Have your say as to which nation has produced the greatest literature throughout time, whether it be Rome and Greece with the old classics or Britain with Shakespeare and the Victorian writers.
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Have your say as to which nation has produced the greatest literature throughout time, whether it be Rome and Greece with the old classics or Britain with Shakespeare and the Victorian writers.
I'd say the largest volume of great literature has come from the British Isles, but that might just be because I'm an anglophone.
For consistency of great literature, it's hard to beat Russia. (Quick, name five lousy Russian authors. See?)
Per capita, Canada and Iceland do quite well.
Most of the convention defying of the past century seems to have come from the United States.
Yeah, I agree with Britain. I think, in regard to Russia, it's that they don't have too many writers so only the best get published, you know. I don't think America currently produces the best; I think their current turnout is rubbish.
I haven't read anything written anywhere in the past decade or so that blew me away (Palahniuk is alright), but it's hard to beat T.S. Eliot, Ezra Pound, Gertrude Stein and Amy Lowell for sheer, unadulterated weirdness (unless, of course, you happen to be James Joyce). America has also produced the best feminist literature this side of Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, in my opinion.
Try... ah, Jeffery Archer and Salaman Rushie - I think I spelt the latter right. But people like Clive Cussler... ah!
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Originally Posted by cuppajoe_9
It's true, particularly in the 19th Century, Russia produced a great number of excellent writers : Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Turgenev, Gogol, Chekhov, etc. who all had to say profound things about human nature and whose works are still well-known in the West and have been frequently used as a basis for other artistic productions such as films, theater, etc.
With regard to Brendan's comment that Russia doesn't have that many writers so that the best get published : they actually do have a lot, it's just that the best get published in the English-speaking world which is why the English--speaking world only knows a select number. Also many works deal with intensely Russian/local issues which may not be of interest internationally. But there are plenty of good/medium rate Russian writers that are published and appreciated in Russia.
By the same token when I lived in the USSR, I only knew a select # of American/Canadian/British authors, and it's only when I moved to Canada and started taking English lit. in high school that I became acquainted with a lot of interesting writers from the English world.
I agree with olichka, although I was refering to Russian writers currently.
To cuppajoe: I might be able to name 5 lousy Russians, but I haven't gotten into Russian literature much. Who would you consider 5 bad writers from Britain??
By Britain do you mean England? I mean, I don't know about you, but I can't think of any particularly great or heroic Welsh, Northern Irish or even Scottish novelists.Quote:
Originally Posted by Brendan Madley
I think it's fairly even until one compares the miniscule size of England with its contenders, (I think Russia and America), then it is England.
AHHHHHH!!!!!!!!! Sacriledge what of Scott,Stevenson, Conan Doyle for the novelists, and seeing as it is literature, how can we forget Burns (one of the few writers to have his own day which is celebrated worldwide)Quote:
Originally Posted by F.Emerald
Scottish Writers
Scottish Novelists
This is without even going into Welsh, N.Irish, or ROI before seperation.
Our understanding of foreign literature is limited by what has been translated if we are monoglot and if one is a metropolitan troglodyte ones horizons will be very limited indeed. There are hundreds of Russian writers but the overwhelming majority will never have been translated or will have been translated in very truncated form. There is definitely 'heroic' Welsh literature. There are numerous Northern Irish writers and Scots, well ... too many to bother enlightening one who probably aint very interested.
I didnt know Doyle and Stevenson were Scottish
Lets not forget the French.
Voltaire
Moliere
Dumas
Hugo
Flaubert
Baudelaire
Then into the 20th century
Camus
Sartre
By Britain I do mean, yes, the British Isles. And to add my 2 cents, I would say Shakespeare, Dickens, Chaucher, Scott, Austen, Archer, Doyle, Kipling, Buchyan, Defoe, Woolf, Conrad, Marlowe, Thackeray, Swift, Fielding, Bronte Sisters, Shelley, Stoker, Joyce, Disraeli, Gaskel, Collins, Carroll, Tolkien, Lewis, Rowling, Potter, Trollpe, Eliot and Hardy to name some British legends. True, many are English, but every Home Country has their own champions of literature.
Ok ok!...I suppose I was being biased. I didn't say there weren't a few. But it hardly compares to the cornucopia that England offers :)Quote:
Originally Posted by kilted exile
I don't like Stevenson one bit. The only Scottish author I've enjoyed is Irvine Welsh, but 'Trainspotting', 'P*rno', 'Filth' etc wouldn't be considered as literature would they?
I wouldnt anticipate there being as many Scottish writers as English - the population is about one tenth of the size - but we have produced our fair share.
