/lit/ - Literature

[Anonymous No.23242423]

I'm trying to read a book from every country on Earth. What are your recommendations for some of the lesser known cultures?

[Anonymous No.23242425]

>>23242423
which australian book did you read?

[Anonymous No.23242431]

>>23242425
Riders in the Chariot

[Anonymous No.23242434]

>>23242431
any good? only australian books ive read were prescribed reading in high school i think

[Anonymous No.23242439]

>>23242423
The picture came out a bit small so here's a list
Portugal, Spain, France, Germany, Austria, Belgium, Czechia, Denmark, Greece, Hungary, Ireland (clicked Iceland on the app by mistake), UK, Italy, Russia, Switzerland, Netherlands, Turkey, Poland (forgot to include it)
Canada, Mexico, Dominica, USA
Brazil
Afghanistan, China, Japan, Israel
Australia
Nigeria, Algeria, South Africa

Taking suggestions on everything I'm missing

[Anonymous No.23242468]

A House for Mr Biswas
Tiepolo's Hound
Wide Sargasso Sea
Ticks off some of the smaller Caribbean countries

[Anonymous No.23242474]

>>23242423
Argentina: https://www.amazon.com/Domingo-F-Sarmiento/dp/0140436774/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?crid=27FW949ECFCH1&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.5-QafZdxDtDJPMSDgQYU_isrEVCRUEkK5Qa73TRHWWefU6yVXoD0F6zF9SjQex08u8LmnJQHS9VFR92Cr3f7mN6-YmixKCM0PFJToQREfULrAmnTlfLZW_5hoEEyqArchUVXPzI3r9HTSO99DCoVPZl3KP86W1Jz1ERUWfuPoia0S5hBp879X81G66iKrVDcIRiTvah-ataGfH70e365rg.PcwgaznayndUyaADF1FPLlJzEvIMIoyyCDJOU6VBjo0&dib_tag=se&keywords=facundo+civilization+and+barbarism&qid=1711979181&sprefix=facundo+civi%2Caps%2C369&sr=8-1

[Anonymous No.23242476]

>>23242468
Already read WSS but thank you for the others

[Anonymous No.23242478]

>>23242423
>Hungary
poetry of Attila József

[Anonymous No.23242483]

>>23242478
>Ethiopia

[Anonymous No.23242489]

Reckon Baburnama counts as Uzbekistan, and depending on how strict you are gets you some of the other stans too

[Anonymous No.23242493]

Finland: Kalevala

[Anonymous No.23242501]

>>23242423
Don't have any recs but I'm curious, how did you create this map?

[Anonymous No.23242514]

Counting Albert Camus as Algerian literature would be like counting Rudyard Kipling as Indian literature.

[Anonymous No.23242521]

>>23242423
That grey Ireland tells me you still haven't read Joyce, I suggest you fix it soon

[Anonymous No.23242523]

>>23242514
I didn't count Camus, I read Yacine.

I should count India though, I've read In the Buddha's Words.

[Anonymous No.23242605]

Kiwi here

You've left NZ off the map mate

Read 'Once were warriors'
If it's anything like the movie it will be entertaining

[Anonymous No.23242616]

Honduras

[Anonymous No.23242621]

>>23242423
easy Colombia pick here, m8

[Anonymous No.23242637]

Guatemala

[Anonymous No.23242646]

Easy good one for Sudan

[Anonymous No.23242666]

>>23242423
Are you really going to do every African country?

[Anonymous No.23242668]

>>23242423
You haven't read one from Poland, so I'd recommend adding a translation of "ice" by Jacek Dukaj onto your list. I'm really glad he's finally getting a serious work of his translated, hopefully people are going to appreciate him

[Anonymous No.23242672]

>>23242666
Why not? Both North African and colonial literature is pretty rich. You may run into some dry countries but I'd say most of the continent should have produced decent lit.

