/lit/ - Literature

It was a class thing, to distinguish one's self from the plebeians or hoi-polloi by casual insertions of Latin, Greek, or French into one's speech or writing, there was no other purpose to it.
As it turns out, people can express themselves just fine enough without having to resort to Latin, and any recourse to it is likely more about showing off than expressing one's self (the point of language); it's why the only people who still attempt to "talk fancy" are invariably the most privileged and out of touch toffs imaginable, case in point: Jacob Rees-Smugg.

Especially in comparison to English literature - hell, even in comparison to just American literature - Russian literature sucks.

It's extremely limited not only in scope (only at most a dozen interesting literary figures out of 200+ million people, in a period spanning just ~40 years out of 1000+ years of the history of Slavic people) but in thematic diversity as well - it's almost all "muh hardships in life and how i'm using spirituality/metaphysics/transcendence to overcome them." That's it.

There's no decent Russian realist book (with a different theme to the one mentioned above, at least). No decent sci-fi book (besides Roadside Picnic, maybe). No decent gothic book. No decent horror book. No decent modernist book. No decent post-modernist book. No decent.. well, almost anything really.

Russian literature is as barren and uninteresting as Russia's geographic, social and political landscape. It's sad to think that some people confine themselves completely within this culture's literature. Their brain must undergo extreme shrinkage as a result.

Hell, America alone has:
1. Herman Melville
2. Walt Whitman
3. William Faulkner
4. Edgar Allan Poe
5. Ralph Waldo Emerson
6. Philip K. Dick
7. Thomas Pynchon
8. William Gaddis
9. Cormac McCarthy
10. DFW
11. Kurt Vonnegut
12. Nathaniel Hawthorne
13. Henry David Thoreau
14. John Steinbeck
15. Ursula Le Guin
16. Ezra Pound
17. Frank Herbert
18. Ernest Hemingway
19. F. Scott Fitzgerald
20. Truman Capote
21. Mark Twain
22. Don DeLillo
23. Philip Roth
24. Allen Ginsberg
25. William Burroughs
26. Jack Kerouac
27. H.P. Lovecraft
28. Charles Bukowski
29. Hunter Thompson
30. William Gibson
And that's just America. Look how much diversity one nation of 200-300+ million people achieved in barely 200 years. Meanwhile Russia has been around for 1000 years, with a similar population, and there's none of that. Zero creativity. An entirely creatively bankrupt nation.

And I didn't even mention any British writers yet. Britain is a hefty opponent for America in terms of literary output, especially when it comes to classical literature. And that's an island nation of just ~50 million people - over 4 times fewer. I forgot to mention that of course both British and American literature use the same language, so in any meaningful comparisons langVSlang BOTH nations' outputs should be added to one tally - but that's just an unfair wreckage to any other literature in the world.

>>17823822
Especially in comparison to English literature - hell, even in comparison to just American literature - Russian literature sucks.

It's extremely limited not only in scope (only at most a dozen interesting literary figures out of 200+ million people, in a period spanning just ~40 years out of 1000+ years of the history of Slavic people) but in thematic diversity as well - it's almost all "muh hardships in life and how i'm using spirituality/metaphysics/transcendence to overcome them." That's it.

There's no decent Russian realist book (with a different theme to the one mentioned above, at least). No decent sci-fi book (besides Roadside Picnic, maybe). No decent gothic book. No decent horror book. No decent modernist book. No decent post-modernist book. No decent.. well, almost anything really.

Russian literature is as barren and uninteresting as Russia's geographic, social and political landscape. It's sad to think that some people confine themselves completely within this culture's literature. Their brain must undergo extreme shrinkage as a result.

