5 best books in your language

[Comte Arnau]

In order to establish an Apricity-made western literary canon which does not follow the traditionally Anglocentric canons out there, I pose you the following question:

Which are the 5 books traditionally regarded as the best in your language?

:typing :book2: :bow00002:


-- Notice I'm not saying the ones you necessary like, but those which you think are regarded as most outstanding

-- I know it's difficult to mention just five, specially for some literary traditions, so try to be as selective as possible. :):thumb001:

http://listverse.files.wordpress.com/2008/02/800px-great-books.jpg

[Damião de Góis]

Os Lusíadas (Luís de Camões, 1556)

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0d/Os_Lus%C3%ADadas.jpg/250px-Os_Lus%C3%ADadas.jpg

Auto da barca do inferno (Gil Vicente, 1517)

http://sebentadigital.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/auto.jpg

Os Maias (Eça de Queirós, 1888)

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_ktuphnbGTnA/SyJA4B54RvI/AAAAAAAAAlM/kyYdO8eh0zw/s400/os+maias.jpg

Mensagem (Fernando Pessoa, 1934)

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_aLcnU30ZP4E/TCvFaKtJAeI/AAAAAAAABKY/WhQbiA_ViPc/s1600/Mensagem.jpg

These four are obvious. The last one would be anyone's take.

[Comte Arnau]

Obrigado, Alex. And it's great that each of those belong to a different genre. :)

[Ouistreham]

Chrétien de Troyes, Le Roman de Perceval
Montesquieu, L'Esprit des Lois
Stendhal, Le Rouge et le Noir
M. Proust, A la Recherche du Temps Perdu
L.F. Céline, Voyage au Bout de la Nuit

[Comte Arnau]

Chrétien de Troyes, Le Roman de Perceval
Montesquieu, L'Esprit des Lois
Stendhal, Le Rouge et le Noir
M. Proust, A la Recherche du Temps Perdu
L.F. Céline, Voyage au Bout de la Nuit

Good selection. And I know it isn't easy for French.

[Comte Arnau]

These four are obvious. The last one would be anyone's take.

Would you include the late Saramago as the fifth option? He was acclaimed by some critics a few years ago as the best novel writer alive.

If so, which book? I've only read Blindness by him, and I liked it. The film didn't make it justice.

[Amapola]

Should Spinoza be included for Spain or Portugal? :D

[Comte Arnau]

Should Spinoza be included for Spain or Portugal? :D

LOL.

But this is why I said "in your language". If I'm not wrong, Spinoza wrote in Latin and Dutch.

[Amapola]

LOL.

But this is why I said "in your language". If I'm not wrong, Spinoza wrote in Latin and Dutch.

And Castilian! long treatises.. :embarrassed ^Probably some in Portuguese too. He was a lover of the Spanish classics of the time. I read it in Caro the other day.

[Comte Arnau]

And Castilian! long treatises.. :embarrassed ^Probably some in Portuguese too. He was a lover of the Spanish classics of the time. I read it in Caro the other day.

Did he? Oh well, I'm not an expert on him, I admit. But if so, just like with any other multilingual writers, the works in a particular language should be considered part of that particular literature.

Gil Vicente, for instance, can figure both in Portuguese and Spanish literatures, but with regard to different works, depending on the language he wrote the work in. :)

[Damião de Góis]

Would you include the late Saramago as the fifth option? He was acclaimed by some critics a few years ago as the best novel writer alive.

If so, which book? I've only read Blindness by him, and I liked it. The film didn't make it justice.

Actually, i didn't include the 5th book because i couldn't decide between another of Eça de Queirós books, Vergílio Ferreira, or Camilo Castelo Branco... not because of Saramago. In any case, there are many more like Lobo Antunes or Almeida Garrett, Alexandre Herculano...

[Comte Arnau]

Actually, i didn't include the 5th book because i couldn't decide between another of Eça de Queirós books, Vergílio Ferreira, or Camilo Castelo Branco... not because of Saramago. In any case, there are many more like Lobo Antunes or Almeida Garrett, Alexandre Herculano...

I see. Well, a little use of subjectivity is welcome too. Take a risk and choose one. ;)

Now that you talk about a second book by Queirós, I'd rather include five different authors and only the best or the most representative of the books by them. For the sake of diversity and to avoid including only one author and five of his books. :D

[Foxy]

1. Dante Alighieri "Divine Comedy"

It is very important for the Italian literature and culture, as it is one of the first works written in voulgar (the language of the vulgus, of the volk) rather than in Latin. The language used is medieval Florentine. The poem is also an important document that witnesses the mentality in the Italian cities during Middle Age and their christian vision of the world and of the universe.

2. Boccaccio "Decameron"

The title, derived from ancient Greek, means "the 10 days". It was determinant in the creation of standard Italian from the Florentine voulgar, but also ir created a new genre of literature that had large diffusion in all Europe. It is an important witness of the edonistic mentality of the Italian Renaissance.

