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/lit/ - Literature

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17251897 No.17251897 [Reply] [Original]

Which is your favorite of the Four Great Classical Novels, /lit/? For me, its pic related.

>> No.17253205

I've only read Journey to the West, so I can't say, but good thread.

>> No.17253214

>>17251897
A Dream of Red Mansions. It is quite possibly the comfiest novel in existence and I hate the fact that the author didn't live long enough to finish it

>> No.17253215

>>17251897
Is Arthur Waleys "Monkey" good? I really do not feel like reading through a 1000 page translation of Journey to the West

>> No.17253240

yeah that's my favorite too, especially that edition (moss roberts). what's everyone's favorite episode? I think the three visits of xuande to kongming are my favorite part, but I adore the whole work.

>> No.17253263
File: 122 KB, 584x950, four chinese classics.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
17253263

>>17253215
in my journey to the web I have noticed that of the four editions, the journey to the west one is received the worst. so I do have the slimmer, 200 page penguin classic "monkey" version. am I coping because I don't want to spend 50 mooseniggerdollars on the missing piece of the collection? maybe, but my research was true anyway.

>> No.17253269

>>17253215
Haven't read it, but I've read other translations by him and they were pretty much the best you're going to find. Very scholarly, and the guy clearly knew what he was doing

>> No.17253313

Chinese history is 100000000000000x times better then Japancucks

>> No.17253326

>>17253313
That's definitely true. And the most interesting historical moment for Japan, even, was when their invasion got cucked by the supreme mastermind Admiral Yi of Korea. Nobunaga's campaign was kinda interesting, I guess, but it pales in comparison to many of China's historical conflicts

>> No.17253348

>>17253326
japan have small dicks lol

>> No.17253477

>>17253313
That's probably because for most of japan's life it was just the expansion pack to china's main game. Then again anyone would seem pretty lame next to the only civilization to last from the fucking original bronze age to modernity.

>> No.17253521

>>17253313
naturally. china was already ancient when japan was young

>> No.17253531

>>17253477
China really is the GOAT civilization.

>> No.17253565

has anyone read chinese philosphy? whats is a good reading list to get into it?

>> No.17253566

>>17253565
Confucius, Mencius, Laozi, the list could go on

>> No.17253584

>>17253531
>chinks
>civilized

>> No.17253590

>>17253566
yah, ive looked into it myself and its a list that grows very quickly. i'll start with the three authors you have listed. thanks.

>> No.17253601

>>17253477
China was fortunate in that it's invaders quite liked how things were and didn't change much. I remember reading that the Yuan Dynasty, after the Mongols invaded and conquered China, was a relatively prosperous period, and some improvements were made to infrastructure

>> No.17253607

>sino-platonism
I cant be the only one to run across this guys weirdo niche website

>> No.17253611

>>17253566
Don't forget Mo Zi. As the opposite of Confucianism, his philosophy was pretty interesting

>> No.17253612

>>17253590
oh and for military stuff you have sun tzu of course and zhuge liang. zhuge liang was into some mystical geometry shit like the pythagoreans you might get a kick out of.

>> No.17253620

>>17253584
Don't judge historical china harshly on account of it's retarded descendants.

>> No.17253624

>>17253612
forgot about sun tzu. thanks for the reminder

>> No.17253635
File: 157 KB, 1276x996, zhuge.gif [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
17253635

>>17253612
>zhuge liang

>> No.17253641
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17253641

>>17253611
didn't know this guy. what an asshole!

>> No.17253660

>>17253641
You have to realize that he was talking about zithers, which used wood that could have been used for housing the poor, and had a very lengthy and laborious crafting process. He was still kinda a dick, but it's hard to deny that he had a point when considering that many of China's citizens routinely starved to death

>> No.17253667

>>17253660
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SjAuIcV5aes&ab_channel=ThuH%C3%A0

zithers are based

>> No.17253683

>>17253667
I know, I have a nice one of my own and play it. Some of my favorite compositions are zither pieces.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rmc9nQKJX20 This one is probably my favorite

>> No.17253718

>>17253683
the older I get the more i'm drawn to the eastern stuff. it's just so calming.

>> No.17253722

Why do trannys hate China?

>> No.17254038

>>17253718
I think China gets too much of a bad reputation because of the state of the country in the modern era. Some of the ancient Chinese were some of the most amazing men to ever grace the face of the earth. Their poetry alone is deeply moving, with a focus on nature and and a deep sense of humility. I wish more people on this board would give Chinese culture a chance, so we could have more frequent discussion on their incredible literature.

>> No.17254046

>>17254038
I think Confucius and Moses would have a lot to talk about together lol.

