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Practice your writing by typing out classic literature. This method not only enhances your understanding of rhythm, structure, and nuances but also connects you deeply with the timeless flow of literary history.This is a BETA version.
Moby-Dick; or, The Whale
by Herman Melville
Moby-Dick; or, The Whale is a novel by Herman Melville, published in 1851. It narrates the voyage of the Pequod, a whaling ship commanded by Captain Ahab, who is driven by an obsessive quest to kill Moby Dick, the white whale that on a previous voyage destroyed his ship and severed his leg at the knee. It is a profound and complex work that explores themes of vengeance, the quest for knowledge, and the nature of good and evil.
bearskin, I fought my way against the stubborn storm. Entering, I found a small scattered congregation of sailors, and sailors’ wives and widows. A muffled silence reigned, only broken at times by the shrieks of the storm. Each silent worshipper seemed purposely sitting apart from the other, as if each silent grief were insular and incommunicable. The chaplain had not yet arrived; and there these silent islands of men and women sat steadfastly eyeing several marble tablets, with black borders, masoned into the wall on either side the pulpit. Three of them ran something like the following, but I do not pretend to quote:— SACRED To the Memory of JOHN TALBOT, Who, at the age of eighteen, was lost overboard, Near the Isle of Desolation, off Patagonia, _November_ 1_st_, 1836. THIS TABLET Is erected to his Memory BY HIS SISTER. SACRED To the Memory of ROBERT LONG, WILLIS ELLERY, NATHAN COLEMAN, WALTER CANNY, SETH MACY, AND SAMUEL GLEIG, Forming one of the boats’ crews OF THE SHIP ELIZA, Who were towed out of sight by a Whale, On the Off-shore Ground in the PACIFIC, _December_ 31_st_, 1839. THIS MARBLE Is here placed by their surviving
Other classics
Virginia Woolf
Mrs. Dalloway
Mary Shelley
Frankenstein
William Shakespeare
Romeo and Juliet
August Strindberg
Inferno
Lewis Carroll
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Ernest Hemingway
In Our Time
Franz Kafka
The Metamorphosis
Jane Austen
Emma
Emily Brontë
Wuthering Heights
Marcel Proust
Swann's Way
Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell
Cranford
Victoria Benedictsson
Modern
Oscar Wilde
The Picture of Dorian Gray
Louisa May Alcott
Aunt Jo’s Scrap-Bag Vol. 1
Hjalmar Söderberg
Förvillelser
August Strindberg
Röda Rummet
F. Scott Fitzgerald
The Great Gatsby
Henry David Thoreau
Walden
Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Crime and Punishment
Marcel Proust
Within a Budding GroveWhy Type a Masterpiece?
Typing out classical literature is not just an exercise in patience; it's a deeply immersive way to understand the rhythm, structure, and nuances of great writing. By manually reproducing the works of renowned authors, you engage with the text on a level that reading alone cannot offer. This method allows you to feel the flow of sentences, the choice of words, and the intricate construction of paragraphs that make these works timeless.
Style is a very simple matter; it is all rhythm. Once you get that, you can't use the wrong words.
– Virginia Woolf
literati is a unique platform where writers can select from a vast collection of public domain classics to type out. This practice is akin to a musician playing pieces by the masters to internalize the elements of composition and performance. Just as the musician learns the subtleties of each note and chord, the writer learns the power of each word and sentence.
Prose is like hair; it shines with combing.
– Gustave Flaubert
Engaging directly with masterpieces allows writers to absorb the rhythm of the text, the ebb and flow of its pacing, and the beauty of its imagery. It cultivates an appreciation for the craft of writing and provides invaluable lessons in how to construct compelling narratives, develop characters, and evoke emotions in readers. Happy typing!
The only truth is music.
– Jack Kerouac