I can also easily name 5 terrible Russian writers. In fact, if we look only at the 20th century, there is an enormous number of Soviet authors who were published only because they supported the communist party and wrote the "right" thing
Greece rules! Homer, after all, is the father of modern literature. Sappho practically invented modern poetry. Greek plays are still performed today.
Unfortunately (for me) I know next to nothing about modern Greek literature. But the English, Russians, French, Germans, Italians, and the rest of the West are surely indebted to Greek literature. Also, wasn’t the New Testament written in Greek?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Boris239
That's true, a lot of the writers in the post--revolutionary period were published because they supported the Communist party, but not all of them were bad writers. For example, Alexei Tolstoy was a good writer with his own style. I find that his " Road to Calvary ", although in support of the regime is still an interesting book, and I wouldn't say that it smacks that much of the communist propaganda : it's actually rather objective.
There were also a lot of good writers who wrote satires, making fun of the new lifestyle and the new types of people that evolved after the revolutionary/Civil War period ( although not the regime ), but were still published :e. g. Ilf and Petrov ( " The Golden Calf " , "The Twelve Chairs ", etc. )
Also, Fadeev's " The Young Guard ", although definitely in support of the regime, is still a good book, ( even if just for young readers ) and, besides, it was about important and tragic events from a human perspective, and so cannot be viewed as just propaganda.
True, true, modern literature had it's foundings in the classic Roman and Greek literature. But then, and I might seem nieve, while Greece has done lots for literature, would you say it brought literature to a whole new level that later ages feeded off or did it add to current literature at the time and give later ages the step up to take literature to the next level? Sorry, a bit of a mouthful. The New Testament was written in Arabmic by all except perhaps Luke, who was Greek and wrote for a Greek audience about Jesus healing. A few others may also have done, but the majority wrote Arabmic. I also agree with the Russian statement, quite true.
Brendan, what exactly do you mean by that ? With which statement re Russian lit. do you actually agree ? :confused: I'm curious to know !Quote:
Originally Posted by Brendan Madley
Ancient Greek authors without any doubts have heavily influenced modern literature. The modern Greeks have little in common with the Greeks from the times of Homer or Pericles- even the language is completely different.
I'm not saying that all of the Soviet authors are worthless. In fact I did enjoy "The Young Guard", although Fadeev changed a lot in the real events to emphasize the role of the Party.Quote:
Originally Posted by olichka
But some of the novels that were considered great are pure torture for me. I haven't read anything worth than Gorky's "Mother" with the possible exception of Chernyshevsky's "What to do".
What I mean was that quite a number of Russian authors were heralded as great during the Soviet era, just due to them supporting the Communist cause. That is not to say there were no good Russian authors at the time.
I have studied in my Faculty almost all good works written by both american an english writers .I enjoyed a lot.But have you read Mircea Eliade ,Cioran,Or Sadoveanu?Good literature is a concept which was made by readers and critics alike.When you have read all -it is impossible,of course-teories about how to produce poetry and write the best paper about a given subject then ,you are allowed to have your own oppinion about literature
You know what is said-Only the uncultivated people think they have the knowledge of all.
Rebreanu` S quote-""yOU have to embrace your nature,to dedicate entirely in the moment of creation"
Yowch! By Britain, generally it is meant England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales. Scotland has certainly produced some excellent writers, Iain Banks immediately sprang to mind for me, what about Irvine Welsh?Quote:
By Britain do you mean England? I mean, I don't know about you, but I can't think of any particularly great or heroic Welsh, Northern Irish or even Scottish novelists.
Name five Russian authors.........?Quote:
For consistency of great literature, it's hard to beat Russia. (Quick, name five lousy Russian authors. See?)
I think it is difficult to give an answer to the question raised on this thread as I think in any country you only see the "best" produced from other countries so you only get a small sample. Personally I think the Japanese have a lot to add (not necessarily saying they are the best) but have only read a very small sample of Japanese produced fiction - Kazuo Ishiguro (yes I accept lives in Britain!) is excellent and Haruki Murakami produces some of the most fascinating modern literature around.
Sott was scottish wasnt he?
so was George Macdonald,
love thier work hummmmm wow Barrie as well, actually I knew that now he is authour of my all time FAVOURITE play.
and werent Byron and keats Irish? I think Shelly was too.
But nowadays modern english 'literary' novels just tend to be extremely wierd, and Ill take a candian writer over any other most days of the week, Australians for teenage literature though they are the best.
Good sci-fi fantasty tends to be americans though doesnt it? with a few notable exceptions... oh wait a minute what rubbish, I think countries and literature are pretty difficult to tie together now , becasue surley great minds are not stuck in a country so much as a culture and a country can have many cultrues and many countries can share a culture?:brow:
:D:D
What to do doesnt sound like a very promising title.Quote:
Originally Posted by Boris239
Ive never read any Gorky but Ive heard some good things.
