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Languages and Literature | ||
 Language Learning Forum : Books, Literature & Reading |  | |
| lloydkirk Diglot Senior Member United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6404 days ago 429 posts - 452 votes  Speaks: English*, French Studies: Russian | Message 1 of 3 12 November 2007 at 8:09pm | IP Logged | ||
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For me, the volume and quality of original works in a language is an enormous incentive to learn it. I was looking for a list of profound and influential novels and came across THIS website. I think it is quite thorough.
The language that dominates the list is English. French, Russian and German follow in no particular order. While the author is perhaps biased being a native english speaker, I am inclined to agree. I've read literature from dozens of languages(granted all in english) and the works originally written in these four languages have had the most significant impact in my life. Do you agree? Are there other living languages that you think have offered more to literature? 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Alfonso Octoglot Senior Member Mexico Joined 6852 days ago 511 posts - 536 votes Speaks: Biblical Hebrew, Spanish*, French, English, Tzotzil, Italian, Portuguese, Ancient Greek Studies: Nahuatl, Tzeltal, German | Message 2 of 3 12 November 2007 at 10:19pm | IP Logged | ||
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That's very interesting! I agree with you: Good literature written in one's target language can be (is) a good incentive to learn it.
As a native Spanish speaker, I can say that there is a great amount of very good quality literature. I haven't seen in that list the name of many famous contemporary Latin-American or Hispanic writers like: Pablo Neruda, Mario Vargas Llosa, Gabriel García Márquez, Octavio Paz, Rosario Castellanos, Elena Poniatowska, Juan Rulfo, Jorge Luis Borges, etc.etc. I guess the problem is that in Spanish speaking countries, reading is not as common as in European or North-American countries. It is said that the average Mexican reads one book per year!!! So, maybe this is the reason why literature written in Spanish doesn't have a great impact in global culture. Edited by Alfonso on 12 November 2007 at 10:21pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| lloydkirk Diglot Senior Member United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6404 days ago 429 posts - 452 votes Speaks: English*, French Studies: Russian | Message 3 of 3 12 November 2007 at 11:43pm | IP Logged | ||
The only work originally written in Spanish that I've read is Don Quixote and I thought it was magnificent. Besides Don Quixote though, other Spanish literature doesn't seem to get much attention, at least in north american and european education. I think the problem lies in the fact that there were so many prominent english/french/German/russian novelists and philosphers during the 17th-20th centuries. In Spanish literature, there is a large gap between 16th century Cervantes and modern 20th century writers like Marquez. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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