Which writers and/or texts have been most influential and informative upon the way you think, act, perceive, etc.? Or, which echo the preceding. Any genre--science, philosophy, religion, literature, poetry, political theory, etc. And why? How?
Hmmm. Interesting... This thread's going nowhere, so I'll nudge it with my contribution: Hui-neng. R.M. Rilke. Ludwig Wittgenstein (post-Tractatus). Franz Kafka. Nico. And if I've gotta throw in a more overtly political one, Pierre Joseph Proudhon.
God/Holey Bible Ive read very little of the Holey Bible but its prolly been the mos influencial thang ive read... an it was mos informative that "beleifs" are gobble-goop.!!!
Of course. His writing on the relation between humans and pyramids was inspiring. He had me, of course, at "Scientists R Stoopid".
Why 'post-Tractatus'? It was rather thorough. And what do you consider post-Tractatus? His only work outside of that was entitled 'Philosophical Investigations', and it wasn't even finished...
But he did write a fair amount afterwards, much of it incomplete and published posthumously--and a lot of it not even remotely in the same vein (criticism, etc.). I guess I should have just said the whole (just slightly favoring the later) as it's a little odd without the other. It's like saying I only like Rimbaud's writing after he went to Ethiopia--you know, the little grocery lists and lists of items he would like his mother to send and such. Ahhh--I'll not edit--reviewing my original question, I think the answer is there.
My most influential writers...hmmm...I wish I could say that I had a whole long list of intellectual names, but that's a big negative. Seeing as I love to write fiction, horror/fantasy fiction, then my fave authors are not considered "high-brow". L.J. Smith was ultimately my biggest influence as a young girl when it came to horror/fantasy. Laurell K. Hamilton Alice Borchardt Kim Harrison Charlain Harris Joe Graham Annette Curtis Clause Emily Dickinson Elizabeth Bishop Anne Carson Charlotte Bronte Virginia Woolf Dylan Thomas Anne Rice I could go on forever.
I add...shudder Richard Dawkins. He's still an arse, of course. Yet, the selfish gene was a useful paradigm. Also Lynch, Roff.
More horror please. Do you like Thomas Ligotti? I love all the canonical ones--Poe, Lovecraft, Stoker, etc.--but i can't seem to get into much contemporary besides Ligotti, Barker, another English guy whose name is escaping me--some names, please?
I guess I was more intending influential in an emotional, visceral (for want of a better term), and practical way--do you feel Dawkins does that for you? I can certainly see Marx and Orwell, and even Happeh, heh, I guess.
Poe and Lovecraft are amazing. I will have to check out Ligotti. I have to say I'm a sucker for contemporary horror/fantasy fiction Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!, but it depresses me because it makes me realize that the stories I have been working on for 10 years are no longer unique. Let's see...more names...I will have to peruse my library. I have to say contemporary fiction has been the most influential for me. I really like Octavia Butler, The Parable of the Sower is a great book and Phillip K. Dick is another author who I think has tremendous skill. These authors are not strictly horror, but their subjects are horrifying, if that makes sense. I will think of more and let you know Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