[Anonymous No.23242691]

>>23242423
Enjoyed this

[Anonymous No.23242725]

>>23242423
>Turkmenistan
>Ruhnama by Turkmenbashi Saparmurat Nijazov
(It's not good)

[Anonymous No.23242732]

>>23242423
>Libya
>pic related

[Anonymous No.23242771]

>>23242423
https://www.amazon.com/d/B0817D7J3X/
Lithuanian

[Anonymous No.23242822]

>>23242423
Some Asian reccs, I am a scholar of Asian literature after all.
India
Recycled poop breakfast, a guide yo a healthy gut flora. Drs. Prabhat Iyengar and Aarushi Srivastava

Pakistan
The New Stools Bitcoin Economy, Paving a Brown Road To Our Future. Mahwish Suleiman

North Korea
Holy Shit Missiles ==> Our Poops Bring Us Forward To Freedom From Imperial Dogma!!! !!! Honourable Dr. Kim Dung-Po

[Anonymous No.23242828]

>>23242423
Borges' Ficciones would be the argentinian cliché book, but I'd recomend The Regal Lemon Tree, from Saer

[Anonymous No.23242857]

Ukraine: Nikolai Gogol's short story collections about Ukraine - "Evenings on a Farm Near Dikanka" and "Mirgorod".

Belarus: "King Stakh's Wild Hunt" by Uladzimir Karatkievich.

[Anonymous No.23242861]

Norwegian: Growth of the Soil
Going by country is dumb anyways, should go by language/culture

[Anonymous No.23242865]

>>23242423
Why bother doing this? Some countries are devoid of any modern culture. African countries to be precise.

[Anonymous No.23242937]

>>23242514
>like counting Rudyard Kipling as Indian literature
Considering the UK is about to become an indian/paki colony that would be more truthful than you might think

[Anonymous No.23243007]

>>23242423
I'm mostly curious about those new or very tiny countries
I won't expect you to find many good books coming from eSwatini, Timor Leste or Liechtenstein

[Anonymous No.23243048]

>>23243007
>Liechtenstein
Funnily for that example, the prince himself wrote a book called " State of Third Millenium".
>>23242423
"Secret History of the Mongols" sprung to mind as a book by Mongolia.
Can't vouch for either books quality though, just books that came to mind for smaller countries in case no one has anything better for them.

[Anonymous No.23243122]

>>23242423
you can count Sub-Saharan Africa as one country

[Anonymous No.23243311]

>>23242439
>Poland
ferdydurke

[Anonymous No.23243324]

>>23242423
For a few of the latinamerican countries I've always enjoyed whatever wins the Alfaguara prize. Specially if you want to move away from basic bitch recommendations like One hundred years of solitude like someone already did.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfaguara_Prize

[Anonymous No.23243337]

>>23243122
>count USA and Canada as one
>count Oceania as one
>count Latin America (including Cuba) as one
>count Caribbean as one
>count UK and Ireland as one
>count ex USSR as one
>count continental western Europe as one
>count Balkans as one
>count Middle East as one
>count central and southern Africa as one
>count sub-saharan Africa as one
>count southeast Asia as one
>count nordic countries as one
>count germanic countries as one

I solved the world

[Anonymous No.23243346]

>>23243337
Solve what? You simply dumbed down geography

[Anonymous No.23243539]

>>23242423
>>23242439
Angola: Mayombe by Pepetela

[Anonymous No.23243775]

>>23242822
Thanks for putting your sub 80IQ on display here, but I'm sure pol misses you

[Anonymous No.23243806]

Ironically the Australian author I read was a book on Russia lol.

[Anonymous No.23243811]

>>23243806
Correction

[Anonymous No.23243815]

>>23243811
Correction x2...

[Anonymous No.23243823]

>>23243815
Forgot two more...

[Anonymous No.23243909]

>>23242434
NTA but Patrick White is a great author and probably Australia's best overall, I haven't heard of that book book but from looking it up it looks quite emblematic of Australian experience with its suburban themes.
Voss is probably his most famous, to do with an Australian explorer's ill-fated journey in the outback (loosely based on the real life Leichhardt) but honestly outback/ explorer journeys, while a part of Australia's history, are really not that representative of the culture or history of Australia, it's more of an imagined thing.
The Vivisector is also a good one of his that chronicles an artists life, it's also great but more of a dive into an Australian artist's psyche than a good overall Australian book
t. Australian

[Anonymous No.23243928]

>>23242423
Colombia should absolutely be 100 Years of Solitude.
Olga Tokarczuk is supposed to be a good, modern Polish author.
Don't know if you've done New Zealand yet but 'Once Were Warriors' is great
Obviously India has a lot of options but a good one could be 'The White Tiger' which focuses on people coming from the regions of abject poverty that never tend to have literature written about them.

