Posted on 01/31/2012 8:21:59 AM PST by C19fan
The Diary of the American Revolution by Moore is an excellent day by day historical account by the way (I, ah, lifted my copy from my dad when I was in my teens, ahem, he made me pay the price, but let me keep it ;-p)
I’ve read it so much the cover has fallen off.
-—You do know that Dostoevsky was very anti-Catholic right? The Grand Inquisitor section is a giant bash of the Catholic Church.-—
It was a while ago, and I can’t remember the arguments presented, but I don’t remember finding anything particularly compelling —perhaps because I was familiar with the true history of the Inquisition. It seemed to me that Dostoevsky had swallowed the “black legend” of the Inquisition. I actually thought it was one of the weaker chapters of the book, but I can understand the appeal to skeptical, contemporary audiences and critics.
Anyway, by the time I got that far in the story, I was already sold on the archetypal brothers, particularly the protagonist and Christ figure, Alyosha (sp?), and Dostoyevsky’s insights into fallen human nature. I’ve yet to read any novelist as wise.
He thought that Russian Orthodoxy was the salvation of the world and that the Catholic Church was a corrupt Western Institution.
Nobody’s perfect ;-)
Besides, he was an apparently devout Orthodox. It’s like a family squabble.
I would highly recommend my two favorite Polish works:
Sienkiewicz - With Fire and Sword (Ogniem i mieczem)
Mickiewicz - Pan Tadeusz
Well, in all fairness, they were asked for the greatest works of fiction. I don't consider the Bible a work of fiction (though I suspect portions of it are), likewise the Illiad and Odyssey. Certainly the Nichomachan Ethics, Mere Christianity and Walden are not works of fiction. My list for works of fiction would be:
1. Aesop's Fables (influential beyond our recognition)
2. King Lear (Shakespeare)
3. Paradise Lost (Milton)
4. Faust (Goethe)
5. Grimm's Fairy Tales
6. The Arabian Nights
7. Hamlet (Shakespeare)
8. The Grapes of Wrath (Steinbeck)
9. Inferno (Dante)
10. A Tale of Two Cities (Dickens)
Obviously, my list veers more to the works of fiction I feel have been most influential on Western Civilization, rather than pure literary quality.
>9) Genji Monogatori (my preference over Nihongi or Kojiki for Japan)
Oh lord no. I had to read that and it was VERY dull.
If you’re looking for great Japanese fiction - Soseki’s Wagahai ha Neko de Aru (I am a cat) is great, so is Kokoro (heart), and Botchan. I really am a fan of Kobo Abe’s “Woman of the Dunes.” I agree with you completely about the Heike Monogatari. Great historical fiction, as is the Shinsengumi. The first book I read all the way through in Japanese was Takami Koushun’s “Battle Royale,” and what a trip it was.
Yes, I have. I admit to not being much of a fan of the Russians, but objectively, I can think of probably a hundred books as well written as anything Nabokov ever penned, including works by his fellow Russians -- Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Pasternak, Solzhenitzyn, etc.. I am not saying it's bad, but to rate it the best book of the century? Utter balderdash!
>>Well, in all fairness, they were asked for the greatest works of fiction. I don’t consider the Bible a work of fiction (though I suspect portions of it are), likewise the Illiad and Odyssey. Certainly the Nichomachan Ethics, Mere Christianity and Walden are not works of fiction. My list for works of fiction would be:
The qualification given was “The Greatest Books of All Time, as Voted by 125 Famous Authors.” This determined my selection.
I could easily have written in Robert Heinlein, Isaac Asimov, or Arthur C Clarke in the vein of great books that both acted to motivate or align great societal changes and which are literature that will be read for some generations. However the established literary class rarely grants science fiction any cred.
Likewise I could have included Sinclair Lewis and Upton Sinclair. Their works will last on reading lists for many years. Or two novelists I never liked but whose works impacted cultural tides: John Updike and Jacqueline Susann. Their works will not be often read, but summaries of them will be studied. Updike and Susann are Kilgore Trout-esque in that regard.
In such polls of smaller groups with the individuals well-known it is possible using weighed gradings to produce a list of the top ten which not one of those voting would ever agree with. In other words of floating scum.
Bookmarking your list for later. I’ll have to try some of these!
Heinlein, Asimov and Clarke neither wrote great prose, nor broke formal bounds nor revealed any insights about human character. Their characters are pretty thin.
Solzhenitzyn was an important writer historically but a great literary figure? Nabokov is constantly mentioned by both critics and other writers as a great writer. Lolita doesn’t have anything particularly Russian about it. He left Russia as a teen never to return.
YES! You are a fan of dreamy romance and purple prose. Where’s a Camus on this list?
Good prose isn’t purple. Camus didn’t really write great prose either. Unless you’re one of the “prose should never call attention to itself and just tell the story” types. In which case you should read Pulp where plot-driven fiction is the norm.
Yeah, but Aristotle didn’t skewer leftists and progessives in such a fun and direct way.
Really - I found Genji very good, though you can tell where different authors actually took part in my mind - I don’t believe the assertions by some that Shikibu was the only author. I will say though that some translations are just not as good - similar to the Bible where some translations just fall flat and others are poetic.
I wish my Japanese were better, but I can’t stand when I’m trying to read something and need to interrupt the flow for a dictionary. I know without the context the interpretations are often off - my daughters tell me all about it when I watch or read something in english that they have seen/read in Japanese. Shinsengumi is outstanding, and I love Yoshikawa’s Musashi and Taiko. I’ll have to try “Woman of the Dunes” and “Battle Royale”, I think my wife has the latter around here somewhere. Wagahai was hilarious. Have you read Endo’s Silence or Mishima’s Death in Midsummer? I found Endo enthralling as historical fiction, but Mishima strikes me as Hemingway-esque (though again it could be the translation).
Yeah, I too love science fiction and would probably put Stranger in a Strange Land and Starship Troopers in the top 30’s. Updike, Vonegutt, and some of the other modern writers like Raymond Carver and Cormac McCarthy would also be there.
That being said, I have a big fetish for Faulkner. I’ve read just about every novel he’s written, and all are good, especially the Snopes trilogy.
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