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/lit/ - Literature

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7126325 No.7126325 [Reply] [Original]

What country would you say has the most "literary" literature tradition in its culture?

>> No.7126329

Germany, Russia

>> No.7126337

>>7126325
Britain would have been a contender a hundred years ago, but not now. Much like with everything else. Ouch.

As anon says, Germany and Russia. The Russians especially.

>> No.7126373

Nowdays? Germany. Generally? Britain.

>> No.7126381

Britain for literature
Britain for poetry
Britain for language
If you speak English you've essentially been cucked if you're a non-native

>> No.7126391

The United States of America

>> No.7126599

>>7126325

Iran or China.

I lean more towards Iran for their undisputed mastery over poetry (farsi is THE language of poetry, this is not an opinion but a fact), but the unbroken traditions of Chinese literature going back millennia also awes me.

>> No.7126635

>>7126325
Cuba

>> No.7126654

Niger, Senegal, USA

>> No.7126659

Britain

>> No.7126688

Lithuania, Spain, Brazil

>> No.7126703

>>7126325
Ireland. home of the tragic romantic self-destructing poet

>> No.7126704

>>7126703
>this is how alcoholic potato niggers see themselves

>> No.7126707

>>7126703

What is, Sturm und Drang?

>> No.7126753

>>7126325
China, if only for volume and duration. An absolute shit-ton of writing, going back about 3000 years, and while the language has of course changed a lot of it is still pretty comprehensible for an averagely educated present-day Chinese person.

Plus a massively writing-oriented culture in which the written word was sacred and cutting off the heads of 10,000 barbarians didn't mean shit unless you could also compose a decent poem about it.

>> No.7126760

>>7126704
>>7126707
Joyce Heaney and Kavanagh spring to mind off the bat. beckett, mcgahern, yeats.

there's an outrageous amount for a country the size of Ireland. I've only named a few of the meme ones there too

>> No.7126767

>>7126635

>Cuba
>Literature

Cuba doesn't even rank in the top five of spanish-speaking countries, let alone the world

>> No.7126771

>>7126599
>farsi is THE language of poetry

But Farsi doesn't even come close to latin-based languages when it comes to ability to form complex similes

>> No.7126772

>>7126599
How get in2 irany poetry? Any essentials?

>> No.7126790

Portugal

>> No.7126800

>>7126325
Japan
Ireland
Argentina
Chile
Iceland

>> No.7126801
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7126801

>>7126325
china has the longest continuous tradition of literature

the premier form of chinese art for two thousand years has been calligraphy and poetry (both of which all scholars were expected to master)

>> No.7126808
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7126808

>>7126790

>> No.7126819

>>7126599
>>7126703
>>7126753
>>7126654
>>7126635
>>7126801
Kek at chauvistinic shitskins trying to push their shitty country.

The only available countries to pick from are Britain, France, Italy, Germany or Russia.

I personally go with Britain.

>> No.7126843

>>7126819
i was just memeing hard because everyone was just throwing names of random countries

>> No.7126852

I think Italy is a fair choice. I don't think any other country values humanities that much, except maybe France, but France is a parody of itself

>> No.7126853

>>7126819
also ranking literature is fucking stupid

>> No.7126903

I really couldn't say because I only speak English but I have lived in the USA, Australia and the UK. It always strikes me how much more poetic and fanciful common British expressions are in comparison to American ones.

In the UK you might call someone a 'bloody fool' which is really straight out of Macbeth. In America you might call them an 'asshole'. In Yorkshire it's still common to say 'though' or 'sup'. We have a habit, which Australians share, of making words into diminutives and we are obsessed with rhyming words and silly metaphors. In the UK police officers are 'Bobbies' and the USA they are 'Pigs'.

American English is just very blunt and all of the other sayings seem to come from the wild west, television, sports or capitalism. I suspect it's just because it's newer, but it's still a very practical language.

>> No.7126919
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7126919

>>7126325
albania

>> No.7126934

>>7126800

>Japan over China
>Chile over Brazil
>Iceland at all

Wow

>> No.7126956

Haven't read much of what Germany has to offer besides brothers Grimm. What have they got?

>> No.7127066

>>7126772

Ahmad Shamlou

That's it

>> No.7127093

>>7126956
Yeah really, who have they got.
Hermen hesse, shelling, Goethe, Brecht, Mann, remarque, bukowski, kafka.
This is just off the top of my head.