Pakistan, obviously.
I read Overcoat a few months ago and after reading it, I feel like agreeing with you. And Khol Do by Munto was also a deeply moving read. Some friends are recommending me Dastak Na Do as well. They say it's a really good book. I will try to get my hands on it.Quote:
Originally Posted by EAP
Ishtayaq Ahmad's novels are interesting too. Very good, if he would stop being a preacher in Inspector Jamshaid series.
What a pity that there are no good translation of the works. And even if there would be translations, I think the books would be losing quite a lot in translated versions.
There are English writers of Pakistani origin too. Have you read anything by Bapsi Sidhwa? You can try 'The Crow Eaters,' its a nicely written book, on the life of a Parsi family. :) I dont think she resides in Pakistan anymore, but most of her books are about India and Pakistan, people and their lives, some even have the setting of partition time.
Bapsi Sidhwa? The one who wrote God of Small Things? I have got this book, was thinking of trying it once I finish the book I am reading now a days.Quote:
Originally Posted by Madhuri
No. 'God of Small Things,' is written by Arundhati Roy. She is an Indian writer.
Bapsi, is a writer of Pakistani origin. See here and here.
Do you remember a movie named 'Earth'? It was also made based on her novel Ice Candy Man (Cracking India), this movie and novel have the setting of the partition time.
I have read only one book of her so far 'The Crow Eaters' and saw the movie 'Earth,' and I liked both, I dont know, if you'll like these, but I think you'll find her books interesting.
That's a very beautiful book. I did a project on it in high-school and liked it very much :nod:. You should not miss it, Pensy, I'm sure it suits your taste ;).Quote:
Originally Posted by Madhuri
I think I have read her name in the newspapers. The novels, by their title, seem very interesting. I will try to find and read any of her works.Quote:
Originally Posted by Madhuri
I guess so. :) The title, God of Small Things is quite compelling. I will try it soon hopefully. (I have got lots of books on my reading list at the moment! :D)Quote:
That's a very beautiful book. I did a project on it in high-school and liked it very much. You should not miss it, Pensy, I'm sure it suits your taste.
She is quite famous and a good writer. If you are interested in reading about partition and all, then you must try her books.Quote:
Originally Posted by Pensive
Also, I would recommend books written by Amrita Pritam, Pinjar (Cage), she has written many other books too, and Train to Pakistan by Khushwant Singh.
If you arent so interested in history then maybe you can try Interpreter of Maladies, by Jhumpa Lahiri. Its a very good book of stories, I have read it several times and liked it immensly.
I think by now your reading list must have become enormous :p
:D
It's an easy, almost rhetorical question for me...Russian literature, of course!
And you, I believe, are Croatian ? What attracted you to Russian literature ? The fact that it's Slavic, or other aspects ?Quote:
Originally Posted by bazarov
Yes, Boris informed you well.:) What attracts me??? Again a rhetorical question...:yawnb: After Father and Sons, Crime and Punishment, Dead souls, Kabanica(cloak, I think), Brothers Karamazov,...other books just keep coming! I've read all Dostoevsky's books, many Tolstoy's works and others, so I simply can't see how could any other literature be anywhere near Russian!Quote:
Originally Posted by olichka
But hey, that's just my opinion!
I agree. Every now and then I make myself read something that isn't Russian, thinking I need to expand my horizons a little bit but I always come back to it and it feels oddly like coming home. I like the dark and sometimes oppressive feel to it, I love the deep insight into the human psyche, I love the political and social commentary and backgrounds that seem to permeate every Russian work whether it's pre-Revolutionary or post, I love the larger than life characters and the passion in which they live their lives. It's a culture very different from my own and I find it utterly fascinating.Quote:
Originally Posted by bazarov
Quote:
Originally Posted by Idril
Excellently expressed, Idril. That's exactly what I've thought myself ! In particular, I agree with your statement about the larger-than -life characters and " the passion in which they live their lives ". Quite often, the situations described in Russian works are quite ordinary, but it's the characters' passion to live them that makes them exciting and unique !
Italy, England, Rome, Greece and Russia. Though I love American literature we haven't produced anything likely to be read in 300 years the way that Homer, Virgil, Dante, Shakespeare and Dostoevsky are read today.
ali is the greatest, but many fight experts say that pound for pound marvin hagler was the greatest. pound for pound by which i mean a nation's literary culture in terms of length, breath and tradition, russia in its relative brief existence as a literary giant tops all european nations.