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What language has the best literature? | ||
Tags: Literature | Choosing a Language | ||
 Language Learning Forum : Books, Literature & Reading |  | |
| espejismo Diglot Senior Member Russian Federation Joined 5041 days ago 498 posts - 905 votes  Speaks: Russian*, English Studies: Spanish, Greek, Azerbaijani | Message 17 of 24 23 March 2012 at 4:15am | IP Logged | |||||
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Some very fine literature was written in Russian. People who learn the language for its literature usually mention authors like Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, and to a lesser extent Bulgakov, as their main sources of motivation. That's good and all, but there are so many others, particularly during the Soviet period.
I remember reading that Rilke said he found his spiritual homeland in Russia during his visit there at the turn of the 20th century. Something about the russische Seele... He sure got a good dose of it later on in his correspondence with Tsvetaeva. Anyway... As bad as translations can be, try reading a few to see which literary tradition attracts you the most. Edited by espejismo on 23 March 2012 at 4:22am 3 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| blauw Tetraglot Groupie Belgium Joined 5362 days ago 46 posts - 111 votes Speaks: English, Flemish*, French, Italian Studies: Russian | Message 18 of 24 02 April 2012 at 6:31pm | IP Logged | |||||
Some of my favourites: Willem Elsschot, Jotie T'Hooft, Louis-Paul Boon and Guido Gezelle. These were all Flemish writers. Other authors who are usually considered great Dutch writers are Jan Wolkers, Gerard Reve, Harry Mulisch, Maarten 't Hart, Arnon Grunberg, Willem Kloos, Vondel, Louis Couperus, and Multatuli. Cyriel Buysse was the most important author of Flemish naturalism. If anyone is interested, here are some of my favourite poems: http://www.let.rug.nl/vannoord/huwelijk.html (Elsschot) http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dien_Avond_en_die_Rooze (Gezelle) http://4umi.com/kloos/god (Kloos) Edited by blauw on 02 April 2012 at 6:46pm 3 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Dagane Triglot Senior Member SpainRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4501 days ago 259 posts - 324 votes Speaks: Spanish*, EnglishB2, Galician Studies: German Studies: Czech | Message 19 of 24 27 July 2012 at 7:10pm | IP Logged | |||||
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I've been always an eager reader. In my opinion, nobody is able to say if one particular literature is the best for sure. And if it would, the quality and length of the works depends tremendously on how many people speak a determined language and what kind of culture(s) they have. So probably we should keep that in mind when analysing the works.
So, after this comment and after have read books from many different countries and languages (although the most in my mother tongue), I'd say the best fiction literature is the one made in Spanish... but from Latin America. Although I'm from Spain and the literature from my country is really good, I'm attached to Latin American's one. However, I'd also say that French literature is very very close to it. But, of course, it's an opinion. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| mrhenrik Triglot Moderator Norway Joined 6069 days ago 482 posts - 658 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, English, French Personal Language Map | Message 20 of 24 27 July 2012 at 8:15pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Choosing the best literature objective is obviously impossible, but that doesn't mean people's opinions shouldn't be of interest - I've found this thread very interesting to read!
Of Norwegian authors I'd warmly recommend Gert Nygårdshaug, especially his series beginning with "Mengele Zoo". His books are extremely well researched, and often take place in Latin America. Great books. I've just started dipping into French literature with L'Etranger, and while I love the writing style there's a long way to go before I become properly familiar with French literature. I'm looking forward to it though! 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| jsg Diglot Newbie Canada Joined 4497 days ago 30 posts - 59 votes Speaks: English*, Mandarin Studies: French | Message 21 of 24 28 July 2012 at 10:17am | IP Logged | |||||
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Mandarin is my only experience with learning additional languages, however as a fan of chinese television and film in gerneral, and martial arts in particular, some literature that fascinates me is:
水浒传 (Water Margin), 三国演义 (Romance of the Three Kingdoms), and 孫子兵法 (The Art of War). Of course there is a lot more to Chinese literature than books about war and novels about kung fu and great warriors. Chinese Literature spans thousands of years and has great masterpieces in a number of genres. To whet your appetite you could begin by taking a peek at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_literature 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| frenkeld Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 6933 days ago 2042 posts - 2719 votes Speaks: Russian*, English Studies: German | Message 22 of 24 29 July 2012 at 7:27am | IP Logged | |||||
My guess as to why people often cite the 19th century authors is because the novel as a literary form reached its full maturity in that century, with the French and Russian novelists probably being the top at the time. Edited by frenkeld on 29 July 2012 at 4:52pm 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Jappy58 Bilingual Super Polyglot Senior Member United States Joined 4628 days ago 200 posts - 413 votes Speaks: Spanish*, Guarani*, Arabic (Levantine), Arabic (Egyptian), Arabic (Maghribi), Arabic (Written), French, English, Persian, Quechua, Portuguese Studies: Modern Hebrew | Message 23 of 24 07 August 2012 at 6:39pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Reading literature is certainly a highlight for me when it comes to learning languages.
I love Spanish literature - some of my favorite authors already mentioned by other members. French is also awesome. However, I also love Arabic literature. The language has no less of a literary tradition than most European languages and it's absolutely fascinating reading because of how different Arabic writing styles can be, especially when it comes to classical literature. I love the poetry of Nizar Qabbani, Imru al-Qays, Adonis, and so on; the stories of Naguib Mahfouz, Haidar Haidar, Zuhair Jabbour, and so on. Contrary to popular belief, not all Arabic literature revolves around religion. It's truly a shame how many people I've met that say they weren't interested in the language simply because they thought, "there's only the Holy Qur'an and other religious texts". The truth is that there is a treasure trove of literature in Arabic that has little to do with religion, and there are several genres one could explore. There are indeed some stories that explore areas that one would initially assume as "taboo" in the Arab world. Persian literature is also fantastic. The poetry of Rumi, Ferdowsi, and Hafiz is spectacular and even better in the original language than in most translations I've read. It's one of the main reasons I studied Persian, and I have no regrets. I look forward to exploring Portuguese literature. 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| montmorency Diglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4818 days ago 2371 posts - 3676 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: Danish, Welsh | Message 24 of 24 07 August 2012 at 11:49pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Since we are no longer talking about the "best language", but simply good examples in
various languages, then for German, although it's taken me some time to be able to read and appreciate him properly, Theodor Fontane is superb. One also cannot ignore Thomas Mann, and although I have not read him yet, his brother Heinrich Mann should also be worth exploring. In post-WW2 years, of course Heinrich Böll and Günther Grass are perhaps the best known, or for something a little lighter, I enjoy Erich Kästner. I've tried to read Christa Wolf, but find her quite difficult for some reason. I need to try reading her in translation I think, and see if that helps. Edited by montmorency on 07 August 2012 at 11:50pm 1 person has voted this message useful |
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