3. Giacomo Leopardi "Operette Morali"

Through the poems, Leopardi expresses his philosophy and anticipates the feeling and the sadness of the postmodern man. He analizes the relation of the Man with the History and with the Nature, the potence of the illusions, the theme of the glory and of the boredom, the nihilism.

4. Manzoni "The Bethrothed"

The historical romance was important in the perfecting of a standard modern Italian language, although some dialogs relates words and expressions that are not admitted in standard Italian. It is also an important document of the historical situation of northern Italy during the XVII century.

5. Carducci "Rime Nuove"

These collection of poetries contain the political program of Carducci. There are echoes of Poe, Heine, Baudelaire, Hugo and Goethe. Carducci underlines the importance for a country of the cult of its history and of the past, the realization of an egalitarian society, a healthy social life and morality. According to his vision, the two most important historical moments in the Western Society were the Age of the Italian Cities and the French Revolution, examples, for the poet, respectively of a healthy morality and civic life and of a democratic society.

[Turkophagos]

http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1316698356l/6327352.jpg

http://dealsimages.dealguide.gr/10/18312.jpg

http://www.nakas.gr/ecomnakas/nakaspaper/assets/PHOTOS%20T%20200/T042018000-200.JPG

http://atomakaikeno.files.wordpress.com/2008/05/0zogra.jpg

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_xrqqJwgLMkI/SxA2gqvVT9I/AAAAAAAAA_k/81qD2ILAWic/s1600/081.jpg



Last 2 centuries it is.

[Richard]

http://bompiani.rcslibri.corriere.it/shared_libri/cover/medium/4525047_0.jpghttp://www.vittorininet.it/supporto/multimedia/pasolini/scritticorsari.jpg
http://www.abebooks.it/images/ReadingRoom/Specials/966229534.jpghttp://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/fe/Altri_lib.jpghttp://mustbook.myblog.it/media/01/01/1104550499.png

[Germanicus]

Here are just 5 books by William Shakespear; Each one considered to be a masterpiece of literary genius.


Romeo and Juliet.
Hamlet.
Othello.
King Lear.
Macbeth.

[Amapola]

Let's see what I can do here. In no particular order

Cien años de soledad/ One Hundred Years of Solitude
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-s4Puuj_aH1c/TzBfl7tb5QI/AAAAAAAADpg/Qys_5LHDu2Q/s1600/ciena%C3%B1os.gif

Ficciones
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/de/Ficciones_%281944%29.jpg/390px-Ficciones_%281944%29.jpg

Quevedo's Sonnets
http://www.marcialpons.es:8080/img/portadas/9788415177371.jpg

Don Quijote de la Mancha/Don Quixote
http://www.libros.org.es/wp-content/uploads/Don-quijote-de-la-mancha.jpg

La Regenta
http://therwis.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/regenta.gif?w=301&h=475
By Leopoldo Alas "Clarín"

[Comte Arnau]

^ Very interesting Fresa, I'm surprised you included two books from non-Spanish authors. ;)

Nice choices, I know it's really difficult to reduce it to five books.

[Amapola]

^ Very interesting Fresa, I'm surprised you included two books from non-Spanish authors. ;)

Nice choices, I know it's really difficult to reduce it to five books.

I think it would be unfair not to take these two into account in particular. Actually, I am being unfair to many other authors, but unfortunately I have to do just a selection of 5. :p

[Joe McCarthy]

We Yanks don't speak English but American so I'll let 'er rip:

1. Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain.

2. Moby Dick, Herman Melville.

3. The last of the Mohicans, James Fenimore Cooper.

4. Walden, Henry David Thoreau.

5. Breakfast at Tiffany's, Truman Capote.

[Teyrn]

American English (five examples):

Brave New World
Moby Dick
The Last of the Mohicans
The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin
The Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant

[Teyrn]

We Yanks don't speak English but American so I'll let 'er rip:

1. Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain.

2. Moby Dick, Herman Melville.

3. The last of the Mohicans, James Fenimore Cooper.

4. Walden, Henry David Thoreau.

5. Breakfast at Tiffany's, Truman Capote.

Haha we agree on two :)

[Joe McCarthy]

American English (five examples):

Brave New World
Moby Dick
The Last of the Mohicans
The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin
The Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant

In what way are you counting Brave New World as American English?

[Teyrn]

In what way are you counting Brave New World as American English?

Oh you're right! Huxley isn't American. :embarrassed

[Joe McCarthy]

Oh you're right! Huxley isn't American. :embarrassed

It's not that bad of a mistake. He lived here for the last twenty six years of his life. I thought that might be the basis for your choice.

[Teyrn]

It's not that bad of a mistake. He lived here for the last twenty six years of his life. I thought that might be the basis for your choice.

I honestly thought he was an American. :)

[Teyrn]

I would say that regardless if you're religious or not the greatest English book of all time is the King James version of the Bible. Finding four others to compare it to is pretty much well close to impossible.