storytelling and how it is rooted in nature. The most fundamental event in a human life is death or the awareness of it. So in this part, I will discuss storytelling in four segments each on the topic of death, wars, sex and laughter. In other words, humans woke up to the realisation of death, so the first stories are stories of mortality and immortality. Then we humans moved to wars and wrote epics that lamented the demise of an empire or celebrated their triumphs. Since the victors got the spoils and we moved to tell stories of sex and mating, romance became an important topic of storytelling. In other words, how boys meet girls. With sex came laughter, so storytelling entertained us through comedy.
In part 3, we move away from nature-inflicted tales towards human-centred stories, as in when storytelling meets rationality and humanism. So instead of gods and nature, we humans became in charge of our own destiny. The age of reason also resulted in a counter-enlightenment movement of romanticism which took us back to nature. Then came realism, in which ordinary people became the heroes of stories, not some king or general. Then we moved to naturalism in which evolutionary biology became the window through which stories are told. This was followed by modernism in which we told stories through psychology. And finally magical realism which took us back to the early humans when gods and demons interfered with our stories.
In part 4, we again move away from humanism into what’s termed as post-humanism. Here the whole idea of truth telling is questioned. If humanism tried to clarify and solidify things that humans are the only gods on earth, posthumanism, and postmodernism partly fuelled by quantum physics, muddied the water so we no longer know what’s going on, despite our scientific and technological advancement, or in some cases because of that.
In this video, the real hero is not a human or demon or a beast, but the real hero is literature or storytelling itself. Human mortality gave birth to storytelling. Conflicts gave it its fuel and energy. Sex added flavour. Laughter made it reflective. Then came reason to dominate storytelling, through physical reality, biological truths, psychological depth, and finally quantum magical thinking. And today literature seems a bit muddled as it has questioned truth-telling. You could say literature is suffering from old-age Alzheimer. So the question is can literature and storytelling survive robots?
Timestamp 00:00 Introduction 04:15 Why Literature? 27:54 Tales for Immortality 45:14 Tales of Wars 01:04:47 Tales of Mating 01:23:24 Tales of Laughter 01:43:11 Storytelling meets rationality 02:06:27 Back to nature 02:23:43 Storytelling meets reality 02:39:52 Storytelling meets Biology 02:55:57 Storytelling meets Psychology 03:13:22 Storytelling meets Quantum Physics 03:34:00 Storytelling meets Postmodernism 03:52:12 Future of Storytelling
#fictionbeast #literature #storytelling6 Philosophical Answers to Modern EmptinessFiction Beast2023-04-19 | Skip the waitlist and invest in blue-chip art for the very first time by signing up for Masterworks: https://www.masterworks.art/fictionbeast Purchase shares in great masterpieces from artists like Pablo Picasso, Banksy, Andy Warhol, and more. 🎨 See important Masterworks disclosures: masterworks.com/cd
timestaps
00:00 intro 01:35 Arthur Schopenhauer 05:30 Soren Kierkegaard 08:41 Fyodor Dostoevsky 11:00 Friedrich Nietzsche 11:58 Sponsor ad 14:59 Albert Camus 17:48 Jean-Paul Sartre 18:55 Final words
#fictionbeast #philosophy #existentialcrisisAyn Rands Genius Philosophy: How Tough Love Can Empower YouFiction Beast2023-03-19 | Is life a heroic journey? Are we meant to create values in life in order to exchange with others? Are we meant to rebel against the conventional wisdom?
Ayn Rand's philosophy of objectivism is based on reason, objective reality, individualism and free market capitalism. Her goal was to make rational philosophy the foundation of a modern society, in which individuals put themselves before others, arguing that selfishness was a good motivator for us to be creative and productive. She rejected altruism, religion, and collectivism. For her the only value we have in this world is what you can offer others. If you have nothing to offer except your moral virtue, you have nothing to exchange with others.
So today, I will tell you all about Ayn Rand, her life, her writing, fiction and nonfiction, and finally what philosophical secrets we can learn from her.
00:00 Intro 01:34 Life 13:32 The Fountainhead summary 22:12 The Fountainhead analysis: ideal man 25:47 The Fountainhead analysis: individualism vs collectivism 27:46 Atlas Shrugged summary 35:33 Atlas Shrugged Analysis: ethical egoism 38:55 7 Lessons 39:00 Lesson 1 41:10 Lesson 2 43:26 Lesson 3 44:49 Lesson 4 46:26 Lesson 5 47:50 Lesson 6 50:10 Lesson 7 53:00 final words
#aynrand #fictionbeast #philosophyLifes meaning is found in nature - Hermann Hesses Genius PhilosophyFiction Beast2023-02-19 | Do you sometimes get the feeling that modern life is a little stifling? Do you feel that perhaps you’re a free-spirited animal stuck in a human body? Do you feel like a lone wolf that does not fit in society? These are the questions this German-Swiss novelist tackled in his writings. Hermann Hesse was a novelist, poet, and painter whose best known novels Steppenwolf and Siddhartha have been influential since they came out in the 20th century.