>> No.7127097

>>7126956
Goethe, Hölderlin, Kafka, Nietzsche, Schopenhauer, Canetti, von Eschenbach's Parzival, the Nibelungenlied...

>> No.7127099

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

>> No.7127104

>>7127097
Philosophers dont count.

>> No.7127118

>>7127104
Forget Schopenhauer, then. But Nietzsche's Zarathustra is a novel, and an amazingly beautiful one at that.

>> No.7127122

>>7126391
>>7127099

Reminder that the "quintessential American Novel" Gatsby is only considered secondary school tier lit

>> No.7127147

>>7126903
I have to say, it's awful hearing kids speak nowadays in the UK. They sound like Americans.

>> No.7127192

>>7127147
America is the cultural hegemon of the world. Even if our literary or cultural tradition isn't particularly sophisticated, it's impact is immense.

In any case, I'd stray away from naming a country with the biggest literary impact, and instead choose cultural Christianity

>> No.7127206

>>7127192
I wish it wasn't though.
If I hear someone say "like" 5+ times in a sentence one more time...

>> No.7127293

>>7127206
>If I hear someone say "like" 5+ times in a sentence one more time...
That's not American influence. The Russian language acquired the same tick back during Soviet times.

I think it's a symptom of a deeper problem in the modern world -- people have a problem making definitive unambiguous statements.

>> No.7127304
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7127304

Deutschland.

>> No.7127471

France=Germany=Italy>Russia>US>>>>>Britain

>> No.7127473

me

>> No.7127477
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7127477

>>7127093
Kafka was Czech but resided in the Austria-Hungarian Empire which had annexed his nation.

>> No.7127542

>>7126325
mother Russia

>> No.7127611

china obviously. For the recent few centuries, Germany and Russia.

>> No.7127676

>>7127293
Perhaps. I hear it most from Americans, however - older Brits never seem to do it. Only the younger, pop-influenced children seem affected here.

>> No.7127730

>>7127471
Chaucer
Shakespeare
Milton
Blake
Wordsworth
Byron
Austen
Dickens
Woolf

These authors alone trump anyone else
How can anyone possibly think the UK is that far behind?

>> No.7127752

Britain back then, followed by Russia and then Germany.

Nowadays: None.

>> No.7127754

>>7127730
Bitter their country has little to offer? Wants to be hipster? Who knows?

>> No.7127868

>>7127752
>What is the underground chinese neo-huan movement

China is still a literary giant, it just has to be done without the government figuring out who the authors are.

>> No.7127886

>>7127868
>underground chinese neo-huan movement
>China is a literary giant

so many chinks on the 4chniz today...

>> No.7127891

PUERTO RICO
U
E
R
T
O

R
I
C
O

>> No.7127897

>>7127891
Disregard that, that was my friend (he's watching me post XD)

>> No.7127914

>>7127897


Vete a la mierda fedora

>> No.7127932

>>7127730
>not a single name from the 20th century
>not a single name from the 21st century
Yeah, Britain was incomparable at one point, but it's been eclipsed. If we're talking about literary culture, places like England just don't produce great works anymore like the United States does.

>> No.7127972

>>7127932
Who cares, 20th and 21st century literature is garbage. I bet you're one of those guys who thinks that Infinite Jest is a good book.

>> No.7127991

germany, of course.

>> No.7128005

>>7126325
The Syrians.

Seriously, they invented writing.

>> No.7128020

>>7128005
>modern Syrians


>not arabs

>> No.7128048
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7128048

Nietzsche
Weber
Vogelweyde
Hauptmann
Hesse
Kleist
Goethe
Schiller
Grass
Novalis
Arndt
Brecht
Lessing
Fontane
Storm
E.T.A. Hoffmann
Büchner
Böll
etc.
gues what

>> No.7128065

Argentina has the strongest literary movement...
sure, other first world countries with giant armies have pushed their cultures around the world, but the one powerful literary movement thats powerful only because of its power is the argentinian one

>> No.7128082

>>7128048
minchia calmati abbiamo capito

>> No.7128084

>>7126753
literary tradition, not shitposting tradition

>> No.7128166

>>7128065

Name a single Argentinean writer known to the general European public

>> No.7128170

>>7128048

>forgeting Klopstock

>> No.7128176

BRICS, Britain und Iran

>> No.7128178

>>7128166
Borges is known to any well educated person anywhere.

