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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.
Walden
by Henry David Thoreau
Walden; or, Life in the Woods is a book by transcendentalist Henry David Thoreau. The work is part personal declaration of independence, social experiment, voyage of spiritual discovery, satire, and—to some degree—a manual for self-reliance. It reflects Thoreau’s attempt to live a simpler life surrounded by nature, and it critiques the complexities of contemporary society and the impact of the Industrial Revolution.
raised five feet all around as if it were a compost heap. The roof was the soundest part, though a good deal warped and made brittle by the sun. Door-sill there was none, but a perennial passage for the hens under the door board. Mrs. C. came to the door and asked me to view it from the inside. The hens were driven in by my approach. It was dark, and had a dirt floor for the most part, dank, clammy, and aguish, only here a board and there a board which would not bear removal. She lighted a lamp to show me the inside of the roof and the walls, and also that the board floor extended under the bed, warning me not to step into the cellar, a sort of dust hole two feet deep. In her own words, they were “good boards overhead, good boards all around, and a good window,”—of two whole squares originally, only the cat had passed out that way lately. There was a stove, a bed, and a place to sit, an infant in the house where it was born, a silk parasol, gilt-framed looking-glass, and a patent new coffee mill nailed to an oak sapling, all told. The bargain was soon concluded, for James had in the
Other classics
Herman Melville
Moby-Dick; or, The Whale
Jane Austen
Emma
Marcel Proust
Swann's Way
Mary Shelley
Frankenstein
Ernest Hemingway
In Our Time
Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Crime and Punishment
Emily Brontë
Wuthering Heights
Louisa May Alcott
Aunt Jo’s Scrap-Bag Vol. 1
Marcel Proust
Within a Budding Grove
Oscar Wilde
The Picture of Dorian Gray
August Strindberg
Inferno
Franz Kafka
The Metamorphosis
Lewis Carroll
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Hjalmar Söderberg
Förvillelser
Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell
Cranford
Virginia Woolf
Mrs. Dalloway
Victoria Benedictsson
Modern
August Strindberg
Röda Rummet
William Shakespeare
Romeo and Juliet
F. Scott Fitzgerald
The Great GatsbyWhy 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