[Anonymous No.23243939]

>>23242605
You should really read Once Were Warriors, it's a fantastic book
I haven't seen the movie but I know they make one major different which imo completely fucks up the narrative and major developments of the book

[Anonymous No.23243961]

The Long Ships for Sweden
Hunger or Pan for Norway
Egil’s Saga for Iceland

[Anonymous No.23243966]

>>23242439
Independent People by Halldór Laxness for Iceland

[Anonymous No.23244026]

>>23242423
>hasnt read an irish book
its not joever. it never even began

[Anonymous No.23244196]

>>23242861
The problem with that is that some cultures have no written language. Find me a novel written by a Kawahiva, I dare you.

[Anonymous No.23244207]

Nauru

[Anonymous No.23244214]

You are now aware that if you moved to one of those tiny countries where everyone is illiterate and wrote a book you could be hailed as a local hero for producing mediocre work.

[Anonymous No.23244315]

>>23244196
You don't have to catalogue every single language you autismo, you could just go by cultural areas, for example Macunaíma is a Brazilian book that engages with Amazonian Brazil cultures

[Anonymous No.23244948]

>>23242423
My recommendation for Albania is Rrno Vetëm për me Tregue by Át Zef Pllumi. The title translates "Live long only for to tell" (or less literally "Survive so you can tell the tale"), but that's a mouthful, so the title of the translation is just "Live to Tell". It tells the story of the advent of communism in Albania. It's written by a Catholic priest so you get a Catholic perspective, but it's an enjoyable book even if you're not Catholic.
Here's a link to the translation: https://www.amazon.com/Live-Tell-1944-1951-Religious-Persecution/dp/0595452981
Only the first volume is translated, which sucks because the second volume is the best, but whatya gonna do (except learn Gheg Albanian of course)

[Anonymous No.23244974]

Great thread, added a lot of these books to my mental to read list, which I will completely forget about in two weeks time when I find new stuff I want but will never get around to reading

[Anonymous No.23244979]

>>23242423
Andrey Kurkov is supposed to be Ukraine's living novelist atm, haven't read any of his stuff but Death and the Penguin is a post-Soviet book which seems to be the one he's most known for, there's also Grey Bees which is more modern and set in the period after Russia annexed Crimea and features the separatist wars in the East (although it was written before the current war)

[Anonymous No.23245034]

>>23242857
>Ukraine
OP already read russian books

[Anonymous No.23245114]

>>23242423
Jachym Tool for Czech is a must, I liked The Devils Workshop but City Sister Silver is his masterpiece.
My Tired Father by Gellu Naum for Romania

you can use Twisted Spoon Press for literature from many obscure eastern euro countries.

[Anonymous No.23245123]

Paradiso by Jose Lima for Cuba
Cyclist Conspiracy by Basara for Serbia

[Anonymous No.23245141]

Forest of a Thousand Demons by D.A Fagunwa for Yoruba (it sucks, almost all African lit outside of modern lit sucks, at least the 5 or so I've tried)
Vengeance is Mine, All Others Pay Cash by Eka Kurniawan for Indonesia
Cane by Jean Toomer for Harlem Renaissance/The South
>>23245114
>>23245123
all me. OP I would just add that Twisted Spoon will be invaluable for your quest. They have their catalog organized by country and have counties as obscure as say Moldova and it's not just random books from these countries they are usually the most important cultural works available.

[Anonymous No.23245146]

>>23242434
Deadly Uner. Was the worst fucking book I ever read with the Great Gatsby.

[Anonymous No.23245170]

>>23242439
O Armatolos by Grigor Prličev from Macedonia. Lovely poem.