>> No.7128190

>>7128176

BRICS, Argentina, Britain und Iran

Fixed.

>> No.7128201

>>7128178
>Borges

A coat-tailer of Gabriel Márquez, hardly someone worth mentioning outside of the Latin American context.

>> No.7128214

>>7126599
>countries in which most people can't even read
>country whose culture was obliterated by islam and never recovered
>literary tradition
Come on.

>> No.7128224

>>7128201
Gabriel Marquez himself would punch you in the dick if he found out how little you know about literature

>> No.7128234

>>7128170
oh, i forgot klopstock!

ol klopstock!

the klopstock who makes your clock stop!

good ol klopstock!

never forget klopstock!

>> No.7128243

>>7126325
why does it matter,OP ?

>> No.7128269

>>7126760
Ireland has a great literary culture for sure, but the majority of Irish people haven't read Joyce, nevermind Beckett. And most only know Heaney, Yeats and Kavanagh from school. Every Irish person can name Yeats Easter 1916 poem, but they'd be sore to name another one

>A terrible cliche is born

>> No.7128293

>>7128269
Though I'm being hard, much of Ireland's great literature comes from its folk culture so there's an intrinsic link with the people even if it remains a niche area of interest

>> No.7128316

E I R E
I
R
E

>> No.7128334

>>7127932
>Woolf

You blind bruv?

>> No.7128348

>>7128293
>folk culture
>intrinsic link
oh shut up

>> No.7128441

>>7127122
>secondary school tier lit
So is Shakespeare.

>> No.7128452

>>7128224
this tbh

>> No.7128470

>>7128441
Wat

>> No.7128482

>>7128470
Shakespeare is taught in secondary school. More heavily than any other writer by a looooong way, in my case.

>> No.7128489
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7128489

>>7127972
>20th century literature is garbage

>> No.7128498
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7128498

>>7127932
True.
England is a cultural shell.

>> No.7128502
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7128502

>>7128224
About this "poetry" Borges wrote...

>> No.7128526

>>7128482
That doesn't make it secondary school tier... that just means it's taught in secondary schools.
Jesus man. Don't diss The Bard.

>> No.7128560

>>7128224
is he the greatest author to die this decade?

>> No.7128561

Argentina based

>> No.7129923
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7129923

>>7127093
>bukowski

>> No.7130164

>>7126329
>>7126337
>>7126373
>>7126381
>>7126391
>>7126599
>>7126635
>>7126654
>>7126659
>>7126688
>>7126703
>>7126753
>>7126790
>>7126800
>>7126852
>>7126919
>>7127099
>>7127304
>>7127471
>>7127542
>>7127611
>>7127752
>>7127891
>>7127991
>>7128005
>>7128065
>>7128176
>>7128316
>>7128561

Don't you realise that you only embarrass yourselves trying to speak authoritatively like this? How could you possibly have considered yourself qualified to answer this question? Oh, right: you didn't consider. You just saw a question and felt compelled to pull some memetic nonsense out of your ass in response.

>> No.7130183

>>7130164
welcome 2 4chan baby

>> No.7130205

>>7130164
cunt

>> No.7130501

>>7127477
Kafka was a German speaking Ashkenazi Jews who lived in Prague, the capital of the Kingdom of Bohemia which was part of Austro-Hungarian Empire. Not 'Czech'.

>> No.7130718

>>7127122
Yeah, but we've got Cormac McCarthy...

>> No.7130887

>>7126903
Yes American English is very forceful. I think we are becoming alike now. The Internet makes so much room.

>> No.7130927

>>7130164
But China is simply the correct answer. No other culture has placed such emphasis on the literary arts for such a long period of history. This isn't a matter of 'my untranslatable poems are better than your untranslatable poems', it's something that can be very easily determined by looking at historical sources.

>> No.7130959

>>7130927
Nothing is "simply the correct answer." It's all up for debate. For example:

The Cultural Revolution fucked chinese art so sideways they didn't even have an avant-garde until way after the rest of the world. It's hard to argue a nation with that much artistic oppression is the most "literary."

>> No.7130980

>>7130959
Yeah, I know, I was being facetious in response to anon's negative nancyism. But I interpreted the question historically, as the mention of 'tradition' implies, and I think if you do that China would easily make the strongest case.

>> No.7131014

>>7130980
My bad then... one shortcoming of the internet is that there's no way to read tone of voice.