/lit/ - Literature

>>17932535
Shakespeare. The poetry, themes and command of language.

>>17932543
>The poetry, themes and command of language.
did you steal that from a new york best seller reviewer quote?

>>17932543
>command of language
He is literally word salad.

jesus bcuz he wrote the bible

>>17932535
Homer. Longevity.

>>17932535
>him
Are you implying the greatest writer can’t be a woman?

>>17932551
its just the truth said simply faggot.
>>17932557
filtered. It was written for the unwashed masses.

>>17932535
because he wrote a really good book about a literal cuck

>>17932574
what you said was extremely vague and could be said about literally any writer though. Like, be more specific, anon, what ABOUT the poetry and the language makes him the best? What ASPECTS of his writing make you place him above any other writer?

Jesus Christ, it feels like I'm grading freshmen papers all over again...

F. Gardner

>>17932535
Waldun

>>17932535
Shakespeare
>what makes him better than everyone else?
He was an Englishman

>>17932585
what makes you think you're worth an effort post, faggot?

>>17932535
The Alpha of Awe. The Brute of Brawn. The Cultivator of Class. The Duke of Domination. The Emperor of Eloquence. The Fiercest of Fighters. The Greatest of Glory. The Height of Heroism. The Imperator of Intellectualism. The Jarl of Justice. The King of Knights. The Lord of Loquaciousness. The Master of Mortality. The Naysayer of Noobs. The Overlord of Obituaries. The Prince of Passion. The Que-hagen of Quixote. The Ruler of Ruination. The Sultan of Smite. The Taskmaster of Trembles. The Undertaker of Ubiquity. The Vaeyen of Vociferousness. The Warranter of Weaklings. The Xenophobe of Xenogeny. The Yardmaster of Yesteryear. The Zhar of Zoroastrianism.

ENTER

LEO TOLSTOY

>>17932693
>explaining your opinion in brief but concrete terms like a basic person with a functioning brain
>"effort"
Didn't know it was hard for you to string two or more sentences together. My bad, anon. Don't strain yourself.

>>17932737
>The Yardmaster of Yesteryear.
"Yeoman of Yasnaya Polyana" would have worked better

>>17932535
There is no one single writer, because greatness as a writer involves individuality. What makes Dante great is a combination of factors unique to Dante, and what makes Goethe great is a combination of different factors unique to Goethe. They are equally great in their expression of themselves.

>>17932535
There isn't one. The idea of a single greatest writer is ridiculous. The whole point of the art form is to express yourself in a uniquely beautiful way. Great works can only appreciated for their beauty in contrast to other great works, and the same follows for the greatness of the people who write them.
(it's Tolstoy)

>>17932836
this, but unironically - linear thinking in terms of "best", "greatest", etc is for niggers and obviously the totality of human expression is an unimaginably complex landscape of unseen topography that makes no sense to condense to a one-dimensional line

Three way tie between Dante, Shakespeare and Dostoevsky.

>>17932535
Osamu Dazai. Committing suicide makes him better and more authentic than other writers about misery.

>>17932535
Dante, no contest

>>17932535
A. A. Milne, self explanatory

Faulkner, style and internality

>>17933399
no. just no...

>>17932836
>>17933024
>>17933036
This but it's either Tolstoy or Joyce.

>>17932543
>command of language.
At least one writer from every language had this with their own language. Why is Shakespeare any different?

>>17933417
sound and the fury is the apex of the modern novel, no contest

>>17933466
It's all in the metaphor. No other writer could spin out a metaphor like Shakespeare

>>17932535
Tolkien, because of middle earth

>>17933480
I'm sure there are other writers that could spin metaphores in their languages. Of course none of them can even compare to Shakespeare in English but they're not fighting on the same turf, so to speak.

>>17933485
And all the middle wits that live there

Aeschylus: innovative dramatic device, use of irony, use of metaphor, nobility of theme
Dante: stylistic purity, eternality, loftiness of theme, religiosity
Tolstoy: consistency, insight into general human nature, translation of life experience into works, use of moral parable
>Shakespeare: humor, use of metaphor, thematic complexity, thematic ambiguity, ability to invent great characters and/or turn historical figures into great characters
>Joyce: originality, idiosyncrasy, versatility of style, powers of evocation, unmatched attunement to the "soul" of his particular nation/people

>>17932535
Whoever wrote the design document that cemented how smart phone menus are structured.

No other writer in history has come close to his reach and influence.

