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/lit/ - Literature

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9574976 No.9574976 [Reply] [Original]

Why is it important to start with the Greeks?

>> No.9574979

>>9574976
Start with the Messopotamians.
T. Greek.

>> No.9574981

Start with them before they start with you, kot.

>> No.9574989

>>9574979
Yeah dude i love Messopotamian literature, Gilgamesh, the list could go on...

>> No.9575010

Gives you a sense of smug self-importance

>> No.9575038

>>9574976
If you want to learn mathematics, you don't start with Prelman's prove of the Poincaré conjecture; you don't start with integral calculus or complex numbers, you start at the very base. That's what the Greeks are in literature (and some religious literature like the Tanakh).
It's not as important if it comes to novels but it's unbelievably important when it comes to philosophy. There's no way you can even come close to understand for example Nietzsche if you don't know the Greek roots he's constantly refering to.

>> No.9575049

>>9575038
*Perelman of course

>> No.9575154

>>9574976
We dont have good enough writing pre greek era

>> No.9575173

>>9574976
Starting with greek literature is very helpful,for almost every type of western literature that is worth reading references them in some way. Also of course they invented the structure of classical drama and countributed a big part to philosophical discourse. That said, you can get trough classic western literature without ever reading greek, if you are eager enough to research the referenced people and topics, which in times of the internet isn't a big problem

>> No.9575229

>>9575173
Yeah you can get through the literature that makes use of the Greeks by using notes and what not, but you'll be missing out on the complete experience of reading said novel. And you'll still end up just being a pseud.

It's not like there is a ton of greek literature anyways. Stop being lazy and just spend 2-3 months reading all the relevant works.

>> No.9575428

>>9575229
>just spend 2-3 months reading all the relevant works
You're not a philosopher, are you?

>> No.9575564

>>9575428
This. I think Aristotle is 6 months minimum.

>> No.9577012

>>9574989
Could it really?

>> No.9577016

Because Platonism and Aristotelianism have been fighting a primordial battle in philosophy ever since.

>> No.9577084
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9577084

>>9577012

>> No.9577746

>>9575428
>>9575564
based on looking the number of pages of each book in goodreads, I've come to the following numbers: (of course not very reliable due to different editions)

plato: ~2400 pages
aristotle: ~2600 pages

nigger would have to go berserk to read it in less than 6 months, considering a lot of people can take up to 1 year to read the bible

>> No.9577749

>>9577016
wrong
kant cucked aristotle and platonic idealism is an intellectual curiosity at best

>> No.9578630
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9578630

>>9577012
>I'm really into jazz

>> No.9580045

>>9575428
>>9575564
>>9577746
You could probably read most of the non-philosophy that the Greeks made in 2-3 months. Herodotus, Thucydides, etc. You can read pretty much every drama in ~1 hour and there are only like 40 of them. Homer can be read in under a week.

The problem is Plato/Aristotle, and the secondary material that you should probably at least dabble in if you want to understand what they (especially Aristotle) are talking about.

>> No.9580235

>>9577016
This