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Languages with rich literary traditions | ||
Tags: Literature | Multilingual | ||
 Language Learning Forum : Books, Literature & Reading |  | |
| joan.carles Bilingual Pentaglot Senior Member Canada Joined 6324 days ago 332 posts - 342 votes  Speaks: Spanish*, Catalan*, French, EnglishC1, EnglishC2, Mandarin Studies: Hungarian, Russian, Georgian | Message 33 of 63 19 November 2007 at 10:11am | IP Logged | |||||
C'mon, we could say that about any literature, mostly nowadays. Too much crap in the shelves, but that's not only the case of French literature. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| olgahtml Triglot Newbie United States Joined 6308 days ago 28 posts - 28 votes Speaks: Russian*, Ukrainian, English Studies: Spanish | Message 34 of 63 19 November 2007 at 11:37am | IP Logged | |||||
Overrated by whom? I thought this thread was about the languages with rich literary traditions. I am not very familiar with modern French literature (with few exceptions) but there is enough great classical French literature to keep anyone occupied for a very long time. Though I guess it’s a matter of taste. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| ? Groupie Joined 6211 days ago 43 posts - 40 votes Studies: Belarusian* | Message 35 of 63 19 November 2007 at 11:55am | IP Logged | |||||
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My list of great writers:
Hans Christian Andersen - Danish Lewis Carroll - English Franz Kafka - German Lev Tolstoy - Russian Andrey Platonov - Russian Albert Camus - French Joseph Conrad - English )Poland) James Joyce - English (Ireland) 安部公房 Abe Kobo - Japanese Ernest Hemingway - English (USA) Vladimir Nabokov - English, Russian (Russia) João Guimarães Rosa - Portuguese (Brazil) Mario Vargas Llosa - Spanish (Peru) Rabindranath Tagore - Bengali Karel Čapek - Czech Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa - Italian Edited by ? on 19 November 2007 at 12:06pm 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| frenkeld Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 6934 days ago 2042 posts - 2719 votes Speaks: Russian*, English Studies: German | Message 36 of 63 19 November 2007 at 12:22pm | IP Logged | |||||
Being as mediocre as everyone else is not the best proof of excellence :), but to be fair, from the novels that drove Don Quixote to his insanity to all the romance novels Emma Bovary was reading one can safely assume that "the shelves" have always had plenty of books whose purpose was to entertain without enlightening. It may even be the case that those languages that have produced the most novels suitable for torturing schoolchildren are also the ones producing the most of and the most entertaining entertainment novels, but proving this would require additional study. Novel as a genre reached its full maturity in the 19th century, and no one can accuse the French of not having been among the very top players in that development. It's a separate question, or rather two, how the more serious current French literature stacks up against other languages, and for those who do indulge in lighter fare, just how entertaining are the present-day French beach novels compared to everyone else's. Edited by frenkeld on 19 November 2007 at 12:37pm 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| joan.carles Bilingual Pentaglot Senior Member Canada Joined 6324 days ago 332 posts - 342 votes Speaks: Spanish*, Catalan*, French, EnglishC1, EnglishC2, Mandarin Studies: Hungarian, Russian, Georgian | Message 37 of 63 19 November 2007 at 1:38pm | IP Logged | |||||
Sure, I'm not saying that having more or less bad works makes French literature any better or any worse than the rest. I just answered the statement "French literature is overrated". And why French and not Russian? Who decides? 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| frenkeld Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 6934 days ago 2042 posts - 2719 votes Speaks: Russian*, English Studies: German | Message 38 of 63 19 November 2007 at 1:59pm | IP Logged | |||||
I was actually arguing that having a good number of reasonably entertaining pop lit works may actually imply there being some good substantive ones as well. Writing is a skill that does not come out of thin air - one needs some tradition for it to flourish.
We do - that's what this thread is for. :) 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| ? Groupie Joined 6211 days ago 43 posts - 40 votes Studies: Belarusian* | Message 39 of 63 22 November 2007 at 2:27am | IP Logged | |||||
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Time Critics Lev Grossman and Richard Lacayo pick the 100 best English-language novels from 1923 to the present
http://www.time.com/time/2005/100books/the_complete_list.htm l 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| frenkeld Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 6934 days ago 2042 posts - 2719 votes Speaks: Russian*, English Studies: German | Message 40 of 63 23 November 2007 at 10:51pm | IP Logged | |||||
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For Spanish "El Mundo" put together a list of 100 top Spanish-language novels of the 20th century:
Top 100 list. It also published a list of the next 25 novels, i.e., those in 101st to 125th spots: The next 25 list, as well as a list of 25 additional works worth keeping in mind regardless of the rankings: Some more good stuff list. Edited by frenkeld on 23 November 2007 at 10:51pm 1 person has voted this message useful |
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