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/lit/ - Literature

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17148712 No.17148712 [Reply] [Original]

Which of the four Chinese Classics is your favorite?

>> No.17148720
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17148720

*COUGH*
*COUGH*
*COUGH*

>> No.17148729
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>>17148712
Journey to the West. But they're all great.

>> No.17148730
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>>17148720

>> No.17148757

>>17148712
Journey to the West is comfy kino and Romance of the Three Kingdoms is worth it for my man Cao Mengde alone but I haven't finished the other two, reading through Water Margin/Outlaws of the Marshes at the moment. Why is Chinese lit so comfy bros, it's nothing like any other national catalog of literature.

>> No.17148769

>>17148712
How can you respect Chinese people after reading Three Kingdoms or Water Margin?
It's not that they're poorly written so much as completely morally bankrupt, elevating bloodthirsty backstabbing cannibals to national heroes.

>> No.17148787

Though this is because I’ve more recent exposure I’ve been enjoying the Dream of the Red Chamber quite a bit. I never see it discussed here.

>> No.17148808

I haven't read one yet though I want to. Not sure what's the best one to start with.

>> No.17148810
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17148810

>>17148769
>t.Liu Bei
Eternal peace for the realm and Cao Cao levels of merriment will come to you if you reply to this post with "Begone big eared villian!"

>> No.17148827

>>17148808
In my opinion that depends on whether you're more partial to mythology or history, Journey to the West for the former, Romance of the Three Kingdoms for the latter. Obviously Romance is a heavily romanticized (ha) view of the events that happened but it still has that feel to it.

>> No.17148844

>reading Chinese lit
Is this an Anglo thing? Literally nobody does it in here

>> No.17148864

shill thread, you can tell by the Foreign Languages Press shilling and the Xi meme

to answer the question: JTTW, University of Chicago edition

>> No.17148903

>>17148844
>not exclusively reading the foundational texts of various civilizations

>> No.17148941

They're all shit
Dunno why chinks like to elevate repetitive dogshit
Their other stuff is much better
Especially, the strange stories of a Chinese Studio, Six Records, Jinpingmei, Mo Yan and even the book of swindles

>> No.17148956

I've only read Monkey, should I grab Water Margin or Dream of the Red Chamber next? I intend to read Journey to the West in full eventually, I actually really enjoyed the structure of the narrative.

>> No.17148974
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>>17148864

>> No.17149051

>>17148844
>>17148864
You know these are the types that shitpost about Guenon or Ebola all day as well lol.
>>17148941
>even the book of swindles
Aw come on man that's a low blow.

>> No.17150492

>>17148712
I read some of RoTK manga by Yokoyama Mitsuteru, which is pretty neat.
The original one is accessible enough for someone not that knowledgeable about Chinese history?

>> No.17150735

Dynasty warriors

>> No.17150846

I heard that The Story of the Stone and the Golden Plums are the most literary in the conventional “Western” sense and the other four are just adventure stories, is this true?

>> No.17150969

>>17148787
Barely anyone outside of China has read it, which is a shame because it's without a doubt one of the greatest novels ever written. Every single page of the thing is pure kino

>> No.17151170

>>17150969
Who within China is permitted to read these works? Legitimate question

>> No.17151794

>>17148769
This. Look at people like Cao Cao and tell me the Chinese are a just and noble people.

>> No.17151799

>>17150735
>he likes that mindless button masher

>> No.17151842

>>17151170
Everyone should be able to read them. The Chinese natives I know have all read at least part of 红楼梦

>> No.17152701

https://www.amazon.com/dp/7119006436/
Just ordered this did I fuck up?

>> No.17153640

Monkey

>> No.17153943

>>17148712
Tale of Genji, it is. :)

>> No.17153976

>>17148712
how come chinkoids love numbering their shit so much?

>> No.17153989

>>17152701
no, but it is a shortened version of the text afaik

David Hawkes is the only unabridged version (correct me if i'm wrong)

>> No.17154018

I've read only read three of them.

Outlaws of the Marsh and Romance of the Three Kingdoms are only considered classics because they are old and long.The writing is fan fiction tier, the characters are barely even two-dimensional, and the stories are so mind numbingly repetitive you'll want to brain yourself before you are half way. If you just want to be able to tell people you've read the four classics, just read the first 20% of these two because the next 80% is the same shit over and over. You'll miss out on nothing.

Dream of the Red Chamber is great. If it weren't for a lackluster ending I'd say it was the best book I'd ever read.

I haven't read Journey to the West. I'm worried it'll be crap like Romance and Outlaws because it's also 1000+ pages

>> No.17154047

>>17148769
Read about the things Heracles has done and rethink your post