>>17932535
>GREATEST
>BEST
>BETTER
Fuck off to /reddit/ with those superlatives

Obviously Plato.

>>17933629
Certainly at the top. My first start with philosophy was with Plato, after which it thought every other philosophers would be as good or maybe even better as they learned from him and improved their techniques. Little did I know how disappointed I would be as the dialogue form disappeared altogether.

R.L Stine.
The man can easily adapt his writing for children or adults. He can instantly travel between horror or comedy.

His stories are timeless as well.

>>17932836
>>17933024
>>17933036
>>17933612
These are such reddit-tier responses. Stop being pussies and pick one.

Goethe

>>17932569

>>17933663
Read Cicero. Will give you a overview of early Platonism and Stoicism.

>>17932576
finnegan is not a cuck, and finnegans wake is actually the greatest book ever written, because fucking retards like myself are too stupid to read it

>>17932535
scientists are often better writers than authors. maybe it's because they aren't hyperconscious about *writing* like authors are and are more focused on the content.

>>17932543
>wrote exclusively sonnets (and not many)
>most of the plays he wrote did not have original plot
>is called the best writer because muh [subjective impression]
Embarrasing!

>>17932535
itt: half of lit proves that they're monolingual and/or cannot form an opinion on their own

It's Aleister Crowley[\spoiler]

Oscar Wilde

>>17935290
>Crowley
kek, he didn't even produced a single decent page in his entire oeuvre to be remembered for

>>17935151
Anon I’m talking about Ulysses. Finnegan isn’t even in Finnegans wake for more than a chapter btw. The main character is HCE.

You must be one of those poor fucks who dublins their mumpers all the time, huh?

>>17932543
fpbp. nobody even comes close to him

>>17935290
No[\spoiler]

>>17933522
tolkien has alot of gay mid wit fans but he's also based

>>17935414
Did you do any of the exercises?

>>17932737
I kneel

>>17935639
Fuck his exercises and fuck you PLEB
Magick my dick
He's the ultimate HACK
You couldn't even post one single paragraph of his entire oeuvre worth reading kek
get fuckd cuck

>>17932535
Beckett. If you have to ask why, read him. If you still can't comprehend why, stop reading entirely, literature isn't for you and you don't know greatness when you see it, so save yourself the time if you're never going to get anything out of it anyway

>>17935767
Sad!
I hope you try them out someday, just to see

>>17935790
to see how I wasted my time? kek
let's see
what exercises do you recommend then?

>>17932569
OP did say human history.

>>17933629
Maybe not the best but really good. What makes Plato so special is that he was a really good writer in addition to being one of the greatest philosophers of all time.

>>17933387
based

>>17935365
This. It's a shame he only wrote one full length novel.

I think Dostoevsky is the greatest fiction author of all-time. Whether that makes him the greatest writer, I don’t know but it makes him deserving of consideration.

>>17933663
a lot of post-Kant philosophers should have been forced at gunpoint to write dialogues that made clear what the fuck they were saying, a little bit of questioning and response would have helped a lot.

>>17935773
Where do I start with Beckett? Also he wrote some of his works in French, but iirc he himself translated them to English so I'd be better of reading them in English than my mother tongue right?

>>17932535
Adolf Hitler.
His writing is passionate, authentic and provides us all with a grand vision to strive after.
I have yet to find a more energizing and motivating text, a semi-random excerpt:

"When men's hearts are breaking and their souls are plunged into the depths of despair, their great forebears turn their eyes towards them from the dim shadows of the past--those forebears who knew how to triumph over anxiety and affliction, mental servitude and physical bondage--and extend their eternal hands in a gesture of encouragement to despairing souls. Woe to the nation that is ashamed to clasp those hands."

>>17936459
As far as novels go, the trilogy (Molloy, Malone Dies, the Unnameable) is a good place to start, I think. If you like plays, Endgame, Godot and Krapp's last tape are peak Beckett. There's a performance of Krapp's Last Tape starring Patrick Magee, highly recommended.

>>17936459
oh i forgot to say, yes he translated many of his own french (and german i think) works himself. I can't recall off the top of my head which ones, if any weren't translated by him. I'd stick to his own translations.

On YouTube there's a performance*

>>17936552
meant to add this to >>17936521

Arthur Schopenhauer

>>17936521
Thanks mate, just downloaded the trilogy, just the first page of Molloy managed to capture my interest, I would start reading right now if I didn't have library books to read.

>>17936017
They literally did that dude, read Schelling's "Bruno"

>>17933466
he's simply better than all of them