Hell, America alone has:
1. Herman Melville
2. Walt Whitman
3. William Faulkner
4. Edgar Allan Poe
5. Ralph Waldo Emerson
6. Philip K. Dick
7. Thomas Pynchon
8. William Gaddis
9. Cormac McCarthy
10. DFW
11. Kurt Vonnegut
12. Nathaniel Hawthorne
13. Henry David Thoreau
14. John Steinbeck
15. Ursula Le Guin
16. Ezra Pound
17. Frank Herbert
18. Ernest Hemingway
19. F. Scott Fitzgerald
20. Truman Capote
21. Mark Twain
22. Don DeLillo
23. Philip Roth
24. Allen Ginsberg
25. William Burroughs
26. Jack Kerouac
27. H.P. Lovecraft
28. Charles Bukowski
29. Hunter Thompson
30. William Gibson
And that's just America. Look how much diversity one nation of 200-300+ million people achieved in barely 200 years. Meanwhile Russia has been around for 1000 years, with a similar population, and there's none of that. Zero creativity. An entirely creatively bankrupt nation.

And I didn't even mention any British writers yet. Britain is a hefty opponent for America in terms of literary output, especially when it comes to classical literature. And that's an island nation of just ~50 million people - over 4 times fewer. I forgot to mention that of course both British and American literature use the same language, so in any meaningful comparisons langVSlang BOTH nations' outputs should be added to one tally - but that's just an unfair wreckage to any other literature in the world.

>>17803777
Especially in comparison to English literature - hell, even in comparison to just American literature - Russian literature sucks.

It's extremely limited not only in scope (only at most a dozen interesting literary figures out of 200+ million people, in a period spanning just ~40 years out of 1000+ years of the history of Slavic people) but in thematic diversity as well - it's almost all "muh hardships in life and how i'm using spirituality/metaphysics/transcendence to overcome them." That's it.

There's no decent Russian realist book (with a different theme to the one mentioned above, at least). No decent sci-fi book (besides Roadside Picnic, maybe). No decent gothic book. No decent horror book. No decent modernist book. No decent post-modernist book. No decent.. well, almost anything really.

Russian literature is as barren and uninteresting as Russia's geographic, social and political landscape. It's sad to think that some people confine themselves completely within this culture's literature. Their brain must undergo extreme shrinkage as a result.

Hell, America alone has:
1. Herman Melville
2. Walt Whitman
3. William Faulkner
4. Edgar Allan Poe
5. Ralph Waldo Emerson
6. Philip K. Dick
7. Thomas Pynchon
8. William Gaddis
9. Cormac McCarthy
10. DFW
11. Kurt Vonnegut
12. Nathaniel Hawthorne
13. Henry David Thoreau
14. John Steinbeck
15. Ursula Le Guin
16. Ezra Pound
17. Frank Herbert
18. Ernest Hemingway
19. F. Scott Fitzgerald
20. Truman Capote
21. Mark Twain
22. Don DeLillo
23. Philip Roth
24. Allen Ginsberg
25. William Burroughs
26. Jack Kerouac
27. H.P. Lovecraft
28. Charles Bukowski
29. Hunter Thompson
30. William Gibson
And that's just America. Look how much diversity one nation of 200-300+ million people achieved in barely 200 years. Meanwhile Russia has been around for 1000 years, with a similar population, and there's none of that. Zero creativity. An entirely creatively bankrupt nation.

And I didn't even mention any British writers yet. Britain is a hefty opponent for America in terms of literary output, especially when it comes to classical literature. And that's an island nation of just ~50 million people - over 4 times fewer. I forgot to mention that of course both British and American literature use the same language, so in any meaningful comparisons langVSlang BOTH nations' outputs should be added to one tally - but that's just an unfair wreckage to any other literature in the world.

Especially in comparison to English literature - hell, even in comparison to just American literature - Russian literature sucks.

It's extremely limited not only in scope (only at most a dozen interesting literary figures out of 200+ million people, in a period spanning just ~40 years out of 1000+ years of the history of Slavic people) but in thematic diversity as well - it's almost all "muh hardships in life and how i'm using spirituality/metaphysics/transcendence to overcome them." That's it.

There's no decent Russian realist book (with a different theme to the one mentioned above, at least). No decent sci-fi book (besides Roadside Picnic, maybe). No decent gothic book. No decent horror book. No decent modernist book. No decent post-modernist book. No decent.. well, almost anything really.

Russian literature is as barren and uninteresting as Russia's geographic, social and political landscape. It's sad to think that some people confine themselves completely within this culture's literature. Their brain must undergo extreme shrinkage as a result.