In this video I will dicuss the life of Hermann Hesse, summarise his two famous novels and dicuss some of his life philosophies.
#fictionbeast #hesse #literatureJean-Paul Sartres Being and Nothingness SummarizedFiction Beast2023-01-18 | Support the channel ► Monthly donation with perks on Patreon: patreon.com/fictionbeast ► One-time donation on Ko-Fi: ko-fi.com/fictionbeast
#sartre #philosophy #fictionbeastCarl Jungs Genius PhilosophyFiction Beast2023-01-11 | What makes humans distinct from other animals? Biologically we have similar hardware to other animals like chimps and gorillas. Arms, legs, eyes, ears, brain etc. We also have the same operating system of basic instincts as other animals that tells us what to do. We instinctively search for food, find a mate to procreate with and seek the company of others. So if the hardware and operating system are the same or very similar with our closest relatives like apes and monkeys and even mammals, then what makes us human? The answer lies in the software or our psychology but more specifically in our ability to tell stories.
Carl Jung, the Swiss genius psychoanalyst looked at humans from different cultures and continents and discovered something extraordinary. We all have very similar myths and stories, religious and non-religious.
#carljung #psychology #fictionbeastJP Sartres Nausea (Summary and Analysis)Fiction Beast2023-01-04 | Support the channel ► Monthly donation with perks on Patreon: patreon.com/fictionbeast ► One-time donation on Ko-Fi: ko-fi.com/fictionbeast
#chekhov #fictionbeast #russianliteratureSoren Kierkegaards Fear and TremblingFiction Beast2022-12-20 | The first 1,000 people to use the link will get a 1 month free trial of Skillshare: https://skl.sh/fictionbeast12221
#kierkegaard #fictionbeast #philosophyKierkegaards Either/Or - Do we only have two choices in life?Fiction Beast2022-12-15 | Support the channel ► Monthly donation with perks on Patreon: patreon.com/fictionbeast ► One-time donation on Ko-Fi: ko-fi.com/fictionbeast
#kierkegaard #eitheror #philosophyThe Iliad vs the OdysseyFiction Beast2022-12-04 | In this video I summarise Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey, analyse theirmajor themes and then compare the two.
While the Iliad is the epic of irrational passion where courage is the main fuel in the tank, the Odyssey, however, is the epic of a rational man who is driven by loyalty to his wife and son. To put simply, the Iliad is the epic of physical strength while the Odyssey is the epic of mental endurance. The two epics can give us the picture of before and after when it comes to human agency and rationality.
#theiliad #theodyssey #fictionbeastSartres Genius Philosophy - Life’s Meaning Comes from NothingnessFiction Beast2022-11-20 | In the absence of god and religious belief, how do you find meaning for life? What if we are born without an essence? What to do when life becomes meaningless? And how to find a purpose in a modern world?
#sartre #philosophy #fictionbeastSchopenhauers Genius Philosophy - Why We Act IrrationallyFiction Beast2022-11-09 | Sponser Link: Skip the waitlist and invest in blue-chip art for the very first time by signing up for Masterworks: https://masterworks.art/fictionbeast Purchase shares in great masterpieces from artists like Pablo Picasso, Banksy, Andy Warhol, and more. 🎨 See important Masterworks disclosures: http://masterworks.io/cd
What drives us to get out of bed every morning? What motivates us to go on living? What’s behind the human will that is pushing us forward, achieve great things or do stupid things?
The German philosopher, Arthur Schopenhauer, argued that we are driven to live because there is a mysterious force inside us, bestowed upon us by the universe itself. A unified force that unites all humans, animals and even objects. We have little or no control over this mysterious force, yet we are all bound by it. So our rational conscious mind is just the tip of the iceberg. While many philosophers ignored Schopenhauer, he had a profound influence on artists, musicians, novelists but most significantly psychoanalysts such as Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung.
In this video, I’ll look at Schopenhauer’s life, summarise his philosophical ideas and tell you why pessimism is good for you in today’s world.
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#schopenhauer #fictionbeast #philosophersIs this the most tragic tale? - Kurdish Epic of Mem u ZinFiction Beast2022-10-30 | Support the channel ► Monthly donation with perks on Patreon: patreon.com/fictionbeast ► One-time donation on Ko-Fi: ko-fi.com/fictionbeast