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I am a firm believer that one should spend at least 10 or 20 years learning French and then read Les Miserables and Le Compte de Monte-Cristo. The same could b
by ldd 11y ago
I am a firm believer that one should spend at least 10 or 20 years learning French and then read Les Miserables and Le Compte de Monte-Cristo.
The same could be said about La sombra del viento, 100 años de soledad or Neruda's poems in Spanish.
In English, only Virginia Woolf inspires the same awe for language that these other books impregnated in me.
In some sense, these authors don't use words. They let words use them.
- eru 11y ago> I am a firm believer that one should spend at least 10 or 20 years learning French and then read Les Miserables and Le Compte de Monte-Cristo. Sure do that. But no harm in reading these two books a few times before that, too.
- ldd 11y agoSure no harm in that. Also, some translations are really great, and you can sense the style of the original authors through them. Yet, there is something about those particular books that just has to be said in their respective language. Not because the message is lost, but a part of their magic will always be bound to the words used, I guess
- ecopoesis 11y agoWhat about Shakespeare, Melville or Hemingway?
- ldd 11y agoHemingway gets me there too, now that my English doesn't suck. Shakespeare is just really, really funny. Much ado about nothing is my favourite comedy. Other plays like Hamlet, MacBeth, humble me. Same thing with Cervantes. Those guys pretty much redefined language and I don't think I have read enough to understand them. Maybe someday?
- Schiphol 11y ago> The same could be said about La sombra del viento, 100 años de soledad or Neruda's poems in Spanish. That's a surprising choice. Most Spanish readers would say that La sombra del viento is nowhere near an undisputable masterpiece such as 100 años de soledad, or even Neruda's poems (the literary stature of which is perhaps more contested).
- ldd 11y agoIt is not a masterpiece. In terms of use of language, it is just really that good. Neruda and Garcia Marquez are Nobel winners, and they are obviously better literally speaking. But the dude that wrote La sombre del viento knows how to use Spanish to describe beautiful sceneries and moments. Also, keep in mind that this is my subjective view on things.