[Anonymous No.23245459]

>>23245146
i had to read cloudstreet, blackrock and broken lives. all of them were absolutely awful. i so vaguely remember deadly unna but i dont think i actually read it

[Anonymous No.23245540]

>>23242423
Czechia could be Milan Kundera's - Unbearable Lightness of Being

For Ukraine you could go for some of Taras Shevchenko's poetry.

[Anonymous No.23246403]

Does Joseph Conrad count for Poland?

[Anonymous No.23246750]

India

[Anonymous No.23246757]

Korea

[Anonymous No.23246761]

>>23242423
Kyrgyzstan - The Day Lasts More Than A Hundred Years

[Anonymous No.23246768]

Singapore
The author is British but I think this counts, as it his own story
An excellent set of war memoirs

[Anonymous No.23246774]

Philippines

[Anonymous No.23246795]

Algeria - anything by Camus

[Anonymous No.23246826]

>>23242423
I did this! Here's one:

Mother's Beloved: Stories from Laos

Laos is a fucking struggle, they don't have much of a literary scene.

[Anonymous No.23246843]

>>23242439
Children Of The Alley by Naguib Mahfouz (Egypt)
The Lady Of Zamalek by Ashraf Al-Ashmawi (Egypt)
The Critical Case Of A Man Called K by Aziz Mohamed (Saudi Arabia)
The Yacobian Building by Alaa Al-Aswany (Egypt)

[Anonymous No.23246975]

>>23246761
this is certifiably the most important cultural work of its country, well done

[Anonymous No.23247032]

>>23242439
> countries
> UK
uh anon...

[Anonymous No.23248723]

>>23243311
based

[Anonymous No.23248744]

>>23246757
that's just a retelling of journey to the west

[Anonymous No.23248755]

>>23242937
>UK is about to become an indian/paki colony
revenge is sweet

[Anonymous No.23248829]

>>23242423
>Finland
>The Unknown Soldier

[Anonymous No.23248868]

>>23242423
Which book from switzerland did you read?

[Anonymous No.23248877]

>>23248755
>revenge for unifying your disparate shitholes into a functioning country
?

[Anonymous No.23248897]

>>23248877
>white people go to country that doesn't belong to them
>this is ours now
>kill everybody that complains
>kill a bunch of other people just for funsies
>country is still shit, but now a bunch of people are dead and everything that wasn't shit before is now in shambles
>see, aren't you happy we fixed your country?

[Anonymous No.23248905]

>>23242439
>China
Deer and the Cauldron

[Anonymous No.23248912]

>>23242937
>>23248755
Is that true or a pol meme?

[Anonymous No.23248918]

>>23248912
a pol meme

[Anonymous No.23248924]

>>23248918
shit sux, thought their food was finally gonna git gud

[Anonymous No.23249042]

Croatian god Mars - Miroslav Krleža
Cyclops - Ranko Marinković

[Anonymous No.23249387]

>>23242423
Do you need fiction, non-fiction, or what?
I'm not saying not to read Tokarczuk, but she's celebrated primarily because she's a womeme and because she writes a lot about jews.

[Anonymous No.23249411]

>>23248897
>Indians go to a country that doesn't belong to them
>starts shitting everywhere
>shits more
>streets full of shit
>doesn't stop shitting
>we are very useful sarr, pls let me in sar

[Anonymous No.23249474]

>>23242423
South Korea
Pachinko - Min Jin Lee
Slovakia
The Seventh Night - Ladislav Mňačko
Ireland
Borstal Boy -Brendan Behan

[Anonymous No.23249490]

>>23242423
Under the North Star by Väinö Linna. It is a multigenerational story, in a similar manner to East of Eden, but set in Finland during the first decades of its independence. It is highly regarded as one of the most important books from Finland, along with Kalevala, being the national epic, and Sinuhe the Egyptian, which is the most sold and known book from Finland.

[Anonymous No.23249546]

>>23242423
If you haven’t read anything from Sweden, I would highly recommend The Long Ships by Frans G. Bengtsson. A real classic Viking saga

[Anonymous No.23249615]

>>23243961
Ah a man of taste

[Anonymous No.23249872]

>>23243961
Instead of Hunger, read Growth of the soil. Idk why people praise Hunger, when it's not even the best of Hamsun.

