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/lit/ - Literature

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1675558 No.1675558 [Reply] [Original]

What do you consider to be the greatest literary work of all time?

>> No.1675578

There is no greatest literary work of 'all time' for that would suggest that there is any text which is not subject to reinterpretation and revision. What will be a great literary text for one generation may not be a great literary text for another; it is all a question of changing values. And values, those that aren't peak values (although there is no reason why these could not change too), do change, sometimes for the better and worse. It's an ill question to ask in the same way that asking whether there is a greatest meal of all time is an ill question.

With that in mind; I think a better question is what is the best literature for us, now (and perhaps for many, many generations after us). And I think there are a few options. My choice would be something along the lines of either Beowulf or the Metamorphoses.

>> No.1675579

I'd probably say 1984. Is that a lame choice? It's just so compelling especially the last 60 - 70 pages or so.

>> No.1675588

Twilight, obviously.

>> No.1675591

Dune.

>> No.1675595

I don't think I could say. I can't even read a lot of the works considered vitally important that are in (a version of) my own language much less Greek, Chinese etc.

>> No.1675609

>>1675579

I haven't read much, but I'd like to agree with you.
Lolita is also good literature, but there is no moral lesson like in 1984.
I am personally a huge Poe fan as well.
Also, The Portrait of Dorian Gray.

All my favorites.

>> No.1675613

>>1675578
What makes a value better or worse?

>> No.1675624

>>1675558

For me, that I've read, probably the Gulag Archipelago.

It's the book(s) that's most shaped my values at least.

>> No.1675626

>>1675613
Whether it pertains to the maximal flourishing of life

>> No.1675640

>>1675626
Don't even start that shit.

>> No.1675647

lolita

>> No.1675653
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1675653

>>1675640

>> No.1675656

>>1675609
Lolita didn't impress me in the slightest.
I'd say 1984 or Fahrenheit 451 for highlighting the value of words.
Or Little Prince for being so amazing and so simple.

>> No.1675662

the bible

the most influential text ever

even though it's influence was to turn the world into a shithole

>> No.1675669

>>1675656
>the alliteration, wordplay, literary references, genre parody, and unreliable narrator which permeate every page of Lolita: unimpressive

>straightforward froshman grade books: awesome because they say "books R awesome"

>> No.1675672

qur'an

>> No.1675673

The Brothers Karamazov

>> No.1675754

LOL @ The Picture of Dorian Gray as "greatest literary work of all time"

Some candidates: Morte d'Arthur, The Canterbury Tales, Le Rouge et le Noir, Waiting for Godot, The Brothers Karamazov, Orlando, Translations, Pale Fire...

>> No.1675758

>>1675669
Fuck off. There's nothing wrong with a book being forward about it's message. The narrator just annoyed the fuck out of me.
I hated Catcher in the Rye too. Deal with the fact that we have different tastes, don't just toss off books you don't like as stupid just because they are to the point.

>> No.1675759

The Pentateuch.Anything that came after had to have been influenced by it... no brainer.

>> No.1675761

>people choosing based on didactics and lessons, not technical skill and aesthetics

>> No.1675763

>>1675758
it's not a matter of being to the point, it's a matter of holding books written for children in higher regard to real books

>> No.1675766

Adam & Eve. First story ever.

>> No.1675768

>>1675758
pretty sure you didn't get the point of lolita's narrator, buddy

>> No.1675774

>>1675761
yeah it is pretty atrocious alright

>> No.1675776

>>1675761
Technically,James Joyce or Fitzgerald.

>> No.1675778

probably one of shakespeare's plays

>> No.1675784

>>1675766
>>1675766
Idiot.

>> No.1675800

I love _Lolita_.

However if you are talking about "the greatest literary work of all time", it would be hard to beat Dante's _Divine Comedy_.

Consider the following:
- He started it when he was 43.
- It took him 13 years to write.
- He decided at the start there would be 34 cantos in the first part (Inferno), 33 in the second part (Purgatorio), and 34 in the third part (Paradiso).
- He executed that plan precisely.
- It is all in hendecasyllabic triplets, of the form aba, bcb, cdc, etc.
- It progresses through many strictly-defined levels of Hell, Purgatory and Paradise according to the theology of the time.
- It demonstrates knowledge that the world is spherical, and works out many of the consequences of this correctly.
- Dante's interaction with the characters in the poem is at times funny, at times dramatic, and always poignant.
- Dante died not long after delivering the manuscript of the last part.

Sorry, but not even _The Lord of the Rings_ (another monumental work that took years to write) approaches Dante's accomplishment.

>> No.1675802

>34 in the third part (Paradiso)
glah I meant 33.

>> No.1675823

>>1675800
>- It progresses through many strictly-defined levels of Hell, Purgatory and Paradise according to the theology of the time

>according to the theology of the time

as much as I love the Divine Comedy, that's a load of shit. Dante did not follow the dogmatic theology of the church when writing that story. He was making shit up.

That whole "9 levels of hell" thing and "everyone punished accordingly to their sins" was all Dante's idea, and then the church decided "oh yeah, that's a good idea. Yeah, that's totally what hell is like."

>> No.1675828

>>1675823
>and then the church decided "oh yeah, that's a good idea

Heh. You're right, but at the same time, you're sorta strengthening his claim. How much of a literary badass are you when your book causes the Church to revise its dogma?

>> No.1675831

>>1675800

It was also self insert Virgil fanfiction, where Dante practically overflows with joy at the torments he heaps on his enemies and rivals in hell.

>> No.1675846

>>1675831
Yeah, and Hemingway spent a lot of time emasculating and bullying his 'friends' and fellow artists in his books. Lots of good literature is motivated in part by petty bullshit.

>> No.1675866

>>1675828
anything that makes Hell more terrifying and helps scares nitwits into believing is endorsed by the church

>> No.1675900

>>1675831
Dante does not depict Virgil as perfect.
Also, maybe Dante wanted you to notice how petty he was being while in Hell.

>> No.1675917
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1675917

The Rainbow Fish

think about it...