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Komnenos
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Topic: Greatest Writer of your Country Posted: 05-Mar-2005 at 06:11 |
Was embarrassed recently by how little I know about writers outside the major European languages and countries. (German, English-American, French, Russian..)
So all you foreigners out there please tell me:
1. Who is generally accepted to be the greatest
writer of your country and/or mother-tongue?
2. Who is your personal favourite?
3. Who is generally accepted to be your greatest
living writer?
4. Who is your favourite writer outside your own
country and mother-tongue?
My answers: (for German literature)
1. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832)
playwright, poet, novelist and general know it
all (Faust, Die Leiden des jungen Werther.)
2. Heinrich Heine (1797-1856) poet, novelist,
satirist and philosopher (Buch der Lieder,
Deutschland, ein Wintermaerchen......)
3. Guenther Grass (b.1927) novelist (Die
Blechtrommel, Katz und Maus......)
4. Gabriel Marcia Marquez, Columbian, (b.1928)
novelist (One Hundred Years of Solitude,
Chronicle of a Death Foretold.)
Answers on a postcard!
Edited by Komnenos
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tzar
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Posted: 05-Mar-2005 at 06:32 |
1. Ivan Vazov (1850-1921) poet, novelist.. and all of this kind
2. Iavorov and Angel Karaliichev, but I hate reading books. The first of them wrote lyric poems and the second tales
3. Well, Jordan Radichkov but he died some months ago 2 or 3.
4. bah?! Aaaaa.... Andersen???
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Frederick Roger
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Posted: 07-Mar-2005 at 13:47 |
For Portugal
1)Lus Vaz de Cames (1524? - 1580)
2)Hard to say. Probably Jos Maria Ea de Queirs (1845 - 1900)
3)There is Jos Saramago (1922 -), who won the 1998 Nobel Award for Literature. But Antnio Lobo Antunes (1942 - ) is a very close second.
4)Definitly Umberto Eco. And not just for his historical fiction.
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Faran
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Posted: 09-Mar-2005 at 22:32 |
Iran:
1) Rumi aka Molavi aka Molana, a sufi mystical poet (middle ages)
2) Hafez, a poet (Many would place him above Rumi) (Middle Ages)
3) Ferdowsi, and epic poet (Middle Ages)
4) Saadi, a poet (middle ages, enslaved by the crusaders in Libya)
5) Omar Khayyam, a poet (also astronomer, mathematician) (middle ages).
Then there are many others, like Attar, Shamse Tabriz, Forough Farrokhzad, Rudaki, Etesami, vaziri, etc.
A famous novel writer is Sadeq Hedayat (The Blind Owl)
My favorite is Ferdowsi the epic poet since I am young. I also like Rumi. I don't know who my favorite author in the world, not just persian, is.
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Degredado
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Posted: 17-Mar-2005 at 17:55 |
Originally posted by Frederick Roger
For Portugal
1)Lus Vaz de Cames (1524? - 1580)
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I prefer Ferno Mendes Pinto, though I haven't read the book for such a long time that I can't remember some of it. But I do recall it being more original than Cames' ouevre.
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Vou votar nas putas. Estou farto de votar nos filhos delas
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Tobodai
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Posted: 17-Mar-2005 at 23:02 |
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"the people are nothing but a great beast...
I have learned to hold popular opinion of no value."
-Alexander Hamilton
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Gubook Janggoon
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Posted: 17-Mar-2005 at 23:14 |
Hemmingway, Mark Twain, and O' Henry for the states.
Edited by Gubukjanggoon
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eaglecap
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Posted: 18-Mar-2005 at 02:17 |
Edgar Rice Burroughs, Robert E. Howard, C.S. Lewis, Hemmingway, Jack London...... late
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druidebaron.nl
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Posted: 25-Mar-2005 at 09:46 |
1. Multatuli
2. Gerard Reve
3. If a Dutch writer is going to win the Nobel price soon, it will be Cees Nooteboom
4. Bulgakov
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faram
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Posted: 30-Mar-2005 at 11:29 |
1- Miguel de Cervantes.
2- Perhaps Benito Perez Galdos or Terenci Moix, but not sur.
4- Tolstoi, Tolkien and Ende.
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tzar
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Posted: 02-Apr-2005 at 07:21 |
Originally posted by druidebaron.nl
4. Bulgakov |
It doesn't sound me as dutch last name. In fact Bulgarians last names have suffix ~ov or ~kov or ~ski.
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Everybody listen only this which understands.
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Komnenos
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Posted: 02-Apr-2005 at 10:22 |
Originally posted by tzar
Originally posted by druidebaron.nl
4. Bulgakov |
It doesn't sound me as dutch last name. In fact Bulgarians last names have suffix ~ov or ~kov or ~ski. |
So do Russian names. As in Gorbachov,Andropov and Bulgakov.
He was a Russian witer, Mikhail Bulgakov(b. in Kiev, 1891-1940), whose book "The Master and Margarita", a hilarious satire about the Devil,as in Satan, Beelzebub..., on the loose in Stalinist Moscow in the 30's , is also one of my favorite books of all time.
Edited by Komnenos
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druidebaron.nl
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Posted: 03-Apr-2005 at 13:55 |
Originally posted by tzar
Originally posted by druidebaron.nl
4. Bulgakov |
It doesn't sound me as dutch last name. In fact Bulgarians last names have suffix ~ov or ~kov or ~ski. |
The fourth question was 'Who is your favourite writer outside your own country and mother-tongue?', that's why is doesn't sound Dutch. Indeed I meant Mikhael Bulgakov.