[Anonymous No.23249894]

>>23242423
Facundo: Civilization and Barbarism, from Argentina.

[Anonymous No.23249917]

>>23249872
based growthbro
only read hunger and growth myself but I loved growth and just liked hunger

[Anonymous No.23251715]

>>23249917
Exactly. While Hunger is decent book, it is nowhere close as good and poetic as growth of the soil. Growth remarks the human life as it used to be for thousands of years.

[Anonymous No.23251743]

>>23242605
Good pick. Alternatively, Owls Do Cry by Janet Frame or The Collected Stories of Katherine Mansfield. If you want something from a Maori perspective, Witi Ihimaera is good and his best is probably The Whale Rider or Pounamu, Pounamu

[Anonymous No.23251926]

>>23243928
>https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olga_Tokarczuk#Views
Anon, this is the most cancerous thing I have read all year.

[Anonymous No.23252641]

>>23242423
Latvia: White Pages

[Anonymous No.23253360]

>>23242423
I recommend to check the Western Canon, specifically the chaotic age. It includes the best works from Eastern Europe, Latin America and Africa.

http://sonic.net/~rteeter/grtbloom.html

[Anonymous No.23254364]

>>23248897
It does belong to them. The Earth is a gift to the white race from heaven

[Anonymous No.23254929]

>>23242423
Interesting challenge. Please make another post when you’re finished.

Tanzania: Paradise by Abdulrazak Gurnah
Surinam: We Slaves of Surinam by Anton de Kom
Congo-Brazzaville: Ngando by Paul Lomami-Tshibamba
Georgia: plenty to choose from but I’d go for something by Nino Haratischwili

>>23242514
>>23242672
>>23246795
OP, may I suggest you go hard mode and don’t read any colonial literature. That would make it way too easy and also less interesting.

[Anonymous No.23254946]

>>23242439
>Romania
something by cartarescu

[Anonymous No.23254969]

Nobel laureates by smaller nations to make things easier for you.

Guatemala: Mauro Angel Asturias
Chile: Pablo Neruda
Colombia: Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Nigeria: Wole Basedinka
Saint Lucia: Derek Walcott
Trinidad and Tobago: Vidiadhar Surajprasad Naipaul
Hungary: Imre Kertész
Peru: Mario Vargas Llosa
Sweden: Tomas Tranströmer
Belarus: Svetlana Alexievich
Tanzania: Abdulrazak Gurnah
Norway: Jon Fosse

[Anonymous No.23255037]

>>23242605
Once Were Warriors is alright but its kind of overrated. I think unironically you have to look at the existentialist tradition of New Zealand literature. Man Alone by John Mulgan or Philosopher Dick/South Sea Siren by George Chamier are the two which really stand out but there's a lot of really great New Zealand novels.

Hell you could even read Erewhon and count that as a New Zealand novel.

[Anonymous No.23255039]

>>23248897
I know you're historically illiterate but it wasn't a single country back then and they were busy murdering the fuck out of each other when euros arrived.

[Anonymous No.23255053]

>>23244207
Absolutely peak lit. I'd recommend Albert Wendt for Samoa as well and for my native Fiji, I'd say that an emotive historical book like Tears in Paradise would be the ideal

[Anonymous No.23255116]

>>23246761
Beat me to it. My Kyrgyz wife introduced me to lots of Aitmatov. The recent extract translation of manas their National epic poem published by penguin is worth a read too.

[Anonymous No.23255145]

>>23242423
Tobacco by Dimitar Dimov from Bulgaria, not sure if it has translation though

[Anonymous No.23255837]

>>23242423
Chile: By Night in Chile by Roberto Bolano (Savage detectives and 2666 take place in Mexico mostly)
Uzbekistan: The Devil's Dance by Hasmid Ismailov
Finland: The Summer Book by Tove Jansson
Greenland and Togo: An African in Greenland by Tété-Michel Kpomassie
Czech Republic: Closely Watched Trains by Bouhmil Hrabal

[Anonymous No.23256029]

>>23242423
>>23255572