/lit/ - Literature

[Anonymous No.4676035]

What language has the best literature? I'm inclined to say English but I feel that may be because of bias

[Anonymous No.4676044]

German or French

[Anonymous No.4676045]

English, Russian, and German

[Anonymous No.4676047]

English:

- Best empire
- Best language
- Best literature
- Best philosophy
- Best history
- Best geography
- Best country

[Anonymous No.4676054]

Are you relying on the Irish all being hungover?

[Anonymous No.4676137]

French, Spanish, Portuguese

[Anonymous No.4676151]

German, French and English are the top three.

Anything else is personal preference.

[Anonymous No.4676155]

>>4676047

>English:
>- Best philosophy

yeah, no. more like one of the worst.

[Anonymous No.4676164]

>>4676047
>- Best empire
Not even the largest or longest.

>- Best language
I'd probably agree with this just because there's so much diversity in it, although so little of modern English actually derives from old English.

>- Best literature
Debatable, but it would give any victor a serious challenge.

>- Best philosophy
Not even close, virtually no worthwhile philosophy is natively in English

>- Best history
Eh, it's all a wash.

>- Best geography
England? haha

>- Best country
England? haha

[Anonymous No.4676261]

>>4676047

>English
>Best philosophy

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHA

[Anonymous No.4676296]

>>4676261

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

OMG. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHAHAHAHA

[Anonymous No.4677067]

This makes me wonder - how come Chinese (or Mandarin at least) has the largest number of speakers, but you never hear about any books written in it other than Mao's book? Is there not much being translated, or is not much being published?

[Anonymous No.4677073]

>>4676047
Lol Hume is the only worthwhile philosopher to write in English

[Anonymous No.4677074]

>>4677067
the chinese are too traditional and regimented to write decent fiction

[Anonymous No.4677129]

Sun Tzu's The Art of War would have to be one of the most popular books in the world.

[Anonymous No.4677239]

>>4677067
>Is there not much being translated, or is not much being published?
The first one. There are shit-tons of new books in China every year (that doesn't necessarily mean they're good, mind).

And the reason you don't hear much about Chinese lit is power differentials in history, i.e. most of the modern world was made in western Europe, not China- plus, unlike somewhere like Japan, China was pretty isolated from the west until the 80s.

[Anonymous No.4677672]

>>4677073
>>4676155
>>4676164
>>4676261
Stay mad faggots

[Anonymous No.4677680]

>>4677672

>making a belated appearance to let us all know that you saw how told you got

Okay.

[Anonymous No.4677724]

>>4676164
There seems to be some hipster misconception that the British Empire was not the largest empire ever 'assembled'. This is pure hipsterism. They claim that comparisons between the British empire and the Mongol empire consider all British territories ever owned, and not only those owned at one specific point in time. This is simply not true.

Furthermore, the British Empire governed the highest percent of the world population and conducted the highest percent of world trade of any empire by far.

These comparisons also neglect the fact that much of the world which was not officially under British control was almost completely economically dominated, South America and China being the most obvious examples. Furthermore, this was not a simple 'expand for the sake of expansion' type affair - when France requested to join the UK they were rejected.

[Anonymous No.4677727]

>>4676047
The best languages are german, russian and latin (by extent greek).

English is way too simple and "streamlined" for my tastes. It does have great literature, but that is because it has so many native speakers, bot because the language itself is good for literature.

[Anonymous No.4677738]

>>4676261
>>4676155
Good arguments from both of you. Greece dominated philosophy, then there were a few contributions from various places, then the UK and Germany dominated philosophy (and science). German philosophy is becoming less and less relevant while Anglo-philosophy is prevailing without any problems - understandably, because it features the most rigorous and systematic thinking.

[Anonymous No.4677741]

>>4677680
He didn't post >>4676047

I did. I'm back.

Stay mad, faggots. God bless the Queen.

[Anonymous No.4677751]

>>4677727
>latin (by extent greek)
u wot m8

[Anonymous No.4677759]

>>4677751
Greek is rather similar to latin, it just has some aoristic quirks here and there.

[Anonymous No.4677765]

>>4677738
>German philosophy is becoming less and less relevant
All of contemporary western philosophy owes its foundations to the Germans though.

>Anglo-philosophy is prevailing without any problems
In anglophone countries. I know you people don't like to get of your islands and/or are too amerifat to even do so if you'd want to, but there's more world out there than you think.

>understandably, because it features the most rigorous and systematic thinking.
Rigour and systematic thinking are properly predicated to persons not peoples... Even if you could you are actually saying that those qualities are not typical of Germans, but typical of englishmen...? goddamnit. Do you not know your stereotypes?

[Anonymous No.4677768]

>>4677759
then why do you have them switched around.

should be
>greek (by extent latin)

[Anonymous No.4677779]

>>4677768
Fair opinion.

[Anonymous No.4677782]

these threads are dumb

[Anonymous No.4677830]

>>4676047

Yeah but what about the good ol' US of A?
- Best spawn of any colonial empire ever
- Best cuisine
- Best music
- Best philosophy (shared title with UK)
- Best language (shared title with UK)
- Best economy
- Best national spirit (UK is a runner-up)
- Best natural wonders of the world
- Best country

[Anonymous No.4677885]

There's no language with best literature, only good writers.

