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French and German literary masterpieces | ||
 Language Learning Forum : Books, Literature & Reading |  | |
| Luigi Diglot Senior Member Italy Joined 6931 days ago 113 posts - 135 votes  Speaks: Italian*, English Studies: German, Russian | Message 1 of 8 21 January 2007 at 8:36am | IP Logged | |||||
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A friend of mine has given me a few audiobooks of some of the best known masterpieces in French and German literature.
My only problem is that sometimes literary masterpieces are written in a language which is outdated or too pompous. That kind of language could be harmful to someone who is still learning the language. These are the books I own and should read for my university course in foreign languges and literatures: French: Marcel Proust - A la recherche du temps perdu; German: Hermann Hesse - Der Steppenwolf, Narziss und Goldmund, das Glasperlenspiel; Kafka - Die Verwandlung, Das Schloss; Thomas Mann - Der Zauberberg, Der Tod in Venedig; Stefan Zweig - various novels. What do you think? Are these authors suitable for an advanced student in French and German, or by studying them in the original, I'll run the risk of picking up some outdated and pompous expressions? Thank you in advance for your replies. Luigi Edited by Luigi on 21 January 2007 at 9:07am 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| linguanima Bilingual Tetraglot Senior Member Australia Joined 6709 days ago 114 posts - 123 votes 3 sounds Speaks: English*, Mandarin*, Spanish, French Studies: Italian, Latin, German | Message 2 of 8 21 January 2007 at 9:58am | IP Logged | |||||
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Don't know about German because my German is still at beginner's level.
As for French, if you can be patient enough to read through 'A la recherche du temps perdu', that's fine. Personally I think it's too long for me. Instead I'm reading authors such as Guy de Maupassant, whose short stories are definitely good for advanced study of French; Alfonse Daudet, the same; Victor Hugo, whose poetry is great and if you are patient enough, try 'Les Misérables'; Alexandre Duma's works can also be considered; some good French plays, such as 'Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme'; Voltaire's 'Candide' is also great. In fact French classics are not so difficult to understand. On the contrary some modern French writings are more difficult. Edited by linguanima on 21 January 2007 at 10:05am 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Marc Frisch Heptaglot Senior Member Germany Joined 6656 days ago 1001 posts - 1169 votes Speaks: German*, French, English, Spanish, Portuguese, Turkish, Italian Studies: Persian, Tamil | Message 3 of 8 21 January 2007 at 12:22pm | IP Logged | |||||
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I've read most of the books you mention for German and as far as I remember, the language is not outdated at all.
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| Luigi Diglot Senior Member Italy Joined 6931 days ago 113 posts - 135 votes Speaks: Italian*, English Studies: German, Russian | Message 4 of 8 21 January 2007 at 2:21pm | IP Logged | |||||
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@ Linguanima,
Well, I don't have the intention of reading all the volumes of "A la recherche du temps perdu", I only have "Du côté de chez Swann", the first book (even though it is over 500 pages). So, you are saying that French classics are quite readable even by today's standards of the language, aren't you? I think I'll have a try. thank you for the titles you recommended. @ Marc,
However, I've recently read "Der Tod in Venedig" in the Italian translation, and I've found it full of difficult expressions while the style was unnatural and extremely pompous. Maybe the problem was simply the translation but this fact worried me a little bit, fearing that the original too were so difficult to read. The question is: do you think that it would be ok to learn advanced German from these books? Edited by Luigi on 21 January 2007 at 6:08pm 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Niomi Diglot Newbie Japan ioet.com Joined 7033 days ago 20 posts - 23 votes Speaks: English*, Japanese Studies: Russian | Message 5 of 8 21 January 2007 at 5:10pm | IP Logged | |||||
I'm curious - why do you say this? Is that really true? I'm still in beginning French, but some of the reasons I started learning was so I could read "Phantom of the Opera" and some of Victor Hugo's works. This gives me hope :) 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| linguanima Bilingual Tetraglot Senior Member Australia Joined 6709 days ago 114 posts - 123 votes 3 sounds Speaks: English*, Mandarin*, Spanish, French Studies: Italian, Latin, German | Message 6 of 8 21 January 2007 at 11:10pm | IP Logged | |||||
I don't know... but at least it's true for me. I think classical French writers tend to use words that have cognates in English, but modern French writers - well I have the impression - have a more colourful and variable diction. Understanding Guy de Maupassant or Alexandre Dumas is not hard for me but I have difficulties trying to figure out what an article in a Figaro Magazine means. It's strange... Try to read more. French is not like German. It's highly understandable because of the cognates. Victor Hugo's words may be a bit hard, but instead I recommend French short stories and plays for your level. Maupassant's 'contes fantastiques' are great thrillers. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Marc Frisch Heptaglot Senior Member Germany Joined 6656 days ago 1001 posts - 1169 votes Speaks: German*, French, English, Spanish, Portuguese, Turkish, Italian Studies: Persian, Tamil | Message 7 of 8 22 January 2007 at 6:20am | IP Logged | |||||
Yes, I think they are excellent choices. Of course, the language is literary and difficult, but that's not the same thing as obsolete and if you want to learn advanced German, there's no 'easy way'. Advanced means difficult in German as well as in any other language. By the way, I recently re-read 'Der Steppenwolf' and it's written in a less pompous style than Thomas Mann's novels, so it might be a good starting point. Kafka has a very peculiar style, keep that in mind while reading. Otherwise you could also try more recent works, e.g. "Das Parfüm" by Patrick Süskind (which was recently turned into a movie). 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Luigi Diglot Senior Member Italy Joined 6931 days ago 113 posts - 135 votes Speaks: Italian*, English Studies: German, Russian | Message 8 of 8 22 January 2007 at 7:47am | IP Logged | |||||
I have this title. I've read some reviews on Amazon.com and I know it is a very good choice. Earlier I forgot to mention this title among the others, but I have to read it for my exam in German literature. Thank you very much for the help. Edited by Luigi on 22 January 2007 at 2:51pm 1 person has voted this message useful |
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