>> No.17254223 [DELETED] 

>>17253215
It’s terrific. Not many translators have the combined knowledge of classical Chinese and mastery of English prose and style that Waley—a good friend of Ezra Pound’s and someone almost as important as Needham in terms of the role he played in introducing the Anglophone world to East Asian culture—had. If you want more, you can always read the rest of the episodes in the Yu father-and-son translation.

>> No.17254244

>>17253215 #
It’s terrific. Not many translators have the combined knowledge of classical Chinese and mastery of English prose and style that Waley—a good friend of Ezra Pound’s and someone almost as important as Needham in terms of the role he played in introducing the Anglophone world to East Asian culture—had. If you want more, you can always read the rest of the episodes in the Yu translation, which seems to be well-received.

>> No.17254263

>>17253214
which translation?

>> No.17254278

>>17254263
The David Hawkes translation is pretty good. Doesn't come close to the original, of course, but it's still a masterpiece of a novel in translation

>> No.17254289
File: 246 KB, 1364x2048, Eq3mtEOVEAIMN_W.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
17254289

>>17251897
As others, only gone through Journey to the West. Will read the others eventually, not in a hurry

>> No.17254299

>>17251897
Three Kingdoms unabridged worth the read?

>> No.17254350

Which of the novels is the highest-quality in a conventional Western literary sense?

>> No.17254439

>>17254350
A Dream of Red Mansions. Reads pretty similarly to an early modernist novel

>> No.17254533

>>17251897
for me its the monke journey

>> No.17254974

Has anybody here read Water Margin? I have the Shapiro translation sitting on my shelf and I'm considering reading it after I finish Waverley.

>> No.17255248

>>17254974
I read that translation and loved it. It's been a few years now, but I remember there being a lot of brotherhood, a lot of auspicious days spent gargling warm water, and a lot of goofy antics. Of the 4 classics, I've also read Journey to the West and while I enjoyed that one a lot too, I'd put Water Margin on top. Highly recommend
>>17254299
Seconding this question

>> No.17255303

>>17254974
Nah, I still need to get to that one. Based on what I know of it through other Chinese lit that references it, it's pretty dang wild. There's a famous character from it that kills tigers with his bare hands

>> No.17256987

>>17251897
Water Margin followed by Red Mansions.

>> No.17257006

>>17253612
You idiot, Zhuge Liang isn't real, it's just a pseudonym for the Sugarhill Gang when they were writing Chinaboo fanfic.

>> No.17257445

Can anyone recommend some Chinese poetry. I've tried reading the Red Pine's Poems of the Masters: China's Classic Anthology of T'ang and Sung Dynasty Verse but it requires too much knowledge and the poems arent much on their own.

>> No.17258527

Has Creation of the Gods (the English translation of Fengshen Yanyi) ever been scanned? Its rare and needlessly expensive.

>> No.17258670

>>17253263
>the journey to the west one is received the worst.
Why thought? Some names are translated literally but what else?

>> No.17258775

Is it true that DREAM OF THE RED CHAMBER and THE PLUM IN THE GOLDEN VASE are the 2 best of the 6 classic novels?

>> No.17258797

>>17258775
>DREAM OF THE RED CHAMBER
Mexican soap opera tier

>> No.17259446

>>17253263
>moose nigger dollars
Jesus anon i think you just killed me with laughter

>> No.17259547

>>17251897
The author goes out of his way to heal praises and vshit on Cao Cao but Cao Cao is still the far more compelling character

>> No.17260503

>>17257445
The problem with a lot of ancient Chinese poetry is that it sadly requires commentary that isn't translated. You can't go wrong with reading anything by Du Fu or Li Bai, though, since most of them are on nature and personal relationships

>> No.17261046

>>17258670
wish I had specifics, I just noticed that the foreign language press of journey had some negative reviews where as the other three classics had sterling reviews

>> No.17261794

Put The story of the stone on my kindle. Thanks .

>> No.17262484

>>17253240

Be careful about that edition with that cover. It's published by some Chinese government agency and the amount of errors and typos in it makes it unreadable.

>> No.17262545

>>17261046
I read the whole thing, and apart from literal translation of the names and being so thin I really have no complaints.

>> No.17264051

bump

>> No.17265108

Just read the first chapter of Story of the Stone. It's really good, i wish i knew pinyin better because i worry that i am getting a lot of bad habits from mispronunciation.

>> No.17265306
File: 577 KB, 1048x1703, dsc035856.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
17265306

>buy the Foreign Languages Press box set
>get the edition with the ugly copper pot pasted on the cover for whatever reason
Cringe

>> No.17265321

>>17265306
why would you waste money on such hideous tat? the other editions of the classics are better in every regard

>> No.17265329

>>17265321
It was cheap, got what I deserved I guess

>> No.17265354

>>17265329
iirc the Three Kingdoms translation is the same of the University of California Press edition, at least, not sure about the others

>> No.17266767

bump

>> No.17267261

bump