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Guests
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Posted: 05-Apr-2005 at 16:06 |
Originally posted by Faran
Iran:
1) Rumi aka Molavi aka Molana, a sufi mystical poet (middle ages)
2) Hafez, a poet (Many would place him above Rumi) (Middle Ages)
3) Ferdowsi, and epic poet (Middle Ages)
4) Saadi, a poet (middle ages, enslaved by the crusaders in Libya)
5) Omar Khayyam, a poet (also astronomer, mathematician) (middle ages).
Then there are many others, like Attar, Shamse Tabriz, Forough Farrokhzad, Rudaki, Etesami, vaziri, etc.
A famous novel writer is Sadeq Hedayat (The Blind Owl)
My favorite is Ferdowsi the epic poet since I am young. I also like Rumi. I don't know who my favorite author in the world, not just persian, is.
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I dont understand why you people think Mevlana was Persian. He only used Persian language in most of his poems, but this doesnt make him a Persian.
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Kalevipoeg
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Posted: 06-Apr-2005 at 13:05 |
Anton Hansen Tammsaare (1878-1940) - One of the best known Estonian genius writers.
Juhan Liiv (1864-1913) - also a genius, a poet and a writer this time. He died early due to pneumonia. He had some mental illness aswell. He thought he was the king of Poland, but was thrown out of a train when he was trying to go "his people". Amusing it may seem, but it won't shade his genius.
Eduard Vilde
Friedebert Tuglas
Jakob Hurt
Lydia Koidula (1843-1886)
Marie Under
Gustav Suits
Jaan Kross
I don't have the information about most of them and not the time to write it, but they are all mostly our very own geniuses and pride of the country. Could atleast double the list, but can't a find a proper literature book at the moment.
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There is nothing in the world more helpless and irresponsible than a man in the depths of an ether binge...
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Beylerbeyi
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Posted: 06-Apr-2005 at 13:18 |
Before the 19th century western literary forms were not practiced by the Turkish speakers in the Ottoman Empire. They appeared later and replaced the traditional forms (mostly poetry), especially with the institution of the Republic. Along with language reform and changing of script, today's Turks are pretty effectively cut off from the traditional Turkish literature.
So I'll give you separate answers for the Ottoman Empire and Turkey.
1. Turkey: Nazim Hikmet Ran (poet, playwright, etc.). Banned for decades in Turkey because he was a communist. Imprisoned and lost his citizenship. Died in the Soviet Union, buried in Moscow. He's the Turkish equivalent of Mayakovskiy and Brecht. Although he was a controversial figure and makes no attempt to hide his political views in his poems (quite to the contrary actually) everyone in Turkey knows his poetry, even the fascists and islamists quote him. UNESCO dedicated the year 2002 for him (in my sloppy translation):
To live, alone and free like a tree
and in friendship like a forest,
this longing is ours...
Famous novelists with international renown are Aziz Nesin (dead) and Yasar Kemal (alive). Orhan Pamuk is younger and controversial figure in Turkey now, but in a decade or two, I believe he will be the best known, most read and most decorated novelist in Turkish literature, if he isn't already.
There are loads of other good poets (Orhan Veli Kanik is probably the most popular) and to a lesser extent novelists in the Republican era.
Ottoman Empire: Fuzuli is the classical master of court poetry. Contemporary of Suleyman the Magnificent, if I recall correctly. He wrote diwans in Turkish (Azeri actually- which is the same thing), Farsi and Arabic. That's quite a feat in anybody's standards. Baki (17th century?) and Nedim (18th century) are also quite bigwigs. There are many other court poets throughout the centuries. Today most Turks don't get what they say due to the reasons mentioned above. Among these Nedim enjoys some popularity even today (my translation):
You came with a glass in one hand and a rose in the other, o wine-server!
Which one shall I take, the rose, the wine, or you?
In addition to these there are many folk poets who wrote with a 'purer' Turkish, and easier to understand today. Major non-religious: Karaoglan (who is possible more than one person), Koroglu, Dadaloglu, Asik Veysel (Republican era actually). Religious (Sufi): Yunus Emre, who enjoys some international recognition due to his Jesus-like capacity for love, I guess (my really free-form translation):
If you broke but one heart
Your prayers are in vain
Seventy-two nations won't manage
To wash your hands and face
chemas-microsoft-comfficeffice" />>>
2. Nazim Hikmet is my favourite Turkish poet, Ihsan Oktay Anar is my favourite novelist. Hes translated to some European languages, French and Swedish, at least, I think. Read The Atlas of Misty Continents or The Book of Trickery (my translations of the titles) both rather post-modern Ottoman era sort of historical kind of fantasies. He's young (30s-40s?) used to be an assistant in a philosophy department of a Turkish university when he wrote, but recently Ive heard that he gave up writing and is trying to improve his violin playing skills instead
3. Yasar Kemal, but Orhan Pamuk is catching up fast.
4. I don't have an all-time favourite. William Gibson, maybe.
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Guests
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Posted: 20-Apr-2005 at 16:58 |
1 YASAR KEMAL
2 IHSAN OKTAY ANAR, ALEV ALATLI
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J.M.Finegold
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Posted: 20-Apr-2005 at 18:46 |
Originally posted by faram
2- Perhaps Benito Perez Galdos or Terenci Moix, but not sur.
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I prefer Galdos over Moix. Galdos has a certain style which sorta shouts out at me.
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yan.
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Posted: 25-Apr-2005 at 11:47 |
1+2 Franz Kafka
3 dunno
4 Isaak Babel
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Jalisco Lancer
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Posted: 25-Apr-2005 at 11:56 |
Octavio Paz, Juan Rulfo, Juan Jose Arreola.
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