Hell, America alone has:
1. Herman Melville
2. Walt Whitman
3. William Faulkner
4. Edgar Allan Poe
5. Ralph Waldo Emerson
6. Philip K. Dick
7. Thomas Pynchon
8. William Gaddis
9. Cormac McCarthy
10. DFW
11. Kurt Vonnegut
12. Nathaniel Hawthorne
13. Henry David Thoreau
14. John Steinbeck
15. Ursula Le Guin
16. Ezra Pound
17. Frank Herbert
18. Ernest Hemingway
19. F. Scott Fitzgerald
20. Truman Capote
21. Mark Twain
22. Don DeLillo
23. Philip Roth
24. Allen Ginsberg
25. William Burroughs
26. Jack Kerouac
27. H.P. Lovecraft
28. Charles Bukowski
29. Hunter Thompson
30. William Gibson
And that's just America. Look how much diversity one nation of 200-300+ million people achieved in barely 200 years. Meanwhile Russia has been around for 1000 years, with a similar population, and there's none of that. Zero creativity. An entirely creatively bankrupt nation.

And I didn't even mention any British writers yet. Britain is a hefty opponent for America in terms of literary output, especially when it comes to classical literature. And that's an island nation of just ~50 million people - over 4 times fewer. I forgot to mention that of course both British and American literature use the same language, so in any meaningful comparisons langVSlang BOTH nations' outputs should be added to one tally - but that's just an unfair wreckage to any other literature in the world.

>>17674076
It's because you're 15, OP, and your reading experience before russian literature was fantasy and fanfics.

Especially in comparison to English literature - hell, even in comparison to just American literature - Russian literature sucks.

It's extremely limited not only in scope (only at most a dozen interesting literary figures out of 200+ million people, in a period spanning just ~40 years out of 1000+ years of the history of Slavic people) but in thematic diversity as well - it's almost all "muh hardships in life and how i'm using spirituality/metaphysics/transcendence to overcome them." That's it.

There's no decent Russian realist book (with a different theme to the one mentioned above, at least). No decent sci-fi book (besides Roadside Picnic, maybe). No decent gothic book. No decent horror book. No decent modernist book. No decent post-modernist book. No decent.. well, almost anything really.

Russian literature is as barren and uninteresting as Russia's geographic, social and political landscape. It's sad to think that some people confine themselves completely within this culture's literature. Their brain must undergo extreme shrinkage as a result.

Hell, America alone has:
1. Herman Melville
2. Walt Whitman
3. William Faulkner
4. Edgar Allan Poe
5. Ralph Waldo Emerson
6. Philip K. Dick
7. Thomas Pynchon
8. William Gaddis
9. Cormac McCarthy
10. DFW
11. Kurt Vonnegut
12. Nathaniel Hawthorne
13. Henry David Thoreau
14. John Steinbeck
15. Ursula Le Guin
16. Ezra Pound
17. Frank Herbert
18. Ernest Hemingway
19. F. Scott Fitzgerald
20. Truman Capote
21. Mark Twain
22. Don DeLillo
23. Philip Roth
24. Allen Ginsberg
25. William Burroughs
26. Jack Kerouac
27. H.P. Lovecraft
28. Charles Bukowski
29. Hunter Thompson
30. William Gibson
And that's just America. Look how much diversity one nation of 200-300+ million people achieved in barely 200 years. Meanwhile Russia has been around for 1000 years, with a similar population, and there's none of that. Zero creativity. An entirely creatively bankrupt nation.

And I didn't even mention any British writers yet. Britain is a hefty opponent for America in terms of literary output, especially when it comes to classical literature. And that's an island nation of just ~50 million people - over 4 times fewer. I forgot to mention that of course both British and American literature use the same language, so in any meaningful comparisons langVSlang BOTH nations' outputs should be added to one tally - but that's just an unfair wreckage to any other literature in the world.

>>13898967
Labour, they radically expanded the governments control over the curriculum and systemically discouraged subjects they felt were racist, classical philosophy were one of them. This further increased the educational class divide.

>>13607496
So you're saying there is nobody in real life who can do this? What about this chappy?