What language has the best literature? (Books, Literature & Reading) Language Learning Forum

What language has the best literature?
Tags: Literature \| Choosing a Language
Language Learning Forum : Books, Literature & Reading

24 messages over 3 pages: 1 2 3 Next >>

Merv
Bilingual Diglot
Senior Member
United States
Joined 5263 days ago
414 posts - 749 votes

Speaks: English*, Serbo-Croatian*
Studies: Spanish, French

Message 9 of 24

22 March 2012 at 1:38pm | IP Logged

livelearntravel wrote:

Hello all, new to this forum! So far I've gotten a lot out of just reading through the
threads, so I thought I'd post one.

Currently I'm already focused on the languages I'm learning right now (Spanish and
Dutch), but I was reading today and thought of a question.

Which language do you think offers the best literature? As in, if you could learn a
language just to be able to read it's literary offerings, which one would you chose? I
was thinking about this because some people say that certain books are better in their
native tongues, and you can get more out of a book by reading it how it was originaly
written. So which one would you chose?

This is just a matter of preference. There are a few objective contenders, but that depends on your likes and
inclinations.

As I already know English, I would next learn Russian and then ancient Greek - if my interest were purely
literature.
1 person has voted this message useful

Ogrim
Heptaglot
Senior Member
France
Joined 4629 days ago
991 posts - 1896 votes

Speaks: Norwegian*, English, Spanish, French, Romansh, German, Italian
Studies: Russian, Catalan, Latin, Greek, Romanian

Message 10 of 24

22 March 2012 at 1:50pm | IP Logged

Iversen wrote:

The only problem is that there are languages where the silence is mysteriously roaring. For instance I can't mention one single Dutch author, maybe because I had stopped reading literature before I got interested in learning the language. But then I should have seen a lot of books in translation, and I haven't - haven't the Dutch got literature or haven't Danish translators cared about translating them?

After searching my brain for quite a while I could only remember the name of two Dutch authors, Cees Nooteboom and Hugo Claus (who was Belgian). I know parts of their works have been translated into English and French, but I cannot say for other languages.

Now as regards Norwegian authors, Ibsen may be the only one with an international name, although a few others are starting to make a breakthrough, not least in the crime novel genre, where Jon Nesbo has been on the bestseller lists in both UK and the US.
1 person has voted this message useful

dmaddock1
Senior Member
United States
Joined 5423 days ago
174 posts - 426 votes

Speaks: English*
Studies: Italian, Esperanto, Latin, Ancient Greek

Message 11 of 24

22 March 2012 at 2:35pm | IP Logged

This is exactly why I started learning languages. There is something thrilling about the experience of reading a great work of literature in the original and understanding it.

I wouldn't exclude science books from literature, though it's probably true that many of the best are originally English works. But, Latin has a lot to offer for the science-minded.

I couldn't agree more with Iversen's comments about lesser- (or un-)known authors in smaller languages. Discovering that literary tradition is part of the enjoyment for me. One thing I like about Esperanto (in addition its own original lit.) is the translated anthologies (antologioj). These are a really cool introduction to the literature of the smaller languages which you wouldn't otherwise hear about.

Also, Prof. Arguelles has a great list of classics for the Western languages on his site. He used to have spreadsheets for non-Western cultures too, but it seems he's taken them down.

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Merv
Bilingual Diglot
Senior Member
United States
Joined 5263 days ago
414 posts - 749 votes

Speaks: English*, Serbo-Croatian*
Studies: Spanish, French

Message 13 of 24

22 March 2012 at 3:13pm | IP Logged

Iversen wrote:

It is fairly obvious that languages with not only many speakers but also a fine literacy rate are
more likely to produce literary geniuses - and most of the big languages of this world have enough of those
geniuses to keep you occupied around the clock, if reading great literature is your thing.

Some minor languages are renowned for one or two internationally known names, but international fame isn't the
only yeardstick you can use. For instance I'm sick and tired about hearing about Hans Christian Andersen as if he
was the only Danish author who was worth reading. It seems to be a law of nature that when something or
somebody has become famous then everything and everybody else is forgotten and the selected one is raised
almost to godlike stature and put on a piedestal. The only decent reaction to this is to search deliberately for
traces of those infortunate ones who were pushed into oblivion. Mostly this was deserved, but certainly not in all
cases.

I see this more clearly in music than in literature because I quite frankly don't read much literature (like Ari I
prefer popular science materials), so my personal tape collection is brimming with forgotten names while my
stocks of works by the usual deified geniuses deliberately are kept down.

I apply the same criterion to languages - I search for stuff in the minor ones, even though it may be more
difficult to find. Of course I can't read all languages in this world and therefore I haven't a clue about things
written in for instance Chinese - but I have every reason to believe that there is a lot of things there which we
ought to know as well as usual slew of books in English, French and German.

The only problem is that there are languages where the silence is mysteriously roaring. For instance I can't
mention one single Dutch author, maybe because I had stopped reading literature before I got interested in
learning the language. But then I should have seen a lot of books in translation, and I haven't - haven't the Dutch
got literature or haven't Danish translators cared about translating them?

The same problem with Esperanto. Volte, Sprachprofi and others have listed books written in Esperanto so there
is no excuse for not having read them, but as a matter of fact the only major literary works I have read in the
language are translations of Tolkien's main works, the Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings. This is of course great
literature (even in translation), but it is also a symptom of the bad habit of sticking to names you already know
instead of searching for overlooked gems.

Connected with this I'd like to point out that there's a lot of epic/folk literature that was for centuries passed
down orally and was only written down 100 or 200 years ago. The lower the literacy rate, the higher the
incidence of these oral literatures and the more likely they would be passed down through the centuries to the
present day. Many of these epic poems are of high quality, not to be dismissed alongside the more classic epics
everyone knows about.
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Medulin
Tetraglot
Senior Member
Croatia
Joined 4658 days ago
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Speaks: Croatian*, English, Spanish, Portuguese
Studies: Norwegian, Hindi, Nepali

Message 14 of 24

22 March 2012 at 3:40pm | IP Logged

For me: Italian has the best literature (from Dante to Umberto Eco).
Post1990ies literature: Norwegian (Jo Nesbø, Per Petterson...)

For modern literature, the Nobel literature prize can be helpful:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Nobel_laureates_in_Lite rature

The English language seems to dominate the list.

Edited by Medulin on 22 March 2012 at 3:50pm
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Enki
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Canada
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Speaks: Arabic (Written), English*, French, Korean
Studies: Japanese

Message 15 of 24

22 March 2012 at 3:47pm | IP Logged

Don't overlook Japanese. Aesthetics has a long and influential history in Japan, and has resulted in some unique and, imo, beautiful poems and novels. The novel form has a very long history in Japan, and literature is still popularly published these days. I'd even say it's worth studying Japanese just to be able to study the aesthetic philsophy.
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Michael K.
Senior Member
United States
Joined 5719 days ago
568 posts - 886 votes

Speaks: English*
Studies: Spanish, Esperanto

Message 16 of 24

22 March 2012 at 5:33pm | IP Logged

There's a similar thread.

Best Languages for Literature Thread

The most memorable quote is that picking the best language for literature is like picking the best color for clothing.

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