[Anonymous No.4677917]

>>4677073
No, Berkley. He was one of the earliest philosophers to do the whole "The world is just a dream" thing

[Anonymous No.4677928]

>>4677724
Absolutely. Even if you go by conservative estimates it was basically the same size as the Mongol empire.

[Anonymous No.4677939]

>>4677830
>America
>best anything

[Anonymous No.4677944]

>>4677067
Don't forget about Mo Yan. Nobel Prize winner, and a hell of a good writer. Also, take a look at the Wiki page on Chinese literature. I think it's possible that there are tons of Chinese authors being translated into English but all their names look the same so English speakers think it's just the same one or two.

>>4677830
I love my country, but you have to be kidding. Best cuisine? Best economy? Dafuq?

[Anonymous No.4677985]

>>4677928
Especially since the "Mongol Empire" was really a conglomeration of loosely affiliated megatribes after Genghis' death. Mongol rule over Asia was a big deal, but there was no single empire that lasted ages.

[Anonymous No.4678243]

It is hard to believe that so few of you know that the very best literature is in SANSKRIT!
And there's LOADS of it!
Help Keep Sanskrit Alive!
Learn It! Practice with your friends & lovers!
You will be able to read rare tantric texts!
Besides, the NSA would have to get 'enlightened' to even have a clue of what you were talking about!

प्रदीप ज्वालाभि-र्दिवसकर-नीराजनविधिः
सुधासूते-श्चन्द्रोपल-जललवै-रघ्यरचना ।
स्वकीयैरम्भोभिः सलिल-निधि-सौहित्यकरणं
त्वदीयाभि-र्वाग्भि-स्तव जननि वाचां स्तुतिरियम् ॥

Oh Goddess who is the source of all words,
This poem which is made of words,
That you only made,
Is like showing the camphor lamp to the Sun,
Is like offering as ablation to the moon,
The water got from the moon stone,
And is like offering water worship,
To the sea.

That was an excerpt from the
Soundarya Lahari, by Adi Sankara

जय महाकाली

[Anonymous No.4678294]

>>4677765
There is no relevant German philosopher any more. Wittgenstein (the most recent 'great philosopher') was Austrian and educated in the British tradition. The analytic empirical tradition began in the UK with Berkeley, Locke and Hume. This tradition dominates in every respectable philosophy department.

[Anonymous No.4678298]

>>4678243
At least the translation is awful. Read the King James Bible.

[Anonymous No.4678301]

The best what?

The most books?

The highest average quality of books?

The best books originally written in that language?

The most influential books?

Help me out here.

[Anonymous No.4678327]

>>4678243
Are you in Hare Krishna by any chance?

[Anonymous No.4678347]

>>4676137
>Spanish
No

[Anonymous No.4678363]

>>4678347
Spanish language, dolt

[Anonymous No.4678377]

>>4676044
>>4676045
>>4676137
>>4676151
Just lel'd.

Insomma, non mi va neanche di accusar 'sì fatta gente di ignoranza, per quanto ignorino l'importanza della lingua, della letteratura e della filosofia Italiana, per tutto il territorio europeo, già a partire dal medioevo. Dante e Petrarca hanno rimodellato la poesia, mentre Boccaccio ha praticamente modificato il "dire e mostrare", la narrazione.

[Anonymous No.4678381]

>>4678301
The best literature

[Anonymous No.4678402]

>>4677944

>implying deep south soul food and BBQ isn't literally the best thing in existence, succeeded only by Anglo-American philosophy
>implying the USA doesn't have the largest economy

[Anonymous No.4678418]

>>4678377
Italian is pretty irrelevant outside of Italy. You have Dante and half a dozen more writers and that's it. I love italian but there's not much to go on there.

[Anonymous No.4678422]

>>4677830
>USA
>Philosophy
>Cuisine

[Anonymous No.4678428]

>>4678363
No shit. It's a horridly simple language and a pretty limited one as well.

[Anonymous No.4678462]

>>4676035
"best literature"

[Anonymous No.4678467]

Russian & French for literature. German for philosophy.

[Anonymous No.4678485]

>>4678467
Find a bridge and leap PLZ

[Anonymous No.4678533]

>>4678422

Do you want me to write up a list of supremely important American philosophers? Also, are you suggesting soul food, done right, isn't the best thing you could possibly eat?

[Anonymous No.4678540]

English are best race all others should be kill. Hail Britaina

[Anonymous No.4678548]

>>4678540
>tfw English will be the lingua franca for all eternity
>tfw humanity will soon be united by supranational conglomerations that ultimately result in a Terran Empire
>tfw it will be under British models of organisation and largely due to the British legacy

We won, boys.

[Anonymous No.4678549]

>>4678540

Well hold on now, they are indubitably the best, but don't you think the other Germanic peoples are worth keeping around? Or what about the Poles? What did the Poles ever do to you? And also the Indians - they had some good shit going about 300 years ago - why not let them have a golden age again, once they shake themselves out of all this yogi shit? But yeah, the French and the Japs, above all else, definitely need to go.

[Anonymous No.4678561]

>>4678549
All are welcome!

[Anonymous No.4678563]

>>4678561
I mean, yeah, except the French, agreed.

[Anonymous No.4678592]

>>4677724
>when France requested to join the UK they were rejected.
What? When?

[Anonymous No.4678596]

The french

[Anonymous No.4678601]

>>4678428